The path that the world has until now traversed in pursuit of technological mastery, has imperiled peace. If peace and harmony are to rise and reign in the hearts and minds of human beings all over the world, they should have an opportunity at exposure to the revealing insights of spirituality which Swami Vivekananda has bequeathed to humanity. Swami Vivekananda proposes harmonious development of human personality. In his words, “My ideal is to preach mankind their divinity and how to make it manifest in every moment of life”.
He also said, “Would to God that all men were so constituted that in their minds all these elements of philosophy, mysticism, emotion, and of work were equally present in full! To become harmoniously balanced in all these four directions is my ideal of religion.” Hence an earnest and vigorous propagation of his spiritual teachings is the most important means of serving that divine mission.
The more the life and teachings of the great Swamiji are made known, the more will the spiritual perspective of humanity be widened, thereby paving the way for enduring world peace. “Neither science nor politics can give man perfect peace and happiness. The ills of life cannot be cured by political, social or other mechanical remedies which human beings are constantly attempting and which have always failed.” There is an abiding solution for all human problems.
Swami Vivekananda, the prophet of spirituality, whose mission was to make human life sublime and fruitful, emphatically affirms that the world will change when the human beings, which constitute it, change from within. The ‘inner man’ is to be set right first and the externals will take care of themselves. So the solution of problems which Vivekananda offers is not through external means, though these also have to be used, but essentially through an inner change, a complete transformation of man´s consciousness and nature. “Unless the man´s psyche changes, the society cannot by deeply and permanently changed.”
“The various social, political and economic problems of today´s world are only the outward symptoms of an inner psychological malaise. So it is the spiritual awareness alone that generates the real peace and happiness, and love and unity in the world”. Swami Vivekananda, therefore, advocates self-culture and self-transformation, and teaches the technique of change within. He loves to call this process “Man-making”. This is the panacea of all the maladies of today´s world.
Although modern technology and science has placed enormous power at the disposal of man, he cannot use this power for the peace and prosperity of the human race, until his own mind is cultured. Excess of knowledge and power, without holiness, can easily make human beings devils, warns Swami Vivekananda. “We must progress materially and spiritually, side by side. Material prosperity should not be at the expense of spiritual advancement. They should go together. Only then we can have integral evolution. Then and then alone we can expect to have a socially more useful and individually peaceful and spiritually enlightened life.”
His span of earthly life was hardly 39 years, but within this short period, he lived an intense life, first as a student, then as the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa--the mystic Yogi who demonstrated the essential unity of all religions, as a wanderer across the length and breadth of India and as the Guru of East and West. Swamiji harmonized East and West, religion and science, past and present. Terrorism is a major cause for concern today, arising from misunderstanding of other people’s views and beliefs.
Incidentally, what did Swami Vivekananda proclaim 108 years ago in the World´s Parliament of Religions at Chicago? Note his impassioned plea: “The Christian is not to become a Hindu or Buddhist, nor is a Buddhist or a Hindu to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth. If the Parliament has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart”.
Swami Vivekananda’s philo¬sophy was spiritual unity of the universe, and most importantly, raising interfaith awareness which the Oriental monk introduced in the Occident more than 100 years ago. An uncompromising Advaitist, Vivekananda has always been a champion of freedom—a doctrine which mirrors his idea of socialism visualizing a movement in which the individuals acted freely and spontaneously for the good of the whole. “Harmony and Peace, and not Dissension”, Vivekananda’s stirring call at the conclud¬ing session of the historic Parliament of Religions at Chicago, in September 1893, is the most relevant today when we are standing at a critical phase of history.
Today we continue to dream the same dreams as Swami Vivekananda. We yearn for that universal humanity and peace that seems so far from our grasp. Like him, we struggle to find such peace in the world hidden before us. We strive to unearth the treasure of the human youthful spirit through both thought and action. It renders to the surface, the depth of our being. And it calls us to action in humble effort.
The author is Senior Advisor of Vivekananda Vedanta Kendra, Nepal
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