The Day When Two Great Minds Met: Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda
Photo: AI Generated Image
Can you imagine chatting with AI Online asking it to recreate an unusual meeting between Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda? I did so, and this is the result:
AI: Hello! How can I help you today?
ME: Recreate the meeting between Nikola Tesla and Indian philosopher Swami Vivekananda.
AI: Scene: A cozy room with a fireplace, ornate furniture, and books lined up on the shelves. Nikola Tesla, a tall and charismatic inventor, is sitting at his desk, surrounded by countless scientific devices. Swami Vivekananda, a wise and peaceful Indian teacher, enters the room with a calm smile...
Did their meeting really occur like that, we will never be able to know for sure. However this meeting is dragging attention immensely. But when and how it really happened?
Maybe as depicted in the movie Tesla (2020) starring Ethan Hawke.
A scene from the movie Tesla
One night of February 1896 was a historic moment. It was a moment when a great Serbian inventor met a notable Indian Yogi!
The whole world has heard about Nikola Tesla, a Serb originally from an Orthodox Christian family (who was born on the territory of today's Croatia) who changed the world with his genius ideas and amazing inventions ahead of time. The fact that Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest scientists ever has been known for a long time, but what is less known is that he was also an esoteric person and a mystic. He loved to explore the laws of the universe and along the way, searching for truths and spiritual enlightenment.
On this spiritual journey of his, Tesla came in contact with the great Indian mystic, religious teacher, and philosopher Swami Vivekananda.
Photos: Wikipedia
Two great minds, the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla and the Indian philosopher Swami Vivekananda met on a very interesting occasion. Namely, the meeting of these two great minds happened owing to the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. In 1896, actress Sarah Bernhardt starred in a play called Iziel. It was a “French reading of the life of the Buddha.” Roughly speaking, the play was developed around a courtesan Iziel, who attempted to seduce the Buddha while he meditated at the foot of the legendary fig tree where he achieved enlightenment. Sarah Bernhardt was well informed who Swami Vivekananda was. Seeing him among the audience in the theater that night, she arranged a meeting with him at the end of the performance. But they weren't alone. Nikola Tesla joined them shortly. Interestingly, this year is a very important anniversary - 100 years since the death of the great actress who was a global sensation during her lifetime; a hot-headed and rebellious free-spirit, a respected persona, the first influencer of fashion, activist and the woman who mesmerized great men of the history, including Tesla and Swami Vivekananda. As we still remember Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda, we haven't forgotten her neither. Here we can stop and pay a short tribute to this extraordinary lady, as the The Petit Palais museum in Paris did in May 2023 when organized an exibition celebrating her life and work.
Video: You Tube / Euronews Culture
But who was that mysterious Indian Yogi that impressed Sarah Bernhardt and influenced Tesla?
Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk/philosopher and also a 33rd degree freemason mystic from the Indian lodge which he joined in 1884. Although Tesla was also linked to Freemasonry, his affiliation to this organization was never confirmed. Yet, in 1893 Sarah Bernhardt arranged the meeting between Swami Vivekananda and Nikola Tesla. Previously, she had an interview with Swami Vivekananda, who had a dominant influence over as she admired the Vedanta teachings. Tesla, at the hand was also familiar with the Vedanta teaching. And the meeting just happened. The famous actress threw a party where Tesla and Vivekananda actually met for the first time.
Their both appearances and voices were captivating and would not leave anyone indifferent. While we don't have a recorded sample of Tesla's voice (which by some testimonials was almost hypnotizing), we have a recorded voice of Swami Vivekananda while he was giving a speech in Chicago in 1893, in the same year when he met Nikola Tesla.
After meeting Tesla for the first time, Vivekananda wrote a letter upon on which he expressed his thoughts on the great inventor:
“Mr. Tesla was charmed to hear about the Vedantic Prana and Akasha and the Kalpas, which, according to him are the only theories modern science can entertain… Mr Tesla thinks he can demonstrate that mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am going to see him next week to get this mathematical demonstration.”
As previously mentioned in an article published by the Tesla Memorial Society of New York: “Nikola Tesla used ancient Sanskrit terminology in his descriptions of natural phenomena. As early as 1891 Tesla described the universe as a kinetic system filled with energy which could be harnessed at any location. His concepts during the following years were greatly influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda was the first of a succession of eastern yogi’s who brought Vedic philosophy and religion to the west. After meeting the Swami and after continued study of the Eastern view of the mechanisms driving the material world, Tesla began using the Sanskrit words Akasha, Prana, and the concept of a luminiferous ether to describe the source, existence and construction of matter. This paper will trace the development of Tesla’s understanding of Vedic Science, his correspondence with Lord Kelvin concerning these matters, and the relation between Tesla and Walter Russell and other turn of the century scientists concerning advanced understanding of physics. Finally, after being obscured for many years, the author will give a description of what he believes is the pre-requisite for the free energy systems envisioned by Tesla.”
To which extent Indian people love and respect Tesla and his friendship with their spiritual teacher show the two stamps depicting Swami Vivekananda and Nikola Tesla. The stamps were issued by India Post in 2018 celebrating an interesting friendship of two spiritually resonating souls.
Photos: Serbian and Indian Post
As previously mentioned, it is quite obvious that there was a very deep spiritual connection between Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda. It is known that Tesla was driven by the spirituality, often exploring the unknown, mysterious and indefinable. Vedantic cosmology and Sanskrit terminology helped him in this long and exhausting, but interesting (often esoteric and mysterious) journey that ended up in 1943 when he was found dead in his room (number 3327) in the Hotel New Yorker.
But we should never forget that these two extraordinary men met on account of an extraordinary woman who was their spiritual link, creating an encounter to be remembered!
Article by: Ana Stjelja
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