NEWS:INDIA'S GRANT FOR VIVEKANANDA CHAIR

PTI- Chicago, January 30, 2012.

India will provide a grant of $1.5 million to the University of Chicago to establish a Vivekananda Chair for Indian studies, as part of the initiatives to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the 19th century luminary, Swami Vivekananda...

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in this regard between Dean of University of Chicago (UOC) Martha Roth and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Sanjiv Mittal, in the presence of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Mr. Mukherjee on Sunday dedicated a plaque of Swami Vivekananda at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and inaugurated a Tagore art exhibition here, to mark the 150th birth anniversaries of Swami Vivekananda and Tagore. The grant is meant to honour Swami Vivekananda's life and legacy and facilitate exchange of research scholars from/to India.

Martha Roth, Dean of the Humanities and the Chauncey S. Boucher Professor of Assyriology; and Dipesh Chakrabarty, the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History and South Asian Languages and Civilizations, also spoke about Swami Vivekananda's contribution to religious freedom, which opened the doors of religious tolerance between the East and the West.

Also present was Chicago Consul-General of India Mukta Dutta Tomar.

University students also performed dance and music at the event. The University also did a live webcast of the event that could be viewed from the “UChicago Live” tab in the UChicago Facebook page.

“Swami Vivekananda was practically India's first cultural ambassador to the United States,” Mr. Mukherjee said at Fullerton Hall, where Vivekananda had delivered the famous and historic address at the Parliament of the World Religions in 1893 to tremendous applause.

COURTESY TO: 

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S 150TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION IN BELUR MATH

To day is Swami Vivekananda's 150th Birthday. Below Photos were taken at Belur Math where he lived and breathed last.

STAGE DECORATION

NIGHT VIEW OF VIVEKANANDA TEMPLE 

SHRINE

CLOSE VIEW

AROUND  BILVA NEAR TEMPLE

OFFERING AT VIVEKANANDA' S LIVING ROOM

VIVEKANANDA TEMPLE 

VIVEKANANDA TELLS STORY: THE MAN AND A GHOST:

STORY-11: THE MAN AND A GHOST:

There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great powers, and besought his help. The sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. I want a ghost to work for me; teach me how to get hold of one, sir; I desire it very much," replied the man. But the sage said, "Don't disturb yourself, go home." 

The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray, "Give me a ghost; I must have a ghost, sir, to help me." At last the sage was disgusted, and said, "Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you say to him he will do. But beware; they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life." The man replied, "That is easy; I can give him work for all his life." 

Then he went to a forest, and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him, and said, "I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you." The man said, "Build me a palace," and the ghost said, "It is done; the palace is built." "Bring me money," said the man. "Here is your money," said the ghost. "Cut this forest down, and build a city in its place." "That is done," said the ghost, "anything more?" Now the man began to be frightened and thought he could give him nothing more to do; he did everything in a trice. The ghost said, "Give me something to do or I will eat you up." 

The poor man could find no further occupation for him, and was frightened. So he ran and ran and at last reached the sage, and said, "Oh, sir, protect my life!" The sage asked him what the matter was, and the man replied, "I have nothing to give the ghost to do. Everything I tell him to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me up if I do not give him work." Just then the ghost arrived, saying, "I'll eat you up," and he would have swallowed the man. The man began to shake, and begged the sage to save his life. The sage said, "I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail. Draw your sword quickly and cut the tail off and give it to the ghost to straighten out." The man cut off the dog's tail and gave it to the ghost, saying, "Straighten that out for me." The ghost took it and slowly and carefully straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled up again. Once more he laboriously straightened it out, only to find it again curled up as soon as he attempted to let go of it. Again he patiently straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it curled up again. So he went on for days and days, until he was exhausted and said, "I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble." "I will make a compromise with you ;" he said to the man, "you let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you." The man was much pleased, and accepted the offer gladly.


SOURCE: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
                  Volume-1; Chapter-V

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA WRITES AND INSPIRES YOU

LETTER NO.17

Dear …………*,

“…Work on, be lions; and the Lord will bless you. I shall work incessantly until I die, and even after death I shall work for the good of the world. Truth is infinitely more weighty than untruth; so is goodness. If you possess these, they will make their way by sheer gravity.

It is the life that is the highest and the only way to stir the hearts of people; it carries the personal magnetism. . . .Work, work, work. . . . Truce to foolish talk; talk of the Lord. Life is too short to be spent in talking about frauds and cranks.

You must always remember that every nation must save itself; so must every man; do not look to others for help.

…Follow me, if you will, by being intensely sincere, perfectly unselfish, and, above all, by being perfectly pure. My blessings go with you. In this short life there is no time for the exchange of compliments. We can compare notes and compliment each other to our hearts' content after the battle is finished. Now, do not talk; work, work! work!... There is too much talk, talk, talk! We are great, we are great! Nonsense! We are imbeciles; that is what we are! This hankering after name and fame and all other humbugs — what are they to me? What do I care about them? I should like to see hundreds coming to the Lord! Where are they? I want them, I want to see them. You must seek them out. You only give me name and fame. Have done with name and fame; to work, my brave men, to work! You have not caught my fire yet — you do not understand me! You run in the old ruts of sloth and enjoyments. Down with all sloth, down with all enjoyments here or hereafter. Plunge into the fire and bring the people towards the Lord.

That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes' death on the field of battle — is the constant prayer of

VIVEKANANDA.

*[You may treat this letter as if addressed to you]
SOURCE: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 
                 Volume-5, Epistles- First Series