Bang Bang!!

 

Bang, Bang!! Bang , Bang!! There were gun shots reverberating all across a Non Descript town of Texas state of the United States of America. The year was 1894, and a whole Fiasco was going on in this small town . A group of hardened American cowboys and a Ochre clad, Indian Man wearing  Monk's clothes  and a Turban like an Indian Raja was at the center of this fiasco. The monk was standing on a wooden box, made to look like a Lecture pulpit, at the town center, was going on lecturing on the Highest Indian philosophy to this curious crowd of wild west folks , while these Cowboys where firing bullets at Him, like crazy. 

Lets rewind back a bit before the start of   this scene  which was straight out of a Indiana Jones movie. The Hindu monk , named Swami Vivekananda, aged 30 years, had been a sensation in America for quite sometime now. He had arrived in the USA during the Summer of 1893 as a delegate to the World Parliament of religions, to represent the Oldest religion known to Man, Hinduism. In the September of that year, He had taken the World Parliament of religions by storm with His  Earth Shattering speech on Hinduism, which catapulted Him to instant celebrity in that country. Soon, He was approached by a lecture bureau to lecture across the United States. Vivekananda had signed up with the bureau, and thus would begin a series of His whirlwind tours across the length and breadth of United States bringing the Glory that was India to the West and thus earning Him the epithet of 'The Cyclonic Monk'. As a part of the deal, He had arrived that morning to this town. He had started a soul stirring lecture on the Vedanta philosophy, where He had mentioned that the "Person who has reached the highest truth that there is nothing but One blissful Existence has gone beyond all fear". This group of cowboys was also present there when He said so,  they challenged the Monk on His words. The Swami smiled at them like an indulgent mother would smile at her Naive Child. "Ok, so lets test this on you", the trigger-happy group retorted. And before the monk knew what was happening, they started firing at Him. However the monk continued His lecture as if He wasn't even aware of what was happening around Him. The more He  dwelt on the Luminous truths that the Vedanta philosophy expounded, the more He seemed to become Radiant. There was a palpable aura of Beatitude radiating from Him which captivated these far off people who had never heard of India before. The gunshots from the cowboys  couldn't stop His brilliant talk, and finally they stopped. When after quite sometime the Swami had finished and come down from the podium, these people ran at Him , and taking His hand in theirs , shook  it with the most effervescence. "Man, You are a Right good Fellaw", they complimented the monk, who greeted them back with the greatest generosity and warmth.

The incident of that day, is an example of how a mortal can be established in the state of Abhih (Fearlessness) that the Hindu Rishis speak of. The Gist of Hinduism, as beautifully expounded by the Upanishads , is that by seeing the same Atman(Self) in every being, the Yogi goes beyond all fear. Let me end this story with a very old Vedic Hymn, that a Rishi, who probably having reached this stage proclaimed in Joyous Music to the whole Universe ,

"vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntam ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt /

tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate 'yanāya // (Svetasvatara-Upanishad Upanishad ,3.8)

 

"I have known the Effulgent  one who is beyond all darkness ,

Knowing Him alone will you be saved from death over again,

There is no way other than  this"