Among the wandering monks of India, Swami Vivekananda is the first name that comes to the mind. The five years of his life on earth, from 1888 to 1893 was full of travels in search of truth, spirituality and a real India. He traveled as a Parivrajaka along the length and breadth of the country. He won the admiration of kings, felt for the suffering people, motivated the youth for a greater cause, studied many religious scriptures, visited many historic sites, gained knowledge, and visualized the future of India during his itinerary, which made a precious treasure of enlightenment for us. On the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birthday (January 12), we at Travel Beats, an overseas Indian community portal by Indian Eagle, offer a sneak peek into his historic and spiritual travels.

Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in India, was the first destination on his itinerary. In Varanasi, he came across the saints like Trailanga Swami, the authors like Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, and the Vedic scholars like Babu Pramadadas Mitra. From there, he made his way to Rishikesh through Ayodhya, Lucknow, Agra and Vrindavan. He interacted with and took favor from whoever came his way without caring their castes and creeds because he believed in non-duality of the soul. Some of those who were touched by his noble soul became his disciples and got initiated into service to the nation. Among them was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a railway station master in Haridwar, who came to be known as Swami Sadananda. Swamiji fondly called Sharat “the child of my spirit”.

Then, Swamiji spent days at Vaidyanath and Allahabad during his itinerary between 1889 and 1890. From Allahabad, he moved to Ghazipur where he got in touch with Pavhari Bana, a great sage. Pavhari Baba was known for his absolute knowledge of Advaita Vedanta. On meeting the sage, he felt blessed and referred to him as a great soul of bhakti and yoga in a letter to Pramadababu. In the first half of 1890, he took a break for the travel and returned to Baranagar Math in Kolkata (then Calcutta). After a short stay there, he left for a trip to the Himalayas in quest of truth. Swami Akhandananda accompanied him on the trip. After a visit to Nainital, Almora, Dehradun and Srinagar, Swamiji went to the Himalayas. Delhi was his destination by the end of January in 1891.

He visited the historical sites in and around Delhi. Then, his travel to Rajputana in west India began. This phase of the itinerary was so eventful that it constituted a big chapter of his biography. The first stopover in Rajputana was Alwar where he received a cordial welcome from both the Hindus and the Muslims. They were influenced by this wandering monk’s spiritual values and teachings. Swamiji was invited by Mangal Singh, the King of Alwar, who did not believe in the practice of idol worship because of his western outlook. A meeting with Swamiji changed his attitude towards the idol worship by the Hindus.

Swamiji’s Rajasthan travel was full of learning too. He studied Panini’s Ashtadhyayi under the tutelage of a Sanskrit Scholar in Jaipur. He visited the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer. His meeting with Ajit Singh, the King of Khetri in Mount Abu on June 4, 1891, is another important event. Out his interest in spirituality, the King became a follower of Swamiji and supported him in many ways. Swamiji studied Mahabhasya during his stay at Khetri and then, he went to Gujarat.

Limbdi, Ahmedabad, Junagadh, Kutch, Porbander, Dwaraka, Baroda, Palitana and Girnar were among his destinations in Gujarat. The Gujarat travel was full of enlightenment for him. He studied the Jain scriptures there. He got the idea of preaching Vedanta in the Western World from Thakur Saheb Jaswant Singh who he came across in Limbdi. Haridas Viharidas Desai, the Diwan of Junagadh, welcomed him as a respected guest. Impressed by his personality, the Diwan used to discuss on different topics with Swamiji till late at night. Swamiji immersed himself in philosophical studies during his nine-month long stay at Porbander. At Kathiawar in Gujarat, he got to know about the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Then, he visited Mahabaleshwar and Pune. While traveling by train in Bombay in 1892, Swamiji happened to meet Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a Nationalist in the Freedom Movement of India. They spent a few days together in Pune. He moved to Panaji in Goa from Maharashtra, and studied the Christian theology at a convent in Goa.

In the second half of 1892, he journeyed to Bangalore, his first destination in South India. There, he met the Diwan of Mysore who described him as “a magnetic personality with a divine force”. Swamiji was introduced to Chamaraja Wodeyar, the then King of Mysore and welcomed cordially to the Palace. He was further introduced to the Diwan of Cochin. His travel continued till he reached the southernmost part of India, Kanyakumari, on foot through Trissur, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, and Nagercoil. The meditation on the future of India, at the Kanyakumari Rock, was the culmination of Swamiji’s spiritual journey at the end of 1892.

Having had the vision of an individual India, Swamiji traveled to Madurai, Rameswaram, Pondicherry and Madras (now Chennai) in the beginning of 1893. He met Ramnad Bhaskara Sethupathi, the then King of Madurai, who approached him with an urge to participate in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Swamiji won the admiration of whoever came in touch with him during the itinerary across Tamil Nadu. Most of them became disciples and responded to his call for renunciation in service to the nation. One of his most ardent disciples in South India was Alasinga Perumal who collected funds for Swamiji’s voyage to Chicago by going from door to door. Swami Vivekananda embarked on the historic voyage to America on May 31, 1893.

