Klaibyaṃ māsma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate ǀ

Kṣudram hṛdaya-dourbalyaṃ tyaktv’ottiṣtha paraṃtapa ǀǀ 3 ǀǀ

Krishna continued, “Feelings of despondency and helplessness are not your inherent nature Arjuna (klaibyam). Don’t allow such traits to come near you. They are of no use to you. The weakness of heart (durbalam) that you are displaying is a degraded state (kśudram). Wake up (uthistha) O exalted warrior”.

Here the noteworthy word is ‘uthistha’ (awaken).Vivekananda Swami’s entire preaching is based on this word ‘uthistha’. He strived to awaken the people and motivate them. The word Bharatha consists of two worda, bha+ratha. ‘Bha’ means Jnana. ‘Ratha’ means ‘to have absolute dedication’. Bharatha means ‘those who have absolute dedication towards the supreme knowledge’.

The sin of forgetting one’s motherland is far terrible than that of forgetting one’s own mother. This was another reason for Krishna’s stern message. Hearing the stern words spoken by Krishna, Arjuna came a little to normalcy. The realization that he could be wrong dawned upon him. At times our elders have to use harsh words to ensure that realization dawns upon us. He asked in a mellowed down tone,

Bhagavad Geeta, Chapter 2

We have a big goal. We have to fight and win over Corona. Yes, we are all afraid and anxious. But some amount of fear is necessary in these situations, otherwise everyone would be roaming around on the streets in spite of the lockdown. If we did not have fear, we would let a stone fall on our leg and hurt us. Scientists are telling us that if we come in contact with someone who is infected, we can spread it to more people. Our goal should be to win over this, by socially distancing ourselves. As Swami Vivekananda says, we must learn to use our intellect to reach our goal. We must rise up to meet the goal, not lower the goal to our level. Participate in all the sevas at the ashrama and do whatever you can to help those in need.

Speech of HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji – Corona Satsangam – April 22 , 2020 – Mysore

And yet this statement that his teaching holds nothing new is not absolutely true. It must never be forgotten that it was the Swami Vivekananda who, while proclaiming the sovereignty of the Advaita Philosophy, as including that experience in which all is one, without a second, also added to Hinduism the doctrine that Dvaita, Vishishtâdvaita, and Advaita are but three phases or stages in a single development, of which the last-named constitutes the goal. This is part and parcel of the still greater and more simple doctrine that the many and the One are the same Reality, perceived by the mind at different times and in different attitudes; or as Sri Ramakrishna expressed the same thing, “God is both with form and without form. And He is that which includes both form and formlessness.”

Vivekananda, Swami. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: All Volumes (PCS786) . Kindle Edition. 

Helping others is only helping ourselves

We cannot deny that there is much misery in [the world]; to go out and help others is, therefore, the best thing we can do, although in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only helping ourselves.

Give up

“For the good of a village, a man ought to give up his family; for the good of a country, he ought to give up his village; for the good of humanity, he may give up his country; for the good of the world, everything.”

Looks upon all women as his mother

“He indeed is a learned man who looks upon all women as his mother, who looks upon every man’s property as so much dust, and looks upon every being as his own soul.” 

The reality and the mirage

So is it with this universe. We are all travelling in this mirage of the world day after day, month after month, year after year, not knowing that it is a mirage. One day it will break up, but it will come back again; the body has to remain under the power of past Karma, and so the mirage will come back. This world will come back upon us so long as we are bound by Karma: men, women, animals, plants, our attachments and duties, all will come back to us, but not with the same power. Under the influence of the new knowledge the strength of Karma will be broken, its poison will be lost. It becomes transformed, for along with it there comes the idea that we know it now, that the sharp distinction between the reality and the mirage has been known. 

Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda on Himself. Advaita Ashrama. Kindle Edition.