People
of our country are, by tradition, religion-minded and this country is therefore
described as a land of religion and spirituality. Swami Vivekananda used to
say that the soul of our country is in religion. The highest and the ultimate
goal or Purushartha aspired for by the people of this country is Mukti,
so much so that the traditional treatises dealing with even mundane arts and
sciences, including those on Ayurveda and even statecraft, strive to tell, in
their prefatory remarks, how the ultimate purpose behind them is to facilitate
progress of every human being towards the common spiritual goal — Moksha.
If
going to temples, visiting places of
pilgrimage, participating in
Bhajans, Yagnyas and Anushthanas as also listening
to philosophical and
religious discourses by millions
of people of the presence of numerous religious teachers, Gurus and such other
men of God all over the country are the manifestations of a growing
religiosity, our country, perhaps, is
more religious today than it ever was at any time in the past.
But, unfortunately, the natural
impact of this apparent Godwardness on the general society is little in
evidence today. Purposeful living, discipline, character, truthfulness,
fellow-feeling, fearlessness, subordination of the self and a zest for works of
public good, which are some of the traits that develop in a Godward society and
which, we have enough evidence to say, existed in a good measure in our country
in the past, are seen fast disappearing from our midst. Ironically enough,
with the apparent religious fervour presently on the increase, general
corruption, indiscipline and other kinds of moral degradation are also in the
ascendant. How is this paradox to be explained? Certainly, it will not be
reasonable to ascribe all these evils solely to inefficient governance of the
country. Because, after all, the people, especially in modern democracies, get
the government they deserve!
So,
what is wrong with us and what is the way to save the country from the
impending social disintegration that seems to be fast overtaking us? Any
discerning mind will be able to see that a distorted conception of religion is
the root cause of most of our evils for the last several centuries which
persist even today. It is rightly said that religion is the soul of our
country. But as that itself is blurred, we have the sorry spectacle of
deterioration all round.
Religious
awakening means experiencing the presence of God in one’s self and the world.
That makes one conscious of the divine within and urges one to work for its
unfoldment and to grow spiritually. Simultaneously it generates in one a sense
of oneness with God’s creation and, consequently, an intense fellow-feeling for
the members of one’s own species — the human race — and prompts one to work
with zest for human welfare and progress. If, and as long as, the religious
awakening intensifies on these lines, it is dynamic and full of tremendous
potentialities for the transformation of humanity into higher and higher
planes of existence. But, if it remains limited to rituals, forms of worship
and offerings to God, or prayers and praises addressed to Him, it becomes
static and has hardly a role to play in human advancement.
Swami
Vivekananda was the foremost among the
modern religious teachers who strove to
take out religion from that static condition into which it had
degenerated over the centuries, and drew the attention of the people to its
real role. He pointed out in no uncertain terms that ceremonies and forms are
not the essence of religion, but it is rather the realisation of a higher life.
He said, “We may study all the books that are in the
world, yet we may not understand a word of religion or of God. Temples and
churches, books and forms are simply the kindergarden of religion, to make the
spiritual child strong enough to take the higher steps. Religion is not in doctrines or dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation. It is
realisation in the heart of hearts; it
is touching God; it is feeling, realising that I am a spirit in relation with universal spirit and all its great manifestations”. To those who
lost themselves only in forms and
rituals, turning their back on the people and the misery that had befallen
them, he said, “What vain gods shall we
go after and yet cannot worship the god that we see all around us, the Virat
(Janata Janardan)? When we
have worshiped this, we
shall be able to worship all
other gods”.
The remedy
for the ills of our country,
therefore, lies in launching a mighty movement of right thought flooding the entire country, it
has to
be a two-pronged move. It is to be aimed, on the one hand, at (1)
transforming our people’s inherent God-wardness into right spiritual urge
rising out of the Vedic teachings, namely, (i) each soul is potentially divine
and (ii) faith in God, in turn, means faith in one’s self, i.e., in one’s
potentiality to rise to divine heights. On the other hand, it is (2) to convert
the spiritual fervour
thus released into works of national reconstruction.
The
movement described above has recently been
born and the
name it bears is Vivekananda Kendra. The seed of this
movement was in fact sown as far back as three quarters of a century ago by Swami Vivekananda himself, when he brought
into being the Sannyasi Order of the
Ramakrishna Mission. This Order has been preparing the ground since then by propagating the twin ideals of renunciation and service,
especially among the intellectuals. The time is now
ripe and the present conditions
also demand that enlightened people of this country yoke themselves to these
ideals, and rouse the masses to intense activity towards national
reconstruction. The coming into being of the Vivekananda Kendra is only an
expression of that deep urge felt in the country.
(Editorial written by
Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade which appeared in Yuva Bharati, September 1973 is
being republished now).
Ma.Eknath Ranade
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