All right-thinking, patriotic Indians should seriously consider Vivekananda’s proposal to set up a ‘junction of Hinduism and Islam’ to build a ‘perfect and invincible’ India, says OSWALD PEREIRA
Our great nation India, that is Bharat, so well-known for religious tolerance and peaceful inter-faith living, would be better off if people shun politicians spreading sectarianism and instead follow enlightened sages and yogis like Swami Vivekananda.
Regarded as the father of modern Indian nationalism, Vivekananda is credited with raising the status of Hinduism to a major world religion. A key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, Vivekananda at the same time, raised interfaith awareness.
While eulogising ancient Hindu heritage, he broke free from sectarian prejudices. He showed by his living example that a Hindu, and a monk at that, can not only socialise but also live with Muslims without ‘tainting’ himself, his religion or his monkhood.
When he stayed for some seven weeks at Alwar in Rajasthan, in February-March 1891, he developed deep relationships with many Muslims of the town, including a Maulvi Saheb, a Muslim teacher of Urdu and Persian.
“They invited him to their homes with great affection, and he shared with them a modest meal,” Chaturvedi Badrinath writes in his book, Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta. “To the orthodox Hindu, it was pollution; to Swami Vivekananda, whatever was offered with love and grace by whoever was blessed,” Badrinath adds.
At Mt Abu, in Rajasthan, Vivekananda stayed with a Muslim lawyer. He was asked by an orthodox person how being a Hindu monk, he was living with a Muslim?
Vivekananda replied: “I am a Sannyasin. I am above all your social conventions. I can even dine with a Bhangi. I am not afraid of God, because He sanctions it. I am not afraid of the scriptures, because they allow it. But I am afraid of you people and your society. You know nothing of God and the scriptures. I see Brahman everywhere manifested through even the meanest creature. For me there is nothing high or low. Shiva, Shiva!”
A great advocate of unity and oneness of faiths, Vivekananda suggested harmonising of the teachings in the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. He said, “Mankind ought to be taught that religions are the varied expressions of The Religion, which is oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best.”
Vivekananda went as far as to say that the “only hope” of overcoming “strife and chaos” to reach a “future perfect” India, ultimately achieving “invincibility,” is a “junction of the two greatest systems, Hinduism and Islam ― Vedanta brains and Islam body.”
To those believing in division of communities, it would seem incredible that the great sage Vivekananda had really advised that the majority community and the largest minority community join the brains and body of their religions to achieve “perfection and invincibility.”
It’s a recommendation that all right-thinking, patriotic Indians, irrespective of their political affiliations, should consider seriously.
Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and practises Kriya Yoga.
A true Vedanti like Swami Vivekananda ji not merely rises above the man made division of castes, creeds, sects and religion but all these dehumanising limitations simply fall flat after the highest realisation of Oneness which as such is the essence of the all encompassing Truth of the universe. This Truth may have been defined in many ways by seers and scriptures but it does not carry any sense till it shines forth in one’s life and living and flow as a perennial stream of love for the whole gamut of existence in the universe.
However, the irony is that this Truth is not intelligible to the rest of the people of the world who remain emasculated by the conditionings of their faiths and beliefs and that itself is the cause of all the conflicts in the world. May be, mankind is yet to evolve to the order of that universal consciousness and to that very end, we are not ready as yet.
No doubt, this is the calling of the day and all the right minded people from every aspect of the society irrespective of their faiths and religions must heed it for our collective redemption.
Baturam Ji, this is a very incisive comment that aptly sums up the irony of the situation, wherein we don’t seem to be enlightened and capable enough to follow the sane counsel of a sage like Swami Vivekananda, which would help in mitigating some of the discord that plagues society today.
The question is about our “collective redemption” as you have rightly termed it. But we don’t seem to be empowered enough to redeem ourselves, not really because of lack of faith and knowledge, but simply because we don’t seem to have the courage to save ourselves — the irony of ironies.
Thanks Ozzy, for a very timely article, well-articulated and to the point, encapsulating the dire need of the hour.
Reading the poetry of the 17th century Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif, I came across these verses which only go on to reinforce what you yourself so elegantly expressed:
“i bow to the yogis
salute their search and determination
night and day they pervade
my very being
at midnight i request allah
merciful god make me worthy
of them
i bow to the yogis
salute their search and
determination “
Thank you, Seema, for your kind words.
Yes, the yogis, who are detached, show us the way.