Conference on World Religions 1994 07 NY Queens

Author(s): Council for The Conference on World Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 47

Today, man stands on a planet of limitless promise. Today, man has reached a zenith of technological brilliance. Man's rockets to flying past the distant planets. He has been able to station satellites in space. Yet is he confused as to his own real being and purpose. He is faced with a terrible loneliness, and his heart is stirred by a thousand fears which he cannot name. Man boasts that he has been able to control the forces of nature: when will he learn to control himself? Today, wherever you turn there is a passion for power, the lust for fame, the greed of gold. Today, there is the dance of desires. This dance of desires is the dance of death. And civilization has already begun to crumble beneath the burden of its own weight.
A new civilization is to be born. This new civilization must be built in something which is greater, nobler by far than mere secular socialism. Swami Vivekananda has been described as a socialist by some, by others as a humanist. Yet, what he practiced and taught cannot be called socialism or humanism. For these two schools of thought do not uphold the oneness of all souls and the solidarity of man. Swami Vivekananda urged that everyone is divine and that man must serve his fellow-men, beholding in them pictures of God, images of the Eternal. Swami Vivekananda gave a new Mantra to humanity: -"Atmano mokshartham jagaddhitaya cha." The words mean:--"Our own spiritual freedom and the welfare of the world." These twin ideals must not be separated from each other. These twin ideals must go hand in hand.
One's own spiritual freedom. Swami Vivekananda said:--"Freedom is the watch word. Be free! a free mind and a free soul! That is what I have felt all my life. I would rather be doing evil freely than be doing good under bondage!" And there can be no true freedom without spirituality. As one grows in spirituality, he will grow in self-knowledge. As one grows in self-knowledge, he will unfold the tremendous powers of the Spirit, that lie locked up within him. Within every man are these tremendous powers of the Spirit. Immense energies of the Eternal. They need to be released. Swami Vivekananda said:-- "Power will come and glory will come, and goodness will come and purity will come as the sleeping soul awakes."
Yes, power will come, glory will come, and goodness will some and purity will come when the sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity. But this power and glory are not meant to be kept for oneself alone. Power and glory must be spent in service of the surrounding world--in service of the less fortunate ones, the poor and broken ones, the forsaken and forlorn, the lowly and the lost, the unwanted and unloved, who cry in this world of travail and pain. To Swami Vivekananda, service of man was worship of God. His was the religion of unity and love, of service and sacrifice. How true it is that religions are worth no more than a straw, if they do not teach man to love God and to serve the Godin-man. For within every man, howsoever poor he be, howsoever miserable, frustrated, defeated in life, there dwelleth God. Every man is a living tabernacle of God, a living, moving shrine, a living, moving temple of God." This is true Vedanta I behold myself in my brother. I and my brother, are one! There is no separation. On one occasion, Swami Vivekananda said:-"Love every man as your own self and not as your brother, as Christianity teaches. Brotherhood should be superseded by universal selfhood. Not universal brotherhood, but universal selfhood is our motto."
This is true service--not service done as charity, not service done as maharbani.. but service as though I am doing it to my own self, service done as worship of God who dwells in all
I must not keep you longer. Let me close with the very words with which Swami Vivekananda closed the chapter of his life on earth. A little before he passed away, Swami
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