Sri Ramakrishna is God. His whole life bears testimony to this fact. Leave aside the view-points of detractors who cite the impersonal nature of God or point out shortcomings in the Paramahamsa's life. These are idle criticisms and need not be taken seriously. But for once consider --- have you ever come across in the annals of human history such a supremely spiritual person as Sri Ramakrishna? The Paramahamsa remains peerless in his spiritual attainments and outdistances all great prophets of the past by miles.
An illiterate Brahman priest, rustic in habits and somewhat coarse relative to the refinements of urban culture, Ramakrishna yet dominated the elite minds of the then occidental Calcuttans with his sublime purity and innate wisdom matured in the light of his Advaitic realisations. Calcutta, then the capital city of British India, was in the throes of spiritual decay as the urban elite had lost its moorings in the dazzle of occidental culture. Aggressive proselytisation by Christian missionaries attempted to break the very backbone of traditional Hindu culture and, sadly, succeeded in converting a large section of the tribal population in the North-eastern belt to the Semitic cult. It is at this juncture that this illiterate poor Brahman priest of the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple came to the rescue of the Religion of India, the Sanatan Dharma or, the Perennial Philosophy of the Vedas, as Aldous Huxley has termed it. One shudders to think what India's fate would have been were Ramakrishna not to surface at this critical juncture in Indian history to rescue her. We would have lost the religion and the pristine thoughts of our forefathers and would have been rootless vagabonds on the face of this Earth.
Anyhow, such a catastrophe was by providential decree averted and we survive, today, a nation full of proud possibilities of future flourishing. We owe it to Sri Ramakrishna, this, our material independence and our spiritual freedom and ought to make sincere effort to rebuild the nation along the lines laid down by Swami Vivekananda who had himself followed the blue-print of India's destiny as envisaged by the Rishis of yore.
Time it is to take stock of our national heritage and advance with strong strides towards national reconstruction. For this the youth of India must come forward and lend vigour to the movement with selfless service, pure and free. A million young women and men must sacrifice their all for the execution of this stupendous task, that of revitalisation of the Motherland through a comprehensive programme of national education and cultural uplift. The masses must be raised, women must be released from their age-old tyranny at the hands of men and, overall, the population must be given proper spiritual sustenance for a rejuvenated country to emerge.
Vivekananda's dream it was to see his motherland rise and occupy her rightful place in the comity of nations as the spiritual preceptor of the world. Let us shed our life's blood to fulfil his dream and, so, attain to real manhood. I look forward with fond hopes for the heroes to advance in this cause. Step out, brothers, from the rank and file of the polity and take up the responsibility that is rightfully yours, this, the rebuilding of India. Jai Swamiji! Jai Netaji! Jai Hind!
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