Narendrapur Youth Camp Lecture

Monastic life as Innovation

I am very happy to be here at the three-day Youth Camp today. I have been invited by Principal
Maharaj to speak to you all on a very interesting topic: ‘Innovation for Youth’.

You all sort of know what Innovation means. It generally means anything new & creative. It
stands for anything any person does in a novel way or for a new item that a person improvises to make
life easier. Of course, it is used most in the fields of technology and management. You see, I serve in a
Polytechnic College and perhaps that is why Principal Maharaj has asked me to speak on this topic. Yes, I
do deal with innovation as a matter of my routine work in the College. I could speak to you all about
some of those ideas. But, since most of you don’t belong to the technical field, you will certainly get
bored. Especially since you have all just had a very good meal and are now sitting in this beautiful air-
conditioned hall!

You take any activity that we all do every day. You make some change in it so that the activity
becomes easier to do. That is innovation. Take for instance motion. Man has always moved from one
place to another. He slowly found that if he cuts wood in the shape of a circle, it helps him to build
various contraptions that help him move faster, without physical strain. He then learnt that if he could
yoke domesticated horses to his contraption, moving was even easier. Many centuries later, he learnt that
he could use steam power to move his vehicles. Then he slowly shifted to petrol and diesel engines. He
was now racing around the world. Then he said to himself, ‘Why should I not fly in the air? Why should I
move only on the ground or on water?’ And he built an airplane for himself. Do you see that each of these
developments is an innovation?

None of you would know that long ago, some 30 years ago, we had phones in our homes that
didn’t even have a dial! It was an ugly, big thing on a table. When you lifted the handset, a lady, on the
other end, would ask you which number we wanted to talk to, and we would tell her. Then we would wait
for anywhere between a few minutes to half an hour. She would connect that number for us. I am not
making this up. This was the fact. I had such an instrument in my house when I was a small boy. Then we
got the dial phone. For many years that was the height of technology. Then we got the phone with the
punching pad. Then all of a sudden we had the mobile phone and what a revolution that innovation
brought in! We have always gone to shops and malls for purchasing things we need, and sometime to
purchase things that we don’t need too. Some guys asked why we can’t purchase while sitting at home
from your mobile phone. And you have Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc. We have always used taxis to
move inside our towns and cities. What do we do today? You tap some clicks on your mobile phone and
you have Uber or Ola cabs.

So innovation is generally in incremental steps. We already have something. Somebody comes

along and makes it a little better. Then another comes along and makes that a little bit more better. And so
on. Rarely, we get something totally out of the blue. Some genius discovers some new phenomenon and
that leads to a whole new set of things that make our lives so much easier. For instance, X-Rays.

Innovation and excellence are very closely related. Take the Bengali language, for instance. You
and I use the same words that Rabindranath Tagore used too. Somehow, when I use those words, the
effect is not the same! Now, that is innovation. And excellence is behind it.

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Innovation, as you can see, needs the following: You must know very well the existing thing.
Then you must apply your intellect judiciously, and make it a little bit better. All of us can change things.
But is it better? Change is not innovation. Change can be for the worse too. Making something worse is
not innovation. The capacity to distinguish between making something better and making it worse is
called excellence. Therefore I said that excellence is an integral part of all innovation.

You see, I do not want to talk of all these things today to you all. I will speak on how to bring
about an innovation in your entire life. I believe monastic life is such an innovation. I will show you how
it has all the characteristics of innovation that I have enumerated till now.

I am sure all of you have seen monks. Especially students of our various colleges who are here
have certainly seen and known monks. Others have been seeing monks these three days. You all know
monks, but the problem is you all have a vague idea of what they are. They wear strange colored clothes.
They clean shave their heads. But, how do they live? What goes on in their minds? What do they do with
their time? Most of us don’t have any clear ideas about these things.

Notice one thing; you would never have seen an advertisement in any paper or magazine saying
“Wanted: Monks”. Yet people keep joining Ramakrishna Math regularly. How does that happen? And
why do these people join the Math? What are they looking for? One thing is for sure; they appear to be
normal people like all of us. Yet, why do they take such a deviation from the normal in their lives? You
must acknowledge that monastic life is indeed a novelty. For one thing, you don’t find too many of them;
secondly, they don’t seek the common things that people generally seek in life. Yet they seem happy and
contended. Certainly they must be looking at life differently from all of us. I wish to tell you something
about that life today.

