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<font face="Times New Roman"><i>Vivekananda</i></font></b></p>
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<font face="Times New Roman">A PERSONAL reminiscence. A young man in prison, accused&nbsp;
of conspiracy and waging war against the British Empire. If
convicted he might have to suffer the extreme penalty, at least,
transportation to the Andamans. The case is dragging on for
long months. And the young man is in a' solitary cell. He
cannot always keep up his spirits high. Moments of sadness
and gloom and despair come and almost overwhelm him. Who&nbsp;
was there to console and cheer him up ? Vivekananda. Vivekananda's speeches, <i>From Colombo to Almora,</i> came, as a
godsend, into the hands of the young man. Invariably, when
the period of despondency came he used to open the book,
read a few pages, read them over again, and the cloud was
there no longer. Instead there was hope and courage and
faith and future and light and air.</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Such is Vivekananda, the embodiment of Fearlessness—
<i>abhih,</i> the Upanishadic word, the <i>mantra,</i> he was so fond of.
The life and vision of Vivekananda can be indeed summed up
in the mighty phrase of the Upanishads, <i>nayam atma balahinena
labhyah.</i> 'This soul no weakling can attain. Strength! More
strength! Strength evermore! One remembers the motto of Danton, the famous leader in the French Revolution: <i>De
I'audace, encore de I'audace, toujours de I'audace!</i></font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The gospel, of strength that Vivekananda spread was very
characteristic of the man. For it is not mere physical or nervous
bravery, although that too is indispensable, and it is something
more than moral courage. In the speeches referred to, the
subject-matter (as well as the manner to a large extent) is
philosophical, metaphysical, even abstract in outlook and
treatment: they are not a call to arms, like the French National
Anthem, for example; they are not merely an ethical exhortation, </font>
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Page 124<hr>

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<font face="Times New Roman">a moral lesson either. They speak of the inner spirit, the
divine in man, the supreme realities that lie beyond. And yet
the words are permeated through and through with a vibration
life-giving and heroic—not so much in the explicit and apparent
meaning as in the style and manner and atmosphere: it is
catching, even or precisely when he refers, for example, to
these passages in the Vedas and the Upanishads, magnificent
in their poetic beauty, sublime in their spiritual truth, <i>nee plus
ultra,</i> one can say, in the grand style supreme:</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yasyaite himavanto mahitva
</i></font>
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<i><font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </font></i>
<font face="Times New Roman">He whose greatness these snowy ranges declare</font>&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
&nbsp;<font face="Times New Roman">or<b>,</b></font>

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&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Na tatra suryo bhati na candratarakam....</i></font><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<i><font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </font></i>
<font face="Times New Roman"><i>&nbsp;</i>There the sun shines not, nor the moon nor the stars</font><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; or again,</font>&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<font face="Times New Roman"><i>Nasad asit na sad asit tadanim:</i></font>&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<font face="Times New Roman"><i>nasit rajo no vyoma paro&nbsp; yat....</i></font>

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&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Then existence was not nor non-existence, the mid- world was not nor the Ether nor what is beyond.</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The consciousness that breathed out these mighty words,
these heavenly sounds was in itself mighty and heavenly and
it is that that touches you, penetrates you, vibrates in you a
kindred chord, &quot;awakening in you someone dead&quot; till then— <i>mrtam kancana bodhayanti,</i> More than the matter, the thing that
was said, was the personality, the being who embodied the
truth expressed, the living consciousness behind the words
and the speech that set fire to your soul. Indeed it was the
soul that Vivekananda could awaken and stir in you. Any
orator, any speaker with some kind of belief, even if it is for
the moment, in what he says, by the sheer force of assertion,
can convince your mind and draw your acquiescence and
adhesion. A leader of men, self-confident and bold and fiery,</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman">can carry you off your feet and make you do brave things.
But that is a lower degree of character and nature, ephemeral
and superficial, that is touched in you thereby. The spiritual
leader, the Guide, goes straight to the spirit in you—it is the
call of the deep unto the deep. That was what Vivekananda
meant when he said that Brahman is asleep in you, awaken it,
you are the Brahman, awaken it, you are free and almighty.
It is the spirit consciousness—Sachchidananda—that is the
real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible
and free absolutely. The courage and fearlessness that Vivekananda gave you was the natural attribute of the lordship of
your spiritual reality. Vivekananda spoke and roused the
Atman in man.</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vivekananda spoke to the Atman in man, he spoke to the
Atman of the world, and he spoke specially to the Atman of
India. India had a large place in Vivekananda's consciousness:</font>

<font face="Times New Roman">for the future of humanity and the world is wedded to India's
future. India has a great mission, it has a spiritual, rather <i>the
</i>spiritual work to do. Here is India's work as Vivekananda
conceived it in a nutshell:</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will
be extinct.&quot; And wherefore is this call for the life spiritual?
Thus the aspiring soul would answer:</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;If I do not find bliss in the life of the spirit, shall I seek
satisfaction in the life of the senses? If I cannot get nectar,
shall I, fall back upon ditch water?&quot;</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The answer is as old as that of Nachiketas: &quot;These horses
and these songs and dances of yours, let them remain yours,
man is not appeased with riches&quot;; or that of Maitreyi, &quot;What
am I to do with that which will not bring me immortality?&quot;
This is then man's mission upon earth:</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Man is higher than all animals, than all angels: none is
greater than man. Even the Devas will have to come down
again and attain to salvation though a human body. Man
alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas.&quot; Indeed, men
are gods upon earth, come down here below to perfect themselves and perfect the world—only, they have to be conscious
of themselves. They do not know what they are, they have to
be actually and sovereignly what they are really and potentially. This then is the life-work of everyone:</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods. Be and make', let this be our motto.&quot;</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That is indeed the only way of securing a harmonious and
perfected humanity:</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be
harmoniously arranged around it.&quot;</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The path to this higher harmonious divine life is that of
hard labour, of scrupulously untiring, conscientious work:</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;It is struggle against nature and not conformity to nature
that makes man what he is.&quot;</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Work and not abstention from work is the way, but not
work for ignorant enjoyment:</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;The dwelling-place of the Jivatman, this body, is a veritable means of work, and he who converts this into an infernal
den is guilty, and he who neglects it is also to blame.''</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;No work is petty.... He who can property prepare a
<i>chilam</i> (pipe of tobacco) can also properly meditate.&quot;</font>

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<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; These are luminous life-giving mantras and the world and
humanity of today, sore distressed and utterly confounded,
have great need of them to live them by and be saved.</font>
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