Swamiji’s travel continued from America to the rest of the world till the demise of his mortal body on July 4, 1902. However, the journey of this greatest Indian traveler is as ceaseless as the eternal flow of time. It is still on the go through the spread of his message, teachings, values and vision

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In India, the birthday of Dr. Sarvepally Radhakrishnan is celebrated as Teachers Day on September 5, every year. The second President and the first Vice President of India, he was a philosopher and an enlightened soul too. Teachers Day is celebrated to pay tribute to the teachers who ignite young minds with the light of knowledge. To think from broader perspectives, whoever or whatever or wherever we learn from during our journey from cradle to grave is a teacher. Mother Nature is a great teacher herself. Nature like a teacher inspires, motivates and enlightens us. IndianEagle pays tribute to nature on the eve of Teachers Day.

We were close to nature and away from material things in childhood. The floating clouds, the flying birds, the flowing streams, the blooming flowers, the blowing wind, the twinkling stars, the rising sun, the shining full moon, the rolling waves, the towering hills and the falling leaves – different forms of beauty – connect children with nature. Innocent minds are like innocent creatures in the world of nature. Nature teaches the value of innocence and gives lessons on the same. The divine beauty of nature is visible only to the innocent. Childhood, innocence, beauty and happiness are intermingled with each other in the nature poems of William Wordsworth, a great admirer, lover and worshiper of nature. The following quotes from two of his poems – My Heart Leaps Up and Daffodils – bear out to the observation above:

“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky”:

“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,”

Nature manifests its edifying self to us at different points of our journey from childhood to adulthood. Nature, the greatest force in the universe, reveals its abstract power in different concrete forms – mountains, rocks, oceans, rivers, trees, etc. Mountains, hills and rocks teach us the value of determination as well as resolution. They have been standing tall for ages. Their steadfast position is a lesson on how to stand ground for the right and against the wrong. We learn from them to live with our heads held high.

The human mind is as deep and mysterious as an ocean. Love, joy, kindness and mercy reside in the abyss of the heart just as pearls are found in the bottomless pit of oceans. Like the wavy surface of seas, we are eloquent outside. The true bliss of peace springs from our inner selves just as water bodies are clam in the deep. The journey of a river from the source to the destination is a lesson on how to brave odds by means of willpower in life. The tempo of human life never ceases even in the face of adversity, just as rivers stop at nothing on their way.

There are lessons to learn from small artifices of nature, too. Flowers that spread fragrance in their surrounding teach us to spread love unconditionally. Trees give us lessons on how to exist despite unfavorable circumstances. As we grow and age, our innocence is replaced by experience. Such natural phenomenon as scorching summer, biting winter, rainfall and blows of wind make us feel that we are human beings of flesh & blood and that we exist. To be precise, the extreme forces of nature give us lessons on adversity and teach us how to survive. The following quotation from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It better illustrates this edifying aspect of nature:

The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
“This is no flattery: these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.”

It is the world of nature where we take flight to from the monotony of day-to-day life. Travel to hill stations and seaside destinations lends us a new lease of life through rejuvenation of the body, the mind, the soul and the senses. If there were no retreat to nature, we would have been going round in the circle of toils and moils. The mundane world is full of struggle, conflicts and hardships. Travel to nature is the best escape, though temporary, from such grim slices of life as boredom. It revives our energy and enthusiasm. It blesses us with peace and joy. In As You Like It, William Shakespeare throws light on the benefit of moving to nature away from society:

And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything.
I would not change it.

Since the time immemorial, nature has been a source of enlightenment in India, and travel has been the way to achieve it. Swami Vivekananda, the greatest disciple of Ramkrishna Paramhansa, is the name that comes to the mind when we speak of nature’s enlightening power. His tour of India (Bharat Bhraman) had culminated at Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of the country, where he sat on a rock, meditated, visualized the future of India and achieved enlightenment. Also, Gautama Buddha and Mahavira belong to the same brigade of travelers in quest of knowledge and truth.

If we leaf through the pages of history, we will find that not only monks but also mighty kings lived in forested areas and meditated in search of eternal happiness, at the twilight stage of their lives. Since the early age of human civilization on earth, nature has been inspiring the imaginative minds to indulge in the pursuit of discovery, invention and creativity. The beauty of hills, seas, waterfalls, lakes and the starry sky has been the Muse to poets and painters. Travel is the best tribute to Nature, the mightiest teacher of the universe. We at Indian Eagle would like to conclude with a famous quote by William Wordsworth:

“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.”

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