Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 153)

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Parts 1 to 152 were posted earlier. This is part 153. 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 153

i) Uniting under the Common Ideal of Spirituality Will Alone Make the Future India

We see how in Asia, and especially in India, race difficulties, linguistic difficulties, social difficulties, national difficulties, all melt away before the unifying power of religion. We know that, to the Indian mind, there is nothing higher than religious ideals, that this is the keynote of Indian life; and we can only work in the line of least resistance. It is not only true that the ideal of religion is the highest ideal; in the case of India, it is the only possible means of work; work in any other line, without first strengthening this, would be disastrous. Therefore, the first plank in the making of the future India, the first step that is to be hewn out of that rock of ages, is this unification of religion. All of us have to be taught that we Hindus - Dualists, qualified monists, or monists, Shaivas, Vaishnavas, or Pashupatas - to whatever denomination we may belong, have certain common ideas behind us; and that the time has come when, for the well-being of ourselves, for the well-being of our race, we must give up all our little quarrels and differences. Be sure, these quarrels are entirely wrong; they are condemned by our scriptures, forbidden by our forebears; and those great men and women from whom we claim our descent, whose blood is in our veins, look down with contempt on their children quarreling about minute differences.(31)

The characteristic of [our] nation is…transcendentalism, this struggle to go beyond, this daring to tear the veil off the face of nature at any risk, at any price, a glimpse of the beyond. That is our ideal; but of course all the people in a country cannot give up entirely. Do you want to enthuse them? Then here is the way to do so: your talk of politics, of social regeneration, you talks of money-making and commercialism - all these will roll off like water from a duck’s back. This spirituality, then, is what you have to teach to the world. Have we to learn anything else, have we to learn anything from the world? We have, perhaps, to gain a little material knowledge, in the power of organization, in the ability to handle powers, organizing powers, in bringing in the best results out of the smallest causes. This, perhaps, to a certain extent we may learn from the West. But if anyone preaches in India the ideal of eating and drinking and making merry, if anyone wants to apotheosize the material world into a God, that he or she is a liar; he or she has no place in this holy land, the Indian mind does not want to listen to him or her. Ay, in spite of all the sparkle and glitter of Western civilization, in spite of all its polish and its marvelous manifestation of power, standing upon this platform I tell them to their face that it is all vain. It is vanity of vanities. God alone lives, soul alone lives, spirituality alone lives. Hold on to that.