Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
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long time had corrupted the priests. The people at large were debarred from true<br />
knowledge of religion, and the Vedas, the source of the Hindu culture, were<br />
completely forgotten, especially in Bengal. Moreover, the caste-system, which had<br />
originally been devised to emphasize the organic unity of Hindu society, was now<br />
petrified. Its real purpose had been to protect the weak from the ruthless competition of<br />
the strong and to vindicate the supremacy of spiritual knowledge over the power of<br />
military weapons, wealth, and organized labour; but now it was sapping the vitality of<br />
the masses. Narendra wanted to throw open the man-making wisdom of the Vedas to<br />
all, and thus bring about the regeneration of his motherland. He therefore encouraged<br />
his brothers at the Barangaore monastery to study the grammar of Panini, without<br />
which one could not acquire first-hand knowledge of the Vedas.<br />
The spirit of democracy and equality in Islam appealed to Naren's mind and he wanted<br />
to create a new India with Vedantic brain and Moslem body. Further, the idea began to<br />
dawn in his mind that the material conditions of the masses could not be improved<br />
without the knowledge of science and technology as developed in the West. He was<br />
already dreaming of building a bridge to join the East and the West. But the true<br />
leadership of India would have to spring from the soil of the country. Again and again<br />
he recalled that Sri Ramakrishna had been a genuine product of the Indian soil, and he<br />
realized that India would regain her unity and solidarity through the understanding of<br />
the Master's spiritual experiences.<br />
Naren again became restless to 'do something', but what, he did not know. He wanted<br />
to run away from his relatives since he could not bear the sight of their poverty. He<br />
was eager to forget the world through meditation. During the last part of December<br />
1889, therefore, he again struck out from the Baranagore monastery and turned his face<br />
towards Varanasi. 'My idea,' he wrote to a friend, 'is to live in Varanasi for some time<br />
and to watch how Viswanath and Annapurna deal out my lot. I have resolved either to<br />
realize my ideal or to lay down my life in the effort — so help me Lord of Varanasi!'<br />
On his way to Varanasi he heard that <strong>Swami</strong> Yogananda, one of his brother disciples,<br />
was lying ill in Allahabad and decided to proceed there immediately. In Allahabad he<br />
met a Moslem saint, 'every line and curve of whose face showed that he was a<br />
paramahamsa.' Next he went to Ghazipur and there he came to know the saint Pavhari<br />
Baba, the 'air-eating holy man.'<br />
Pavhari Baba was born near Varanasi of brahmin parents. In his youth he had mastered<br />
many branches of Hindu philosophy. Later he renounced the world, led an austere life,<br />
practised the disciplines of Yoga and Vedanta, and travelled over the whole of India.<br />
At last he settled in Ghazipur, where he built an underground hermitage on the bank of<br />
the Ganga and spent most of his time in meditation. He lived on practically nothing<br />
and so was given <strong>by</strong> the people the sobriquet of the 'air-eating holy man'; all were<br />
impressed <strong>by</strong> his humility and spirit of service. Once he was bitten <strong>by</strong> a cobra and said<br />
while suffering terrible pain, 'Oh, he was a messenger from my Beloved!' Another day,<br />
a dog ran off with his bread and he followed, praying humbly, 'Please wait, my Lord;<br />
let me butter the bread for you.' Often he would give away his meagre food to beggars<br />
or wandering monks, and starve. Pavhari Baba had heard of Sri Ramakrishna, held him