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ISSN 0032-6178
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RABUDDHA
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BBHARATA
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THE ROAD TO WISDOM
Swami Vivekananda on
Holier than Thou II
T here was a certain king who had a huge
number of courtiers, and each one of
these courtiers declared that he was
ready to sacrifice his life for his master. A
Sannyasin came to the king. The king said
to him that there never was a king who
had so many sincere courtiers as he had.
The king said the Sannyasin could test
it if he liked. So the Sannyasin declared come. Before that there is no religion
that he would make a great sacrifice by at all. Let us work for that knowledge
which the kings reign would be extended which will bring the feeling of sameness
very long, with the condition that there towards all mankind. You think that
should be made a small tank into which because you talk a little more polished
each one of his courtiers should pour a language you are superior to the man in
pitcher of milk, in the dark of night. The the street. Remember that when you are
king smiled and asked his courtiers to thinking this, you are not going towards
come to him, and told them what was freedom, but you are forging a fresh chain
to be done. They all expressed their joyful for your feet. And, above all, if the pride
assent to the proposal and returned. In of spirituality enters into you, woe unto
the dead of night, they came and emptied you. It is the most awful bondage that
their pitchers into the tank. But in the ever existed. Neither can wealth nor any
morning, it was found full of water only. other bondage of the human heart bind
The courtiers were assembled and each the soul so much as this. I am purer than
one of them had thought there would be others, is the most awful idea that can
so many pitchers of milk that his water enter into the human heart. In what sense
would not be detected. Unfortunately are you pure? The God in you is the God
most of us have the same idea and we in all. If you have not known this, you
do our share of work as did the courtiers. have known nothing. How can there be
There is so much idea of equality, says the difference? It is all one. Every being is the
priest, that my little privilege will not be temple of the Most High; if you can see
detected. So say our rich men, so say the that, good, if not, spirituality has yet to
tyrants of every country. Priestcraft is come to you.
in its nature cruel and heartless. That is
why religion goes down where priestcraft
arises. Says the Vedanta, we must give up
the idea of privilege, then will religion
F rom The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
(Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2016), 1.417-19.
Vol. 122, No. 10
October 2017 PBRABUDDHA
HARATA
or AWAKENED INDIA
A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order
started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896
Managing Editor
Swami Muktidananda
Editor Contents
Swami Narasimhananda
Associate Editor and Design
Swami Divyakripananda
Traditional Wisdom 679
Production Editor
Swami Chidekananda This Month 680
Cover Design
Subhabrata Chandra Editorial: Defining Death 681
General Assistance
Swami Vimohananda Sister Niveditas Unpublished Letter 683
Circulation and Family Papers
Indrajit Sinha
Tapas Jana Sarada Sarkar
Editorial Office
Prabuddha Bharata Gems of Memories: Reminiscences of 706
Advaita Ashrama
PO Mayavati, Via Lohaghat Swami Saradeshananda
Dt Champawat 262 524
Uttarakhand, India Swami Shuklatmananda
Tel: 91 96909 98179
prabuddhabharata@gmail.com Saga of Epic Proportions 710
pb@advaitaashrama.org
Swami Sandarshanananda
Printed and Published by
Swami Vibhatmananda
Publication Office
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Advaita Ashrama
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West Bengal, India
Reviews 715
Tel: 91 33 2289 0898
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mail@advaitaashrama.org Manana 723
Internet Edition
www.advaitaashrama.org Reports 725
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Life of Sri Ramanuja
Swami Ramakrishnananda
Rare and blessed is the occasion when a saint, an illumined soul,
Swami Ramakrishnananda, a direct-disciple of Sri Ramakrishna,
undertakes the task of writing a biography of an Acharya, a
world-teacher, Sri Ramanuja. No writer, however erudite and
accomplished, can bring to his work that revealing insight which
a saint does by virtue of his illumination. From this point of view,
the biography of Sri Ramanuja in Bengali, authored by Swami
Ramakrishnananda, is a unique work. Whether one belongs to the
Pages 592 | Price `300
ranks of orthodox followers or to those of the heterodox, going
Packing & Postage: ` 40
through the pages of this book, one would surely feel the devotional
fervour the author had for Sri Ramanuja. It will communicate the transforming power of the
great life of a mighty and magnanimous world-teacher written by an illustrious apostle of
another great world-teacher. The book was translated into English by Swami Buddhananda.
This new edition in new layout, interspersed with more than 150 colour photographs, annotated
with many additional notes, and additional appendices, is brought out to commemorate Sri
Ramanujas 1000th Birth Year.
Phone : (0240) 237 6013, 237 7099, 645 2114 RAMAKRISHNA MISSION ASHRAMA
(Headquarters : Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, (Near Kolkata)
e-mail : rkmaurangabad@gmail.com Dist. Howrah, West Bengal - 711 202)
Web : www.rkmaurangabad.org Swami Vivekananda Marg (Beed Bypass),
AURANGABAD - 431 010.
The Universal Temple of Bhagwan Shri Ramakrishna (Under Construction)
An earnest Appeal for generous donations
Dear Sir / Madam,
Please accept our greetings and best wishes.
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Aurangabad located on Swami Vivekananda Marg (Beed
Bypass) is a branch center affiliated to Headquarters, Belur Math (near Kolkata). This ashrama is
conducting various service activities in the field of health, education, child welfare, as well as spreading
spiritual message of eternal religion as propounded by Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.
This ashrama has taken up a new project of erecting a temple of Shri Ramakrishna. The work was
commenced in December 2009 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
The temple will be a unique and imposing monumental structure of its kind in entire Marathwada
region in general and Aurangabad city in particular. It will add a cultural and spiritual dimension to the
historical city of Aurangabad. It will be a great attraction and a place for worship, prayer, meditation and
inspiration for the local people. It is also expected that the good number of general public visiting
Aurangabad city as tourists for visiting world heritage sites such as Ellora & Ajanta and pilgrims for visiting
Ghrishneshwar Jyotirling, Shirdi, Paithan etc. will include visit to the temple in their itinerary. It is aimed for
the benefit of one and all without distinction of caste, creed, and nationality.
The estimated cost of the entire project is Rs. 20 Crores. So far Rs. 15.00 Crores have been spent
through public contribution. The balance amount of Rs. 05.00 Crores is needed to complete the
construction of the Temple.
We earnestly appeal to you to donate generously for this noble cause. Your support will
indeed go a long way in our endeavor to erect this magnificent architectural edifice in the memory
of Shri Ramakrishna who was the unique harmonizer of all the religions of the world and who
dedicated his life to bring peace and welfare of mankind.
We value your help and co- operation immensely.
Yours in the service of the Lord,
Temple Dimensions : Length: 156 ft. Breadth: 076 ft. Height: 100 ft.
Temple Construction Area : 18000 Sq.ft.
Garbhagriha : 24ft. x 24ft.
Temple Hall for Prayer and Meditation : 70ft. x 40ft. Seating Capacity - 450 (Swami Vishnupadananda)
Auditorium (Ground Floor) : 80ft. x 57ft. Seating Capacity - 500 Secretary
The entire Temple will be built in Chunar sandstone and interior in Ambaji
and Makarana marble. Ceiling of the Temple Hall will be done in Teak Wood
Estimated Cost : Rs. 20 Crores
We accept Online donations. You may please credit your donation directly on our Online State Bank of
India, MIT Branch, Aurangabad, A/c No. 30697728250, (Branch Code : 10791, IFSC Code:- SBIN0010791)
We request Online donors to intimate us, on our email id (rkmaurangabad@gmail.com) his / her full Postal
Address, Amount, PAN & Mobile Number. This is very important.
Kindly Note :
1) Cheque / D.D. should be drawn in favour of "Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama", Aurangabad.
2) Donations are eligible for tax exemption under section 80-G of I.T. Act 1961.
10
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Traditional Wisdom
Wrt; std{; tg Jhtrtctut; >
Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached!
cew$eeeCeereesHeefve<eled
lemceee S<e GYeeelcewJebefJeoelcevesJeeefYeOeeeleelcevesJe epeleerefle Oeeveb eeesiemLeb cevees efJeef<gleb
ceve:-heteflecegeq<eshenleefcelevesve lelheeJeesled ~ cev$eb he"efle ~ Geq<eseq<eshenleb ee heehesve oeb
ce=lemetlekeee Jemees: heefJe$eceefive: meefJelege jMcee: hegvevlJeVeb cece og<ke=le_e eoveled ~ Deef:
hegjmleeod heefjoOeeefle ~ eeCeee mJeeneheeveee mJeene JeeveeemJeene meceeveee mJeenesoeveee mJeensefle
he_eefYejefYepegnesefle ~ ~~6.9~~
Therefore, indeed, one who knows that this has both these, breath and the sun, as ones self,
meditates only on ones self, sacrifices only to ones self. Such meditation, the mind absorbed
in such practice, is praised by the wise. One should purify the impurity of ones mind with
the verse, What has been defiled by the leavings. One reads the verse. Leavings or what has
been defiled by leavings and what has been given by a sinner or what is rendered impure by
a still birth, may the purifying power of Vasu, Agni, and of Savitris rays purify my food and
any other that may be evil. First before taking ones food, one swathes ones breath with water.