Now, you may say, ‘Oh, I know what to do with my life. With all due respect, Maharaj, I have
figured it all out, sort of. You don’t need to tell me about it.’ Well, what do you know about your life? I
ask. I know what you will say. You will say that you are a student now; you will study and get a degree or
post degree. Then you will seek for a job. People, who seek jobs, get jobs; that is the law operating in this
world. Of course, you may not always get a job of your particular liking, but, you will get something to
feed yourself and your dependents. We see that all around us. Then you will get married to a beautiful
girl. Of course, not necessarily in that order! And not always a ‘beautiful’ girl, either. But I have studied
the people around me. When the time is ripe for marriage, we will be able to see sufficient beauty in any
girl that is ready to tie the knot with us! This is a great psychological mystery that is yet to be studied in
depth by the mind-scientists! You see, most students spend an inordinately lot of time courting for a mate
much before they have finished studying or have landed a job! Anyway, I beg your pardon for digressing;
you will ultimately get married. When she comes into your life, you will find it difficult to give the same
amount of importance to your parents. Somehow, she, a total stranger, starts taking center-stage in your
life. I know some of you will object and tell me, ‘Oh, you don’t know me, Maharaj. I will never sideline
my parents, no matter what. I love my parents beyond words; they have done so much for me; they have
sacrificed so much for my happiness; I can never let them down.’ Just see around you, objectively.
Dripping hypocrisy! The young son and his wife are definitely not comfortable with the old fogies in the
same house. They must purchase a new apartment for themselves as soon as possible; every woman, no
matter how modern and progressive or traditional and conservative she is, has an inherent tendency to
identify a small place on this earth as ‘her home’; she will not share it with others. Anyway, life gradually

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becomes a hopeless mess of hypocrisy piled upon hypocrisy. You will have kids. You will then need your
old parents for baby-sitting the kids. Then the kids grow up and start flying off the roost. If you have
brothers, a perpetual quarrel erupts over who should house the old parents for how long, since one brother
cannot ‘bear the burden’ forever. Of course, you will deny all these things as nonsense and sugar-coat it
with words such as ‘love and affection and family traditions’. But let us recognize it for what it really is.
Then your kids get educated and get a job and they will get married and the drama continues ad-infinitum.
This is life, as we know it. This is life, as we know how to live it.

You will all acknowledge one thing for sure: if a boy rejects his parents after growing up and
getting married, we all know it is despicable. But, all these monks have renounced their parents. And how
come people respect them, revere them, and even worship them? How do these monks get respected even
after they have rejected and renounced their own parents, who brought them up with so much love and
affection?

I served in a tribal center in Arunachal Pradesh for many years. There was a hostel. I used to
interact with those boys regularly. One day the boys asked me, “Swamiji, have you left your parents?” I
had to tell them the truth that, yes, as a monk, I have had to renounce all connection with my family. In
fact, the family in which I was born and brought up has now become my ‘pre-monastic family’ or
‘Purvashrama’ as we call it. Some days later, they again asked me if I loved those students. I said yes, I
obviously loved those students; whom else did I have to shower my love and affection upon? One boy
immediately said, “But Swamiji, you could not love your own parents; how can you ever love us?”

Observe these monks of the Ramakrishna Mission. It appears like they all have fixed jobs. They
all even have designations! One is a Principal, another is a Secretary; we even have a President Maharaj!
Every monk, right from the top-most President to a newly-joined Brahmachari has a job. But, do you
know that they don’t draw a salary? They have no promotion, no leave, and no perquisites. This begs the
question, why do these monks work? They get nothing from their work that we generally assume we
would get by working, and yet these monks work. And if you closely observe them, these monks work
quite hard too. Why?

