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Swami Tyagananda
Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Massachusetts, Boston

"I will tell you a short story. This is a story about a family. A son in the family developed the habit of tearing every piece of paper he found. In the morning The New York Times arrived and he tore it to pieces. Soon it became a serious problem. He tore checks, all sorts of documents and other important papers. Family members realized that there was something seriously wrong with the boy, so they took him to a doctor. After listening to them and examining the child, the doctor gave him shock treatment, but to no avail. He continued tearing papers. They took him to another specialist. That doctor suggested that he be taken to a psychotherapist. The psychotherapist went through several sessions with the boy, but he still continued to tear papers. The family tried Ayurveda, Homeopathy, and every kind of treatment possible, but nothing worked. Fortunately, the family was rich and could afford all these treatments. However, nothing was working. The family members felt helpless and were almost ready to give up hope. They did not know what to do.

One day, a friend of the family who came to know about the problem suggested that the boy be taken to a young doctor who lived across the street. The family members wondered what this young and newly graduated doctor would be able to do when all the best doctors in the town had failed. However, since the doctor's office was across the street, the parents thought they might as well give it a try. The doctor's clinic was very small, just a 10’ x 10’ room with one table, a couple of chairs and a few equipments. The doctor listened to the problem and then told the parents that he wanted to talk to the son personally. The parents saw the doctor putting his arms around their son's shoulders and the two walking back and forth a few times and privately conversing with each other. After the walk, the doctor brought the boy to his parents and said, ‘The problem is solved.’ He charged them only a very nominal fee. The parents thought that the doctor might be making fun of them since expert doctors could not do anything after having several sessions with their son. But, a couple of days after coming back home, they found to their surprise that their son had completely stopped tearing papers! They were amazed and very happy that the boy was completely cured. They visited the doctor and told him about this miracle. In gratitude, they also offered the doctor any amount of money the later wished to take. But the doctor did not accept any extra fee. Finally, the parents asked the doctor how he cured the boy and what it was that he told him privately. The young doctor shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I just told him not to tear any papers.’ During all this time, everyone was trying various methods to cure him, but no one told him straight to his face, ‘don't tear paper.’ We have to go to the root of the problem and not beat around the bush.

Swami Vivekananda was like that. He would go to the root of the problem and try to solve it. This is called ‘quick therapy.’ In any walk of life, there will be problems. Following Swami Vivekananda, we have to go to the root of the problem and solve it. I am glad to see that Vivekananda Vidyapith is doing exactly that. Instead of complaining about problems in America, the Vidyapith is providing a great opportunity to children to learn Swami Vivekananda's teachings. These teachings will be helpful in solving the problems of all people of all professions, at any stage of their lives. Just now you heard what is now a common usage among Indians, ‘ABCD’ (American Born Confused Desi). I would say that the Vidyapith students will still be ‘ABCD,’ but it will be interpreted as ‘American Born Confident Desi,’ not confused. I wish that the Vidyapith grows more and more and soon there will be a chain of Vidyapiths all over America. Thank you."