Recently I came across the social service activities of Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, a voluntary organization headed by a young social activist Dr Narayanan. After completing his medical education, he along with his wife decided to take up the path of social service. A hospital cum community health center is being run by SVMM at Agali, a small village of poor tribals in Palakkad. The fact that this is only one among the thousands of similar initiatives undertaken by educated youths across India, would naturally make one think of the inspiration behind them – Swami Vivekananda. If there is a question as to who is the greatest source of inspiration of modern India, I don't think there would be two answers. Just like a thunderbolt, Swami Vivekananda appeared among the comity of Indian great men to shred light for the benefit of the whole world, and left the stage without completing even 40 years. Still he left behind enough energy and inspiration for so many generations to come.
He lived among us at a time when India was preparing for the final push against the foreign rulers towards the end of the millennium long slavery. At that time, vast majority of the people were living under the grip of superstitions and gross poverty. It looked as if weakness and slavery have got infused in to their blood. People lived cursing their fate. For most of them, anything foreign was great. There were no original leaders to be seen. It was at this juncture, Swami Vivekananda rose like a Sun from India's eastern horizon. The clouds generated by that Sun rained down the much needed nectar of spiritual inspiration across the vast barren lands of India. Thousands of hearts blossomed by the touch of his gentle rays. The land which was being looked down upon as a wasteland by the world, all of sudden turned in to a beautiful garden. Thousands of seeds which were lying hidden under it's soil, sprouted, grew and became fruit bearing trees. As he himself described about incarnations at a later time, a great tidal wave of spirituality, a spiritual tsunami did hit the Indian shores and filled the dried ponds, wells and all water bodies to their brims. When we study the lives of the leaders of freedom movement, we understand that it was none other than Swami Vivekananda who was the real inspiration behind them. From Subhash Chandra Bose and Gandhiji to Dr Hedgewar and Arobindo Ghosh. From Swami Rama Thirtha to Swami Chinmayananda. From Dr C V Raman to Jamshedji Tata. That unparalleled inspiration keeps flowing and touches thousands of hearts even today.
His magnificent personality was a right mix of the greatness and depth of India's ancient wisdom, and the creative energy and practicality of the modern day youth. The rest of the world at that time was in a state of shock and awe at the sight of the materialistic progress and military prowess of the west. Swamiji stood like a lighthouse in front of them holding the eternal promise of the Vedic wisdom of India. His personality was akin to those wise men from puranas and epics. Great thinkers and intellectuals across the globe felt themselves like dwarfs in front of this giant.
Budhism was the first missionary driven religion in the world. But because of the millennium long foreign slavery and our society's inherent indifference towards self propagation, after Budhism there were no serious and organized efforts from India to spread it's religion and philosophy. At the same time foreign missionary driven religions engulfed the world within a short time span of few centuries. While proclaiming about god as the 'ultimate truth' and 'ever blissful consciousness' etc, infact Hinduism as a religion had forgotten it's fundamental duty of providing love and care to the large sections of it's followers. Swami Vivekananda made up for that deficiency by establishing the spiritual oriented service organization called Sri Ramakrishna Mission. This Hindu missionary organization was successful in distributing the much needed spiritual solace to those unfortunate, poor and illiterate masses. 'Service to Man is Service to God' became the national mantra of India. Thousands of social initiatives were founded following this. That trend continues even today. We saw great humanitarians like Baba Amthe, Nanaji Deshmukh and Eknath Ranade being nurtured by this life giving flow of inspiration.
Today we see that Vivekananda Kendra is one of the few nationalist organizations striving to connect those Indians living in the North Eastern states to our national main stream. Even while being considered as a "Yogaaruda' and 'Brahmajnani' he was the "Patriot Saint of India' too. In tune with his conviction of Hindu philosophy, he taught the deeper truth that this worldly life is nothing but an eternal flow to merge with the absolute. But at the same time he reminded us of the importance of the three milestones in that progress of life – the Individual, Family and Nation.
A century after his demise the world look at India with awe and respect. It is considered as the invaluable treasure house of spiritual knowledge. People all over the world move towards a path of sustainable development which gives equal importance to spiritual well being along with material prosperity. Everywhere we see the enthusiasm to learn the techniques of inner world – Ayurveda, yoga, meditation and so on. The message of east has found its rightful place in the minds of the west. He had to gatecrash in to their fortresses of ego by his famous speech delivered at the Parliament of Religions on September 11, 1893. His success in the west triggered a flow of thousands of seekers from west to east in search of great masters. They came with respect and humility. Even today ripples of that flow come calling to the remotest and inaccessible caves of Himalayas. About a century later on another September 11, another group of youths visited the west and delivered the message of their belief. It was another face of religious conviction. This time it was a flow of thousands of armed soldiers searching for the master minds of terror who reached the remotest caves of Hindukush ranges. These two events in contrast reminds us of the importance of India's culture and civilization for the peaceful existence of humanity.
India celebrates Swami Vivekananda's birthday (Jan 12th) as National Youth Day. We don't see a greater ambassador to represent India's youth. His 150th birth anniversary is in 2013. Year long programs are being planned by various organizations including central and state govts to commemorate this occasion in a grand way. Sri Ramakrishna Mission has decided to celebrate it with four year long programs starting from Jan 12th this year. Some of the ambitious programs being envisioned include establishing Vivekananda study centers at 150 universities, adopting 150 villages for overall development, movies and TV serials in multiple languages aiming international audience, publishing of lakhs of copies of books on Swmaiji's life at subsidized rates and so on. His birth centenary celebrations gave us a world class memorial at Kanyakumari and lead to the founding of a nationalist service organization like Vivekananda Kendram. Millions of people across India whole heartedly participated in that effort at that time by making their humble contributions from one rupee onwards. If a proper vision is presented and people come forward with the same spirit, we will be able to offer a great token of respect at his lotus feet this time too. We have enough time to plan for this event. Will we do that ?
Krishnakumar
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