On the occasion of Durga pooja / Navaratri here's something from the life of Swami Vivekanand.
There is a beautiful Hindu temple called Sri Arulmigu Murugan temple in Jurong East, Singapore. The chief deity of the temple is Murugan or Kartikeya, the God of war. However, the temple also has other deities, one of which is a beautiful मूर्ती of Goddess Durga. It's the most magnificent image of Durga I have seen. Resplendent in gold, She evokes feelings of intense awe and reverence for the Goddess, who embodies divine शक्ती. Looking at the image mesmerizes you, taking you to a higher level of consciousness where you forget your worldly hassles and worries.
This glorious image of Durga, (the quality of this photo does no justice to which) reminds one of the interesting incident involving Ramakrishna Paramhamsa & Swami Vivekanand. It was 1884, when Vivekanand, then Narendra, was in his student years. His father died unexpectedly, and it pushed his until then well-to-do family into abject poverty. The responsibility to support the family financially fell on Narendra’s shoulders, as he was the eldest son. Narendra was tormented to see his mother and his younger siblings in states of destitution. He writes about those days as, “I was dying of starvation. Barefooted I went from office to office and was refused (job) everywhere. This was my first contact with the (hard) realities of life”.
Vivekanand asked Ramakrishna Paramhamsa to pray to Goddess Kali to help his family in these times of financial difficulties, but Ramakrishna told him to pray himself. Until then Narendra did not believe in Kali. Narendra was after all a product of the Bristish education system (which India is still following) that taught the kids to reject the tenets of Hinduism. So Narendra was skeptical. But having tried everything else and failed, he decided to plead his case with Kali and went to Dakshineshwar mandir.
As he entered the temple and looked at the image of Kali, he was overawed with a great feeling of devotion and love. He described the feeling as "ecstasy of joy" and felt She was "living and conscious, full of divine love and beauty". He prayed to the Goddess for divine knowledge and devotion, and for her eternal divine vision.
He met Ramakrishna Paramahansa and confessed that he had forgotten to pray to Kali for financial assistance. Ramakrishna advised Vivekanand to pray again, and told him to not forget to pray for his family’s financial well-being. So Vivekanand went to pray again. When he saw the image of Kali माता, he prayed, “Give me discrimination and divine knowledge. Grant me Mother your unhindered vision".
Ramakrishna advised him to make a third attempt. Vivekanand tried again but could not bring himself to pray to the Goddess for material things in life.
This event is considered a turning point in the life of Swami Vivekanand, who on that day realized the true essence of मूर्ती पूजा. Swami Vivekanand thus became devoted to the Goddess Mother. Vivekanand has described this eventful revelation of goddess Kali as, "There is somewhere a Great Power that thinks of Herself as feminine called Kali and Mother. Kali is the Divine Mother of the Universe, who has embodied in Herself, creation and destruction, love and terror, life and death.”
It is to Her that we pray today!
There is a beautiful Hindu temple called Sri Arulmigu Murugan temple in Jurong East, Singapore. The chief deity of the temple is Murugan or Kartikeya, the God of war. However, the temple also has other deities, one of which is a beautiful मूर्ती of Goddess Durga. It's the most magnificent image of Durga I have seen. Resplendent in gold, She evokes feelings of intense awe and reverence for the Goddess, who embodies divine शक्ती. Looking at the image mesmerizes you, taking you to a higher level of consciousness where you forget your worldly hassles and worries.
This glorious image of Durga, (the quality of this photo does no justice to which) reminds one of the interesting incident involving Ramakrishna Paramhamsa & Swami Vivekanand. It was 1884, when Vivekanand, then Narendra, was in his student years. His father died unexpectedly, and it pushed his until then well-to-do family into abject poverty. The responsibility to support the family financially fell on Narendra’s shoulders, as he was the eldest son. Narendra was tormented to see his mother and his younger siblings in states of destitution. He writes about those days as, “I was dying of starvation. Barefooted I went from office to office and was refused (job) everywhere. This was my first contact with the (hard) realities of life”.
Vivekanand asked Ramakrishna Paramhamsa to pray to Goddess Kali to help his family in these times of financial difficulties, but Ramakrishna told him to pray himself. Until then Narendra did not believe in Kali. Narendra was after all a product of the Bristish education system (which India is still following) that taught the kids to reject the tenets of Hinduism. So Narendra was skeptical. But having tried everything else and failed, he decided to plead his case with Kali and went to Dakshineshwar mandir.
As he entered the temple and looked at the image of Kali, he was overawed with a great feeling of devotion and love. He described the feeling as "ecstasy of joy" and felt She was "living and conscious, full of divine love and beauty". He prayed to the Goddess for divine knowledge and devotion, and for her eternal divine vision.
He met Ramakrishna Paramahansa and confessed that he had forgotten to pray to Kali for financial assistance. Ramakrishna advised Vivekanand to pray again, and told him to not forget to pray for his family’s financial well-being. So Vivekanand went to pray again. When he saw the image of Kali माता, he prayed, “Give me discrimination and divine knowledge. Grant me Mother your unhindered vision".
Ramakrishna advised him to make a third attempt. Vivekanand tried again but could not bring himself to pray to the Goddess for material things in life.
This event is considered a turning point in the life of Swami Vivekanand, who on that day realized the true essence of मूर्ती पूजा. Swami Vivekanand thus became devoted to the Goddess Mother. Vivekanand has described this eventful revelation of goddess Kali as, "There is somewhere a Great Power that thinks of Herself as feminine called Kali and Mother. Kali is the Divine Mother of the Universe, who has embodied in Herself, creation and destruction, love and terror, life and death.”
It is to Her that we pray today!
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