#111 PRAISING AND ADJUSTING TO NEEDS OF THE HOUR

Adjusting, compromising with the surroundings is a prerequisite for a successful Manager.

The old days of "continuous improvement" seem as leisurely as a picnic from the past. In this chaotic and complex twenty-first century, the pace of evolution has entered warp speed, and those who can't learn, adapt, and change moment to moment simply won't survive. -- Peter Drucker


Swami Vivekananda imbibed qualities of successful managers, in the 19th Century fag end itself. He perfected the art of winning people by speaking/writing the things they want.

WHAT HE WROTE TO MS. MARGARET NOBLE (Sister Nivedita)

"... India cannot yet produce great women, she must borrow them from other nations. Your education, sincerity, purity, immense love, determination, and above all, your Celtic blood, makes you just the woman wanted.

Yet the difficulties are many. You cannot form any idea of the misery, the superstition, and the slavery that are here. You will be in the midst of a mass of half-naked men and women with quaint ideas of caste and isolation, shunning the white-skins through fear or hatred and hated by them intensely. ..."


BLOGGER'S VIEWTo say that India could not produce great women and that she must borrow them from other nations, is nothing but atrocious and outrageous. Great women might have been born in the country over centuries, but because there was no tradition of recording history, their achievements and capabilities might not have become well published.

A successful Manager gets work done, by praising his/her subordinates. SV is also doing the same thing.

WHAT HE WROTE TO MR. FRANCIS LEGGETT
Mr. Francis Leggett was 1) a tea trader 2) shipping magnate 3) owner of the resort "Ridgely Manor" which has a Casino. He was one of very influential persons in New York of those days.

On July 6, 1896, Vivekananda wrote from London to Mr. Francis Leggett.

"... At twenty years of age I was the most unsympathetic, uncompromising fanatic; I would not walk on the footpath on the theatre side of the streets in Calcutta. At thirty-three, I can live in the same house with prostitutes and never would think of saying a word of reproach to them. Is it degenerate? Or is it that I am broadening out into the Universal Love which is the Lord Himself? Again I have heard that if one does not sea the evil round him he cannot do good work — he lapses into a sort of fatalism ..."


BLOGGER'S VIEW
Swamiji expressed his preparedness to do anything and get adjusted with anything.

SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
Mr. and Mrs. Leggett became his principal patrons financially. Swamiji made Mr. Leggett, the President of the Vedanta Society New York. In 1900, Swami Abhedananda, who was Vivekananda's representative at Vedanta New York, could not adjust himself with Mr. Leggett.

On April 17, 1900, Swamiji wrote to Mr. Leggett:

"I am so sorry A__ has made disturbances. He does that now and then, at least used to. I do not venture to meddle, for fear of creating more trouble. You know how to manage him best."


WHAT VIVEKANANDA WROTE TO MR. E.T. STURDY
Swami Vivekananda continued to be a non-vegetarian even after becoming a monk. He encouraged everybody to take meat. Mr. E.T. Sturdy was a British, Sanskrit scholar, who worked jointly with Vivekananda on "Raja Yoga".. He seems to have prevailed Swamiji to turn to vegetarian food. Swamiji writes in Nov. 1895 from the ship "RMS Britannic" :

"...The only difficulty is the food — meat, meat, meat. Today they have promised to give me some vegetables. ..."


BLOGGER'S VIEW
These words give us an impression that Swamiji was longing for vegetarian food. But subsequently, Swamiji and Sturdy split. In Nov. 1899 Swamiji wrote from New York to Mr. Sturdy:

"...I remember your place at Reading, where I was fed with boiled cabbage and potatoes and boiled rice and boiled lentils, three times a day, with your wife's curses for sauce all the time ... Whosoever of you have given me a coat? Whosoever a cigar? Whosoever a bit of fish or flesh? ... "


BLOGGER'S VIEW
From the first letter, we can see that Swamiji was trying to impress Mr. Sturdy, that he (Swamiji) was longing for vegetarian food. In the second letter, he blames Sturdy for feeing him with cabbage, potatos, boiled rice and boiled lentils. He blames Mr. Sturdy for not giving cigars, fish, flesh!

What does a monk need actually?

Comments

h'spec said…
stop spamming, I really don't care what you think about my master , nor will the link you post in my blog improve the page rank of your blog and increase the ad revenue.
Thank U friend. Pl. see my reply post #111. With regards.
Anonymous said…
The typography of the blogs can be improved. There is no shipping "magnet", only 'magnate'. It will make reading more comfortable if you start using slash for 'hisher' (his/her).

There are spelling mistakes in other places also.
Thank U. I corrected the errors (magnate, his/her) in the post.

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