Swami Vivekananda 150 - A Tribute - 2nd part

Most people perceive Vivekananda in their own lights. Some see him as champion of the cause of the Hindus, some see him as a socialist, some as a great patriot, some as a spiritual leader, some as a social reformer, some as enemy, some as communal, some as the leader of a sect, some as a teacher, some as a philosopher. It speaks of the many dimensions of his personality and many traits of his character. However all these perceptions are like that of the blind men in the parable of Sri Ramakrishna, who went to know an elephant. One felt the trunk and thought that the trunk is the elephant, one felt the leg and thought that the elephant is like a pillar, one felt the tail and so on, but they could never understand the whole of the elephant.

One way to look at his myriad accomplishments is to analyze his influence, both in the contemporary period and thereafter. His many accomplishments can be summed up in the following bullets –

• Rejuvenation of a moribund nation from its sloth and slumber using both words and action, giving the nation a taste of the glory that awaits it if only it realizes its full potential
• Developing a sense of self confidence among the educated Indians through his accomplishments in Americas
• Establishing for the first time an ideal of practical Vedanta which was hitherto not imaginable – that of serving human beings as the living God. Establishing Ramakrishna Mission to carry forward that ideal. This supreme idea of “seva” made it easier for educated Indians to connect to their brethren across the country
• Interpreting the ancient scriptures in a new light, through his own realization, in the modern context that is understandable universally. He was perhaps the only qualified person who had exhaustive  knowledge of both modern science and ancient scriptures to demonstrate to an enlightened audience that Vedanta is in high agreement and conformity with modern sciences including physics, astronomy, biology, psychology and sociology
• Developing a great philanthropic and spiritual organization which, since the advent of Buddhism, was never attempted in India in such a grand scale as he had envisioned
• Giving high emphasis on the education and upliftment of Indian women and other backward classes. He stressed on education as one of the principal means to eradicate oppression, poverty and superstitions prevalent in the society and through his disciples Sister Nivedita and Sister Christine formed an ideal school for girls, which also paved the way for future womens' monastic order
• Emphasizing on the reforms coming from within the society and taking concrete actions for realizing such reforms, in contrast with the external reforms advocated by some sections of educated Indians
• Getting India the respect which was due to it from the world by promoting its jewels in the form of wisdom, culture and heritage which was sought after by the seekers of the truth in the West who were tired with dogmas. Instead of going with a beggars bowl he emphasized on equal exchange between East and West, spiritual knowledge in exchange of material wealth, which was heartily accepted and admired
• Developing a band of educated spiritual luminaries. Spiritual quest was hitherto perceived to be the stronghold of those who shunned all worldly influence including the materialistic Western education. Such preconceived notions were rejected by him and he also broke all dogmas prevalent in orthodox Hinduism, thus giving new hopes to those who were genuinely inspired by ancient scriptures but were confused and drepelled by the dogmas of the Brahmanical orthodox Hinduism
• A much less discussed accomplishment is his planting the seeds of patriotism and nationalism in the minds of thousands of young Indians through his speeches and activities. The seed of the idea was carefully nurtured by his disciple Sister Nivedita who in a supreme sacrifice voluntarily gave up the membership of Ramakrishna Mission to pursue his master’s ideal of freeing India from the foreign tyrants. Many leaders of later years – Aurobindo, Subhas Chandra Bose, Hemchandra Ghosh, Chittaranjan Das, Gandhi himself, and a host of young revolutionaries like Jatindra Mohan Mukherjee, Dr. Jadugopal Mukherjee, his own brother Bhupendranath Dutta, were all inspired and influenced by his teachings. Just three years after his death, the hitherto quite Bengal suddenly became the hotbed of revolutionary activities, so much so that the British Government had to finally shift their capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The British police were flabbergasted with him because in the home and office of every arrested revolutionary they could get a copy of the works of Swami Vivekananda. The government at one point of time even thought of banning Ramakrishna Mission.  In that respect he was the chief architect of Indian independence, although he stayed away from active politics

In his own words on patriotism, which should be a revelation to the leaders of all ages, “Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next-door neighbours to brutes??? Do you feel that millions are starving today ,and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you restless? Does it make you sleepless? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming consonant with your heartbeats? Has it made you almost mad? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? That is the first step to become a patriot”