##23 (Vivekananda) Vedanta For Downtrodden Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

At Varanasi, the holy place,
Narendra had more peace,
In that sacred atmosphere
That spread everywhere.

After a few days stay there,
He returned to Baranagore,
The Mission’s Headquarters,
To meet his brother-disciples.

He had his deep concern
More for the downtrodden,
O’er their total ignorance
Of the Vedanta scriptures.

When he spoke about this
To his brother disciples,
They vehemently opposed it,
In their own selfish interest.

He retorted, “I’ll go to the slum,
And consciously teach them,
Even if I face any opposition
From you all, for my action.”

He shared this noble idea
With Pramadadas Mitra
Of Varanasi, a Sanskrit scholar,
For his opinion, thereafter.

They had mutual respect,
And discussed every aspect
Of the Hindu customs,
And cleared their doubts.

Next, he visited Ayodhya,
The ancient capital of Rama,
And then at Agra saw Taj Mahal
The symbol of a Muslim rule.

While going to Vrindavan,
He saw a poor old man,
On the road side sitting,
And enjoying his smoking.

Narendra asked him to lend
His pipe, which he refused,
As he was a low caste man.
To go near him, there was ban.

“What a shame! ” Narendra said,
Took his pipe and smoked,
More to break this nonsense,
To which, he was always averse.