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Hail , Vivekananda,
Hail !
(by Prof. K. N. Sundaresan)
Written: Jan 13, 1963
Read at the Town hall, Berhampur,
Orissa On Jan 23, 1963
VIVEKANANDA'S BIRTHDAY CENTENARY
1
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"How
long, long - you have made me wait! |
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Oh,
your visit to me why so late?" |
| So wept the Paramahamsa
in first embrace, |
| God's light was
in your eyes and face - |
- - -
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"The British rule
will one day fade, |
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Anon, the Chinese
will invade!" |
| So you said - agues
of mighty brain? |
| Nay - it was a
warning in Rishi strain - |
2
| What a Life! |
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A wilful unruly
pranks-loving child, |
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Making mother cry
distraught and wild - |
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Yet, how quickly
you would fall into meditation, |
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And ponder sacred
songs in mute recitation! |
- - -
| Later, |
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A restless swaggering
brain-proud youth |
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Banded with others
rough and uncouth - |
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Yet, "Where is
God, Oh, where?" was the cry on your lips, |
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The anguish of
a soul in holy grips! |
3
| Later, |
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At last when the
Wondrous Teacher spoke, |
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Every tenet taught,
with doubts you almost broke; |
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And age-old truths
never you accepted |
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Clearly and fully
unless were percepted - |
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Why not hail you
as Viveka Sage? |
- - -
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Father's death,
in crushing debts leaving the family |
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Clothed in rags,
in hunger - you strove dreamily; |
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To renounce, you
then made the decision - |
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That day ended
India's recession! |
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Why not hail you
as Ananda Sage? |
4
| Wandering, |
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At the south-most
Cape Kumari's shrine, |
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Did the calm-spreading
waves of brine |
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Seem the tears
verily of a people in sorrow? |
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How else could
be in instant vision |
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You felt that your
life's mission |
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Was solely to lift
the poor to a brighter morrow? |
- - -
| Forthwith, |
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A monastic
Order you organized |
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Not in static
asanas to muse un-agonised, |
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But alert - watching
for spots where disasters fall, |
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To rush anon with
food, clothes and succour . . . |
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To dam the floods
and repair against recur - |
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"SERVE THE NEEDY"
was the clarion call. |
5
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Christian missioners
came East to preach |
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Holding forth the
Christ's image of passion . . . |
| Likewise, |
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To the West you
took the Vedanta to teach |
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In Ramakrishna's
live words of compassion! |
6
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Long before Tagore's
and Gandhi's day |
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You built across
the world a highway - |
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You roused our
Motherland from her torpor; |
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You made the other
lands see her proper. |
7
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Hundred years ago
born, |
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Sixty years sadly
gone, |
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In these times
rough and tragic |
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Comes your message
as magic - |
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To meet fearless
life's tussles |
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Make strong and
virile our muscles; |
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Quenchless be our
faith in the future |
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And to raise ourselves
to highest stature! |
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Unseen, hover over
us, Swami Vivekananda - |
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Blessing us with
Viveka and Ananda. |
* * * * *
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by Sundaresan Srinivasan
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