Swami Vivekananda in Kashmir
Compiled by Swami Bodhasarananda, Kolkata
Swami Vivekananda
(Parliament of World's Religions', Chicago, U.S.A., Photograph)
This article has been compiled from authentic life
of Swami Vivekananda. It gives a day to day record of his stay in Kashmir more
than one hundred years ago. He visited many shrines. From the visions and
experiences he had, we find these shrines surcharged with God's presence. Only
we have to open our hearts to allow the God's grace flow inside us.
Swami Vivekananda visited Srinagar twice. The first time he
reached Srinagar was on 10th September 1897. At Srinagar he was the guest of
Justice Rishibar Mukhopadhyaya. On the third day after his arrival he paid
an informal visit to the place of the Maharaja. Since the Maharaja was then
at Jammu, his brother Raja Rama Singh received the Swami with marked
cordiality and honour, seating him on a chair, and himself sitting with
officials on the floor. The Raja was deeply impressed by Swamiji's thoughts
on religion and his eagerness to improve the condition of the poor. He
voiced his desire to help the Swami in carrying out his plan of work.
Early in the first week of October the Swami was busy
filling many engagements, private and public, and visiting the places of
historic interest with which Kashmir abounds. Sadhus, Pandits, students,
officials of high rank went to meet him.
The Swami left Srinagar for Baramulla and reached Murree
on October 8 and from there to Rawalpindi on October 16, 1897.
The second time also Swami Vivekananda had to go to
Srinagar via Rawalpindi, Murree and Baramulla. The distance had to be
covered partly by tonga and partly by boat. Sister Nivedita,
Mrs. Ole Bull and Miss MacLeod accompanied him.
Swami Vivekananda had great fascination for Lord
Shiva during his childhood. As he grew older his love for Shiva, the
Lord of monks and yogis deepened. And now in the Himalayas, the
abode of the Great God, the thought of Him was uppermost in the
Swami's mind. To his disciples he spoke of the Puranic conception of
the oneness of Shiva and His consort, Uma, under the guise of
half-man and half-woman. It represented the junction of two great
streams of thought, Monasticism and Mother-worship; or it
represented the vision of truth where renunciation through
philosophy and supreme love become inseparable. And "he understood,
he said, for the first time the meaning of the nature-story that
made the Ganga fall on the head of the Great God, and wander in and
out amongst His matted locks, before she found an outlet on the
plains below. He had searched long, he said, for the words that the
rivers and waterfalls uttered, among the mountains, before he had
realized that it was the eternal cry `Vyom! Vyom! Hara!' `Yes!' he
said of Shiva one day, `He is the Great God, calm, beautiful and
silent; and I am His great worshipper'."
While coming from Baramulla when he entered
further into Kashmir, the Swami's mind was filled with the legends
of the Kashmiris. The Vale of Kashmir had once been a lake; and it
is related that at this point where the Swami was entering the
Vale, the Divine Boar pierced the mountains with his tusks, and
let the Jhelum go through.
The period from June 22 to July 15, 1898 was
spent in houseboats (dungas) on the Jhelum, in and about
Srinagar. He told his Western disciples many things about
Kashmir, for instance, the different religious periods through
which Kashmir had passed, with special attention given to the
period under Kanishka; the morality of Buddhism and the
religious imperialism of Ashoka; and again the history of
Shiva-worship.
On June 26, the Swami suddenly felt a longing
to leave the party and go to a quiet place. But not knowing
that this was his intention, the party followed him to
Kshir Bhavani. It was said to be the first time that
Christian or Muslim had set foot there. The irony of the
occasion was that the Muslim boatman would not allow the Swami
and his Christian disciples to land with shoes on, "so
thoroughly Hinduistic," says Nivedita, "is the Mohammedanism
of Kashmir with its forty Rishis, and pilgrimages made
fasting, to their (i.e. the Hindus') shrines."
