Hinduism - 21.

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21. The Theosophical Society

 

The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Col. Olcott and Madame

Blavatsky, co-operated with the Arya Samaj and tried fora time to

organize Indian life on national lines and check the activities of

Christian missionaries. Col. Olcott and Madame Blavatsky went later to

Ceylon, declared themselves Buddhists, and took part in a movement for

the revival of Buddhism. Dr. Annie Besant joined the Society after a

period of militant agnosticism, side by side with notable social

service, and political work amongst the Fabians in England. She became

the head of the Theosophical Society in 1891. Claiming that she had been

a Hindu in her former birth, Annie Besant worked throughout her life for

the regeneration and activation of Hindu thought and Hindu life. She

published a translation of the Bhagavad-Gita along with Dr. Bhagvan Das

and popularized Hindu ideals in her numerous publications and

marvelously eloquent speeches. A defender of many orthodox ideals, she

turned later to social reform, which included the partial modification

of the caste system. . One of the main principles of Theosophy is the

belief in a brotherhood of great teachers of the past who are supposed

to be living still, watching over and guiding the evolution of humanity.

The Theosophical Society under Dr. Besant's guidance spread the

fundamental principles of the Hindu religion - Karma, Reincarnation,

Yoga and spiritual evolution.

 

Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda

 

Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, a great devotee and mystic, had a broad

outlook of universalism. After accepting the discipline of Yoga and

Tantric Sadhana, he underwent the discipline of the Vaishnava, the

Christian and the Islamic ways of life. To rouse the religious feelings

of the worldly-minded and re-affirm the ancient truths of Hinduism by an

appeal to experience, he trained a devoted band of followers, the most

outstanding of whom was Narendranath, Swami Vivekananda. Sri

Ramakrishna's teachings were neither new nor heterodox. As Swami

Vivekananda said on one occasion, Ramakrishna brought old truths to

light. He was an embodiment of the past religious thought of India. Like

other great religious teachers of the world, he projected his ideas

through parables or images. Questioned, for instance, on the problem of

evil, Sri Ramakrishna said:' Evil exists in God as poison in a serpent.

What is poison to us is not poison to the serpent. Evil is evil only

from the point of view of man.' In other words, from the absolute

standpoint, there is no evil, but from the relative standpoint evil is a

terrible reality. Ramakrishna preached that realization is the essence

of religion - and that all religions are paths leading to the same goal.

He deprecated metaphysical subtleties and insisted on deep devotion - it

was, he said, through his intense devotion to the image of the Divine

Mother in Dakshineswar that realization had come to him. Swami

Vivekananda said:' if men like Sankara, Caitanya and Ramakrishna found

image worship helpful, there is no sense in declining it.'

 

Ramakrishna's religion and the movement he founded by gathering

around him a band of devoted workers were essentially practical. This

aspect was expounded and universalized by Swami Vivekananda. Under the

inspiration of Ramakrishna, he changed from scepticism to religious

realization and travelled all over the world, preaching the essence of

the truths of Hinduism. He dedicated himself to the service of India and

particularly to the service of those who were starving, depressed, or

beyond the social pale. The work for the uplift of the Indian masses was

for him as important as meditation or Yoga.

 

At the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda struck a

note of universal toleration based on the Hindu belief that all

religions lead to the same God. He also declared in Chicago that the

religion of the Hindus is centered on self-realization; idols, temples,

churches and books are aids and nothing more. Swami Vivekananda

strengthened the Ramakrishna organization by founding monasteries and

centers of Hindu teaching in India and abroad. He reinterpreted Hinduism

and stated that the abstract Advaita must become living. All through his

life and especially during his travels abroad, he insisted that the

essential features of Hinduism are its universality, its impersonality,

its rationality, catholicity and optimism. Above all, its authority is

not affected by the historicity of any particular man. Swami Vivekananda

told his countrymen that they had become weak and miserable because they

did not bring their Vedanta out of the books into life itself. His great

contribution to Hinduism lay in applying the Hindu creed to the

elevation of the masses and abolishing India's isolation from the

world, culturally, spiritually, and in many aspects of social life. He

founded a great and worldwide organization, the Ramakrishna Mission,

which has worked for the spiritual welfare and multiform amelioration of

the living conditions of the people of India and other countries.