The Good News of Giving and Receiving Books, 6.26.2017
Ten years ago, because of a Social Justice theology class, I got to know Melissa Banerjee, a Bengali-American. It made sense to me to give her a hardback edition of the The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Later on, after staying several weeks in India, she brought back to me Letters of Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna’s foremost disciple. Melissa inscribed the book this way: “Dr C., Hope this brings you a small ‘piece’ of the peace I experienced at Sri Ramakrishna’s Mission and Math at Belur, Kolkata.”
This selection of Vivekananda’s letters range from 1888 to 1902, and address members of his community as well as Westerners eager to learn more about Indian spirituality. The following is a small sample of passages I noted of the swami’s observations, advice, exhortation, and insight…
On the Buddha: His greatness lies in his unrivaled sympathy. 18
Have faith in yourselves, great convictions are the mothers of great deeds. 64
Every soul is a sun covered over with clouds of ignorance, the difference between soul and soul is due to the difference in density of these layers of clouds. 69 Read the rest of this entry »