Among the local excursions that the Swami
made with his disciples was that on July 29 to the small,
massively built Shiva temple that stands atop the
Shankaracharya Hill. This hill is also known as
Takt-i-Suleiman, and rises a thousand feet above the
surrounding terrain. The famous floating gardens can be seen
below, for miles around. The beauty and extensive sweep of
the scene drew from the Swami the exclamation : "Look, what
genius the Hindu shows in placing his temples! He always
chooses a grand scenic effect! See, the Takt commands
the whole of Kashmir. The rock of Hari Parvat rises
red out of blue water, like a lion couchant, crowned. And
the temple of Martand has the valley at its feet!"
On July 4, the day of American
Independence, he wrote a poem entitled "To the Fourth of
July" which can be interpreted as a passionate utterance
of his own longing for the Final Freedom in the Infinite.
Time was to prove that it had been penned in a prophetic
vein; for, four years later, on that very day, his
shackles of work broken, he entered in "springing joy"
into the Final Freedom, concerning which he had written.
A desire for quiet and peace seemed to
grow more and more upon Swami Vivekananda in these days.
On July 10 he left alone for a pilgrimage to Amarnath
ji by way of Sonamarg. On the 15th he returned,
having found that route impracticable because the summer
heat had melted some of the glaciers.
On July 19 the whole party started for
Anantnag by boat. On the first afternoon they sought out
and found the quaint old Temple of Pandrethan
(derived from Puran-adhishthana meaning "old capital"),
sunken in a scum-covered pond within a wood, by the side
of the Jhelum. This is four and a half miles to the
southeast of Srinagar. The temple is a small cell, with
four doorways opening to the cardinal points. He drew
their attention to the interior decorations, with their
sun-medallion, and to the fine sculpture, in low relief,
of male and female figures intertwined with serpants.
Among the outside sculptures is a fine one of the Buddha
standing with hands uplifted. And there is a
much-defaced frieze, showing a seated woman and a tree.
This evidently represents Maya Devi, the Buddha's
mother. The temple is built of grey lime-stone, and
dated from the tenth century A.D. "To the Swami," writes
Sister Nivedita, "the place was delightfully
suggestive," and she adds :
Kashmir, 1897. Sitting on chairs, left to right:
Swamis Sadananda, Vivekananda, Niranjanananda, and
Dhirananda.
Kashmir, 1898. Left to right : Jesophine McLeod, Mrs.
Ole Bull, Vivekananda, and Sister Nivedita.
On a houseboat in Kashmir, 1898. Left to right :
Jesophine MacLeod,
Vivekananda, Mrs. Ole Bull, and Sister Nivedita.
"It was a direct memorial of Buddhism,
representing one of the four religious periods into
which he had already divided the history of Kashmir :
1) Tree and snake worship, from which dated all the
names of the springs ending in Nag, as Veernag and so
on; 2) Buddhism; 3) Hinduism in the form of
sun-worship; and 4) Mohammedanism. Sculpture he told
us, was the characteristic art of Buddhism. The
figures with the serpants reffered to pre-Buddhism."
Moving up the river, the party came
next day (July 20) to the ruins of the two great
temples of Avantipur; legend of which relates
to Pandava times. Its sculptures drew his
admiration. In his view the temples were more than
two thousand years old. Swamiji said in the course
of conversation : "In order to strengthen the
national life, we must reinforce the current of that
life itself along the line of its own culture of
ideals. For instance, Budha preached renunciation,
and India heard. Yet within a thousand years, she
had reached her highest point of national
prosperity. The national life in India has
renunciation as its source. Its highest ideals are
service and Mukti."
On July 21 when the party landed
at the temple of Bijbehara, then already
thronged with Amarnath pilgrims, he was able to
join them for a little while. After visiting the
temple, they left for Anantnag which was reached
on the afternoon of July 22. He sat on the grass
of an apple orchard and he started talking about
the rarest of rare personal experiences. Picking
up two pebbles, he said, "Whenever death
approaches me, all weakness vanishes. I have
neither fear, nor doubt, nor thought of the
external. I simply busy myself making ready to
die. I am as hard as that" — and the stones
struck one another in his hand� "for I have
touched the feet of God!"
