Swami Vivekananda describes what is India's Gift to the World

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INDIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD (Brooklyn Standard Union, February 27, 1895)

 

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindoo monk, delivered a lecture Monday night under

the auspices of the Brooklyn Ethical Association before a fairly large

audience at the hall of the Long Island Historical Society, corner

Pierrepont and Clinton streets. His subject was " India's Gift to the World " .

 

" In religion, " he said, " she has exerted a great influence on Christianity,

as the very teachings of Christ would [could] be traced back to those of

Buddha. " He showed by quotations from the works of European and American

scientists the many points of similarity between Buddha and Christ. The

latter's birth, his seclusion from the world, the number of his apostles,

and the very ethics of his teachings are the same as those of Buddha, living

many hundred years before him.

 

" Is it mere chance, " the lecturer asked, " or was Buddha's religion but the

foreshadowing of that of Christ? The majority of your thinkers seem to be

satisfied in the latter explanation, but there are some bold enough to say

that Christianity is the direct offspring of Buddhism just as the earliest

heresy in the Christian religion — the Monecian [Manichaean] heresy — is now

universally regarded as the teaching of a sect of Buddhists. But there is

more evidence that Christianity is founded in Buddhism. We find it in

recently discovered inscriptions from the reign of Emperor Oshoka [Asoka] of

India, about 300 B.C., who made treaties with all the Grecian kings, and

whose missionaries discriminated [disseminated ?] in those very parts,

where, centuries after, Christianity flourished, the principles of the

Buddhistic religion.

 

" The same holds good with respect to sciences. India has given to antiquity

the earliest scientifical physicians, and, according to Sir William Hunter,

she has even contributed to modern medical science by the discovery of

various chemicals and by teaching you how to reform misshapen ears and

noses. Even more it has done in mathematics, for algebra, geometry,

astronomy, and the triumph of modern science — mixed mathematics — were all

invented in India, just so much as the ten numerals, the very cornerstone of

all present civilization, were discovered in India, and are in reality,

Sanskrit words.

 

" In philosophy we are even now head and shoulders above any other nation, as

Schopenhauer, the great German philosopher, has confessed. In music India

gave to the world her system of notation, with the seven cardinal notes and

the diatonic scale, all of which we enjoyed as early as 350 B.C., while it

came to Europe only in the eleventh century. In philology, our Sanskrit

language is now universally acknowledged to be the foundation of all

European languages, which, in fact, are nothing but jargonized Sanskrit.

 

" In literature, our epics and poems and dramas rank as high as those of any

language; our 'Shaguntala' [shakuntala] was summarized by Germany's greatest

poet, as 'heaven and earth united'. India has given to the world the fables

of Aesop, which were copied by Aesop from an old Sanskrit book; it has given

the Arabian Nights, yes, even the story of Cinderella and the Bean Stalks.

In manufacture, India was the first to make cotton and purple [dye], it was

proficient in all works of jewelry, and the very word 'sugar', as well as

the article itself, is the product of India. Lastly she has invented the

game of chess and the cards and the dice.So great, in fact, was the

superiority of India in every respect, that it drew to her borders the

hungry cohorts of Europe, and thereby indirectly brought about the discovery

of America.

 

" And now, what has the world given to India in return for all that? Nothing

but nullification [vilification] and curse and contempt. The world waded in

her children's life-blood, it reduced India to poverty and her sons and

daughters to slavery, and now it adds insult to injury by preaching to her a

religion which can only thrive on the destruction of every other religion.

But India is not afraid. It does not beg for mercy at the hands of any

nation. Our only fault is that we cannot: fight to conquer; but we trust in

the eternity of truth. India's message to the world is first of all, her

blessing; she is returning good for the evil which is done her, and thus she

puts into execution this noble idea, which had its origin in India. Lastly,

India's message is, that calm goodness, patience and gentleness will

ultimately triumph. For where are the Greeks, the onetime masters of the

earth? They are gone. Where are the Romans, at the tramp of whose cohorts

the world trembled? Passed away. Where are the Arabs, who in fifty years had

carried their banners from the Atlantic to the Pacific? and where are the

Spaniards, the cruel murderers of millions of men? Both races are nearly

extinct; but thanks to the morality of her children, the kinder race will

never perish, and she will yet see the hour of her triumph. "

 

At the close of the lecture, which was warmly applauded, Swami Vivekananda

answered a number of questions in regard to the customs of India. He denied

positively the truth of the statement published in yesterday's [February 25]

Standard Union, to the effect that widows are ill-treated in India. The law

guarantees her not only her own property, before marriage, but also all she

received from her husband, at whose death, if there be no direct heirs, the

property goes to her. Widows seldom marry in India, because of the scarcity

of men. He also stated that the self-sacrifices of wives at the death of

their husbands as well as the fanatical self-destruction under the wheels of

the Juggernaut, have wholly stopped, and referred his hearers for proof to

Sir William Hunter's " History of the Indian Empire " .

 

Source:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_2/R\

eports_in_American_Newspapers/India's_Gift_to_the_World

 

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Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram

 

Love And Love Alone