At The Thousand Island Park: The Inspired Talks
One Miss Dutcher, a devoted student of the Swami, owned a small cottage at Thousand Island Park, a village situated on Wellesley Island of the St. Lawrence River. She volunteered to offer her cottage for the Swami to rest as well as to teach as many devotees as can be accommodated in the cottage. Twelve sincere and real devotees agreed to the proposal, and Swami Vivekananda also felt it as an opportunity to instill some real and serious thoughts of Vedanta in the hearts of those intimate learners. For, it was but natural that only those would venture to come to such a far off remote island, who were really interested in his message and teachings.
Soon the plan was given the shape by way of additional modifications to the cottage. A separate room, entry, and privacy were arranged for the Swami. And there was enough room for twelve members to stay with some adjustment. The talks, "The Inspired Talks", as they came to be known, started from 19th June 1895 through second week of August. Thus for seven weeks the Swami inspired this sincere batch with the Advaita teachings of Upanishads, The Gita, and even of various scriptures of Christian faith. The impact of these talks, which the Swami delivered from a higher plane of consciousness, inspired his disciples, as he himself was, in this great mission. He initiated all these devotees by giving them a Mantra and two of these disciples later took vows of sannyasa, and five more were initiated as Brahmacharinis.
Later, one of the participants wrote: "It was a perpetual inspiration to live with a man like Swami Vivekananda. From morning till night it was ever the same, we lived in a constant atmosphere of intense spirituality. �Those ideas were new and strange to us, and we were slow in assimilating them, but the Swami's patience never flagged, his enthusiasm never waned."
The message of Swami Vivekananda was:
Renunciation of sense gratification, sincere search for higher Self, and manifestation of our inner divinity based on true discrimination is the ideal for this age. Try to seek Freedom from 'this indecent clinging to life,' the bondage in which Maya has caught us, in which Maya has enmeshed all mankind. Sooner or later the opportunity to escape will come to all, but to make conscious and deliberate effort is the beginning of religion.
And one would not be surprised if one were told that within minutes the Swami, established as he was in his higher plane of consciousness, created "The Song of The Sannyasin":
Strike off thy fetter! Bonds that bind thee down,
Of shining gold, or darker, baser ore;
Love, hate - good, bad - and all the dual throng.
Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free;
For fetters though of gold, are not less strong to bind;
Then off with them, sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"
Few only know the Truth. The rest will hate
And laugh at thee, great one; but pay no heed.
Go thou, the free, from place to place, and help
Them out of darkness, Maya's veil. Without
The fear of pain or search pleasure, go
Beyond them both, sannyasin bold! Say -
"Om Tat Sat, Om!"
American Work Part 2... |
American Work Part 4...
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c s shah