Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 174)

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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 174

 

b) Let Us Rouse the Austere Spirit of Manhood in India and Adjust to the Needs

of the Times

 

1. First Be Prepared for the Struggle for Existence

 

Trampled under others’ feet, slaving for others, are you human any more? You are

not worth a pin’s head! In this fertile country with abundant water supply,

where nature produces wealth and harvest a thousand times more than in others,

you have no food for your stomach, no clothes to cover your body! In this

country of abundance, the produce of which has been the cause of the spread of

civilization in other countries, you are reduced to such straits! Your condition

is even worse than that of a dog. And you glory in your Vedas and Vedanta! A

nation that cannot provide for its simple food and clothing, which always

depends upon others for its subsistence - what is there for it to vaunt about?

Throw your religious observances overboard for the present, and first be

prepared for the struggle for existence.(11)

 

Laziness, meanness and hypocrisy have covered the whole length and breadth of

the country. Can an intelligent person look on all this and remain quiet? Does

it not bring tears to the eyes? Madras, Bombay, Pujab, Bengal - whichever way I

look - I see no signs of life. You are thinking yourselves highly educated. What

nonsense have you learned? Getting by heart the thoughts of others in a foreign

language and stuffing your brain with them and taking some university degrees,

you consider yourselves educated! Fie upon you! Is this education? What is the

goal of your education? Either a clerkship, or being a roguish lawyer, or at the

most a deputy magistracy, which is another form of clerkship - isn’t that all?

What good will it do you or the country at large? Open your eyes and see what a

piteous cry for food is rising in the land of Bharata [india], proverbial for

its wealth! Will your education fulfill this want? Never. With the help of

Western science set yourselves to dig the earth and produce foodstuffs, not by

means of servitude to others, but by discovering new avenues to production by

your own efforts aided by Western science. Therefore I teach the people of this

country to be full of activities, so as to be able to produce food and clothing

for themselves. For want of food and clothing, and plunged in anxiety about it,

the country has come to ruin - what are you doing to remedy this? Throw aside

your scriptures in the Ganga and teach the people first the means of procuring

food and clothing, and then you will find time to read to them the scriptures.

If their material wants are not removed by the rousing of intense activity, none

will listen to words of spirituality. Therefore I say, first rouse the inherent

power of the Atman within you; then, rousing the faith of the people in general,

in that power, as much as you can, teach them first of all to make provision for

food, and then teach them religion. There is no time to sit idle - who knows

when death will overtake one?(12)

 

Cross reference to:

 

Ka. Up., 1.3.14