Hail to the prana breath, hail to the apana breath, hail to the vyana breath, hail to the samana
breath, hail to the udana breath. With these five invocations, one offers the oblation. (6.9)
D
eath is only feared, not much Mission Sevashrama, Haridwar, served Swami
thought upon ordinarily. How to de- Saradeshananda for ten years from 1978 to 1988
fine death and how to understand its in Vrindavan. He shares with the readers his pre-
cause? Is it possible to overcome it? These and cious and blissful experiences in the holy com-
related issues are discussed in Defining Death. pany of Swami Saradeshananda in the sixth
Sister Niveditas life and teachings are rem- instalment of Gems of Memories: Reminis-
nants of a bygone era that beckon us to ignite our cences of Swami Saradeshananda.
lives with at least an iota of inspiration that revo- Swami Sandarshanananda, a monk at Rama-
lutionised that glorious life. Hers was an unbe- krishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, Kol-
lievably active life and newer and newer material kata, in the tenth instalment of Saga of Epic
is being discovered even today, after 150 years of Proportions, shows how Sister Nivedita sup-
her birth. Sarada Sarkar, researcher and history ported Dr Jagadish Chandra Bose.
teacher from Croydon, UK has relentlessly pur- Many wonderful nuggets of wisdom con-
sued all connections of Sister Nivedita and has tained in ancient scriptures are difficult to under-
established contact with her living relatives. To stand. In Balabodha, such ancient wisdom is
one such relative, Chris Orpen, she sent the Janu- made easy. This months topic is Nididhyasana.
ary 2017 issue of Prabuddha Bharata, which was Understanding this word is necessary to under-
focussed on the theme Sister Nivedita: Offered stand this process, which is the important third
to India. Orpen wrote to Sarada Sarkar with full step of spiritual life.
of appreciation and also with rare archival mater- Same action, if done with different motives,
ial on and by Sister Nivedita. The facsimiles of could create different results and hence we should
that material and their transcription is being pro- not have any expectation while doing anything as
vided in Sister Niveditas Unpublished Letter shown in the story Karma Yoga. This story is this
and Family Papers. These papers include Sister months Traditional Tales and has been translated
Niveditas letter to her sister Mary or May Wil- from the Tamil book Arulneri Kathaigal.
son; two letters by Dr Jagadish Chandra Bose to Constantine Sedikides, Professor of Psych-
May Wilson; three letters by Abala Bose, wife of ology, University of Southampton, UK and Ste-
Dr Jagadish Chandra Bose, to May Wilson; and ven J Spencer, Associate Professor and Chair,
many other important materials. Social Psychology Division, University of Wa-
Swami Saradeshananda was an illumined terloo, Canada and secretary and chair-elect of
beacon among the disciples of Sri Sarada Devi. the executive committee of the Society for Ex-
His spiritual wisdom and insight have inspired perimental Psychology, have edited the book
the lives of countless spiritual aspirants. Swami The Self. From this book, we bring you this
Shuklatmananda, a monk at Ramakrishna months Manana.
Defining Death
D
efining death is akin to defining life. is born out of our ignorance. So, death is de-
One does not mean anything without struction. Death could also figuratively mean
the other. There are various perspectives the loss of wealth and honour. People who do
from which to look upon death. Death could
be defined as the disconnection from the body, Death is desire. The more one desires, the
vital breath, mind, and so on. You suddenly dis- more would one die.
connect and die. This is an interesting perspec-
tive on death. You dont die in reality; you just not have wealth have no problems. Those who
disconnect yourself from the body. This means have wealth, have enough problems! As the body
that birth is connecting oneself to a body. Birth and vital energy are material, so is wealth. So if
does not mean that you come into existence. You a person can identify oneself with the body, it is
already exist. You always exist. Birth is just an as- as dumb as identifying oneself with ones bank
sertion of your ignorance. When an intelligent balance. Apparently, it may seem that it is al-
person becomes ignorant, she or he takes birth. right if a person is alive and is identifying oneself
That is what the scriptures say. When you are full with the body, but if somebody identifies one-
of knowledge and suddenly you become a fool, self with the bank balance, it is wrong. But seen
you take birth! You come to this world. Even from a higher perspective, both are the same.
with your pristine purity and innate knowledge, Your identification with your bank balance or
suddenly you think yourself attached to the with your body is essentially of the same nature.
body, you get yourself connected to this body That is also death.
because of delusion, because of maya and then Death could also be defined as dissolution.
you take birth. Now, this is from a larger, macro, perspective.
So, what is death? Disconnecting from the From an individual perspective, micro, perspec-
body. And death is of course destruction, de- tive, my body is the body. Advaita Vedanta holds
struction in the dualistic sense of the term; de- that both the macro and the micro are ones own
struction of duality. You have destruction only creation; this world does not exist as one sees
when you have a sense of construction, when it. It is because of ones ignorance that one pro-
you have a sense of creation. The very idea of jects it so. When the world will die, there will
creation is an abhorring idea in Advaita Vedanta. be dissolution.
What can you create? This is an illusion. There The very concepts of birth and death come
is no creation at all. All that you see is because out of ignorance. If you do not have ignorance,
of your ignorance. The entire universe that we you will not have the concept of death. Death is
see is of a variegated nature and is nothing but a creation that is born out of ignorance. Death
a reflection of our ignorance or reflection that is natural action and natural knowledge. It is
mundane that I will die, that I am yawning, that of ignorance. It is a superimposition, which is
I am about to fall asleep, because of some bor- brought out of ignorance. Death essentially
ing talk that is capable of inducing sleep when occurs because of the idea of duality. It occurs
tranquillisers cannot! Death is also born out of because one perceives difference, because one
desire. This appears to be ironical. We all desire differentiates oneself from the universe and
to live long. How is it that death is born out of identifies with a particular body. Death is there-
desire? The very desire which makes you yearn fore the identification with the body, as was
for a long life is ignorance, and that very desire said earlier.
will propel you towards death. This is of course As seen earlier, death is desire. The more one
a more practical definition of death. Desire will desires, the more would one die, some deaths
propel you to indulge in sense pleasures and occurring in the same lifetime! Hence, everyone
thereby you will wear out your body and mind should desire less and less. That could set all of us
and end up dying quickly! The more desires you on the path to immortality.
have the more taxed you will be. You will be tax- Though death remains to be the only cer-
ing your body and mind and senses and you will tain thing in any life, what exactly brings about
die sooner. death has been the field of inquiry for scientists
Death could also be defined as hunger. There and philosophers alike. Presently, all explan-
could be many interpretations of this definition. ations of the death of a life-form are at best,
The simplest one would be something like this. If postmortem ratiocinations of an unknown
you are hungry and you are not provided food, phenomenon. In spite of there being no dearth
you will die; death out of starvation. Death is of cultural, religious, and mythical studies on
considered by many to be something that is evil. death, attempts to ensure a peaceful exit from
This is predominantly a Judeo-Christian con- life are relatively new; particularly for the ter-
cept. Eastern traditions do not consider death to minally-ill patients.
be evil. From the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, Death is a huge irony, huge dichotomy that
it is evil because it is ignorance. It is because of goes unnoticed. The biggest wonder of death
ignorance that one thinks of death. To exhaust is that it is not at all noticed, at least not ones
all the accumulated effects of ones actions, one own death. Every one of us here is certain of our
needs to identify with a body. So, death is evil life, which is the least certain thing in our lives.
because it takes away the opportunity of using The most certain thing, death, is totally un-
the body. cared for, unplanned for, and goes unnoticed.
Death can also be defined as darkness.Death Everyone clings on to the body and has a strong
brings fatigue, that is, when one nears death, desire to live. It becomes difficult to give it up.
all energy is lost. No one can actually claim to Death is a big delusion as is birth. The delusion
have the first-hand experience of death. Near- that somebody loves you, that you love some-
death experiences are not the same as death it- bodyall these delusions, all these illusions
self. Much like the experience of the knowledge within the bigger illusion of this worldap-
of Brahman, the experience of death also cannot pear because of this desire to live, the desire to
be expressed, albeit for a quite different reason! survive. The only way to go beyond death is to
Zombies still are just a figment of imagination! go beyond duality, go beyond ignorance, and to
Death can also be seen as the superimposition do away with ignorance. P
I
t was 4 july 2017, the day which is very spe-
cial for so many reasons, mainly because 115
years ago, on this day, Swami Vivekananda
started his journey to eternity. However, the
postman wanted a signature, so the post was re-
turned in my absence. Mr Chris Orpen sends me
a parcel of their family papers. So I rushed to the
post office. My heart was beating heavily, I knew
that in a few moments, I will touch the history, From Left: Mary Isabel Noble (Mother of Sister Nivedita),
Richmond Noble (Brother), Sister Nivedita,
feel the warmth, smell the fragrance of the Sri and Mary Noble (Sister)
Ramakrishna era, where everyone belonged to
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. to note a few minor differences between what
Let me describe Mr Chris Orpen. A very is recorded in that document, things I remem-
sharp and intelligent man, who even at the age ber being told by my Gammer [grandmother]
of eighty-seven, owns a good sense of humour Mary ( May) Louise Wilson, and other items
of interest which I have picked up from cor-
and a clear memory of past. He is the grandson
respondence between my late aunt Ruth Olave
of Mrs Mary Wilson, Sister Niveditas sister. Mr Wilson (Grancy) [May had two daughters,
Orpen lives in South Africa. However, both of Margaret Bose Wilson and Ruth Olave Wil-
his sons are here in the United Kingdom and are son] and her first cousin Isabel Whitney (nee
extremely well established and respected in the Noble and daughter of Richmond Noble,
British society. He wrote the following email on younger brother of Nivedita and May) includ-
28 June 2017: ing the relationship with Sir Jagadish Chandra
Bose and Mays immediate family. That corres-
Dear Sarada, pondence and few other pieces (some hand-
You kindly sent the referenced document1 to written by Nivedita) which only recently came
my son Prof A G Orpen some time ago, and he into my possession and I have bundled them all
passed it on to me as he was aware of my inter- together and will post it to you, when I know to
est in my great-aunt Margaret Elizabeth Noble, what address I should send it.
better known as Sister Nivedita.
I have read much of the document (about 1. I recall being told by my Gammer that she
a third of the 330 pages)not all but enough and her elder sister were sent to a school
(I thought seemingly wrongly) in the Lake He was also an expert on Shakespeare and
District for the children of impecunious or the music associated with the Bards plays.
impoverished children of clergymen, which Where their mother [Sister Niveditas
I now find from your document was The mother] was at that time I do not know, she
Crossley Heath School in Halifax which had had a very hard life having lost several
was in the main actually an orphanage and other children at young ages and a husband
founded by members of the Congregational who was only thirty-four when he died.
