Swami Vivekananda speaks about origin of Word Hindu

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VEDANTISM Volume 3, Lectures from Colombo to Almora

 

The word Hindu, by which it is the fashion nowadays to style ourselves, has

lost all its meaning, for this word merely meant those who lived on the

other side of the river Indus (in Sanskrit, Sindhu). This name was murdered

into Hindu by the ancient Persians, and all people living on the other side

of the river Sindhu were called by them Hindus. Thus this word has come down

to us; and during the Mohammedan rule we took up the word ourselves. There

may not be any harm in using the word of course; but, as I have said, it has

lost its significance, for you may mark that all the people who live on this

side of the Indus in modern times do not follow the same religion as they

did in ancient times.

 

This mass of writing called the Vedas is not the utterance of persons. Its

date has never been fixed, can never be fixed, and, according to us, the

Vedas are eternal. There is one salient point which I want you to remember,

that all the other religions of the world claim their authority as being

delivered by a Personal God or a number of personal beings, angels, or

special messengers of God, unto certain persons; while the claim of the

Hindus is that the Vedas do not owe their authority to anybody, they are

themselves the authority, being eternal — the knowledge of God. They were

never written, never created, they have existed throughout time; just as

creation is infinite and eternal, without beginning and without end, so is

the knowledge of God without beginning and without end. And this knowledge

is what is meant by the Vedas (Vid to know).

 

This mass of writing, the Vedas, is divided principally into two parts, the

Karma Kânda and the Jnâna Kânda — the work portion and the knowledge

portion, the ceremonial and the spiritual. The work portion consists of

various sacrifices; most of them of late have been given up as not

practicable under present circumstances, but others remain to the present

day in some shape or other. The main ideas of the Karma Kanda, which

consists of the duties of man, the duties of the student, of the

householder, of the recluse, and the various duties of the different

stations of life, are followed more or less down to the present day. But the

spiritual portion of our religion is in the second part, the Jnana Kanda,

the Vedanta, the end of the Vedas, the gist, the goal of the Vedas.

 

The essence of the knowledge of the Vedas was called by the name of Vedanta,

which comprises the Upanishads; and all the sects of India — Dualists,

Qualified-Monists, Monists, or the Shaivites, Vaishnavites, Shâktas, Sauras,

Gânapatyas, each one that dares to come within the fold of Hinduism — must

acknowledge the Upanishads of the Vedas.

 

Next to the Vedanta come the Smritis. These also are books written by sages,

but the authority of the Smritis is subordinate to that of the Vedanta,

because they stand in the same relation with us as the scriptures of the

other religions stand with regard to them. We admit that the Smritis have

been written by particular sages; in that sense they are the same as the

scriptures of other religions, but these Smritis are not final authority. If

there is any thing in a Smriti which contradicts the Vedanta, the Smriti is

to be rejected — its authority is gone.

 

Then there are the Purânas.the Puranas are of five characteristics — that

which treats of history, of cosmology, with various symbological

illustration of philosophical principles, and so forth. These were written

to popularise the religion of the Vedas. The language in which the Vedas are

written is very ancient, and even among scholars very few can trace the date

of these books. The Puranas were written in the language of the people of

that time, what we call modern Sanskrit. They were then meant not for

scholars, but for the ordinary people; and ordinary people cannot understand

philosophy. Such things were given unto them in concrete form, by means of

the lives of saints and kinds and great men and historical events that

happened to the race etc. The sages made use of these things to illustrate

the eternal principles of religion.

 

And above all, one thing is necessary. Ay, for ages we have been saturated

with awful jealousy; we are always getting jealous of each other. Why has

this man a little precedence, and not I? Even in the worship of God we want

precedence, to such a state of slavery have we come. This is to be avoided.

If there is any crying sin in India at this time it is this slavery. Every

one wants to command, and no one wants to obey; and this is owing to the

absence of that wonderful Brahmacharya system of yore. First, learn to obey.

 

 

The command will come by itself. Always first learn to be a servant, and

then you will be fit to be a master. Avoid this jealousy and you will do

great works that have yet to be done. Our ancestors did most wonderful

works, and we look back upon their work with veneration and pride. But we

also are going to do great deeds, and let others look back with blessings

and pride upon us as their ancestors. With the blessing of the Lord every

one here will yet do such deeds that will eclipse those of our ancestors,

great and glorious as they may have been.

 

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