THE MOUNTAIN PATH April 1964

[Guest guest]

The Swami Vivekananda Birth Centenary

 

By Arthur Osborne

It is hard now to remember to what a low ebb Hinduism had fallen at the advent of Sri Ramakrishna. The Hindus, conquered by a Western country, recognising its more potent civilisation, adopting its education, began to feel dejected at home and despised abroad. Missionaries were not wanting to proclaim that the West's superiority was due to Christianity and India's backwardness to Hinduism. With the Brahmo-Samaj, a Christianised version of Hinduism was offered by Western influenced Hindus. The rigidly orthodox were already outside the current of history and the moderates were inclined to compromise.

Then the presence of Sri Ramakrishna electrified Bengal. Almost uneducated, writing no books, proclaiming no philosophy, by the sheer power of his presence he changed the whole tone of things. Those who were being swept on the current of reformism and agnosticism (like the young Narendra Datt himself) were arrested and shocked back into devotion. Nevertheless, it was still necessary to vocalise and spread this new influence, to create a respect for Hinduism in the West and a self-respect in India.

These were the two tasks into which Narendra, become now Swami Vivekananda, flung himself with his colossal energy, and by and large he succeeded. If some of his books for Westerners now seen elementary, if Hindus seem conscious enough of their great cultural heritage, that does not mean that his task was unnecessary; on the contrary it is a measure of his success, of the vast change that has come about since his work began.

There was no doubt about the Grace that flowed through him. At the famous Chicago 'Parliament of Religions' - famous now only because Vivekananda took part in it, it was not his arguments that impressed people so much as his presence. He had got no farther than "Sisters and brothers of America!" when the entire hall burst into a torrent of applause. From that point on, in speech after speech, contact after contact, people felt the power and grace in him. A recently published book by some thirty odd disciples and admirers, Hindu and Western,* shows this over-powering impression he made on people and the support they derived from him. It shows too how he retained his simplicity and humour despite their adulation, never falling a victim to pride.

No wonder then that Vivekananda is honoured in India as a national no less than a religious hero. Indeed, India and Hinduism are traditionally so closely united that it is sometimes hard to separate the two.

In 1963 the Swami's birth centenary was being celebrated throughout India. Books were published on the occasion, lectures given, meetings held. The enthusiasm was enormous. The celebrations overflowed into 1964, culminating this year in Calcutta and Madras. They showed what a powerful hold the Swami still has on the imagination and loyalty of his compatriots.

 

 

* Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta.