Swami Vivekananda's speech in his own voice? I don't think so.

Recently I saw posts on some websites and blogs that have some recordings which they claim are the original recordings of the speech delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of religions held in Chicago in 1893.

Those recordings are not genuine. I am not commenting on the subject that has been recorded (I don't even think that I am eligible to do so), but I am saying that the voice is not of Swami Vivekananda. I say this because I enquired about these recordings with a Monk of the Ramkrishna Order who is the editor of one of the magazines brought out by Ramakrishna Math. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

There were no sophisticated recording devices when Swamiji spoke at the Parliament of religions. The diary written during the Parliament of religions (Ref: "Swami Vivekananda in The West - New Discoveries, Volume 1", Page:76, Publishers: Advaita Ashram, Calcutta) by the organizers says that stenographers were hired to take notes of the speech. If recording devices existed, then why would they hire stenographers to take notes?

There was only one recording of Swamiji's voice with the Maharaja of Mysore. It was a phonographic record (Ref: "The Life of Swami Vivekananda, by his Eastern and Western Disciples Volume 1", Page: 324 & 325. Publishers: Advaita Ashram, Calcutta). The book clearly says that the voice is now indistinct. This show the quality of recording devices that existed at that time.

The voice in these recordings is so clear that it makes anyone doubt those recordings.

In the "Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1", some of the words are written in square brackets. The publishers (Advaita Ashram, Calcutta) say that the stenographers were unable to record some of the words of Swamiji and so are missing in their notes and because of which the publishers have put in the missing words in square brackets that seem to complete the sentence. They clearly say in the book that those words were put in by them.

If the recordings were of Swamij's own speech, then could they not have heard them over and over and got the right words?

If its indeed the voice of Swami Vivekananda, then why has the Ramakrishna Mission or the Ramakrishna Math released any audio cassettes or audio CD's containing them? Will they not be interested in making the people listen to his voice?

These recordings are just recitation of Swamiji's work by someone else. Thanks for the effort of those trying to spread his words, no matter even if its through someone else'a voice.

Should I learn to spell it right ????

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!

"I would not care much for a religion...."

Swami Vivekananda was once passing through Bengal when a forestry officer and his wife were so much impressed by his appearance that they insisted on his stopping in their house. 'The rains have just set in, Swamiji,' they said, 'this is the time when no Sannyasin tries to wander. Why do you not come and live with us for a while? We have no children and we can give you a place where you will be altogether undistured.' Swamiji consented.

'Both became his disciples and the wife took initiation from him. On the morning when he was leaving she said with some compunction: 'Swamiji, I am in the habit of drinking a cup of tea in the early morning. Will that interfere with my spirutual progress?' Swamiji replied, 'I would not care much for a religion which could be washed off by a cup of tea.'

Colorful Grep

Does your job involve grepping for some text inside huge source trees? Then this might help you.

alias grep='grep --color=auto'

Testing

Testing blogging from Email

A new beginning

I have decided to move my blogging activities from livejournal to blogger. Its just because, I like Google and I just want to tryout the features given by blogger. I will continue to use my livejournal account until I firmly decide which one to use. As of today I find blogger interesting. Tomorrow my mind might change and I might switch back to livejournal. After all, Change is the only thing constant in this world.