Science and Spirituality lead to all freedom...Vivekananda's 150 th anniversary in Toronto

" Each soul is potentially Divine and the Purpose of Human Life is to manifest that Divinity within" ..These were the Immortal words spoken By Swami Vivekananda more than 100 years ago..The then unknown Monk from India who traveled alone to America in the early 1900's ..The speech he gave at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago shook the Western world and opened the eyes of the " Blind' to the deep treasure trove of spirituality from the worlds oldest religious traditions..of Vedanta the basis of Hinduism..before his visit most Westerners had disturbing views of Indians and Hindus as illiterate, superstitious idol worshipers.This was thanks to the propaganda of the English rulers in India who wanted to justify their crimes and forced occupation and conversion of the Indian people to their faith. He did not speak of differences he spoke about the One universal truth of spirituality..the essence of which is the same in all religions..
The words and teachings of this Monk also inspired an entire nation of Millions of people in India to eventually rise and over throw the  British rulers. He is known as the Monk who led a people " out of slavery"..with his teachings, his powerful words and his Spirit..he lighted the candle of ' Freedom ' in the hopeless..with words like " Arise, Awake and Stop not till the Goal is reached.." and " You are  the children of Lions..this cowardice does not befit you"!

On May 25th 2014, at Toronto Canada the Vedanta Society of Toronto held a celebratory Dinner to celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary year of the Swami Vivekananda..present were three senior Monks of the Ramakrishna Order of Monks which he founded..and a world renowned scientist and physicist Dr Neil Turok..World renowned Mathematician professor Kumar Murty of the University of Toronto who is also a senior leader at the Vedanta Society of Toronto as well as The Consul General  of India in Toronto plus an audience of almost 600 people.

Of the three Monks who were present one was the revered Swami Ishatmananda Maharaj the Head of the Vedanta Society of Chicago itself.. The other senior Monk was Swami Divyananda Maharaj a very senior Monk from Belur in India who has changed lives and taken the spiritual truth to prisoners in some of India's worst prisons and has become famous as the Monk with the `special mission' of touching the ' damned and the forsaken'..and finally our own gentle and Soft spoken revered Swami Kripamayananda Maharaj spiritual head of the Vedanta Society of Canada..In Canada he is known as the Monk who is a  father with the loving, caring and forgiving heart of a Mother.
.

Dr Neil Turok

The guest speaker was Dr Neil Turok the  world renowned Scientist and Professor who has worked along with the legendary Physicist Stephen Hawkins and is among  the most  respected authorities in his field in the world. He was formerly Professor of Physics at Princeton University and Director at Cambridge.He is also the director of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo Canada. He is the one who was instrumental in introducing Stephen Hawkins to Nelson Mandela in South Africa. He commented that men like Mandela, Swami Vivekananda and their like did more for human kind than most could conceive. He spoke about how Science , Education and development need to grow side by side..and one of the reasons why India was a growing economic power was its emphasis on Education as in the IITs ( The world  renowned Institutes of Technology in India). Dr Neil Turok has also established similar Institutes of Mathematics in the Continent of Africa  where Education has become  a great uniting force. He predicted that the next Einstein may be born in Africa. He agreed with the words of Swami Vivekananda who said that we must keep going and never accept defeat  even if we fail a thousands times try again..he said that was the message Scientists needed to hear too. On the subject of future technology he said that soon the ordinary P.C would be capable of holding more information that all the books ever written in the history of mankind...and that was just a small part of what the future held.
Finally The essence of what he said was that the most complex and complicated results of the intense studies in science and the universe showed that everything broken down is finally very very simple..it can be explained in just two numerical s and that the message of sprituality as spoken by Swami Vivekananda and which was earlier read out...The eternal truth...Spirituality  is finally very very simple and straightforward.
Swami Divyananda who has made a name for himself helping prisoners spoke about the ' Power of giving " He said that one does not need a big bank account to give but one needs a big heart..he gave example of a poor rickshaw driver in India who donated blood to save the lives of strangers and the menial worker who saved and gave some money to charity ever month though he himself lived in desperate poverty.Earlier at the centre he spoke about his experiences with prisoners in India. The Swami has also helped save many girls who were lost in Women's shelters in India and helped them return to their home and parents safely. ( The charitable and Missionary work of the Ramakrishna Mission is not limited to Hindus alone but is extended to the people of all religions and there is never any attempt to `convert' or bring those they help into the fold of Sri Ramakrishna or Hinduism....so eclectic and broad is their mission).
Swami Ishatmananda Maharaj of Chicago spoke about the legacy of Swami Vivekananda and the Power of his words " The power came from his spiritual strength and that is why even a simple sentence like " Brothers and Sisters of America " made strangers rise to their feet and hail him..It `touched them' only a man of truth can touch others ..He also spoke of how the auditorium at Chicago where Swamiji gave his speech has become a ' Pilgrimage Point' for thousands..Swami ishatmananda Maharaj said that it was The Words, The Teachings and The Power of Swami Vivekananda which awakened Indians who had lost their confidence and were living a life of slavery and darkness..Vivekananda  sparked the fire that enabled us to set ourselves free..The Swami said that though Mark Twain remarked that the " East and West" will never meet..Swami Vivekanada has proved that saying totally wrong..
.More than 600 devotees and freinds attended the dinner and celebration on May 25th at Bombay Palace Hotel Brampton..I was blessed that my Partner in Life and Love Brian was also with me..we shared a memorable evening in the most auspicious company..after all Swami Vivekanada himself said.." Love is the Law of Life"...

A week later A nun from the world wide ' Brahmakumaris' spoke at the Vedanta Society of Toronto..their mission too is to teach people of all faiths through the simple meditative techniques and the truth about their divinity..so that every man ( Nara in Hindi) becomes Narayan ( God or Godlike) and every woman " Nari " becomes Sri Laxmi 
( The Goddess of good fortune). Some of the golden nuggets from her teachings....
Our behavior and the way we deal with others expresses our inner spirituality. A divine person speaks and behaves and treats everyone with respect and honesty while a demonic one is a source of harassment , harm and sorrow to others.
A person who is established in their relation with the divine will be un perturbed in praise or blame.
We are all actors and this world is a stage..we have all been given a part..plays yours well..and remember people behave according to the role which was given to them..
Dont let jealous and malicious people pull you down or harm you....remain established in your divine center point.
We say that God is our father and our Mother which means that at some point we were all family..we were part of God..we were divine too..That spiritual hunger in us..is our `Homesickness to return to our divinity" to our Father and Mother who is God.
Meditate regularly and daily and reestablish yourself with your divine roots..meditate with the help of  a realized teacher ..
Some of The Teachings of Swami Vivekananda ..

1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live. 
2. It's Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.
3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world - that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!
4. It's The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.
5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.
7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!
11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin - to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.
14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.
15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everythin