jabdakhata

Adapted from www.netajisubhasbose.org Post independence history has shaped around a cult - the cult of Gandhism, the myth of Ahimsa as a potent force that has shaped the freedom movement of India. Court historians of different hues, Red or Green, have been too hasty to conclude that the founding father of Indian Nation had been Gandhi as his ideal of non violence brought forth the much cherished freedom. However a careful analysis reveals that the assertion is deeply flawed. In the first place, we have already seen, that while Gandhi's movements made important contributions to the freedom movement, they on their own were not enough to force the British to leave India. In fact almost all of the major movements launched by Gandhi failed to achieve their objectives. Gandhiji also could not achieve his primary goal of Hindu Muslim unity. Despite his weak remonstrances, India was mercilessly partitioned into fragments by the British Raj, in connivance with Congress leaders, on the expli...

On the occasion of National Youth Day there were two interesting blog posts on him. One was in Times of India and the other was in The Tribune. Both the blogs had one common theme, that how the brand Vivekananda has been usurped by the rising tide of militant right wing whose outlook they derisively call as "Hindutva". The term was coined possibly by the Times of India that takes pride in claiming itself as a "secular", "liberal" paper. They carefully chose to distinguish it from the "Hinduism". If you are a little bit knowledgeable about Sanskrit you will know that both the terms are actually same, Hindutva is tva pratyay added to the word Hindu, depicting the Hindu way of life. However in Times of India and "secular liberal" parlance it became equivalent  to a derogatory way of referring to the right wing extremists and they chose to depict the non right wing Hindu way of life with the English ending of "ism". Laughable per...

Vivekananda is worshiped nowadays as a patriot prophet. But was he truly concerned about India as a patriot would? Also did Vivekananda stood for Hinduism only? Was he himself sectarian, a term that he despised strongly and criticized vehemently? If we buy into the opinion of today's politicians and the so called secular liberals and some off the other detractors of Vivekananda these seem to be the case. They portray him as the champion of Brahminical Hinduism, militant Hinduism and aggressive Nationalism. He is given at best the status of a social reformer and a militant nationalist. He is also clubbed in the same bracket as a humanitarian. So how much true are these assessments? Let me make a bold claim here. Only Vivekananda's disciples and ardent devotees who follow his principles know him truly, rest are mere blind men seeing a part of the elephant and mistaking it as a whole. Two stories come to our mind, both narrated by Vivekananda as part of his lectures, one bei...

Swami Vivekananda attended Paris Congress in Aug-Sep 1900 as a delegate. Even though Paris Congress was merely a session of the scholars who were involved with several topic and themes like history of religion, it was important for two reasons - 1) It formed a platform for the scholars to come together and exchange ideas on a host of  issues and topics relevant for the modern age, possibly for the first time 2) It had a good visibility among all the leading intellectuals and formed one of the basis for further academic research of the later period into various aspects of the religious history. However it was neither as critical nor as important as the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, nor it enjoyed visibility. In his words in a letter written to Udbodhan -  Congress of the History of Religions recently sat for several days together. At the Congress, there was no room allowed for the discussions on the doctrines and spiritual views of any religion; its purpose was only to ...

Here is what Sri Ramakrishna revealed about his vision on Swamiji, as recorded in Sri Sri Ramakrishna Leela Prasanga by Swami Saradananda (Translation - Ramakrishna the Great Master by Swami Jagadananda and Ramakrishna the Divine Play by Swami Chetanananda). He saw him to belong to the realm of akhanda or indivisibility, far above the realm gods and goddesses, a divine sage ever immersed in meditation, one of the seven ever pure, ever blissful souls who are ever immersed in the contemplation of the absolute. He himself of course was the divine child seen in the vision. But who were those seven sages - were they the saptarshis of the Hindu Purana or the four sages Sanaka etc. along with others like Kapila who had occupied a position far above gods and goddesses, i.e. were higher than brahmarshis who belonged to the realm of Brahma, below the realm of indivisibility. We do not know but below is the vision outlined. One day I found my mind was soaring high in  Samadhi  alon...

In the late nineteenth century we saw a huge decline facing Hinduism. Its people had forgotten the true meaning and purpose of religion and were fighting amongst each other as petty sects. Islamic rule had already crippled Hindu enthusiasm for reforms and orthodoxy became the bane which led to a mass disillusionment among the educated class. Scientific ideas and materialism held great dangers, esp. for the dogmas and Reforming religions like Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj placed formidable challenge. Christianity as state religion attacked almost every aspect of Hinduism which was looked down upon by Christian missionaries who launched a vicious propaganda as they saw a great opportunity to convert. Even the most educated scholars among Elite ruling class estimated that it would be a matter of time before Hinduism as a religion vanishes in thin air and Christianity becomes the religion of masses. But they underestimated the resilience of Hinduism. In a remote hamlet about 160 miles away...

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 Da...

Swami Vivekananda had mentioned in many places that Lord Buddha was his Ishta Devata. In fact in his childhood he had a vision that a serene looking monk approached him while he was meditating in his room one day but he being afraid of the monk got up from his meditation and the monk just disappeared within him. He later realized that he must have seen the Buddha. He was devoted to Buddha for primarily two reasons – 1) Buddha’s struggle and search of truth in the early life resonated with his early life struggles to find the truth 2) Buddha’s uncompromising approach towards Truth and Rationality. Buddha rejected anything that was not rational or logical. He constructed his sermons on logic and rationalism and rejected conventional theories of Brahmanical Hinduism that advocated either physical austerities or life of enjoyment and luxury here and hereafter, material prosperity through sacrifices or Yagnas for the appeasement of gods. This quest for truth and lifelong devotion to ratio...

Swami Vivekananda had asserted that secret behind all successes in work is concentration. It is a common knowledge that when we are free of all distractions and of calmer disposition we are able to focus better and the outcome of the endeavour is also the best with a focussed approach. When we have distractions galore we perform very badly. Sometimes the task is hand is never accomplished when we have too many distractions in the form of thoughts or work. That is why modern theories acknowledge that multi tasking is a key source of waste. Only when we are able to concentrate, we do the work better. The magnitude or the scale of success depends on the amount of concentration. if we are able to concentrate fully into a task we do it in the best possible way. That is why Sister Nivedita said that the greatest contribution of her guru was that he was able to remove all distinctions between sacred and secular. From a non dual plane there is indeed no difference as both are rooted in Maya,...

Not all are lost. There is still a sizeable proportion, notwithstanding the stance at the leadership and academia level, who eulogize Vivekananda and his ideologies and stand for it. Prof. Sankari Prasad Basu was one of the leading Vivekananda scholars, who did in India what Mary Louis Burke did in America, through his seven volume magnum opus Vivekananda and contemporary India (Bibekanda O Samakalin Bharatbarsha) and 2 volumes of Nivedita Lokamata on Sister Nivedita’s work and contribution towards Indian independence and Indian Renaissance. Other scholars, poets and literary figures include such names as poet Subramania Bharati, noted grammarian Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, social activist Anna Hazare, social activist Begum Sufia Kamal, scientists Basishwar Sen and Satyendranath Bose, philosophers and leaders Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, C.R Rajagopalachary, and many other eminent persons, who did leave indelible imprints through their own work and in...