Message of Swami Vivekananda

: Apparent Paradox and Deliberate Mischief

Swami Vivekananda was a very comprehensive personality. He was a person with sharp intellect, command over language and passionate heart. To add to this he had a Guru in whose presence he had realised the Truth. That gave an added insight and power to his words. Moreover he also went round the country and also the world, so he could get an opportunity to see the world from close quarters, he could see the weakness of man as well as his inherent strength, the cultures and world-views developed over millenniums and their impact on the progress of the humanity.
He addressed various audiences in the world, the varying shades between – the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated, the technologically advanced and totally backward, those wallowing in the ego of conquerors and those suffering in the humiliation of conquered, those who looked at whole world as expression of one’s self and those who divided the world between ‘we as believers’ and ‘they as non-believers’, those who prayed for the good of all and those who insisted that the good of all depends only when all accept their definition of god. He had to address to all these varied groups. His address was never for the show of oratory but with the over-flowing compassion in his heart, he wanted to raise the people spiritually from wherever they were.
Naturally though his message was the same that is awakening of the divinity within and respecting the diverse expressions of One Truth in the universe, he had to give different stress at different times depending on the audience whom he was addressing. Taking into account the 360 degree range of his audience geographically and ideologically, his message too was varied and many times appeared exactly opposite. Thus his message if seen out of context looks paradoxical. Just to site few examples:
With respect to Hindus in one of his letters, Swami Vivekananda says, "Good-bye, I have had enough of the Hindus. …Why should I give up such a noble nation (America) to go to the land of brutes and ingrates and the brainless boobies held in eternal thraldom of superstition, merciless, pitiless wretches?" And same Swami Vivekananda also said "My countrymen, I have been more than a year in this country (America). I have seen almost every corner of the society, and, after comparing notes, let me tell you that neither are we devils, as the missionaries tell the world we are, nor are they angels, as they claim to be. …let me tell you plainly if such a comparison be instituted with any amount of justice, the Hindu will be found head and shoulders above all other nations in the world as a moral race." He also had said that he was proud to call himself as a Hindu.
He said in the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, "If any one here hopes that this unity (of religions) will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, Brother, yours is an impossible hope." But the same Swami Vivekananda says while talking in India that, "It is not only that we must revive our own country – that is a small matter; I am an imaginative man and my idea is the conquest of the whole world by the Hindu race."
Swami Vivekananda said, "Heroes only enjoy the world. Show your heroism; apply, according to circumstances, the fourfold political maxims of conciliation, bribery, sowing dissentions, and open war, to win over your adversary and enjoy the world—then you will be Dharmika. Otherwise, you live a disgraceful life if you pocket your insults, when you are kicked and trodden down by anyone who takes it into his head to do so; your life is a veritable hell here, and so is the life hereafter. This is what Shastras say." But on the other hand he also tells, "One of the greatest lessons I have learned in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to its end. …All the secret of success is there; to pay as much attention to the means as to the end."
Swami Vivekananda criticises Christianity but talks about Jesus Christ with all respect. But he has also said that Christ ruined Greece and Rome. His message when taken out of context appears paradoxical. It can not be understood at times even when it is seen in the context of the lecture given. To understand his message also the place, the spiritual development of the audience and the situation has to be taken into account.
If that is not done then we find his message apparently paradoxical at times and we are puzzled. This confusion can be cleared if we read Swami Vivekananda more extensively keeping the audience and the context in the mind. As such Truth is never one-dimensional it is always multi-dimensional. Even in science, the scientists have accepted that. For example whether light is particles or waves? The scientists say it is both. Swami Vivekananda also says that we do not travel from falsehood to truth but we travel from truth to truth. The journey of man as he grows is from lesser truth to higher truth.
The words of Swamiji have such tremendous strength that his message galvanised whole of India and the independence movement took off. Any good work in our country since then has its source in the inspiring message of Swami Vivekananda. To understand Swamiji fully, to get his invigorating message we should read him regularly and extensively and not just some quotations taken out of context.