On the 23rd morning the party
went to see the ruins of Martand. "It had
been a wonderful old building � evidently more
abbey than temple — in a wonderful position,"
writes Nivedita, "and its great interest lay in
the obvious agglomeration of styles and periods
in which it had grown up."
On July 25 the party went on
to Achabal and in the afternoon came
back to Anantnag. It was at Achabal that the
Swami announced his intention of going to
Amarnath with the two or three thousand
pilgrims then en route to that shrine.
As a special privilege, Sister Nivedita was
allowed to join him as a pilgrim. It was
settled that his other Western disciples would
accompany the party as far as Pahalgam and
there wait for the Swami's return.
On July 27 they halted for a
night at Bhavan (Martand, also
called Matan) and reached Pahalgam on
July 28. Throughout the rest of the journey
Swami Vivekananda would bathe in the holy
waters, offer flowers, fruits and sweets to
the object of worship before breaking his
fast, make obeisance by prostrating himself
on the ground, tell his beads, make ritual
circumambulation, and the rest. At every
halt, the Swami's tent was besieged by
scores of monks seeking knowledge from him.
Many of them could not understand his broad
and liberal views on religious matters. The
Muslim Tehsildar, the state official in
charge of the pilgrimage, and his
subordinates, were so attracted to the Swami
that they attended his talks daily and
afterwards entreated him to initiate them.
On July 30 the Swami left
for Chandanwari. Next day a steep
climb towards Pishu top followed
and then a long walk on the narrow path
that twisted round the mountain-side. At
last they camped (July 31) at Wavjan
at a height of 12,500 ft.
Next day (August 1),
after crossing the Mahagunus Top,
a pass at 14,500 ft., they reached
Panchtarani, the "place of five
streams".
On August 2, the day
of Amarnath itself, there was
first a steep climb followed by a
descent, where a false step would have
meant death. They walked across a
glacier till they reached a flowing
stream. When Swami Vivekananda reached
the cave, his whole frame was shaking
with emotion. The cave itself, says
Nivedita, was "large enough to hold a
cathedral, and the great ice-Shiva in
a niche of depressed shadow, seemed as
if throned on its own base." His body
covered with ashes, his face aflame
with devotion to Shiva, the Swami
entered the shrine itself, nude except
for a loin-cloth, and prostrated in
adoration before the Lord. A song of
praise from a hundred throats
resounded in the cave, and the shining
purity of the great ice-linga
over-powered him. He almost swooned
with emotion. A profound mystical
experience came to him, of which he
never spoke, beyond saying that Shiva
Himself had appeared before him, and
that he (the Swami) had been granted
the grace of Amarnath, the Lord of
Immortality, namely not to die until
he himself should choose to do so.
Shri Ramkrishna had prophesied
regarding this disciple of his : "When
he realizes who and what he is, he
will no longer remain in the body!"
Never had the Swami,
in visiting a holy place, felt such
spiritual exaltation. Afterwards he
said to his European disciple, "The
image was the Lord Himself. It was
all worship there. I never have been
to anything so beautiful, so
inspiring!" Later on, in the circle
of his brother disciples and his own
disciples, he said dreamily : "I can
well imagine how this cave was first
discovered. A party of shepherds,
one summer day, must have lost their
flocks and wandered in here in
search of them. What must
have been their feeling as they
found themselves unexpectedly before
this unmelting ice-Linga, white like
camphor, with the vault itself
dripping offerings of water over it
for centuries, unseen of mortal
eyes! Then when they came home, they
whispered to the other shepherds in
the valleys how they had suddenly
come upon Mahadeva!" Be that as it
may, for the Swami this was truly so
: he entered the cave and came face
to face with the Lord!
