LAWET

Kaustav Ghosh

“Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man”.

-Swami Vivekananda

Good morning from Howrah, India. How are you today?

Today is the 12th January, the 161^st birthday of Swami Vivekananda, who had inspired the then youth for the freedom struggle, who has been inspiration for the centuries. In 1984 the Government of India declared this day as National Youth Day.

In Belur math, Howrah Ramkrishna Math and Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda started its journey on 1st May 1897. Howrah is a place which is very connected with the name and the emotion connected with the name- Swami Vivekananda. Swami Shivananda, a disciple of Sri Sri Ramkrishna, brother disciple of Swami Vivekananda, started a school in Kasundia, Howrah to spread the teachings of Ramakrishna, Ma Sarada and Swami Vivekananda in the year 1922-‘HOWRAH VIVEKANANDA INSTITUTION’. I completed my schooling, from class V to 12 from here.

You have read the starting of my spiritual journey and about my first spiritual guru my grandfather. He died when I was in my class IV and I went to Howrah Vivekananda Institution in class V. It was also my wish and dream of my grandfather, my school helped me to continue my spiritual journey and build a house of spirituality inside with the help of its foundation. My school has two building and 3 play ground.

My classroom

My school

School gate

You can read about my school from here:-

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivekananda_Institution
2. http://www.howrahvivekanandainstitution.edu.in/hvi/

Though I like everything Swamiji said, but I want to mention 10 quotes of him which is helping me to build myself a human in its true letter and spirit-

1.  “Education, education, education alone! Travelling through many cities of Europe and observing in them the comforts and education of even the poor people, there was brought to my mind the state of our own poor people, and I used to shed tears. What made the difference? Education was the answer I got. Through education comes faith in one’s own Self, and through faith in one’s own Self the inherent Brahman is waking up in them.”¹
2. “I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.” ²
3.  “All the wealth of the world cannot help one little Indian village if the people are not taught to help themselves. Our work should be mainly educational, both moral and intellectual”.³
4. “Art, science & religion ….are the three different ways of expressing a single truth.’’⁴
5. “Had I lived in Palestine, in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, I would have washed his feet, not with my tears, but with my heart’s blood!” ⁵
6. “All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that; do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics as most of us believe now-a-days. You can do anything and everything, without even the guidance of any one.”⁶
7. “Mohammed by his life showed that amongst Mohammedans there should be perfect equality and brotherhood. There was no question of race, caste, creed, colour, or sex. The Sultan of Turkey may buy a Negro from the mart of Africa, and bring him in chains to Turkey; but should he become a Mohammedan and have sufficient merit and abilities, he might even marry the daughter of the Sultan. Compare this with the way in which the Negroes and the American Indians are treated in this country! And what do Hindus do? If one of your missionaries chance to touch the food of an orthodox person, he would throw it away. Notwithstanding our grand philosophy, you note our weakness in practice; but there You see the greatness of the Mohammedan beyond other races, showing itself in equality, perfect equality regardless of race or colour.“⁷
8. “Come, be men! Come out of your narrow holes and have a look abroad. See how nations are on the march! Do you love your country? Then come, let us struggle for higher and better things; look not back, no, not even if you see the dearest and nearest cry. Look not back, but forward!“⁸
9. “Do you feel for others? If you do, you are growing in oneness. If you do not feel for others, you may be the most intellectual giant ever born, but you will be nothing; you are but dry intellect, and you will remain so.”⁹
10. “Every man must develop according to his own nature. as every science has its methods, so has every religion. The methods of attaining the end of religions are called yoga by us, and the different forms of yoga we teach, are adapted to the different natures and temperaments of men. We classify them in the following way, under four heads:  Karma-Yoga— The manner in which a man realises his own divinity through works and duty. Bhakti-Yoga— The realisation of the divinity through works and duty. Raja-Yoga— The realisation of the divinity through the control of the mind. Jnana-Yoga— The realisation of a man’s own divinity through knowledge.“

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1)https://vivekavani.com/education-india-swami-vivekananda/

2)https://www.artic.edu/swami-vivekananda-and-his-1893-speech

3)https://vivekavani.com/xl-shuddhananda-letters-swami-vivekananda/

4)https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijarps/v4-i11/1.pdf

5)https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-quotes-jesus-christ/

6)https://vivekavani.com/work-before-us-swami-vivekananda/

7)https://vivekavani.com/great-teachers-world-swami-vivekananda/

8)https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-quotes-india/

9)https://www.narendramodi.in/VivekanandaQuotes/Quotes

10)https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-quotes-god/