Latest news with #TatTvamAsi
Time of India
07-08-2025
- Time of India
TDB to host global Ayyappa meet at Pamba next month
T'puram: Devaswom minister V N Vasavan said the first-ever Global Ayyappa Convention will be organized in Sept. The event, part of devaswom board's 75th anniversary, will be held in Pamba. State govt and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will jointly organize the convention in the third week of Sept, he said. It aims to spread the message of 'Tat Tvam Asi' globally and to present Sabarimala as a divine, traditional and sustainable global pilgrimage centre. This first-ever Global Ayyappa Convention in Kerala will bring together Ayyappa devotees from various parts of the world and India. Around 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the event. The event is planned between Sept 16 and 21, with the exact date to be decided later. Invited delegates will have the opportunity to arrive a day earlier for darshan before participating in the convention. A German tent, similar to those used during the pilgrimage season, will be constructed in Pamba to accommodate 3,000 people. Vasavan stated that this convention marks the beginning of larger gatherings involving more participants in the future. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Use an AI Writing Tool That Actually Understands Your Voice Grammarly Install Now Undo During the previous Mandala-Makaravilakku festivals, approximately 5.3 million pilgrims were able to have darshan without complaints, which is widely acknowledged. Building on this experience, govt aims to ensure more facilities for devotees in the future. The convention will provide an opportunity for devotees to share their existing challenges and difficulties and to propose constructive suggestions. Development projects currently ongoing and planned for the future will be presented to the devotees and their feedback and suggestions will be sought. TNN Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and s ilver prices in your area.
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Random Musing: Why Swami Vivekananda batted for football
In popular culture, Swami Vivekananda is oft-remembered for another maxim which is widely misquoted, misused and misunderstood: 'You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.' It sounds like Swami Vivekananda Diego over dharma, but those who read that line and stop there prove precisely why he said it in the first place. It is as misunderstood as Karl Marx's 'religion is the opium of the masses,' which, as Kurt Vonnegut pointed out, for its time and place was like saying religion is like aspirin. It just gave people a little peace in troubled times. It's interesting how Swami Vivekananda is intrinsically linked to the United States of America. He gave his iconic Sisters and Brothers of America speech on September 11, 1893, and he declared independence from the physical form binding us to this world on July 4, the day America declared its independence from tea. Swami Vivekananda was not just a monk in saffron robes but the roaring voice of Vedanta, the philosophy of non-dualism that sees everything as Brahman – the universal consciousness. To him, realising that 'Thou art That' (Tat Tvam Asi) required more than intellectual assent; it needed inner strength and outer fearlessness. But in popular culture, Swami Vivekananda is oft-remembered for another maxim which is widely misquoted, misused and misunderstood: 'You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.' It sounds like Swami Vivekananda Diego over dharma , but those who read that line and stop there prove precisely why he said it in the first place. It is as misunderstood as Karl Marx's 'religion is the opium of the masses,' which, as Kurt Vonnegut pointed out, for its time and place was like saying religion is like aspirin. It just gave people a little peace in troubled times. The same goes for Swami Vivekananda, whose full quote goes: 'First of all, our young men must be strong. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Serbia: New Container Houses (Prices May Surprise You) Container House Search Now Undo Religion will come afterwards. Be strong my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football, than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them for I love you… You will understand the mighty strength of Krishna better with a little strong blood in you.' For Vivekananda, this was Vedanta in action. The Gita is spoken on a battlefield, it's not a sermon in a cave though it does make one think of the Plato's Man in the Cave in a different way. Strength, courage, and righteous action (Karma Yoga) are inseparable from spiritual realisation. His guru, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, taught that while the world is Maya (illusion), it is also Lila (divine play). Vivekananda extended this by saying: if life is divine sport, then play it with muscles of iron and nerves of steel. He was not dissuading the study of the Gita or any form of Vedanta but challenging a society that valued philosophy and priests over robust bodies. Spiritual enlightenment went hand-in-hand with physical entelechy. Arjuna could follow his dharma because his body and mind were honed to only see the eye of the bird. Partha's inner conscience just needed a little prodding to follow his dharma. This is deeply Vedantic. Advaita teaches that while the Atman is untouched by the world, it is through the body-mind complex that one pursues sadhana (practice) towards self-realisation. A trembling body leads to a restless mind; a restless mind never knows its true Self. And this was not mere gym bro motivation, but civilisational strategy. A weak man cannot demand peace, only a strong one can. When he walked barefoot across India, sleeping under trees, sharing stale rotis with starving farmers, he saw a civilisation wounded by colonialism yet radiant with eternal wisdom. It was Ramakrishna who taught him to see divinity everywhere – in stone, in man, in beast. But Vivekananda declared that divinity must be expressed through strength. Worshipping gods in temples while neglecting the god within – the Atman – was a betrayal of Vedanta itself. He knew that political freedom would come only when psychological freedom was won. The reason his Chicago speech stuck the landing was because he didn't seek validation. He spoke as the intellectual and ecumenical descendant of a civilisation that had pondered infinity when Europe was a Monty Python skit. He said: 'We believe not only in universal tolerance, but we accept all religions as true.' It was an intellectual hammer blow to Western Judeo-Christian superiority that viewed Hinduism as pagan superstition. In one single sentence, he shattered that false notion. He showed them an India that had room for all gods because it saw divinity in everything. An India where difference wasn't a threat but an expression of cosmic diversity. But Vivekananda wasn't a romantic nostalgic. He called for India's material revival too. He demanded science, industry, and technology – not to become Europe's clone, but to stand on her own feet. He said: 'What good is spirituality if it leaves you begging?' For him, dharma wasn't renunciation. It was righteous action. That's why he told his young disciples: 'You will understand the Upanishads better when your body stands firm upon your feet, and you feel like men.' That is why he thundered: 'Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this country. Strength in every way. Strength is life, weakness is death.' For him, football was not merely sport; it was a training ground for Karma Yoga – action without attachment, courage without arrogance. And if he saw modern India today, where children are glued to their phones in TikTok zombification, he would thunder again: 'Drop your phone. Pick up a ball. Close the app. Open the field.' For it is only when you can run without gasping, fight without fear, and stand without trembling, that you can meditate without distraction. Heaven is not at the end of a penalty kick, but worship begins with the worship of life itself. Swami Vivekananda changed how the world perceived India. Before him, India was a land of temples and famines, spices and beggars. After him, India was the land of Vedanta – of spiritual giants who spoke of universality, of divinity within each soul, of the world as one family. He forced Harvard professors to listen, industrialists to rethink, and Western missionaries to introspect. But perhaps his greatest gift was to India herself. He made her see her own strength. He taught her that freedom will never be granted by the West. It must be taken by Indians who stand tall with muscles of iron and nerves of steel. So the next time someone forwards you his quote about football and the Gita, tell them it wasn't about Messi or Mahabharata. It was about building a civilisation of warriors who pray with their actions and meditate with their courage. As Vedanta teaches, moksha is not an escape from life but the fearless embrace of it. And as Ramakrishna showed, devotion is fulfilled not in passive prayer but in joyful, courageous living. Because for him, that goal wasn't just moksha in another world. It was dignity, freedom, and fearlessness in this one. And then one can proudly say, with a stout body and spiritual mind: Aham Brahamsmi .