The people of India have such Shraddha – deep respect for Swami Vivekananda that whatever is told as the message of Swami Vivekananda is accepted. Thus what is necessary for the growth of one say the western audience can not be given as prescription for Indians. If the message of Swamiji is wrongly prescribed then we are not only betraying Swamiji but our action can cause harm, as a medicine meant for one disease if given to others can cause harm. The tragedy in our country is some are bent upon doing this deliberate mischief so as to paralyse the fighting arm and response of Hindu society.
When Swamiji spoke in front of the Western audience he told that they should not dream or work for spreading their religion but same Swami Vivekananda when he spoke in front of Hindus he told them to conquer the world by their spirituality. The religious traditions like Christianity and Islam are violently exclusive in their approach like –‘Our God alone is the True God and others too should follow our God. If they don’t then it is our duty to make them do so by fraud or force.’ Whereas the Hindu tradition is inclusive it says – everything is expression of the same Divine and therefore respects all names and forms of God. Being a realised person who feels one with the people of the world and so has over-flowing love and compassion for all, Swami Vivekananda gives apparently paradoxical message to different people. Because, he envisaged that if the inclusive did not become proactive then the exclusive would become virulently reactive as the very existence of inclusive is offensive to exclusive. Therefore the inclusive has to be pro-active to contain the damages that exclusive can wrought on humanity. The inclusive declines when it does not pro-act and in the long run the hopes of survival and growth of humanity are dashed to the ground. The exclusive if not contained then it destroys others and in the long run hurts itself. Thus Swami Vivekananda - the great world teacher adopted a method to make exclusive more inclusive by making it realise the facts of life and making inclusive more confident and pro-active to spread the inclusive view in the world. Unfortunately, the discourse in today’s India since independence has become exactly opposite of what Swami Vivekananda had initiated. The Hindus who are inclusive are criticised and are blamed for all the violent activities of the exclusive. Whereas the people following exclusive religions are pampered, their religions are treated with all respect and thus rendered respectability. The academia, intelligentsia, political establishments, the ‘eminent’ persons all resort to this.
For example, Shashi Tharoor wrote an article after the riots that erupted in Kandhammal in the wake of the brutal killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. He argued in that, that ‘reacting to conversion is violence whose closest equivalent can in fact be found in the "Indian Mujahideen" bomb blasts’. Thus indirectly he says that the work of Swami Laxmanananda for the welfare and protecting the religious rights of tribal is on par with the terrorist acts! When some protested for this, he wrote another article in which he says, "If a Hindu decides he wishes to be a Christian, how does it matter that he has found a different way of stretching his hands out towards God? Truth is one, Vivekananda reminded all Hindus, but there are many ways of attaining it." Really, is it so? Did Hindus need Swami Vivekananda to tell that Truth is One and there are many ways of attaining to it? Hindus know and have practiced this since ages. They did not need Vivekananda for that. Nor Swami Vivekananda reminded this to Hindus. This was told to the West, to the audience brought up in violent exclusive thinking. If at all Shashi Tharoor wants to quote Swami Vivekananda he should have quoted this to missionaries who resort to conversions by all means and call others’ God as false. But he would not do that.
Persons like him in our society who have risen up at the cost of Hindus and have the halo of being some big achievers quote out of context Swami Vivekananda whom all cherish and respect. This quoting of Swamiji’s message to the wrong persons is not due to ignorance but is a deliberate mischief. The message meant for the exclusive is being continuously prescribed to the inclusive and so the inclusive has become paralysed, it feels apologetic in even protecting itself. The result is more helpless society, paralysed leadership and the terror attacks like recent 26/11. The enormity of 26/11 has shaken many; all feel something needs to be done. But if we really feel committed not to have the repetition of 26/11 then on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda we need to take his message of pro-action for conquering the world with spirituality to the inclusive tradition like Hinduism and the message of "Help and not fight", "Assimilation and not destruction", and "Harmony and peace and not dissension" for exclusive traditions like Christianity and Islam. If we really want solution to terrorism we have to follow Swami Vivekananda by giving befitting message to the inclusive and the exclusive.

B. Nivedita