Swami Vivekananda humanified and humanised

Indian writers, blog writers, preachers and speakers credit Swami Vivekananda with taking Yoga and Meditation to the American doorsteps. A large number of Centres function globally, both on Internet and outside, marketing Yoga and Meditation Camps and Courses. It is a multi billion dollar business. The real question which occurs to a mind is, does the world require so much of yoga and meditation? To my humble mind, the answer is, the world does not definitely need the marketed quantities of the yoga and the meditation. ARGUMENTS When a person knows the transitoriness of the mundane pleasures, sheds ignorance, and cultivates equanimity and renunciation, he does not need meditation. The next step for him is to practice his renunciation in the true spirit. Though he cannot stop his worldly activities absolutely, because every month bills arise from hisher consumption of resources which heshe draws from the society. For the food, clothes, shelter and some other basic needs, heshe has to pa...

Swami Vivekananda wrote to Prof. John Henry Wright, Professor of Greek at Harvard University, from US, on June 18, 1894: ... I do not know whether I will come to Annisquam or not. The letters need not be sent over to me until I write you again. Mrs. Bagley seems to be unsettled by that article in the Boston paper against me ... BLOGGER'S VIEW When several newspaper clippings and articles were published, why this article in the Boston paper against him had not been published by anybody? Why did the article unsettle Mrs. Bagley? (Mrs. Bagley was wife of former Michigan Governor. Swamiji was her guest for sometime. It appears that the Boston paper and another Indian Newspaper published about an incident in which Swamiji was involved in an indecent behavior with a servant maid, while staying at the house of Mrs. Bagley and that the servant maid was sacked. It appears that somebody had sent a copy of the article to Mrs. Bantley, which unsettled her. The publisher of the Indian news...

Quote from a Reminiscence of Shri A. Srinivasa Pai: "... The late Dewan Bahadur R. Raghunatha Rao and a number of other social reformers including my old Assistant Professor of history, the late Mr. A. Subba Rao (a sturdy social reformer and agnostic) used to attend. Some of the social reformers were snubbed by the Swami and their views and methods criticized. Once when Mr. A. Subba Rao spoke rather disparagingly of the thinking power and views of our old rishis, the Swami remarked that Mr. Subba Rao could have no idea of the power of intense meditation which the rishi had acquired through long self discipline, and added. "You will be burnt to ashes if you think for half a minute like them." ..." BLOGGER'S VIEW 1. Why Vivekananda was threatening the poor Professor of History? 2. Nobody would be burnt to ashes, by meditation, intense or otherwise. 3. Vivekananda did not make any Para kaaya pravees1a (Entering into the bodies of others), to study how sages though...

Quote from a reminiscence of Shri A. Srinivasa Pai: "... The Swami's appetite was great and he ate heartily. Once pointing humorously to a dish of ice-cream before him he said. "I can renounce everything excepting this. ..." BLOGGER'S VIEW *Paramahamsas cannot renounce anything. They cannot renounce turtles, shad fish, meat, ice cream, barfis. *Cannot resist tobacco. *Cannot resist photos of ladies.

Shri A. Srinivasa Pai wrote in his reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda (of the Period 1897, after returning from World Parliament of Religions): "... At times his manners were somewhat Johnsonian and brusque when he wanted to put down one who had asked a silly question or a question intended to show off one's knowledge. One hot morning (this was after he returned from America to Madras) at the end of a long sitting when many questions had been asked and answered, a somewhat conceited young man asked pompously, "What is the cause of misery in this world, Swami?" "Ignorance is the cause of misery", blurted out Vivekananda and rose and closed the interview. On another occasion one in the audience pointed out to the Swami that the view expressed by the Swami on some point of philosophy differed from that of Shri Shankaracharya. "Well", said the Swami, " Shankaracharya was a man, you are a man, and you can think for yourself ." An orthodox Pan...