First see the irony of it.
Jesus Christ, the God of the
Europeans, has taught: Have no enemy, bless them that curse you; whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; stop all your
work and be ready for the next world; the end of the world is near at hand.
And
our Lord in the Gita is saying: Always work with great enthusiasm, destroy your
enemies and enjoy the world.
But, after all, it turned out to be exactly the
reverse of what Christ or Krishna implied.
The
Europeans never took the words of Jesus Christ seriously. Always of active
habits, being possessed of a tremendous Rajasika nature, they are gathering
with great enterprise and youthful ardour the comforts and luxuries of the
different countries of the world and enjoying them to their hearts' content.
And we are sitting in a corner, with our bag and baggage, pondering on death
day and night, and singing, "नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलं
तद्वज्जीवनमतिशयचपलम् -- very tremulous and unsteady is the water on the lotus -
leaf; so is the life of man frail and transient"-- with the result that it
is making our blood run cold and our flesh creep with the fear of Yama, the god
of death; and
Yama, too, alas, has taken us at our word, as it were -- plague
and all sorts of maladies have entered into our country!
Who are following the
teachings of the Gita?-- the Europeans. And who are acting according to the
will of Jesus Christ?-- the descendants of Shri Krishna!
- Swami Vivekananda,
The East
and The West
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