Universal Brotherhood

Will there be relief for Humanity from the strife and struggles it is undergoing? Can peace and love engulf us in a way that we dream? Can the world live in peace without the threat of religious fundamentalism? These doubts loom large as we ponder about the future. We all know that India, with its wonderful philosophical treasures packed with wisdom can provide an answer to all these doubts. When swami Vivekananda

addressed the parliament of Religions with those epoch making words “sisters and brothers of America”, he was not propounding any new hypothesis to the World. He was only echoing the age old ideas practiced in our country by every individual. But it was a new exposition to the western world.

Our culture has ingrained these wonderful, lifesaving concepts in our day to day life through rituals and celebrations. Celebrations like Raksha bandhan are actually intended to ingrain these values into our veins. But alas, the society which has to guide the mankind is itself in shambles. We, as a society, are shamelessly dragging ourselves down through castiesm. Caste, another tool derived by our ancestors to drive the society, is now driving away many of our own brothers from our fold. We tend to bury ourselves deep into our self-imposed shackles by further confining ourselves to sub sects within the castes. It’s like throwing away the core as chaff and retaining only the husk. Seeing this appalling state of our society Swami Vivekananda chided us by saying these words which are to reminded every day. He said, ‘..teach your children that they are divine, that religion is a positive something and not a negative nonsense; that it is not subjection to groans when under oppression, but expansion and manifestation.’ These words are becoming more and more relevant now. Swami Vivekananda also hinted the revival of Dharma in a grand manner. He said,’… 

“sect after sect arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the Vedas to its very foundations, but like the waters of the seashore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only for a while, only to return in an all absorbing flood, a thousand times more vigorous, and when the tumult of the rush was over, these sects were all sucked in, absorbed and assimilated into the immense body of the mother faith’.

Such a revival can never be possible without a lifesaving universal idea. We tend to forget this quite often. Spiritual giants emerge time and again to remind us about these eternal values, and as a result of which this unique principle, though endangered has survived all these centuries.

World needs these values, but are we in a position to deliver? No student will come forward to learn from a master who has lost moorings with his core competencies. We should understand and assimilate these values.  Then comes the practice. The best way to express love towards Humanity is Service. It not only alleviates people from their misery but also helps us in unfolding ourselves. Selfless service is sure way to shed this hatred and selfishness. This will help our society to reshape itself in the design proposed by the Vedantic Philosophy of Advaidic Oneness. Such a role model will inspire the strife ridden world to emulate us.

--V.V.Balasubramanian

YB-ET