Swami Vivekananda and Sudra Jagaran or the Awakening of the masses - His visions for a future world order - Part 2

The Second World War however had however a more lasting impact. It was a war at which many things were at stake, of which trade and commerce and class struggles were small parts. For the first time in Karl Marx’s Germany, a man rose from the Proletarians and established a dictatorship under the guise of National Socialists. However, far from being influenced by Marx, this person nursed a virulent hatred against the communists. However his Nazi party, which was not strictly a party of the aristocrats, helped in the rise of common Germans from rank and file into important positions. Hatred became their nemesis, but long after they had been destroyed, there was a lasting impact on the world order.

To summarize, the two world wars in Europe and the transformation of Americas in the last century can be looked from the prism of a gigantic change in the social order in the West. The wars were indirectly class struggles and they ensured the transition of power from the elites to the trading community, but at the same time, they uplifted the masses. Europe was changed beyond all recognition. The common masses who had been so exploited and crushed in the previous few centuries, suddenly rose into prominence, got the facilities like proper education and other social benefits and utilized them to erase the class distinctions. The last of the Mohicans in terms of class distinction, Britain, eclipsed for ever from the horizon of power and with it, ended all forms of visible aristocracy, although their influence still remained in a subtle way.

Let us now come back to Swami Vivekananda. What did he see and what did he predicted? He predicted, way back in 1897, the rise of China and Russia as the next behemoths and the decline of Europe. He foresaw the rise of the serving class, Sudras in Sanskrit, an epithet for the common masses and the decline and the demise of the elitists. He said that at different ages different classes had ruled the world. The Brahmins or the priestly classes ruled for a long time and developed the scriptures and other sources of wisdom. They had ruled so long and were respected by the other classes by virtue of their purity and simplicity. The Kshatriyas or the military powers, the dictators and the kings then had the supreme power, while Brahmins were relegated to the no. 2 positions. The present age, he said is the rule of the Vaisyas or the trading class. In future, he predicted, will come a time when Sudras will rule.

Swami Vivekananda had tremendous knowledge and wisdom of history, economic and social sciences, together with his gigantic and lofty spiritual visions. He did not merely surmise these events. He saw them and knew them. If we take a leaf out of history and try to analyze we’ll see the astonishing truth in his proclamation. Every class struggle and the transition as told by him, resulted in a major upheaval and significantly, during the transition period and the turmoil which resulted from it in every society, we see the presence of a spiritual giant, who, as if, came to facilitate the transition. In Swamiji’s own words, “It is the evidence of history that at a certain time every society attains its manhood, when a strong conflict ensues between the ruling power and the common people. The life of the society, its expansion and civilisation, depend on its victory or defeat in this conflict. Such changes, revolutionizing society, have been happening in India again and again, only in this country they have been effected in the name of religion, for religion is the life of India, religion is the language of this country, the symbol of all its movements.”