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Swami Vivekananda, a phenomenon, was a towering world leader who, hundred -twelve years ago, proclaimed his eternal message to humanity from the platform of Parliament of Religions in Chicago. “Help and not fight”, “Assimilation and not Destruction”, “Harmony and Peace and not Dissension”, he thundered. With the motto of renunciation and service, Swamiji founded the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. He was much more than the recently portrayed by some sectarian forces as Hindu Monk.
A firebrand nationalist, Swamiji had a strong vision for India and always advocated “education is the panacea of all ills India is suffering from”. He was a social reform activist, an educationist and above all a humanist who believed in the innate greatness of man. “Education should be man-making, character-building and nation-building” , Swamiji’s then clarion call is the need of the hour.
Swami Vivekananda was by far the first in the country to call himself a socialist. In fact, he was India’s first socialist, deeply committed to the eradication of poverty and the achievement of a classless and casteless society. In his remarkable pamphlet, “ I am a Socialist”, he did not preach an armed struggle between the classes, but, advocated a complete fusion of all classes and castes. “I consider the great national sin is the neglect of the masses and that is one of the causes of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses in India are well-educated, well-fed and well-cared for. If we want to regenerate India we must work for them”, Swamiji’s stirring words still reverates in our minds. In his programme of national regeneration he attached great importance to mass education; an education that is not religious in the conventional sense, but both spiritual and scholarly and at the same time scientific and cosmopolitan. The only service to our lower classes, according to him, was to give them education “to develop their lost individuality”. “If the poor cannot come to education, it must reach them at the plough, in the factory, everywhere.”
In his opinion all the social reform movements in the country had failed to succeed because they were confined only to a handful of people in the upper rungs of society and never penetrated to the masses below. Unless the masses could be transformed, all these reform efforts were bound to be confined to a very narrow base. He assigned great importance to the youth, the woman and the lower class as catalysts in his scheme for national regeneration. The life and messages of Swami Vivekanada are still an infinite source of great inspiration to youth. Therefore, the grateful nation celebrates his birth-day, January 12, 1985 as National Youth Day.
Vivekananda preached to the world what his master Parmahansa Sri Ramakrishna had taught, the divinity of the soul, the unity of existence and harmony of religions. He realized the truth of his Master’s words, “Religion is not for empty bellies”. He maintained that Religion is the love-unfolding, expanding and growing. He used another illustration to explain this, “It is like a spring within a watch. It is not necessary that all watches have the same kind of spring, and it is not necessary that we all have the same religion. And why should we quarrel ? If we all had the same ideas, the world would be dead…We must have unity and variety. The rose would smell as sweet by any other name, and it doesn’t matter what your religion is called….As all streams flow into the ocean, so all religions bring us to God. Let us help and not destroy.”
On the eve of Swamiji’s 142nd birth anniversary, the nation’s fitting homage could only be to follow his immortal words, “Be and Make”, “It is better to die out than rust out”, “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”
In the aftermath of Tsunami, it is for us to emulate Swamiji’s mantra “Service to Mankind is Service to God” to re-build a new India and a new world. (PIB Features)
**Information Assistant, PIB, New Delhi
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