India needs Swami Vivekananda now more than ever
If this universe, or possibly multiverse, is a temple, then for many, the sanctum sanctorum is Bharat or India. This cradle of a great many civilisations has been blessed with a perennial tradition of saints and sages who sacrificed everything for society and the nation.
"Service to humanity is the greatest form of worship" is the mantra that the far-sighted ancient Indian saints upheld in their life.
Swami Vivekananda was born as a legatee to these great saints, who had sculpted the spirit of India from the esoteric and epiphanic traditions of the Vedic ages, the music of nature, the mystical lure of the Himalayas, and the cultural ingenuity of age old civilizations, such as those that were birthed by the Indus.
Vivekananda’s birth happened in the midst of a turbulent period. It was the worst of times, when the nation had been floating without any direction. It was mired in a disturbing state of ideological bankruptcy. Rulers and society treated Hinduism as completely undesirable and totally nonsensical.
The need of the hour was to propel nationalism. And the man was there to make it happen. Born to Vishwanath Dutta and Bhuvaneshwari Devi, in Shimla Pally, Kolkata, West Bengal, on January 12, 1863, Narendranath Dutta was destined to change the course of a great land in the avatar of Swami Vivekananda.
The ideals of this great saint, whom the American media had described as the "Hurricane Hindu", are eternal and very germane in the present scenario. That’s precisely why the world still remembers him even today, with celebration of his 153rd birth anniversary.
Vivekananda wanted to change the way Indians treated themselves. He wanted to break down barriers and shape the future of India on the edifice of the Vedas. His commitment was to recapture the ancient Vedic identity of India.
The maker of modern India
Vivekananda’s vibrant thoughts and thunder-like words were a riveting inspiration for the valiant Indian freedom revolutionaries, including national hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, in their struggle against British imperialism. His speeches came from the heart, not the throat.
Netaji described Vivekananda as "the maker of modern India". This, indeed is one of the reason why he is regarded as the father of spiritual nationalism in India.
Many prominent figures of Indian freedom movement, including revolutionary-turned-saint Aurobindo Ghosh, Mohandas K Gandhi, C Rajagopalachari, Jatin Das, found Vivekananda as their unending source of energy.
Vivekananda’s clarion call aided them to fight the British, that too, in a murky political environment.
More than ever, now, the nation and society badly need Vivekananda’s energetic thoughts to rise from its lethargy to an era of renaissance.
When the very idea of India is being challenged by pseudo-secularists, religious fundamentalists, terrorists, and worthless politicians, Vivekananda’s concept of nationalism, rooted in the Vedic thoughts, assumes great significance.
He was one of the greatest leaders who had shaped the nationalist movement in modern India. He is what can be called as a true Indian legend.
Vivekananda had a vision to make a nation nobody could think of attacking. That’s why he wanted a young Indian generation having the courage and spirit of Rajaputra warriors.
"My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem, like lions," Swami Vivekananda said in one of his speeches.
He was a valiant monk who had proclaimed the greatness of Hinduism in America at a time when Europe and the Americas considered Bharat as a land of superstitions.
The meeting with his guru, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, in 1881, was the turning point in Vivekananda’s life.
From him, Swamiji realised that he had to dedicate his life to the human race, which he believed to be the living god. Throughout his life, he looked and sounded energetic and succeeded in shaping the nationalistic thoughts of the Indian youth.
The cyclonic monk
It was the beginning of a spiritual revolution, when Swami Vivekananda, with his saffron robe, thundered at the Parliament of Religions on September 11, 1893 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
An affable and unruffled Vivekananda outclassed all other speakers who proclaimed the greatness of their own religions. He spoke about the oneness of all religions.
With his remarkable speech, he had startled the audience at the Parliament of Religions by presenting the idea of Hinduism and, thereby, changed the perception of the West towards India.
He had begun his first speech with the words, "Sisters and brothers of America!", which itself was alien but acceptable to the West. They had felt a sense of brotherhood for the first time from a prolific speaker from the East.
They received him as a real hero, a "cyclonic monk" from the East. Vivekananda performed with uncommon elan on different public platforms in America.
The fire, which had started out from the West, soon spread to India and inspired thousands of youth. He gave a rousing call to India, "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached."
A roaring call from Swami Vivekananda, that "India needs a young generation of iron muscles and steel nerves", ignited the sense of patriotism and nationalism amongst Indian youth.
It was grand enough for a country under the tyranny of an imperialist power to awaken. What her people badly needed was a new electric fire to stir up a fresh vigour in its national veins.
For him, the land of Bharat has had special and sacred significance and he used to refer Bharat as the Punyabhumi (the sacred land). References to Hindu nationalism hogged the limelight almost every time Vivekananda addressed the crowd.
Swami Vivekananda’s concept of India was a strong, powerful, and aggressive nation. He had a dream to build a modern India based on the ideals of Vedanta. He once said, "Vedanta should be the very foundation on which India has to build her edifice."
According to Vivekananda, an Indian is one who believes in the authority of the Vedas, the cyclical order of creation, and above all, he should consider mother and motherland above heaven.
"I do not see into the future; nor do I care to see. But one vision I see clear as life before me is that the ancient mother has awakened once more, sitting on her throne rejuvenated more glorious than ever. Proclaim her to the entire world with the voice of peace and benediction.
"Remember that the nation lives in the cottage. The fate of a nation depends up on the condition of the masses. Can you raise them? Can you give them back their lost individuality without making them lose their innate spiritual nature?"
He realised that our great national sin was the neglect of the masses and that was one of the causes of India’s downfall. And Vivekananda had the powers to awaken the masses. The patriot saint taught them that the Indian nation cannot be killed, so long as her people do not give up their spirituality.
Swamiji died on July 4, 1902 at the young age of 39 by fulfilling his prophecy that he would not live forty years.
As a tribute to the blistering campaign by Swami Vivekananda to save the motherland, Netaji and scores of Indian revolutionaries fought against the British and subsequently Britain was forced to leave India.
The confusion on her legacy to put Vedic ethos in the shades of history has left independent India in a tizzy.
Contrary to Swami Vivekananda’s views, political leaders followed alien paths to build the nation on the lines of crony capitalism and Soviet-inspired socialism. As a result, new India hasn’t acquired the power to lead the world.
This January 12 brings fresh hopes. For the first time in the history of independent India, a political leader who finds his role model in Swami Vivekananda is on the go to unleash the power of youth with innovative projects like "Startup India, Standup India" and "Make in India".
Yes! India has to wake up and enlighten the world. Vedas, which interprets the oneness of humanity, is the ideology that will take the nation forward.
The moment India becomes sceptical about her legacy, the game is lost.