Church. There she [May Wilson] told me
2. Sister Ns father was a devout non-con-
they received more religion than food, that
formist Christian Wesleyan or Methodist
it was extremely strict, and that it had not
minister who whilst originally apprenticed
been a happy time for her. She was, when I
to the linen trade only wanted to enter the
knew her, in her sixties and early seventies, a
church. He approached the Church of Ire-
slightly built lady with a very erect posture,
land for assistance with his studies and was
one which she got as a child when required
refused help from that quarter, and he was
to sit at the table erectly, with a ribbon tied
eventually given help by the Congregational
round her chest to ensure that she did so.
Church which was also non-conformist to
In some of the correspondence it is noted
go to Oxford. It is therefore not surprising
that she [May] promised Sister N [Nived-
that Sister N and May were both sent to the
ita] never to reveal anything of their time at
Heath Crossley School in Halifax, a Con-
that school. They were I believe very close
gregational Church sponsored school. He
and trusted one another completely. I sus-
must later have joined the Wesleyan church
pect that either she was ashamed, or more
first in Oldbury Yorkshire, and later in Tor-
likely, she wished to avoid sympathy (which
rington, Devon where he was when he died
I gather she never sought). My aunt Grancy
(like his daughter Sister N, ministering to
[Ruth] said that she had never been aware
the sick).
that her mother May had ever lived in Lan-
cashire prior to her father [Ernest Wilson] 3. In much of the writings you sent, there is
moving his business from Bradford to Man- mention made of the support given by Sis-
chester in the early 1900s. So well-kept was ter Ns grandparents to Home Rule for Ire-
their understanding. I know she was eight land, a fact in some doubt according to my
when she [May] first went to that school Aunt Grancy and her cousin Isabel Whit-
and Sister N was ten. Their brother Rich- ney (vide correspondence which I will send
mond (grandfather to Selenda Gerardin, you). Their view is consistent with the Ham-
who you know) was sent to stay with their iltons very strong Protestant beliefs but who
grandparents (the Hamiltons) who were knows as there are other contrary opinions.
very religious and members (I think of the 4. I am fascinated by the connection of the
Anglican Church of Ireland) where he was family with Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose. It
required each and every day to read alter- seems there was a close relationship between
nate chapters of the Holy Bible with his Nivedita and Sir Jagadish in that she edited
grandfather. Result, no doubt that he had much of his writings. In addition he is well
become an expert on the Bible. As an aside, famed for his work on early methods of de-
during World War I he was one of the only tecting radio signals. He was very friendly
commanders from his regiment to survive with my grandparents May and Ernest
the battle of the Somme and he came away Jowett Wilson, and gave his name to my
with forty pieces of shrapnel in his body. mother who was named at her baptism as
Margaret Bose Wilson. He was also named This is the transcript of Grancys letter to her
as her godfather! Another connection is the cousins:
fact that my grandfather Ernest Jowett Wil- [Page 1]
son, a scientist/engineer had been working
on things to do with radio. I have a cartoon mmsbiekers
drawn by a Mr R H Facey which shows
Buitekant Street,
him in his workshop with pictures in the
Swellendam 674 on r s a
background of Marconi, Edison, Bell, and
another with a question mark indicating a 8.5.77
possible place for him in that august com-
(My Mothers Birthdayand Mothering
pany. There are a few letters from Sir J C
Sunday).
Bose and from his wife Abala to Mrs Wil-
son (May) after Niveditas death and also to Dear Cousins,
my aunt who was a young girl at the time. I have been more than disturbed by the
This is further evidence of their friendship. letters and also in the beginnings of the two
My grandfather died in 1926 and Sir J C booksthe Lizelle Reymond3 and the Barbara
Bose, I think in 1937.2 From the correspond- Foxe.4 I feel that while the latter may have a de-
ence it seems he (Sir J C) was naturally dev- votion for the Yoga and modern devotions and
astated by Niveditas passing. the desire for meditations, that she has missed
5. I also have another similar (original water-
colour) R H Facey cartoon, which shows Watercolour Cartoon by R H Facey
my grandfather [Ernest Jowett Wilson] Showing Ernest Jowett Wilson Reading a Book titled ism
reading a book called ism and a figure hold-
ing a document Swami and a bloodstained
dagger over his head. I have made a copy of
it and attached it to the other documents. I
was at first perplexed by the cartoon until,
on reading further about Vivekanandas
teaching that all isms lead to fanaticism and
in time, to disaster, I began to understand
the cartoons significance. It would seem
that other members of my family were also
influenced by him.
I am sure that much of the above is not new
to you nor to others who have written about
Nivedita nor about Sir J C Bose other than to
add some personal touches to the story of a fas-
cinating woman and an interesting scientist. As
noted above, I will gladly post the documents
recently acquired by me to you so please let me
have an address in the UK where I am at the
moment.
Yours sincerely
c m w Orpen
Unpublished Letter of Ruth Olave Wilson (Grancy) to Her Cousins Dated 8 May 1977.
out on what the intention of Nivedita really was. They do not come often, and Sister Chris-
tine, etc were never in the same category, as
In her own beliefright or wrongNived-
Margaret never thought of what she might
ita became Hinduism. She was one with Kali
reap out of all she gave. She had, though, this
and Swami Vivekananda.
terrific giving gift. Once she had studied
Her very early belief in the furtherance enough and realized that India needed her
of education for children came from various she gave herself to India forever.
sources. The children themselvesMargaret,
Mary, and Rich, all were richly endowed with [Page 2]
a thirst for knowledge, and came from people
who spent more time thinking and teaching All the same, I feel that Margaret was ready
than in eating. for wider fields, and that the Swamiji was
shrewd enough to realize that first class lay
The girls home in Wimbledon was an oasis at his feet and he took advantage of what he
for keen mental brains. needed mosta real true devotee.
I know quite a lot of that period, and all in Nivedita wasI believestarved for nat-
all, I think that Aunt Margaret was the very ripe ural love (except my mother, who adored her)
plum, be the dedicated teacher, devotee, saint, and that, unwillingly great emotions came into
and gospeller that she was. play, and she was ready to give herself, heart
Koomaraswami (I do not like the man!), Havell Your letters are so welcome and comfort-
(he is a fine man), Geddes. ing. They make us feel that Nivedita is with us
You may get Miss Longfellows and Miss still, and your assurance that all was well with
Lambs through Miss MacLeod. her since she was with us is very soothing for it
seems that she from the other world is telling us
I will write to the chicks soon. God bless
that. We loved her dearly and she was most pre-
them. It is no use imagining impossibilities. I
cious to us but moments of indifference come
wont live long to see them grown. I shall be
and stab my heart.
happy to think that at least one of them will live
to be fine and a worthy niece. [Page 2]
Yours sincerely, Not intentional indifference but we were so
J C Bose used to take [sic] everything from her. Not that
These are the transcripts of the three newly she ever felt anything, but I feel now why did
found unpublished letters of Mrs Abala Bose to I even let a single occasion pass without show-
Mrs Wilson or May Wilson: ing her my love. In this very room from which
I am writing how often she came and waited
1 for us. In my heart I loved her very much and
[Page 1] tried to serve her in deeds and I hope she knew.
93 Upper Circ. Road Of course she knew but she did not know how
4th Jan 1912 much for I never expressed it in words. Dear
friend, I daresay I repeat things but it is so com-
My dear Mrs Wilson, forting to be able to
had a talk about who will die first but I never Yours loving,
thought she would go so soon. Abala Bose
Unpublished Letter of Mrs Abala Bose to Mrs May Wilson Unpublished Letter of Mrs Abala Bose to Mrs May Wilson
Dated 4 January 1912. Dated 14 December.
with him and working with him! Even in Dar- to my husband as often as you can find time for
jeeling when she lay ill I used to tell her how she he is so fearfully lonely. Next year I shall try to
has spoiled him and that nobody could do what go to England and perhaps seeing you and the
she does for him and what patience she had children may brighten him up a little.
with him. She had filled our lives with every- With much love,
thing good and nobleour happiness was not
Yours lovingly,
[Page 4] Abala Bose
complete without her, now where shall we go?
You will understand the hunger of our heart, 3
so it is a comfort to write to you. Being unde- [Page 1]
monstrative and shy I never showed how much
I loved herthe pity of it! She did so long for
some demonstrationoh if I had her again My dear Mrs Wilson,
how I would show!
I fully realize that it has been a great priv-
Does she know? God knows, so she must ilege to have lived with him and known so
know too. many beautiful thoughts and met so many
Dear Mrs Wilson, never mind me but write good people. Whether he loved me or not, my
Page 1
Unpublished Letter of Mrs Abala Bose to Mrs May Wilson
fell as the donkey rounded the shoulder of the deep-seeingshone with suppressed excite-
hill, and disappeared into the dell where Thorn- ment, while the customary look of baffled stir-
burg Church was situated. It was the hour and ring on her face. was heightened into passionate
the light the old woman loved. Under the low yearning for the nonce.
Churchyard-wall, From grave-fort to grave-fort, the bent old fig-
ure passed, stopping at each, as if to talk with the
[Page 7]
invisible, and choosing with marked preference
brown leaves had drifted, and in the tree-tops
[Page 8]
the wind, that was only a breeze higher up,
gathered fever and tossed about huge branches. new-turned soil.
moaning its weird sleep-song over the dead.
Her eyes strained eagerly into the gather-
A lych-gateof ancient pattern, but recent ing dusk, and gradually her air of expectation
dateformed the entrance to the Churchyard, changed to an expression of disappointment,
and to a post of this structure, Janet fastened mounting to despair. Eh my bairn, my bairn,
her donkey, as she dismounted and passed into she cried at last. Will ye not come home? Not
the enclosure. on your own birthnight? Not to your own old
To her, the silent place was alive with mother? My lad, my lad! Two years I saw myself
friends; a delicate flush warmed her wrinkled carrying your coffin, and well I marked that on
features, as she entered. Her eyes-beautiful, this day ye would slip your fetters. And now its
the third year and ye havena come. Oh! Dont Strange, though, about Farmer Wilsons sil-
say that in the Good Land ye never mind ye of ver watch! But Janet neither saw her pastor,
yer old Mother! My lad, my lad, my own lad ! nor heard his salutation. Her attention was en-
A something of untamed queenliness per- grossed by that silent crowd, who to her eyes
tained however to Janet Nuttall, and not in the surrounded her, and journeyed with her in her
darkening Gods acre, could she feel sufficiently market cart to her lonely home.
alone to indulge her private grief.
