Frustration To Fascination

Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda are divine personalities who came to uplift humanity from despondency and frustrations and reorient it on a journey towards joy and fulfilment. They made a profound impact through their lives and teachings. Millions were inspired and their lives transformed. Many a time when we hear of the transformation of someone, we feel such incidents are freakish, emotional, and irrational. But the signs of true transformations are that they are not temporary changes but are permanent in the life of the person concerned. When objectively viewed, these transformations are fascinating to the intelligent observer.

Swami Vivekananda says, “We never preached our thoughts with fire and sword. If there is one word in the English language to express the effect which the literature of India produces upon mankind, it is this one word, ‘fascination’. It is the opposite of anything that takes you suddenly; it throws on you, as it were, an imperceptible charm. To many, Indian thought, Indian manners; Indian customs, Indian philosophy, and Indian literature are perplexing at the first sight; but let them persevere, let them read, let them become familiar with the great principles underlying these ideas, and it is ninety-nine to one that the charm will overcome them, and fascination will be the result. Slow and silent, as the gentle dew that falls in the morning, unseen and unheard, yet producing a sublime result, has been the work of the calm, patient, all-enduring spiritual race upon the world of thought.

My life was never smooth sailing; it was always windy and turbulent. My student life itself was erratic. However, I was fortunate to chance on Sri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda-Ma Sarada literature. Whenever I was in a dilemma, this holy trinity guided me to either glean an answer from this literature or put me in contact with the revered monks of the order. As a result, the frustrating situation turned into fascination. The multiple occasions did not happen by chance.

I had the good fortune of associating with Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission sadhus, and my very first contact was with Pujya Tapasyanandaji Maharaj in 1969. I share with readers the positive transformation that took place in my life with the grace of the holy trinity.

Be Aware Of The Divine With Every Breath

During the early 70s, even though I had a good job, I was mentally disturbed as I could not pursue my doctoral studies due to a strange condition. I was an avid reader of books and in my random reading I went through the book, ‘Eternal Companion - Life and Teachings of Swami Brahmananda’, and the following paragraph attracted my special attention.

One morning Swami Gnaneswarananda hurried out of his room, leaving behind an unmade bed and general confusion. He met Maharaj on the large, open field near his room. After paying his respects, he was startled to hear Maharaj say, “Take me to your room: I wish to see the place where you stay.” Swami Gnaneswarananda feeling ashamed, replied: “Maharaj, can you not come a little later? I was not expecting you and the room is not fit to receive you.” Maharaj said, “My boy, you must always be expecting me.” Swami Gnaneswarananda understood the deep meaning of the incident and the words of the Maharaj.... that one must always be prepared to receive God, the most honoured guest.

After reading this my mind started churning, though neither had I seen God nor had I seen the holy trinity. The episode had a profound impact on me. From then on at home, in the office, and in every activity, the mind endeavoured to keep things in order.

As a student in Australia, my room was adjudged as the best maintained for five consecutive years. This concern for order and tidiness spilled over into my professional days and I was ever focused on the meticulous execution of work. These days, my mind dwells constantly on the preparation for the next stage in the journey of life. The fascinating part is that the desires and attachments are dropping off on their own, resulting in fearlessness, mental freedom, and readiness for that next inevitable stage.

Mother And Motherland Are Precious

Swami Vivekananda was a genius with in-depth knowledge of multi-disciplinary subjects apart from science and spirituality. The first book I read which related to the holy trinity was ‘Rebuild India’ by Swami Vivekananda. When India was in the clutches of imperialism, plagued by poverty, destitution and diminishing self-confidence, he thundered that a resurrected India would be the leader of the world. He proclaimed that, “One vision I can see as clear as life before me that the ancient Mother has awakened once more, sitting on Her throne – rejuvenated, more glorious than ever. Proclaim her to the entire world with the voice of peace and benediction.”

Swamiji embodied the spirit of India. When he returned home from his travels overseas, he was asked what he thought of India. Swamiji replied, “I loved my Motherland dearly before I went to America and England. After my return every particle of dust of this land seems sacred to me.” After his lecture in Chicago the entire world was at his feet, but gazing at the skyscrapers that filled Chicago’s moonlit skies, he wrote to a disciple, “When will India be like this?” No wonder every revolutionary in the Independence movement drew great inspiration from Swami Vivekananda – he ignited the spark of a nation’s conscience!

These words galvanised me too and made me come back to India, even though I had a lucrative job abroad. I asked myself how can I become part and parcel of Swami Vivekananda’s vision of rebuilding India in my own humble way? My return made me instrumental in making the Indian Space Research Organization’s imaging systems one of the best in the world.

Detached Attachment

But this journey was never smooth and often reminded me of the words of Swami Vivekananda: “For anything, one has to undergo opposition, procrastination, and acceptance.” It was during the first couple of years of my return to India. Under quite unfavourable conditions, a new technology was developed by me but this new development, instead of bringing happiness, brought me misery as I was asked to give away the ownership of the technology. Being a young man, I was in agony and became restless and sleepless for a few days. I felt I was being sidelined and humiliated, and that my professional career would be damaged.

