Vivekananda and Buddha Part 2

While in America Swami Vivekananda had encouraged his brother disciples to go ahead and work tirelessly among people, to alleviate their suffering. Some of his brother disciples were skeptical in the beginning but then they began to see the truth as they were enlightened beings themselves. Some of them like Swami Akhandananda wholeheartedly jumped into the fire leaving aside everything else. And in this way his mission was born. Just as Buddha had established the Sangha to propagate the four noble truths and the eightfold paths and developed a monastic order for the first time in the world, Vivekananda developed Ramakrishna Math and Mission with the objective of spreading the doctrine of his guru Sri Ramakrishna. In this respect an interesting anecdote goes like this – One day Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar had been discussing the Vaishnava philosophy to his devotees and said that they (Vaishnavas) emphasize on three aspects – Vaishnav Seva (Service to the devotees of the Lord), Jive Daya  (Compassion to all beings), Nam Sankirtan (Singing the glory of God). He then in a semi transcendental state said, “Jive daya? The puny being you are, who are you to show compassion? Shiva Gyane Jiva Seva – Service to all beings as manifestation of shiva should be the motto.” While saying this he went into deep ecstasy or Samadhi. Many devotees were present but they could not understand the significance of the statement. Only Narendra said, “Today I have learnt a new thing. If God wills, I’ll establish this teaching someday.” Narendra was also fond of the song “Jo Kuch Hai So Tu Hi Hai” by Jaffar. Once in Kashipur when Narendra had requested for Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna strongly rebuked him saying that he did not expect such a narrow mindedness from such great receptacle as him. He told him, “you only sing jo kucch hai so tu hin hai! There is greater state than Samadhi. You should become a big banyan tree under which millions of people will take refuge.” This was the state of Buddha. Buddha came out of the state of nirvana out of compassion for the whole world, to mitigate their suffering and provide ray of hope to millions caught in the net of delusion. Ramakrishna said about Buddha, “When the intelligence merges into pure consciousness that state is called Buddha state. He was not an atheist, but beyond atheism and theism.” He went on saying, “by thinking about pure consciousness only, one’s intelligence merges into pure consciousness or Bodha, becomes pure intelligence and that is Buddha state.” Vivekananda later gave several lectures on Buddhism, one of them being “Buddhism, the fulfillment of Hinduism”. He sincerely believed that Buddha’s teachings were nothing but Vedantic truths from Upanishads, in any case they were based on the Samkhya philosophy of Kapila. He agreed with the fact that many Hindu scholars during Sankara’s time considered him as hidden Buddhist for his doctrine of Advaita, which proves how related Advaita Vedanta is to Buddhism. He believed that Buddha, although he did not preach out Atman and Brahman, nevertheless did not deny the existence of either. Like Buddha, he also believed that being good and doing good, that’s the essence of all religions and that should be the duty of every society and mankind. Through that path they will ultimately manifest their divinity and realize their true nature.

So there is remarkable similarity between what Buddha did and what Vivekananda did, not only in terms of legacy but also in terms of spiritual attainment. We find few instances of Swamiji merging his intelligence in pure consciousness – in Kashipur, in Thousand Island Park and later in Kashmir. He was in an exalted spiritual state in Thousand Island Park where his teachings were noted down by Sara Ellen Waldo and later appeared in booklet form as Inspired Talks. His photo in a meditative posture in London is very close to the conventional images of Buddha in a state of enlightenment. Just as the Buddhism was based on three pillars of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Ramakrishna Math was established on threefold pillars of the Holy Trio – Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi being the Sangha Janani or the Sangha’s embodiment, Vivekananda giving the shape to the ideal in a practical form and therefore being the Buddha and Ramakrishna as Guru being the ideal or the founding principle – the dharma.

Vivekananda established a new monastic order just as Buddha. Buddhism appeared at a critical juncture in India’s history when the sanatana dharma had lost its purpose & ideals and Vedic rituals had lost their meaning and significance, when people were confused about religion and irreligious practices like wanton sacrifices of animals became common, when masses were deluded by priestly class who held sway together with the kings, Buddha came to redefine religion and gave it a practical shape. He opened the horizon for spiritual seekers from all backgrounds. In a sweeping gesture he did away with the rigid caste barriers and edifices in the society. He established Ahimsa as the key principle and compassion for all as the new dharma. The impact was far reaching and his religion through the missionary efforts of Buddhist monks, esp. under the sponsorship of king Ashoka Priyadarshi, spread to distant lands – Middle East, West Asia, Far East Asia and even some parts of Europe. But instead of decline of Hinduism this in turn strengthened it by Vedic traditions giving way to Puranic ones. Hindus got idol worship and elaborate rituals from Buddhists and both the sects were benefited from mutual association, so much so that Hinduism could declare Buddha as one of the ten avataras and that was universally accepted. Buddha was venerated among the masses and hence his acceptance in Brahmanical Hinduism ensured that masses did not move away. In fact Buddhism giving undue stress on monasticism made Puranic Hinduism even more attractive for the masses as common men were free of the obligation to follow Vedic rituals which were costly and were meant only for the kings. So very soon there developed a mass of literature, art and there was an overwhelming material prosperity. Society also lost much of its rigidness.