Friends, she said mastering a sob, and turn- Hours passed away, and long after she con-
ing courteously to address empty space, its ill- ceived her strange visitants to have departed,
[Page 9] Janet Nuttall sat before the fire, and bent her
piercing gaze on the glowing coals. Her proph-
biding in a Churchyard, in wind and rain. etic mood was on her and at times like this,
Come back with me to a warm hearth. A bit of she believed firmly in her own insight into the
shelter and a friendly words always heartsome, future.
and may help ye on to the Good Land. Yes, she saidspeaking in a low broken
The Vicar, passing, as she climbed into her voice, and with evident anxietythere ye
cart, called out Good-night, Janet, and mut- come, Jane Hayward,
tered to himself, must have been wandering
[Page 10]
about among the graves again, poor old body!
She grows more and more daft every day! asking my help. Well, well, yell get yer wish,
woman, but ye were better without it if ye only looked into itmyself ! She fell back into her
knew! And you, Henry Morris, what do ye chair, with a moan of horror, and at that mo-
seek.? A key? I see it ! Hurry me not, man. Itll ment. from the Church steeple in the village,
be foundall in good timehere, pull away rang out eleven strokes.
somethingits a drawer, a drawer with a brass
ring in front of it, and heres the key! ... Yes, yes,
an heres another . [Page 11]
She had forgotten herself utterly by this On the south side of one of the great
time, in her eager muttering, but now she gave bridges, a manwearing the clothes and the
a smothered scream as some vision seemed to closely cropped hair of a discharged convict
come upon her with a sense of recognition. Ah, crouched with folded arms, gazing moodily
here you are again, with the coffin in your arms, at the pavement in front of him. There was a
youJanet Nuttall! Let me see, let me see! and clear space there, which seem to be automat-
craning her neck, the old woman tottered to ically respected by passing pedestrians, and in
her feet, as if by peering further into the fire, the middle of it had been throwna black cot-
she could indeed bring the future nearer to her ton glove.
eyes. Yes, its the same coffin, she went on, the Already, the man had him huddled there an
very same, and the same day! My boy! My boy! hour or more, with his glowering eyes fixed on
Theres the name upon it, surely, why no, theres the sordid challenge at his feet, when the sound
no name, the plates a looking-glass, and, Ive of Big Ben booming out eleven reverberated
mile or two away, lies the railroad, and there The sun set so wonderfully behind the pine
our wonderful pilgrimage ended. It was a road trees. But that was behind his head. The part of
along which went first the Buddhist apostles, a grave you know is towards the
then the coteries of Asoka, then the messengers [Page 2]
of the Early Sin. Then came the doctrine of the
dawn and the east.
Mother, conflicting with the Gupta worship of
Sathya Narain. Then Sankaracharya with Ved- Papa is not there, dear. But the place was so
anta Aphorisms. And worthy Ramanujas Vaish- sacred to me still, for I felt that it was the spot
navism. Jai! Jai! Jai! of your great sorrow and our brothers farewell
to home for such long weary years. But I have
In the papers, was also there, a letter written tried hard not to feel that our loved one has any
by Sister Nivedita to her youngest sister, Mrs. [Page 3]
May Wilson. This the text of the letter: special tie to that sweet spot. Death is really
[Page 1] the ceasing to be able to think of the prisoning
C/o Mrs. Allen body. It lets one go free into utterly new condi-
tions, I feel sure. And the pain we had in our
South 81, Torrington
loneliness was after all a thing to make light of.
1908. Good Friday Night. It is over now. And we would not remember it.
My sweet Nim, So the sweet, serene
[Page 4]
We went to Papas grave this evening and
planted wild primroses and violets there. Mrs. spirit is to be given peace and freedom from our
Bull and Dr. Bose and I. It was Dr. Boses plan old sorrowis he not? And the grave is only as a
and he thought of the violets and found the sod shelf on which was once laid a folded vesture. It is
of roots for the place. all a dreamlife as well as death. And they who
Pages 2 and 3
Page 4
Page 1
M
onk: How can we advance in spir- the whole country. Now we should not be bent
itual life? upon building new centres, rather we should con-
Saradeshananda: Live a spotless centrate on the preaching work more and more.
monastic life and so much fame and prosperity The whole world has been waiting with parched
will come that you will be hardly able to han- throat, as it were, to receive the ideals of Sri Rama-
dle. Only two-four monks are enough to run a krishna. Twenty to twenty-five monks are crowded
centre. And you dont need to deliver big lectures together in each of our educational centres. It is
to build an ashrama. Its living the life of a sadhu high time we scattered Sri Ramakrishnas ideals all
that guarantees real functioning of an ashrama. over the world in an orderly manner.
A little bit of celebration, music, and discussion Saradeshananda once asked a monk coming
on the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami from one of the Ramakrishna Mission centres
Vivekananda should be enough. Now it seems abroad: You have been there for so many years.
that we are leaning more towards name and fame Do you think that those who accept Sri Rama-
rather than preaching the ideals of Sri Rama- krishnas ideal are people of steady character in
krishna and Swamiji. The trend, it appears to me, their society?
is more towards doing something pompous by Monk: Yes Maharaj, it is true. Those closely
blaring microphones or by blazoning on various associated with the ashrama are surely people of
periodicals and newspapers! You can accomplish integrity in their society.
Saradeshananda: Then know for sure that and another for his attendant. In the later years
youre in the right direction. It is not that you of his life, he found it difficult to move from his
have to gather too many people and make a bed. So, all the devotees, including women, were
fuss. Even if a handful few are attracted to Sri allowed inside his room. He would ask some
Ramakrishnas ideals and they try to lead a pure of them, out of courtesy, especially the women
life, you should consider your efforts amply re- devotees from abroad, to sit on the chair or on
warded. I think what the West needs today is an the bed beside his. However, they almost always
emphasis on family life, that is, mutual love and chose to sit on the floor. Some of them chose to
affection amongst the family members. People sit on the attendants bed as instructed by him.
are gradually turning into machines; indeed, self- When I expressed my reservations in this matter,
ishness is dragging people down to the level of he gravely said: As long as my body permitted,
brutes. This I have found out by asking many of I always went outside to meet them, but I am
them. Compared to others, Sri Ramakrishnas almost on my deathbed now. And they say that
devotees are more in touch with their parents there is no law in deathbed. I look upon them as
and relatives. In fact, such bonds among the fam- my mother. Didnt you have mother and sisters
ily members are of paramount importance today in your house? They will come to my room and
in the country both for the interest of the indi- sit on the bed, if need be. If you feel uneasy, you
vidual as well as for the societys interest at large. may please roll your bed during the daytime. If
In the same room, there were two beds you still have any misgivings, you may leave. I
placed side by sideone for Saradeshananda dont need your service.
in the place of our mother. Try to see them in
this light. Otherwise you can never escape the
snares of maya by harbouring any kind of hatred
towards them.
I remember one incident that Sarade-
shananda narrated to me during a conversation.
Once, he was going to some place and saw a boy,
crying bitterly, going in the opposite direction.
After some time, he suddenly realised that the
road that lay in that direction was completely
flooded with water. Without further delay he
rushed to the boy and saw that his apprehen-
sion was right. The little fellow was floundering
helplessly in water. He immediately picked him
up from water. A life was thus saved!
Once seeing a north Indian sadhu in Puri liv-
ing on simple stale ricerice cooked overnight
and soaked in waterSaradeshananda asked
the sadhu as to how he managed without roti,
the food they were accustomed to. The sadhu
replied: You see, any food, no matter which
Swami Saradeshanandas Shrine country it belongs to, it is food after all. One
can indeed live on any food. It is just a matter
Devotees could come anytime to meet Sa- of getting used to it. Later Saradeshananda told
radeshananda. He would always give them a lit- me in this regard: I have travelled to so many
tle prasad, usually sugar candies. Sometimes, he places without any money. But I never thought
would give them water in his own glass. of where my next meal would come from and I
One incident comes to my mind. During one find you always finicky about food. Whats this?
of the celebration days, arrangements were made You should never criticise any food unless you
for the women devotees to sit for partaking become ill by eating it.
prasad on the veranda of the building where Sa- Being overly enthusiastic about playing bad-
radeshananda stayed. The nurses of the ashrama minton with the doctors, we prepared a court
also came. One of them needed a spoon, as she and brought all the accessoriesrackets, shut-
had bruised her finger. A monk asked me for the tles, and badminton net. But as soon as Sa-
spoon, but I did not have any, except the spoon radeshananda came to know of it, he strongly
used by Saradeshananda. So I was disinclined forbade me to participate. He said: If you
to give him the spoon. Overhearing our conver- would listen to me, dont go there. Youre a
sation, from inside the room, Saradeshananda brahmachari and they are all householders. All
admonished me severely, and asked me to give sorts of discussion will go on there. That will be
the spoon at once. Reluctantly, I carried out his detrimental for your monastic life. And more-
order. Later he called me and told: See, they are over, as they stay just a furlong away, women
from their homes can come and see the games. yielded to his request. When the woman came
When I tried to feebly put up an argument, he to him, he told her: Dont be a puppet in
said: Dont go. Im telling this for your wellbe- others hands. Do what you like. You are ma-
ing. Proximity with the householders blunts the ture enough to decide for yourself. Later, she
sense of discrimination and that surely invites led an unmarried life.
danger in monastic life. Afterwards youll have Once a brahmachari happened to tell him:
nothing but to repent. Later, heeding to his I told everybody that I would not marry even
words, I did not go to play badminton. when I was in eighth standard. Rather, startled
One woman devotee was very devoted to Saradeshananda said: Never say this again. You
Saradeshananda. She decided not to marry. He just wont know when vanity would creep in.
was also affectionate towards her. She would Beware! Pride goes before destruction.15 And
often ask me if he needed anything for his moreover, who can know mayas plays?
personal use. That womans father tried sev- (To be continued)
eral times to persuade her to marry but to no
avail. Later, seeing no other way out, he came References
to Saradeshananda with another monk, and 15. See Pride goes before destruction, a haughty
asked him to persuade her to marry. He never spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
S
wamiji came to paris at the end of July men of science (ibid.). She was happy that Bose
1900. Bull and Macleod were then in Paris. was dwelling on the ideas of the Bhagavadgita. She
Dr Bose along with his wife reached Paris in said: It has been good to hear Dr. Bose talk un-
August. Nivedita probably arrived there from the guardedly for hours togethergiving story after
US before all others in June. Swamiji and the rest story of the tremendous renunciations of the In-
used to meet at Mr Leggetts place. Accordingly, dian past (ibid.). With a great enthusiasm she said
all of them witnessed Boses spectacular success to Macleod: Can you realise that that conversa-
at the Science Congress there. On 3 September tion marks an epoch in my life? (ibid.).
Swamiji wrote an amusing letter to Mrs Leggett, On 15 November, writing to Miss Macleod,
sister of Miss Macleodshe was in the US at Nivedita mentioned that she was spending a lot
that momentgiving a graphic description of of time over the Tata Scheme, and Dr. Boses
the fun and enjoyment everybody, including the papers (1.399). Incidentally, Tata Scheme was
other delegates of the Congress, was having in another affair in which Nivedita was involved
her house in Paris, in which he specifically men- since it was also concerning the future of Indian
tioned about Prof. William James taking part. science. There is an emotional outburst about
After the Bradford lecture, when Bose had Swamijis love in the letter:
his operation and was having postoperative rest, Swamis dear blessings of the howling dervishes
Nivedita had some interesting conversation with were the first he ever sent me without asking,
him. But before that also, deeply impressed by his and made me feel the happiness of being indeed
conversation, Nivedita wrote to Miss Macleod on a child. As I grow clearer and clearer about the
1 November 1900: I cannot tell you Dearest what terrible and strenuous future of life, I find that
I lean more and more on that relation towards
these friends [Boses] are becoming in their perfect
him. To him one need never be anything more
oneness with our inspirations.38 The talk was very than a child. To him one owes nothingun-
touching to her. He planned what a few of them less everything is anything!but life. Being
could do for Indian education in 10 years, if they that, and owing that, holding that sweetest of
had absolute power (1.394). He said: We would all relationships, the world is before oneevery
have such primary schoolsa 4 years course soul is free to be served by onenothing is shut
and such a secondaryanother 4 yearsand offeven no degree of loveI am surprised to
then by a fine system of scholarships, we would findis forbidden to one (ibid.).
feed the universities (ibid.). She then asked him: This seems to be a charter that she had re-
What would you do in the primary schools? He ceived from Swamiji, which freed her from all fet-
said explaining that his aim would not be to pro- ters yet retained the love of child undiminished.
duce a man of sciencebut to produce perfect It surely gave her now a sense of emancipation to
be able to mingle with the Boses and love Bose tea at the Royal Asiatic Society. She was sorry
freely without any hunch that Swamiji might take that Bose was absent then in view of his health
it in a different light. Without ending the letter condition. She dished out the information that
there, it appears that she held it for a while before Prof. Rhys Davids was going to help about the
posting and wrote again on 22 November to add Tata Scheme.40 In 1898 Jamsetji Tata proposed
a few things more. She informed: I am staying a big donation to the Indian government for a
with the Boses. Every day is filled with work. On postgraduate research institute, which ought to
the 1st of Dec. or thereabouts he has to go for his have Indians in a large number. Swamiji had sup-
operation (ibid.). Drawing to the end of the let- ported the idea and showed his interest. Nived-
ter, she gave a strain of her whim perhaps, saying: ita accordingly got connected to it obviously.
Tell Swami I have only one wish in the world and Her intention was to establish a genius like Dr
that is to live a nuns life perfectly. But every day Bose in this centre for higher research, which
the golden apple of my desire seems to slip fur- would function free of direct control of the im-
ther out of my hands. Will he bless me and give it perialist government. The proposal was not ul-
me?(1.401). By these words she showed that she timately acceptable to the government. Nivedita,
couldnt forget that she was deprived of sannyasa nevertheless, worked hard for its accomplish-
and it was still pricking her conscience maybe it ment, without giving up hope.
had happened due to her own shortcoming. Her letter of 29 November to Bull contained
By the middle of December 1900 Jagadish much about Boses work.
Chandra Bose had his operation done. But it The 2nd paperonlyis under weigh. It is
was a real challenge before the surgeon, for his tremendous, and makes me feel that Annun-
life was in question. The chances for his survival ciation lilies are only a beautiful scientific dia-
were thin. Mrs Bull and Nivedita were obviously gram of magnetic and other curves, as this man
under great tension in that situation and did sees them. You will not be surprised that hours
pass sometimes in making scientific drawings
apply all their strength and efforts to bring him
or calculationsor thinking things out and he
back at any cost. The Boses naturally felt deeply will say at the end Another day wasted! Why
indebted to them for their unstinted services am I so lazy?and yet not a minute has been
with such affection and dedication. Patrick Ged- wasted, really. They made me spend yesterday
des wrote: After Boses attendance at the Inter- morning on the sofa. On Monday I got into
national Science Congress at Paris in 1900, and the circuit of this tremendous mind, and sat for
subsequent cares, his health broke down, and he hours making drawings with collapse as the re-
was in imminent danger, when Mrs. Bull, hear- sult. No wonder it takes him days to get a paper
ing of this, came over from the Continent, found well on the loom (ibid.).
him an expert surgeon and helped to nurse him (To be continued)
back to health. From this time a deep friendship
grew up, and Bose found in her anew the great References
qualities of his own mother.39 38. Letters of Sister Nivedita, ed. Sankari Prasad
She gave some other interesting pieces of Basu, 2 vols (Calcutta: Nababharat, 1982), 1.393.
39. Sir Patrick Geddes, The Life and Work of Sir Ja-
news to Mrs Bull on 22 November, one of them gadis C. Bose: An Indian Pioneer of Science (Lon-
being the news of her meeting with Rhys Da- don: Longmans and Green, 1920), 221.
vids as well as the news of their invitation to 40. Letters of Sister Nivedita, 1.403.
Nididhyasana
S
piritual practice consists of three Shravana is the principal because it is the con-
stages: shravana, manana, and nididhyasana. sideration of a means of knowing and manana
Since the Upanishads exhort one to do Nidi and nididhyasana are subsidiary because they
dhyasana, it is necessary to know the meaning of only help to accomplish the fruit of shravana,
this word and what exactly is meant by the practice that is, the knowledge of Brahman. It is also said
of nididhyasana. This is a Sanskrit word. Sanskrit is that shravana and manana should be performed
a classical language like Greek, Latin, and Persian. till the knowledge of Brahman manifests itself
And in Sanskrit, as in most classical languages, and nididhyasana is the final limit of perform-
most words are derived from a stem or root. ing shravana and manana. These two are said to
The word nididhyasana is derived from the culminate into nididhyasana after the repetition
root dhyai, which means to think, imagine, con- of the two. Shravana and manana are co-existent
template, meditate, recollect, call to mind, and and nididhyasana is their culmination and the
brood. Nididhyasana means profound and re- precedent of the knowledge of Brahman.
peated meditation. Nididhyasana is different from the medita-
Nididhyasana follows manana. It is the tion on a symbol or upasana. Here, one fixes the
stream of ideas of the same kind as those of Brah- stream of ideas on the principle, Brahman, to
man, the ultimate Reality, and excludes ideas of determine its true nature. The purpose of nidi
a different kind, like those of the body, mind, dhyasana is to attain a direct vision of Brahman,
senses, and the intellect. Nididhyasana means by discarding everything else. After the rising
understanding the meaning of the scriptures of this knowledge, nothing else needs to be
on the basis of the relation between the words done, because one gets moksha. The metaphys-
and the sense in which they are expressed. This ical knowledge that results from nididhyasana
is done by a person who has already acquired results in immediate moksha or liberation.
the complete knowledge of the meaning of the Nididhyasana can also be defined as the flow of
scriptures through the stages of shravana and uninterrupted knowledge arising from the medi-
manana along with the spiritual disciplines of tation on Brahman. However, it is not the medi-
shama, dama, shraddha, titiksha, uparati, and tation or concentration on something separate
samadhana. Nididhyasana does not mean sim- as that would mean that there is a difference be-
ple meditation, though that is the etymological tween Atman and Brahman, which are identi-
meaning. Nididhyasana means knowledge that cal in reality. And so, nididhyasana should be
has liberation or moksha as its aim and has no understood to be becoming one with Brahman.
expectation. It is the culmination of the practice It is the realisation, comprehension, or under-
of shravana and manana, and is an indirect intu- standing of the ultimate Reality after the analysis
ition of Brahman. of the meaning of the Vedantic passages. P
O
nce in varanasi, two young men those of his age as sisters, and women younger
were walking through the Hanuman to him as his daughters. Hence, he said to the
Square. They saw two young women young woman he had rescued: Sister, God has
drowning. Seeing this, they jumped into water. provided me the opportunity to do a good deed.
image: www.CrosswaLK.Com
They rescued and brought to shore those two I have done my duty. He believed that God
women, who were about to drown. The rescued alone was true.
women thanked the young men. Externally, both the men did the same act
One young man asked the young woman he of rescuing a life, but they differed in their at-
had rescued to marry him. He believed that this titudes. Hence, they got different results of the
world was the only truth. The other young man same work. Work that is done expecting results
looked upon women elder to him as his mother, leads to bondage. Work that is done with the
idea that one is the instrument of God and with Sri Ramakrishna says: A boat may stay in
an attitude of surrendering the fruits of the work water, but water should not stay in boat. A spirit-
to God, leads to liberation. Moreover, only one ual aspirant may live in the world, but the world
image: www.www.satshree.org
who is leading a spiritual life can serve the world should not live within him.2 P
with purity. Else, one cannot prevent the influ-
ence of selfish interests.
Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita: Your References
right is for action alone, never for the results. 1. Gita, 2.47.
Do not become the agent of the results of action. 2. Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (Madras: Rama-
May you not have any inclinations for inaction.1 krishna Math, 1971), 276.
(13871400) gives in to despair regarding the discourse on eighteenth century literature has
human condition and frankly, gives up on man been tainted by subaltern historiography, minor
(See Physicians Tale, Pardoners Introduction, philosophical concerns, and an inertia expansively
Pardoners Prologue, and Pardoners Tale). commented on by Alexander Pope in The Dun-
Shakespeares Hamlets exclamation: What a ciad (1728). Hopefully Professor Joness thorough
piece of work is man ends in nihilism and despair: glosses will force inert humanists to re-scrutinise
And yet to me [Hamlet], what is this quintessence Popes entire corpus. The art of glossing literary
of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor Woman texts is now a lost art and yet it is precisely this tech-
neither (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2). nique of glossing that should be taught to literature
The true heir to Aquinas is Giovanni Pico della students in English major classrooms instead of
Mirandola (146394) since in Oration on the Dig- harrying them to inane quick-fix seminars, which
nity of Man (1486), Mirandola till the end of his in most cases do not further the cause of deep schol-
tract defends man and never gives up on human- arship. Enlightenment ideals are needed now what
ity. Much later, Jonathan Swift (16671745) will with Recep Tayyip Erdoan (b. 1954), Ali Bongo
extol humanity in his Gullivers Travels (1726) and Ondimba (b. 1959), and their ilk clinging to polit-
Alexander Pope will pick up the traces not only ical power throughout the world. Tellingly, Jones
of the Psalmist but of the entire Old Testament, notices Popes concern with mans animality and
including Qoheleth, the New Testament, Aquinas, animals humanity (ibid.). In a certain sense, Alex-
Chaucer, Shakespeare, and of course, Pico della ander Pope is one of the pioneers of animal studies,
Mirandola to write his magnum opus An Essay on much discussed within the humanities today.
Man (17334). It is this work which will later exert In his Introduction to this edition, Jones notes
its power on the likes of Immanuel Kant (1724 that Arthur O Lovejoy in 1936 saw the corres-
1804) and neo-Kantians like Susan Neiman (b. pondences between Immanuel Kants Universal
1955). Neimans Moral Clarity (2009) shows how Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755)
Kant was influenced by Pope and depicts Nei- even before Maynard Mack (19092001; see May-
mans love for An Essay on Man. nard Mack, Alexander Pope: A Life ( New York:
Princeton University Press got Tom Jones to Norton, 1969)) did while researching the life of
introduce and annotate Popes work and it is a Pope (civ). This eye for detailed academic sleuth-
wake-up call to those eighteenth century liter- ing makes Joness Introduction by far the most
ary scholars who have fixated on Popes The Rape advanced and original work by any researcher
of the Lock (1712) to the exclusion of all his other working today on Enlightenment literature. In
works. Joness Introduction is itself the best essay 2017 it does little good to keep on going round and
today in print about Popes poem and a manifesto round about the question of Swift and Pope being
for the primacy of Enlightenment literature in satirists and making a hue and cry about whether
an academia deadened with catchphrases. Jones they were Horatian, Juvenalian, or Varronian sati-
writes: The poem [An Essay on Man] has been rists. That work has been done masterfully by the
used as a tool for thinking by philosophers and late Ian Jack (19232008) in his Augustan Satire:
politicians from the middle of the eighteenth cen- Intention and Idiom in English Poetry, 16601750
tury to the present. It has been a practical resource (1952) and later by Northrop Frye (19121991) in
for understanding where humans are placed in his Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957).
the world, what kind of beings they are, and what Tom Jones is in the line of literary scholars
they should do Consequently it is surprising worldwide who understand that literature is not
that the poem has not figured more prominently philosophy; neither is philosophy, literature. Jones
in the productive confrontation of literary and is in the line of Edward Mendelson who is editing
cultural studies with social theory and postwar W H Audens (190773) corpus and Princeton
European philosophy that has left such a strong University Presss publishing both Jones and Men-
mark on the university study of literature (xvii). delson shows the clarity of thought of the pub-
This is not surprising because the academic lisher since few try today to reclaim the domain
For instance, Bernard G Prusak is incorrect to Eleanor Maccoby (b. 1917), Janet Taylor Spence
in reading both Neiman and Arendt, while he (19232015), and Elizabeth Loftus (b. 1944) on the
reads Neiman on Arendt in his essay Arendt and other hand. The interaction of Maccoby, Spence,
the Banality of Evil: A Note on Neiman (See and Loftus with the thought of Neiman is beyond
<https://expositions.journals.villanova.edu/art- the scope of this review. Later we will passingly
icle/view/87> accessed 01 September 2017). show the need for Loftuss work in understanding
What Prusak fails to understand is that Arendt Neiman. It is not hard to see her relationship to
was a brilliant structuralist while Neiman is a bril- Emmanuel Lvinas (19061995), Eliezer Wiesel
liant phenomenologist and is the most receptive (19282016), Victor Frankl (190597), and Martha
reader of Arendt today. Like Prusak, many have Nussbaum (b. 1947), and recently to another neo-
failed to see the genius of Neiman since she, as Kantian, Bettina Stangneth (b. 1966).
Prusak points out in his derogatory essay, chooses Nussbaum is not concerned per se with theod-
to put Arendt forward in her works. The humil- icy as Neiman is, but she rereads Aristotle. Bettina
ity inherent in Neimans work misguides many. Stangneth is more in the line of Hannah Arendt.
A parallel can be drawn between John Milton The difference between Neiman on the one hand
(160874) and Alexander Pope (16881744). A and Arendt and Stangneth is best proven through
cursory reading of Pope, who is read extensively analogy: while the former is a pure mathemat-
by Neiman in her book under review herefor ician, the latter two are applied mathematicians,
instance, see the index entry on Pope in page 466 as it were. The present book, in a very Husserlian
of this bookmakes one feel that Pope is lash- sense, problematises morality and critiques Kants
ing out at Milton; but deeper contemplation of imperatives in a comprehensible language. While
Pope shows that he is aware and respectful of the Husserl is often indecipherable; Neiman is emi-
contribution of John Milton to the cause of free- nently readable without being reductionist.
dom and rebellion in a world choking under the In this book and elsewhere, Neiman is the true
pressures of Puritan excesses in the England of heir to a very specific domain within psychology
Miltons times. We will return to Neimans phe- and philosophy; the problem, or the lack, of em-
nomenological antecedents in a moment. pathy. Lack of empathy and what we can do about
Neiman excels at abstract thinking in contrast it is what the book under review is all about. This
to Arendt, which quality is not to be found in any is because moral clarity is well-nigh impossible
other neo-Kantian writing today. We will have the in a world where genocides are the norm and the
chance to assess why it is important to see Neiman Hitler-event has enacted a total amnesia on think-
as a theologian, even though in her entire corpus ers post-Shoah. It is interesting to note that many
she never sees herself as a theologian. In fact, in survivors of the Shoah became psychoanalysts
the book under review she is sceptical of God-talk and thus tried to reconstruct their experiences
and sees herself as an heir to the European En- in the concentration camps (See H M Reijzer, A
lightenment, which was the first sustained attack Dangerous Legacy: Judaism and the Psychoanalytic
on God in Europe; during the European Renais- Movement (London: Karnac, 2011)).
sance religious discourses were scrutinised and Neiman too tries to see evil or the lack of in-
not God per se. nocence in this book but like all others before and
In this book she repeatedly stresses the useless- after her, she is rendered speechless by Hitler, she
ness of seeking certainties in life, in seeing the world does not speak of the Shoah explicitly: Rousseau
in black and white, thereby shifting from Kants is quite clear: the savage may be noble, but he isnt
stress on the categorical imperatives to a more phe- yet free. Rousseaus vision of happiness was not
nomenological understanding of our zeitgeist. Yet of a man who turned his back on civilization, but
as will be shown, she is in the continuum of think- one who longed to improve it. Perhaps there
ers beginning with Edith Stein (18911942) in the was a sort of garden, Kant said, where humankind
last century to Jrgen Moltmann (b. 1926) and Jo- had wanted for nothing, and had no knowledge of
hann Baptist Metz (b. 1928) on the one hand and evil. But if each of us had lost in leaving that state,
the species as a whole has gained. However you persistence in reading the Bible and repeatedly
may yearn for the wombs shelter, you dont really mentioning God, she is in the line of the great
want to return to it. The loss of innocence was the theologians of our day and before us. She may be
price of reason, and the Enlightenment had no an avowed neo-Kantian, but in the final analy-
doubt that reason was worth it (179). sis she is of the school of Moltmann, Metz, and
Notice that Neiman is using textual registers even Gustavo Gutirrez (b. 1928). It may be unfair
that clearly demand a more nuanced reading of to see her work within a continuum of Christian
this text than has been done so far. She suffers an thinkers but in her engagement with suffering in
anxiety, to speak in classical psychoanalytic terms, this book and throughout her corpus, we see that
with her past; and resists the need for the safety she is informed by hesed, unlike Julia Kristeva
of the womb. Therefore, we can safely say that she whom this reviewer has also reviewed in this issue
like Hans Jonas (190393) is involved in a strug- of this journal.