Suddenly one night, I remembered an incident read in ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’. Poorna, a great devotee, deeply frustrated was trying to leave this world, but on an impulse read ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ randomly for one last time. On the very page he opened, he found the words that Sri Ramakrishna seemed to address him. He was elated and gave up the negative spiral of his emotions.

Remembering this, I thought that under my present condition I will open ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ and will take up the content as a solution to my problem. To my greatest surprise, the following was the story on the page:

“In a certain place, the fishermen were catching fish. A kite swooped down and snatched a fish. At the sight of the fish, about a thousand crows chased the kite and made a great noise with their cawing. Whichever way the kite flew with the fish, the crows followed it. The kite flew to the south and the crows followed it there. The kite flew to the north and still the crows followed after it. The kite went east and west, with the same result. As the kite began to fly about in confusion, lo, the fish dropped from its mouth. The crows at once let the kite alone and flew after the fish. Thus, relieved of its worries, the kite sat on the branch of a tree and thought: ‘That wretched fish was at the root of all my troubles. I have now got rid of it and therefore I am at peace.”

After reading the story, a great relief came to me and I slept very happily as if a heavy weight was taken away from my head. I felt the story perfectly mirrored my condition and had a perfect solution to my problem. The next morning, I went to the office and bundled all the files related to the successfully completed new work and handed over them to the then Director, with a covering note, ‘I hereby withdraw my ownership of the activity’. This propelled me to take up new projects. The cycle of taking up a new venture, successfully completing it, and being detached had become a habitual tendency till the date of retirement. It also paved the way for me to become a humble servant in rebuilding India as envisioned by Swami Vivekananda.

“I Have A Mother”

Let me come to Mother of Mothers, Holy Mother Sarada Devi. I hail from a small village. As there was an inadequacy of schools, I hardly had any primary education. But with private studies, through an entrance examination, I joined a high school located in a taluk near the village. But the standard was poor. This resulted in low self-confidence and anxiety about my academic career. That was the time my mother suggested and prompted me to offer prayers and worship Sri Sarada Devi as Goddess Saraswathi. It was divine grace as within a short time, I started getting confidence and developed a fairly good interest in higher studies. From college level, an extraordinary turn took place, and never from thereon did I have any hitch in education. In fact, I became a university topper throughout and completed a doctorate in a foreign country. I strongly believe that Holy Mother is Goddess Saraswathi, who transformed and gifted this village boy with education, enabling him to contribute to the betterment of society.

This transformative joy was accentuated further when I came across the following anecdote:

It made a deep impact on my life when I read her assuring words, “No one will suffer all time. No one will spend all his days on this earth in suffering. Remember always you have a Mother.”

I have not seen Ma Sarada nor have I read much about Her. However, these few powerful words of hers uttered to Surendra had an immense effect on me and I believe that it was Ma Sarada who made me achieve whatever success I did in my scientific career. When I look back, many incidents in my life seemed to be self-organised without much effort and they were completed successfully. In a similar vein, I emphatically can say that many of the regrettable incidents dropped away too, without undue efforts and I felt protected at every appropriate moment. Is it not Mother’s grace? There were many such incidents in my life.

Have Faith In Faith

To sum up, it is my life’s journey starting with frustration and almost always ending up with fascination. A journey from no hope of getting a proper education, to acquiring an education with international accolades, to contributing to national development technologies, successively and successfully accomplishing my tasks with detached attachment, to being constantly aware of the gentle presence of the holy, is highly transformative. A deeper periodic introspection emphasizes the fact that these changes are not artifacts observed momentarily but are reflected and retained throughout one’s life. A deeper introspection showed me that the three paths of jnana yoga, karma yoga, and bhakti yoga when followed in life to a logical end, purify one. To be aware of the Divine with every breath is the systematic approach in jnana yoga. ‘Mother and Mother land’, that is, detached attachment is pure karma yoga. Finally, ‘I have a Mother’ is bhakti yoga’.

I found great joy in implementing these in life. The undercurrent for all this is the Holy Trinity’s grace and my sustained faith. I strongly believe that I am not the only one, that there are millions like me who have had such transformational experiences. To experience such things, one needs to have faith. Faith in oneself and faith in the grace of the Divine. Faith is the sum total of our worldview, our values, and convictions. It encompasses the whole spectrum of our thoughts since much of what we know is what we believe to be worth remembering and paying attention to. From faith comes trust, devotion, loyalty, commitment, dedication, and assurance. Faith may arise from simple observation, facts, intuition, assurance, or even simple belief. Traditionally, faith is identified with the religion you practice. But faith does not necessarily mean religion only. Religious faith is just one aspect of it. We believe in many things, with or without reason. Our parents and elders, our culture and society, our education, relationships, and a host of other factors shape our beliefs and our faith is a sum total of those beliefs and convictions. Have faith in the words of Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi. Whenever you are in distress, just say to yourself, “I have a Mother”.

May Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swamiji bless us all, is my earnest prayer.

Courtesy: Mountain Path