Notice also that monks don’t have any fixed place as their own. Everything is stop-gap in their
life. You see this grand campus here; there are so many monks here in Narendrapur; but none of them
personally claim this to be their own; they will guard it and nurture it, as if it were their own so long as
they are here; but one email from Belur Math and within 24 hours they will leave this beautiful campus
for some rural Mission Center in the back of beyond! How do they do this? Is it not natural for human
beings to be territorial? Should we not have a little bit of land as our own? How can someone live an
entire life without owning anything? Are these monks insecure because they have nothing to call their
own? Doesn’t seem like they are! In fact, most monks move around as if they own the whole world!
There is a distinct self-assurance, a distinct regality in their bearing. How does this happen?

It is obvious that monasticism is not hereditary. No one can say, “My father was a monk;
monasticism runs in my family!” That would be absurd; not just absurd, that would be a scandal! Monks
are entirely self-made. My own thinking, my own prayers, and the grace of God make me a monk. It is
not something you inherit because of your birth or family connections. This is innovation. All innovators
are self-made. Their own thinking makes them innovate. Of course, you do have serendipitous innovators,
but they did have the requisite intellect to see the value of what they had stumbled upon.

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Some boys tell me, “Oh Swamiji, you know, I simply cannot believe in God. Does God really
exist? What is his pin code? Is God male or female? What is God like?” This is one of the great paradoxes
of life for me. These boys can believe that 18th November is the birthday of Mickey Mouse, an imaginary
rodent, and celebrate it with pomp and glory, but when it comes to God, they need ‘proof’ first! Anything
can be believed in just because it is tradition or someone important says it, but no, no belief in God
without ‘seeing’ him first! Do you know why this is so? Your life lacks adventure. You have figured out
your life in the most conservative way possible, most secure way possible, and hence you have sanitized
it of all adventure. Bring in adventure and you will find God entering your life automatically.

George Patton was a great Army general of America. He led the Allied forces during the WWII.
He was a military genius. He was legendary for drawing up meticulous battle plans. In fact, his battle
plans are studied even today in military academies all over the world. He was once asked how he drew up
such fantastic plans. He said, “I calm down my mind, and put in all my energies and draw up my battle
plans. Then I leave it in the hands of God.” He was a devout Christian. The reporters were intrigued. How
could such a great general, a ruthless planner, believe in God so deeply? His famous reply was, “You see,
there are no atheists on the battle-field.” So, if you have to face any ‘battle’ in your life, you will naturally
believe in God. Discussion about God and religion is a luxury only for those who lead comfortable, lazy,
meaningless, inconsequential lives.

Now, I raise an aspect of monastic life that is the most misunderstood but the least discussed. All
of us have deep questions about this aspect, but our culture, our gentility doesn’t permit us to even raise it
openly. If you will permit me to be frank, I would like to discuss this with some amount of candor. Monks
don’t marry. How do they live? I mean, sex is one of the most powerful urges that man knows; and these
monks have no outlet for that apparently all-powerful urge! How the hell do they manage? I mean, you
have eyes; you are in the prime of your youth; you are able to see a really beautiful woman; how can you
possibly not be affected by it? You know, there are many who even think, ‘Perhaps their equipment is
faulty!’, if you get what I mean. Pardon me for being so gross, but then, the topic calls for some frank
discussion. How can we talk of innovation if we don’t wander around the fringes of the topic? Having
plumbed the depths of a topic, you will need to wander around the fringes, and that is where the foray into
new areas occurs. And that leads to innovation.

Of course, the innumerable scandals that hit the news headlines about various monks, I should
say, ‘so-called monks’, naturally strengthens such doubts in our minds about celibacy. When we look at
the sheer power of this urge in ourselves, it is quite natural for us to conclude that no man can possibly
ever overcome it, and hence these monks too could not have overcome it. Obviously this leads us to the
next conclusion that all these monks must be faking it; they must obviously be charlatans; they have not
yet been exposed, but in time, everyone will be. Yet, somewhere deep inside everyone’s mind, there
lingers a hope that someone in this world has indeed overcome this terribly powerful sex urge; although I
haven’t, someone must have done so, and that man is a real hero! Most people feel this.

Basically, no family, no rights and duties, no social security, no possessions, no inheritances, and
no marriage - that is apparently the monk’s life. What this actually means is that the monk is out of the
rat-race that we call life in this world. He is not in competition for anything with anyone in this world. It
seems so unnatural, isn’t it? How do these monks live then? What goes on in their minds? What do they
aim for in life? Surely, they must be having some goal, something to achieve in life; what could that be?

