Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 148)

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Parts 1 to 147 were posted earlier. This is part 148. Your comments are welcome... Vivekananda Centre London

Earlier postings can be seen at http://www.vivekananda.btinternet.co.uk/veda.htm

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 148

2.The Religious Movements in India during British Rule Are the Voices of the Dead and Dying

1. The New Sects Are Merely Pleading for Permission to Live

There have been a few religious movements amongst the Indian people during the British rule, following the same line that was taken up by the northern sects during the sway of the empire of Delhi. They are the voices of the dead and dying - the feeble tones of a terrorized people, pleading for permission to live. They are very eager to adjust their spiritual or social surroundings according to the tastes of their conquerors - if only they are left the right to live, especially the sects under English domination, in which social differences with the conquering race are more glaring than the spiritual. The Hindu sects of the century seem to have set one ideal of truth before them - they approval of their English masters. No wonder that these sects have mushroom lives to live. The vast body of the Indian people religiously hold aloof from them and the only popular recognition they get is the jubilation of the people when they die.(19)

At the present moment, we may see three different positions of the national religion - the orthodox, the Arya Samaj, and the Brahmo Samaj. The orthodox covers the ground taken by the Vedic Hindus of the Mahabharata epoch. The Arya Samaj corresponds to Jainism, and the Brahmo Samaj to the Buddhists. (20)