Swami Vivekananda and Sudra Jagaran or the Awakening of the masses - His visions for a future world order - Part 1

A struggle to understand the prevailing social and economic conditions all over the world and a knowledge of Swami Vivekananda’s visions as reflected in his speeches and writings, can provide one with profound insights on the direction in which the world is moving. It does not need any prophetic vision, only some knowledge of history and ability to develop a regression model from the past data into future, based on variables shaped by the present conditions and an inspiration from Swami Vivekananda in his voice without his form. Swamiji’s profound thought was reflected in his essay – Modern India, and several of his letters. He said, “According to the prevalence, in greater or lesser degree, of the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas in man, the four castes, the Brahmin, Kashatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, are everywhere present at all times, in all civilised societies. By the mighty hand of time, their number and power also vary at different times in regard to different countries. In some countries the numerical strength or influence of one of these castes may preponderate over another; at some period, one of the classes may be more powerful than the rest. But from a careful study of the history of the world, it appears that in conformity to the law of nature the four castes, the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra do, in every society, one after another in succession, govern the world.”

If we look 150 years back, we’ll find during the time of Karl Marx, Europe was undergoing a mammoth transformation. One the one hand old institutions were crumbling into pieces, on the other hand new order was emerging, based on the giant wheels of the industrial revolution which was crushing many hapless victims. The impact of this was felt in the social and economic upheaval of Europe. Americas fast emerged as the preferred destination for fortune seekers and the beauty of Americas was that it allowed people from all backgrounds to prosper if they were sufficiently hard working and enterprising in nature. It did not discriminate on the basis of social structure. In Europe, on the other hand the social equation was permanently disturbed. There emerged the class of labourers who were exploited by ruthless enterprises but were the cogs for driving the giant wheels of the industries. Global corporations began emerging and traders and businessmen, who, so far, had enjoyed the protection of the state military power, became the supremely powerful, relegating the state power to that of a secondary status, as they financed the governance and administration.

The hapless victims, viz. the employees, became the new slaves, except that they were not bonded or indentured. The class struggle, as seen by Marx assumed gigantic proportion in Europe culminating in two devastating world war. In the first, the elite class, the aristocrats, wanted to assert themselves for a final time and battle the new trade block led by Britain and later by America, but were hopelessly defeated and routed. The First World War, however, indirectly led to the establishment of a new world order, ushering in a change in Russia, which was one of the most poor and oppressed victims so far from the elites. Here the first class change took place and for the first time millions of farmers, small time labours and other proletarians sensed victory.

Here a point is to be noted. I am neither a Communist, nor a Communist sympathizer, but far from it as I have seen the worst of Communist rule in my home state for two decades. However history needs to be evaluated at the face value and one should not be biased by one’s own perceptions and experiences while judging historical events. This is thus an impersonal account. Second point is that how and why these events relate to the topic in hand, viz. Swami Vivekananda’s vision for a Sudra Jagaran or awakening of the common masses? We’ll come to that.