Swami Vivekananda and Sudra Jagaran or the Awakening of the masses - His visions for a future world order - Part 6

In the early twentieth century however the influence of the British waned, as a result of the two world wars declared earlier and Europe was changed beyond recognition. Instead, America emerged as the new Vaishyas. The freedom it offered in matters of pursuing one’s goals made it a prominent destination for talents and it leveraged the talents to increase its commercial dominion. Warfare continued throughout twentieth century but the reasons were mainly commercial and not surprisingly America was in the centre for most of them.

The class struggle at first had shown signs of hope with Russia being pitted against Americas and with the rise of China as a potential power, but soon Communist blocks fell like a pack of cards one after another and Soviet Union became a mere Russia. The powers that had promised establishment of dictatorship for proletariat had actually established dictatorship for a privileged few, an oligarchy, which ruled over the masses there. However it was evident that even though the communist rules claimed many innocent lives, esp. those who opposed them, a side benefit was the increased awareness and education of the common masses, who became aware of their inherent strength and vitality. Therefore when the carefully established privileged entitlements of the communist blocks were destroyed, their common people opted for democracy and increased participation in governance.

Swamiji’s prophetic visions aptly describe the situation – “Yet, a time will come when there will be the rising of the Shudra class, with their Shudra-hood; that is to say, not like that as at present when the Shudras are becoming great by acquiring the characteristic qualities of the Vaishya or the Kshatriya, but a time will come when the Shudras of every country, with their inborn Shudra nature and habits — not becoming in essence Vaishya or Kshatriya, but remaining as Shudras — will gain absolute supremacy in every society. The first glow of the dawn of this new power has already begun to break slowly upon the Western world, and the thoughtful are at their wits' end to reflect upon the final issue of this fresh phenomenon. Socialism, Anarchism, Nihilism, and other like sects are the vanguard of the social revolution that is to follow. As the result of grinding pressure and tyranny, from time out of mind, the Shudras, as a rule, are either meanly senile, licking dog-like the feet of the higher class, or otherwise are as inhuman as brute beasts. Again, at all times their hopes and aspirations are baffled; hence a firmness of purpose and perseverance in action they have none.”

With such a concise view of the world history let us now look back to India. As we have discussed, the First World War ended the Kshatriya rule all over the world and the Second World War destroyed imperialism which had hopes of perpetuating this rule under the aegis of trade and commerce. Vaishya tantra – the era of large scale corporations and enterprises was firmly established and a new order of the common masses was seeing the light of the day owing to more and more awareness and education.

So we have gone through Brahmin or priestly rule, Kshatriya or the power of the large empires, Kshatriya and Brahmin rule in a shared power scenario like the state and Church, Kshatriya and Vaishya like large empires driven by vested commercial interest, and now we live in an age where large corporations, representative of the power and might of the Vaishyas dominate and the state affairs are largely driven by economic and commercial interests. Therefore in Swamiji’s parlance, we live in the age of Vaishyas.