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So, till now I have delineated the characteristics of innovation; then I proposed to show monastic
life as an innovation in how we can lead our own lives; I highlighted that monks renounce their own
parents and yet they are respected and revered; I didn’t tell you why that is so, but I raised the point; I
highlighted that monks work in various responsible positions but without any salary or benefits associated
with work; I didn’t tell you why that is so, but I raised the point; I pointed out that monks have no
possessions such as land & building, or bank balance; I didn’t tell you how they manage to live like that,
or what is their attitude that allows them live in such insecure conditions, but I raised the point; I
highlighted that monks are totally self-made men; they do not claim, in fact cannot claim, heredity for
their monastic achievements; then I highlighted that monks don’t indulge in sex, an all-powerful urge in
human beings; I didn’t tell you why or how that is so, but I raised the point.

Some of you may now object: ‘Maharaj, you have only raised questions about monks and the
monastic life; where are the answers? Why don’t you answer them?’ Well, I don’t want to answer these
questions for you. That is not how innovation occurs. Innovation occurs when questions are raised, and
minds are primed towards seeking answers. Innovation is a long-drawn process. Each innovator has to
struggle for him. Innovation cannot be imposed on anyone. Innovation can however be inspired. And that
is what I am attempting to do here.

In the Mundaka Upanishad, there is a wonderful verse: Parīkśya lokān karmac̖itān br̄ahman̩o
nirvedamāyāt, nāsti akr̖tah kr̖tena. Here Brāhmana means a thinking person, one with an incisive
perception, one who can see beyond the façade of what appears apparent. It has nothing to do with that
caste nonsense. A thinking person looks deeply at this world, at life in society, and understands that what
he seeks in life is not to be attained by living life as we do. In other words, a person who is sensitive
enough to see things as they actually are, uncolored by prejudices, will see through the hypocrisy of social
life. Life, as we know it now, as we live it now, is just hypocrisy piled high upon hypocrisy. We talk of
love; it is just selfishness sugar-coated with fine words and sentiments. We talk of morality; it is just self-
interest sugar-coated with fine words and sentiments. We talk of justice, fairness, equality and liberty;
what a joke! Try to see through this haze. Then the illusion will cease. For those who have seen through
this terrible hypocrisy, monasticism becomes a most viable option of life.

Young people like you must study Swami Vivekananda. Look at the word I am using; I say
‘study’; I didn’t say ‘read’. Reading is what you do to pass your exams. Most of you have the five years’
question papers; you read that and pass exams. Study is something deeper than that. You touch ideas. You
start to play with those ideas and see how one idea connects with other ideas, go on iteratively until you
have a solid model of ideas. Study his writings.

Swamiji claimed that he had developed the science of Religion. Well, he did not actually claim to
have done it himself; he gave due credit to the ancient Rishis who actually did it; but he placed those
ancient ideas in modern language and idiom. Anyway, he said that here was a science of Religion. It was
not a matter of dogma – blind, unthinking acceptance based on the authority of someone. It was rational,
feasible and uplifting. And he said, “I need 100 strong young men.” Why did he need these strong, young
men? In order to work out this science of religion in their own lives. These strong, young men he needed
were monks. But, he did not specify that he needed monks. Well, he did not specify that they should be
married, either, did he? I know there are some respected lecturers here in the audience. You must kindly
not misunderstand me. I am not against marriage. All I am saying is, just as marriage is a most essential

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social institution, in fact, in India, we consider it a sacred institution, monasticism too is extremely
essential and much more sacred. And while marriage has a wonderful system of mobilizing its recruits,
unfortunately, monasticism doesn’t!

Listen to the following exhortations of the great Swami:

Now, if there is any one amongst you who really wants to study this science, he will have
to start with that sort of determination, the same as, nay even more than, that which he puts into
any business of life.

And what an amount of attention does business require, and what a rigorous taskmaster
it is! Even if the father, the mother, the wife, or the child dies, business cannot stop! Even if the
heart is breaking, we still have to go to our place of business, when every hour of work is a pang.
That is business, and we think that it is just, that it is right.