On the journey
back the Swami and party returned
to Anantnag, and from there
by boat to Srinagar which
they reached on August 8.
In Kashmir the
Swami and his party were treated
with great respect by the
Maharaja; and during his stay
various high officials visited
the Swami's houseboat to receive
religious instruction and
converse with him on general
topics. The Swami had come at
the invitation of the Maharaja,
to choose a piece of land for
the establishment of a monastery
and a Sanskrit college. It was a
disappointment to the Swami
when, about the middle of
September, he heard that
official discussion of the site
that he had chosen, had been
twice vetoed by the British
Resident.
Following the
pilgrimage to Amarnath,
the Swami's devotion became
concentrated on the Mother. It
was touching to see him
worship, as Uma, the four-year
old daughter of his Muslim
boatman. He once told his
disciples, during these days,
that "wherever he turned, he
was conscious of the Presence
of the Mother, as if she were
a person in the room."
His
meditation on Kali became
intense, and one day he had
a vision of Her, the mighty
Destructress lurking behind
the veil of life, the
terrible one, hidden by the
dust of the living who pass
by, all the appearances
raised by their feet. In a
fever he groped in the dark
for pencil and paper and
wrote his famous poem "Kali
the Mother"; then he dropped
to the floor, losing
consciousness, while his
soul soared into
Bhava-samadhi.
On
September 30, the Swami
abruptly went to Kshir
Bhavani, leaving
strict instructions that
no one was to follow him.
It was not until October 6
that he returned. Before
this famous shrine of the
Mother he daily performed
Homa (Havan), and
worshipped Her with
offerings of Kheer
(thickened milk) made from
one maund of milk, rice,
and almonds. He told his
beads like any humble
pilgrim. Every morning he
worshipped a Brahmin
Pandit's little daughter
as Uma Kumari, the Divine
Virgin. He practised
severe austerities. He
became like a child before
the Divine Mother. All
thought of Leader, Worker,
or Teacher was gone. He
was now only the monk, in
all the nakedness of pure
Sannyasa.
One day
at Kshir Bhavani
he had been pondering
over the ruination and
desecration of the
temple by the Muslim
invaders. Distressed at
heart, he thought : "How
could the people have
permitted such sacrilege
without offering
strenuous resistance! If
I had been here then, I
would never have allowed
such a thing. I would
have laid down my life
to protect the Mother."
Thereupon he heard the
voice of the Goddess
saying : "What if
unbelievers should enter
My temple and defile My
image? What is that to
you? Do you protect Me,
or do I protect you?"
Referring to this
experience after his
return, he said to his
disciples : "All my
patriotism is gone.
Everything is gone. Now
it is only Mother!
Mother! I have been very
wrong. I am only a
little child."
Another day, in course
of his worship, the
thought flashed
through the Swami's
mind that he should
try to build a new
temple in the place of
a present dilapidated
one, just as he had
built a monastery and
temple at Belur to
Shri Ramkrishna. He
even thought of trying
to raise funds from
his wealthy American
disciples and friends.
At once the Mother
said to him : "My
child! If I so wish I
can have innumerable
temples and monastic
centres. I can even
this moment raise a
seven-storied golden
temple on this very
spot."
"Since I heard that
divine voice," the
Swami later said, "I
have ceased making
any more plans. Let
these things be as
Mother wishes."
Thus we see during
his stay in
Kashmir, Swami
Vivekananda was in
a different world
altogether.
Visions of Shri
Amarnath, Mother
Kali and
Kshir Bhavani
remained always
with him. Later at
Belur Math he said
: "Since visiting
Amarnath, I feel
as though Shiva
were sitting on my
head for
twenty-four hours
a day and will not
come down."
The party left
Kashmir on
October 11 and
came down to
Lahore. Swamiji
reached Belur
Math on October
18, 1898.
The
author is the
manager of
Advaita
Ashrama, the
publication
department of
the
Ramakrishna
Math &
Mission, Belur
Math, Kolkata.
Source:
Vitasta
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