gle with the symbolic past: a past which she has Also keeping in mind that Hitler and his con-
inherited and thus memory studies come into the spicuous attendant lords were mostly men and
forefront, vide Sigmund Freud and Elizabeth Lof- contemptuous of women, it is startling that those
tus, a past which is so horrific that she has to speak systematically unmasking the Nazi-event are now
up for reason; yet always struggling to articulate mostly women. Neiman is therefore to be seen
the need for uncertainty throughout this book. alongside Janet Taylor Spence and Eleanor Mac-
For instance, she quotes John Dewey in page 216 coby. The book under review is therapeutic in so
of this book to prove her point that there is little far as good philosophising is not very different
value in our infantile craving for absolutes. from good talk-therapy. This reviewer is sceptical
The European Enlightenment that is eventually of any attempt to call Neiman only a moral phil-
the precursor to structuralism and modernism osopher. This reviewer has steered clear of all that
is so important to Neiman precisely because she is to be found on Neiman even in the dark web.
wants to scrutinise the Shoah and understand the Reading online makes Neiman out be an anxiety-
psyches of those who calmly carried on the po- ridden marginal Jew and a philosopher who is
groms of the Jews. There is no true poststructur- too bothered with the Shoah, yet someone who
alist object of critical enquiry; in fact structuralist is critical of our collective obsession with Hitler.
movements too within the humanities and the But reading this book as against surfing online is
social sciences are just long shadows of the En- an eye-opener: her work is just too complex to be
lightenment. This is the psychoanalytic resistance/ slotted into meaningless categories.
rejection to/of a return to the womb effected by Neimans corpus resists what is known as com-
genocide studies scholars globally. Neiman resists modity-fetish and leads us from the anxiety-ridden
the urge to stereotype unlike Daniel Goldhagen restless economy of the Pharaoh to the restful econ-
(b. 1959), who thinks all Germans are demonic or omy of the God of the Shema (See Walter Brue-
that Hitler and his cronies were demons. ggemann, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the
When people face evil in its purest form, they Culture of Now (Louisville: Westminster John Knox,
naturally try to explain it. This effort to under- 2014)). Brueggemann (b. 1933) has articulated this
stand evil makes Neiman a theologian since only restless economy of the Pharaoh in his corpus. Susan
a theologian speaks of theodicy and evil. There- Neimans book under review and her entire corpus
fore, Neimans connection to Edith Stein is easy is an effort to resist the Pharaohs life negating econ-
to understand. We have to see Neiman not merely omy. Neimans intellect leads us to Yahwehs peace
as she sees herself: an heir to Hannah Arendt; or Sabbath/Shabbat/shavat. It is refreshing to find
a liberal moral philosopher who is schooled in her successfully resisting the cultural logic of late
John Rawls (19212002), and critiques social in- capitalism and reinstating the truths of Stein and
justice through her readings of Immanuel Kant. Jonas mentioned above. The neo-Nazis at Char-
The term moral philosopher comes up repeatedly lottesville would do well to study Neiman.
when we search her on the Internet. In fact, in her Subhashis Chattopadhyay
Sigmund Freud (18561939) never wrote: I Kristeva provides clichd insights about Mar-
dream of helping mothers and those who as- cel Proust (35) and Cline (38). The book under
sist them (gynecologists, obstetricians, midwives, review proves that Kristeva is not self-actualised.
psychologists, analysts) and to refine our know- She is still stuck within the Tel Quel group where
ledge of this passion, pregnant with madness and she began her writing. Kristevas literary style
sublimity. Mothers today are in need of such a is bad and to her, writing style matters. She is a
discourse (47). Kristeva being narcissistic, in the failed novelist, who churns out bad novels and
Freudian sense, dreams utopias in this book. Freud erudite essays which have little to do with reality.
knew that medical science will make his theories Kristeva and Sudhir Kakar (b. 1938) have jointly
redundant. Kristeva unlike Freud, having no med- spoilt the reputation of both Freud and psycho-
ical training keeps penning her phantasies. Her analysis. Kakars Young Tagore: The Makings of a
failure to understand the heart of motherhood Genius (2014) is an insult to both psychoanalytic
has forced her to write such meaningless essays studies and to Tagore himself. Only when we are
on the Virgin Mother of God, Mary: Stabat Mater rid of Lacan and books like the one under review,
(1977). Kristeva has this to say of motherhood: will we be able to offer proper treatment to those
This subliminatory cycle [the mother-child dia- in need of medication and what classical psycho-
lectic] is not without subliminatory perversity analysis has to offer those traumatised. Father
(45). Donald Winnicott (18961971), Carl Rog- Harada Roshi and Daniel Stern need to be taught
ers (190287), and later, Virginia Satir (1916 rather than Kristeva.
88) have more effective therapeutic solutions to Subhashis Chattopadhyay
issues of familial attachment than Kristeva has
been able to formulate in her entire career. She
just keeps reworking the unnecessarily libidinal Teresa , My Love:
aspects of Freuds work. An Imagined Life of
The problem that faith poses, which Sren Ki- the Saint of AvilaA Novel
erkegaard (181355) understood, eludes Kristeva. Julia Kristeva
Thus she finds it incredible that someone can be Trans. Lorna Scott Fox
set aflame by the love of/for God. The vocation
to enter into communion with God or Brahman Columbia University Press, 61 West
62 Street, New York, NY 10023, usa.
is an anthropomorphic call, by saguna Brahman: www.cup.columbia.edu. 2014. $40.
Kristeva can never conceive of this call. How can 648 pp. hb. isbn 9780231149600.
she? She has never felt the passion which moved
Swami Vivekananda to toil constantly for human-
ity or the inner urge which forced El Salvadorian
Jesuits to become martyrs for the cause of justice
S t Teresa of Avila is one of the most studied and
emulated Christian mystic. She is an extraor-
dinary role model to be followed by a monastic
fueled by hesed! In this book and elsewhere, Kris- religious, because she not only gives step-by-step
teva does not take into account hesed, rahamim, instructions for the interior life, but also guides
or hn. She shows no understanding of God as life in a monastic community. She is one of the
ginesthe oiktirmones (Luke 6:36). Kristevas poseur very few mystics who have recorded in detail their
as a humanist lies in her stress (213) in integra- experiences. This record has helped and continues
tion, in the guise of advocating multicultural- to help numerous mystical aspirants. However,
ism, she advocates the erasure of individuality. this record has also had an effect that St Teresa
Kristevas failure is in understanding the value could have hardly imagined: it has been made
of the inter-cultural. Cultures come into being a subject of psychoanalytic investigation and
not through the praxis of perfection of culture worse, turned into an imagined life that mas-
studies mediated by psychoanalysis, but through querades as a novel.
hesed. There is no hesed informing this book The novel is not seen, because there is none.
under review. What Julia Kristeva presents in this book is an
unanswered soliloquy, supposedly in front of St the Grave in four acts, which is at best incon-
Teresa, made scholarly by interspersed passages clusive and vague. Psychoanalysts self-appoint-
from the saint herself and also from numerous ing themselves to investigate saints lives forget
studies on her and psychoanalysis. The reader gets that there is a sublime desireless passion, just
the jolt of life when Kristeva brands St Teresa as as there is an asexual orientation. The popular-
one who was unrepentantly carnal moved by an ity of this book is alarming as one is concerned
insatiable desire for men and women (9). From with the number of people that are getting a bi-
then on, Kristevas stand becomes clear and all ased perspective.
her laborious work with a word-by-word analysis Kristeva clears her objective:
of St Teresas writings with the Spanish original The point is neither to submit to the intellect,
given alongside, becomes meaningless, as they nor to substitute it with restless thought and
are bereft of the passion for God, which is quite imagination, but to construct a new expression
opposite to the passion Kristeva portrays here. that constitutes the Teresian discourse:
Kristeva assumes just too many roles! While suspension of the intellect, while also eluding
her credentials as a philosopher, feminist, author, that illusory, misleading, mystificatory
and psychoanalyst is generally acknowledged by imagination. A different imaginationlets
the academiathough her qualifications to be call it the imaginaryis ready to fly about,
a psychoanalyst, and whether she actually does to soar free of Teresa, to free her in turn, to
psychoanalysis is highly doubtfulher being a deliver her even from God; since God is in the
mystic and interpreter of sacred texts is indeed a very deep and intimate part of her, and its
new phenomenon! This high-handed attitude has this that she seeks to liberate and be liberated
resulted in passages such as this: So, while its true from (22).
that Judaism contains veins of mysticism, that the
Upanishads relish sensual joys and annihilation in Really? St Teresa of Avila wants to be liberated
the sounds of the language, that Muslim Sufism from God? Obviously, the clinical psychologist
reveals Being and its impossibility together, and Sylvia Leclercq, through whom Kristeva dissects
that Zen koans are peerless propagators of the the life of St Teresa, is assuming too much! When
Void, it was in Christianity that mystics male and Leclercq/Kristeva says that St Teresa added to
female were to find their royal road. Like Saulon mystical theology her neuropsychic pathology
the road to Damascus (41). and her feminine sensuality (231), she completely
It is only the omniscient genius that Kristeva misses the point! Wading more than six hundred
is, can authoritatively proclaim the sensual joys pages of undecipherable text that presupposes
and annihilation of the Upanishads, though nu- knowledge of Christian mysticism, psychoanaly-
merous scholars who have devoted their entire sisespecially Lacanand the antics of Kristeva,
lives to the study of Upanishads have never found what does the reader get? Frustration at having
anything even remotely sensual in these sublime not understood the cerebral vomit of a scholar,
texts! One can only glean the vast ignorance that supposedly holding the mecca of academia, and
Kristeva flaunts when she denies any presence of is left with an unnamed angst to regain schol-
mysticism in Judaism, the Upanishads, Sufism, or arship to really understand this book! As away
Zen Buddhism! from the saints life as it can get, this tome can be
One could write an equally voluminous book safely kept aside for those who believe in theoris-
if one were to properly critique the book under ing and sexualising spiritual endeavours, who pro-
review. Kristeva ends her volume with a chapter claim: The experience reconstructed by Teresas
titled Letter to Denis Diderot on the Infinitesi- works amounts to a laboratory of masochism and
mal Subversion of a Nun. What is subverted is sadism, of which the nun herself became rapidly
the not so subtle subtext that this book is indeed aware (179).
for the faithless and lawless (594). Editor
This book has a play, Dialogues from Beyond Prabuddha Bharata
The Self
Eds. Constantine Sedikides and
Steven J Spencer
Psychology Press, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY
10017, usa. 2014. xii + 364 pp. $54.95. pb. isbn
9781138006195.