This science calls for more application than any business can ever require. Many men
can succeed in business; very few in this. Because so much depends upon the particular
constitution of the person studying it. As in business all may not make a fortune, but
everyone can make something, so in the study of this science each one can get a glimpse which
will convince him of its truth and of the fact that there have been men who realized it fully.

Just note this important statement of Swamiji: so much depends upon the particular
constitution of the person studying it. This should lay at rest any controversy arising about me
imposing monasticism over everyone present here. I say this because, whenever I have spoken on this
topic to a group of young men, some in that group have always objected, “But Maharaj, do you mean to
say that everyone should become monks? What will happen to society?” I have never said that everyone
should become a monk. That is not just absurd and stupid, but also impossible. Why so? Look at
Swamiji’s statement: so much depends upon the particular constitution of the person
studying it. Everyone can work and earn a livelihood in this world. Arrangements are there for that.
But everyone cannot become an innovator. That depends largely on the particular constitution of
the person.

Anyway, continuing with the incredible exhortations of Swamiji:

This is the outline of the science. It stands upon its own feet and in its own light, and
challenges comparison with any other science. There have been charlatans, there have been
magicians, there have been cheats, and more here than in any other field. Why? For the same
reason, that the more profitable the business, the greater the number of charlatans and cheats.
But that is no reason why the business should not be good. And one thing more; it may be good
intellectual gymnastics to listen to all the arguments and an intellectual satisfaction to hear of
wonderful things. But, if any one of you really wants to learn something beyond that, merely
attending lectures will not do. That cannot be taught in lectures, for it is life; and life can only
convey life. If there are any amongst you who are really determined to learn it, I
shall be very glad to help them.

Did you listen to that last statement? You see, when persons like Swamiji speak, they don’t just
address the handful of people present before them. Prophets like him address millions of people across

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many millennia when they speak. If there are any amongst you who are really
determined to learn it, I shall be very glad to help them. These words of Swami
Vivekananda are meant for people like us. Do we really wish to learn it? What does he mean by ‘it’? Of
course, the Science of Religion is what he means by ‘it’. Now, take the physical sciences; we have our
teachers and professors of science; can you call them innovators? Of course, there is a lot of innovation in
a teacher, especially in his method of conveying ideas and concepts to his students; but that is not what I
mean. Are teachers of science innovators of science per se? No, they are not. The innovators of science
are the research people. What a researcher invents or discovers, is conveyed as common knowledge to the
multitudes by the teachers. Similarly, everyone can be religious, even married people; but the researcher
in religion has to be a monk. Can we imagine a society only populated by teachers of science and no
researchers? Wouldn’t that society stagnate? Of course, you don’t really more number of researchers than
teachers, although that is debatable; I don’t see the harm if the number of researchers increases in society,
but I will not go into that controversy here; I have already raked up sufficient controversy today by what I
have said. But imagine what would have happened if people had said there was no need to improve on
horse-drawn carriages! Would we have cars, bikes, airplanes, space shuttles today? Similarly, if society
doesn’t encourage the right persons to become monks, society will stagnate.

You see, I interact with lot of young people regularly. I know that most young men, who come in
contact with monks, have asked themselves if they too can become monks; and immediately, they
themselves give an answer to their own minds, “You must be joking! How can you become a monk,
ever?” And the spark dies down. That spark is there in everyone. It does come alive whenever they come
in contact with a monk. And they themselves douse it promptly. Next time such a question arises in your
mind, remember this statement of Swamiji: If there are any amongst you who are really
determined to learn it, I shall be very glad to help them.

But, how can Swamiji help us? He is no longer alive. He passed away in 1902, didn’t he? Ah!
Swamiji knew what people like us would think! Therefore he himself clarified this to us.

He said, “It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body — to cast it off like a
disused garment. But I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world
shall know that it is one with God.”

I am very happy to have been invited here to share these few ideas with you all young people
today. I am sure you will have many questions. You may ask any monk of the Ramakrishna Order and get
your answers. I too pray to Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sharada Devi and Swami
Vivekananda that your doubts get cleared and you may become fit instruments for the Lord’s Mission in
this world.

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