P
hilosophers and psychologists the brain is an organ that has evolved over mil-
have long been interested in understanding lions of years to solve problems related to sur-
the nature of the self. As the various chap- vival and reproduction. Those ancestors who
ters in this book demonstrate, psychologists have were able to solve survival problems and adapt to
learned a great deal, although many questions re- their environments were most likely to reproduce
main. Chief among these is how activity in the and pass along their genes. Whether the self truly
brain gives rise to the unitary and coherent sense is an adaptive mechanism is open to some debate,
of self that exists across time and place. Recently, although there is considerable evidence that the
researchers have started to use the methods of symbolic self provided considerable advantages
neuroscience in their efforts to explore questions over the course of evolution, such as facilitat-
about the self. The advent of imaging techniques ing communication and cooperation with group
over the past two decades has provided research- members. From the social brain sciences perspec-
ers with the capacity to study the working brain in tive, just as there are dedicated brain mechanisms
action, thus providing a new window for examin- for breathing, walking, and talking, the brain
ing previously intractable mental states, including has evolved specialized mechanisms for process-
the phenomenological experience of self. In this ing information about the social world, includ-
chapter, we describe neuroimaging work on three ing the ability to know ourselves, to know how
primary aspects of self: the cognitive self (i.e., self- others respond to us, and to regulate our actions
knowledge), the effective self (i.e., self-esteem), in order to avoid being ejected from our social
and the executive self (i.e., self-regulation). We do groups. Humans are a social species who rely on
not intend this to be an exhaustive review of the other group members for survival. From a func-
neurobiology of self. Rather, our goal is to dem- tional perspective, the possession of a self allows
onstrate how studying the brain can inform psy- people to be good group members, thereby
chological research on various aspects of the self. avoiding rejection and enhancing survival and
Our overall approach to thinking about the reproduction. Here we consider the various brain
self follows a social brain sciences perspective. mechanisms that give rise to the human self.
This approach merges evolutionary theory, ex- There are two basic approaches for studying
perimental social cognition, and neuroscience to brain regions important for self: studying the im-
elucidate the neural mechanisms that support so- paired brain and imaging the healthy brain. By
cial behavior. From an evolutionary perspective, examining the psychological consequences of
brain injuries, we can begin to identify the contri- race, likes, dislikes, beliefs, values, and even
butions of those specific regions to various aspects whether we possess certain personality traits.
of the self. For instance, patient studies have pro- According to Baumeister (1998), the capacity of
vided a wealth of evidence regarding abnormalities the human organism to be conscious of itself is
in the processing of bodily informationfeel- a distinguishing feature and is vital to selfhood.
ing of possession over limbs can occur even after Given that self-knowledge plays a critical role
those limbs have been removed from the body, as in understanding who we are, researchers have
in phantom limbs. Similarly, damage to right pari- long debated whether the brain gives privileged
etal regions can render patients unable to maintain status to information that is self-relevant or alter-
a representation of the left side of the body. natively if information processed about the self
In terms of the phenomenological aspects of is treated in the same manner as any other type
self, it is apparent that the frontal lobes are crucial, of information. This is the key issue underlying
as various disorders of self reflect disturbances in the question of whether self is special in any
frontal lobe functioning. For example, a dimin- meaningful way.
ished capacity for self-awareness has long been A seminal study by Timothy Rogers and
known to be characteristic of those with frontal colleagues (1977) found a memory advantage
injuries. According to Wheeler, Stuss, and Tulving for information encoded with reference to self.
(1997), those with frontal lobe damage have diffi- They found that asking people to make personal
culty reflecting on personal knowledge, implying judgements on trait adjectives (e.g., Are you
that injury to this brain region interferes with the mean?) produced significantly improved mem-
ability to process self-relevant information. We ory for the words than if the participants were
hasten to add that that there is no specific self asked to make semantic judgements (e.g., Define
spot of the brain, no single brain region that is re- the word mean?). This self-reference memory
sponsible for all psychological processes related to enhancement effect has been observed in many
self. Rather, psychological processes are distributed contexts, such as when people remember infor-
throughout the brain, with contributions from mation processed with reference to self better
multiple subcomponents determining discrete than information processed with reference to
mental activities that come together to give rise to other people. The overall picture that emerges is
the human sense of self. Various cognitive, sensory, that self-relevant information is especially mem-
motor, somatosensory, and affective processes are orable. Indeed, even people who can remember
essential to self, and these processes likely reflect very little can often remember information that
the contribution of several cortical and subcortical is self-relevant. For instance, patients who suffer
regions. Here we consider how neuroimaging can from severe amnesia (resulting from brain injury,
provide new data relevant to these components of developmental disorders, or Alzheimers disease)
self. We focus especially on our own research to retain the ability to accurately describe whether
demonstrate how we have used functional neuro- specific traits are true of the self. Klein provides
imaging to better understand the self. the example of patient K C, who showed a pre-
served ability to accurately identify his new
The Cognitive Self personality traits after becoming profoundly
The self-concept consists of all that we know amnesic and undergoing a radical personality
about ourselves, including things such as name, change following a motorcycle accident. P
December. A good number of monks, hundreds various winter garments, mentioned against their
of devotees, and about 300 alumni attended the names, to needy people: Bagda: 724 sweaters
celebration. from 18 December to 4 January. Chandigarh:
Students of Ramakrishna Mission Vidya- 758 sweaters, 770 jackets, and 500 mufflers from
pith, Purulia won 5 gold, 8 silver, and 2 bronze 13 November to 18 December. Chapra: 210 jackets
medals in the Purulia District Annual School and 220 sweaters from 13 to 21 December. Cooch
Athletic Meet held on 22 November. The team Behar: 220 sweaters and 129 sweatshirts in the
was adjudged the best participating team. month of January. Darjeeling: 2,480 sweaters
Two teams representing Tamil Nadu state, and 10,143 jackets from 15 August to 25 Decem-
which had two students of Coimbatore faculty ber. Deoghar: 1,751 sweaters from 7 to 31 Decem-
centre of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda ber. Ghatshila: 1,034 sweaters, 675 sweatshirts,
University, won the under-19 and above-19 na- and 1,018 mufflers from 15 October to 8 Janu-
tional level football tournaments conducted by ary. Jamshedpur: 399 sweaters and 200 mufflers
the Rural Games Federation of India in Meerut from 5 to 31 December. Kailashahar: 529 sweat-
from 9 to 13 November. The teams also won the ers from 13 November to 9 January. Kamarpukur:
Rural Games International Football tourna- 40 shawls on 25 December. Kankurgachhi: 356
ments held in Bhutan from 1 to 4 December. sweaters from 13 November to 9 January. Limbdi:
247 sweaters on 19 January. Lucknow: 3,111 sweat-
Relief ers from 11 to 26 December. Mysuru: 422 sweaters
Winter Relief: 9,876 blankets were distributed and 91 sweatshirts from 20 November to 13 Janu-
to poor people through the following centres: ary. Nagpur: 1,070 sweaters and 573 jackets from
India: Bhubaneswar: 500, from 30 November 3 September to 12 January. Narottam Nagar: 395
to 23 December 2016; Burdwan: 150, from 10 to sweaters and 240 sweatshirts from 5 to 27 Janu-
22 January; Chandigarh: 270, from 1 November ary. Patna: 599 sweaters and 614 sweatshirts from
to 30 December; Cooch Behar: 389, in January; 29 October to 10 January. Purulia: 975 sweaters
Gurap: 160, from 1 to 11 December; Guwahati: from 18 to 24 December. Rajkot: 3,844 sweaters,
423, from 15 December to 22 January; Jaipur: 1,137 jackets, and 132 sweatshirts from 26 July to 1
300, from 17 December to 1 January; Kamar- October. Ramharipur: 201 jackets, 856 sweaters,
pukur: 1,980, from 10 December to 17 January; and 214 sweatshirts from 15 September to 3 Octo-
Kanpur: 200, on 11 December; Khetri: 50, on ber. Ranchi Morabadi: 3,021 sweaters and 2,840
22 January; Kothar: 350, on 5 December; Luc- jackets from 18 September to 15 January. Ranchi
know: 600, from 11 to 26 December; Narottam Sanatorium: 885 sweaters from 26 November to 13
Nagar: 517, from 5 to 15 January; Puri Math: January. Sargachhi: 631 sweatshirts and 450 muf-
700, from 24 November to 2 January; Puri flers from 17 November to 31 December. Shyamla
Mission: 300, from 15 November to 19 January; Tal: 1,500 sweaters, 850 sweatshirts, 1,698 jackets,
Shimla: 100, from 12 to 30 December; Vrinda- and 849 coats from 30 September to 14 December.
ban: 800, from 7 to 21 January; Bangladesh: Vrindaban: 1,600 sweaters on 20 December. P
Chandpur: 100, on 19 January; Dinajpur: 1,092,
Correction August 2017, p. 612: Read Dwipen-
from 20 December to 28 January; Mymensingh: dranath, son of Dwijendranaththe eldest brother
895, in December and January. of Rabindranath instead of Dipendranath, son of
Besides, the following centres distributed Jatindranaththe elder brother of Rabindranath.
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Managing Editor: Swami Muktidananda. Editor: Swami Narasimhananda. Printed by: Swami Vibhatmananda
at Gipidi Box Co., 3B Chatu Babu Lane, Kolkata 700 014 and published by him for Advaita Ashrama (Mayavati)
from Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata 700 014, on 1 October 2017.