Much has been achieved and much more remains to be achieved for India to rise to her spiritual preeminence in the world. Now it is the glorious past of India that marks her out in the comity of nations as a once-worthy civilisation that had shown the world light, that had been the cradle of world civilisation in a great measure, although of course, it must be admitted that India's growing economic might has changed perceptions about India greatly of late. However, the past of India is what even today largely sustains foreign appreciation of India and it is this heritage that has given India her considerable prestige as a nation with the recognition of her immense possibilities in the future as well. The culture of India rolling down the ages holds the westerner in awe but all this is either the achievement of a bygone age or its current derivative and not intrinsically original to the age in which we live, which is, of course, quite natural, for culture invariably is a continuum.
But the distinguishing features of the present age broadly defined by Swami Vivekananda are yet to be actualised in terms of radical implementation of programme on a national scale and this is the grand task before us. India, mighty India with her spiritual mission must stand out as the preceptor of the world and lead her towards the fulfilment of her terrestrial evolution. For this a strong India rooted in her ancient culture and proficient in the knowledge of modern science, economically sound and militarily able in self-defence must rise, a premier nation of the world. Knowledge, defence and commerce---these three elements, that of the brahman, the kshatriya and the vaishya must conjointly bring about national welfare with the labourers and the farmers providing the shudra base for national regeneration. The four-fold system of varna---whose erroneous equivalent caste is supposed to be---based on natural division of labour and devoid of hereditary or other privileges must be brought into harmonious operation and allowed their free play for the smooth functioning of our national life. In a like manner the four ashramas of brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha and sannyas suited to modern times must be the basis for a reorientation of national living for shraddha (an intense aspirational mood seeking perfection) to manifest again among the people of this ancient land of Bharat.
All this is necessary to set up our once-prostrate motherland groaning under the tyranny of foreign occupation for centuries on her feet again, that is, to raise the masses in India to a level of decent human existence with their basic requirements of food, shelter, clothing, education and healthcare taken care of so that they may in turn be instrumental in revitalising the national current of thought and culture. India was great in the past. She shall be infinitely greater in the future, prophesied Swami Vivekananda. And this grand destiny of our beloved motherland can only be actualised by the awakening of the consciousness of the masses and their appropriation of the national culture, and not a brutal, bloody, revolutionary sudden upheaval that will destroy more than it will deliver. Thus, it is of vital importance to India's future that the masses are given culture in the form of an illumined mix of scientific and spiritual knowledge so that along with learning technical skills for improvement of their standard of living, they also remain rooted to their heritage which is in the domain of the Spirit.
Evolution and not revolution---this ought to be the watchword if India's culture is to be saved but hunger of the belly may deem otherwise. If a billion people rise in open rebellion to revolve the system that has exploited them for ages, no police or army can contain their force. Lest such a violent turn of history destroys much of India's traditional culture in the fell sweep of revolutionary madness, Swamiji was very concerned that the upper classes should befriend the masses and help them up in life with education instead of antagonising them further with their age-old tyranny. Destructive revolutionary violence may thus be avoided in India as the nation comes to mass maturity.
The prophet had foreseen the rise of the proletariat everywhere with unerring accuracy of vision as he foretold the rise of the shudras in Russia and China in the exact sequential order as it later unfolded in history. He had further prophesied the rise of the shudras in India next and was much concerned that such an inevitable course of history should not be accompanied by a considerable lowering of culture as mass revolution invariably leads to. A harmonic rise of the proletariat was Swamiji's great dream for India but will it fructify given the class conditions subsisting in society? Much as he was an idealist as he was a visionary, Swamiji was a pragmatist and a realist too. He knew the limitations of concrete conditions for pliability of transformation and, the detached seer that he was, he accepted with a philosophical equanimity the coming upheavals that were to rock 20th century ???????
Vivekananda was not a revisionist who was intent on avoiding revolution nor was he an advocate of active revolution. He was simply the towering prophet of the Age whose sympathies encompassed the gamut of terrestrial existence and who in his insight of the subterranean movements of the mass mind knew that the times were pregnant with the seeds of great changes, that the common man was on the rise everywhere and that the mission of India in this great movement was to direct the flow of this change towards God and the Self of man as its ultimate ideal and destiny. India, he felt, had held in her bosom the priceless treasures of the Vedas for ages and the times were ripe for the dissemination of the grand ideas therein worldwide for the spiritual regeneration of humanity, a fact of supreme importance for no political revolution had the sweep of the spiritual revolution Vivekananda envisaged for the 'root and branch reform' of humankind. The seer had determined the transformation of mass psychology, its uplift unto a higher spiritual realm along with the provision of the basic amenities of life for the free flow of this evolutionary transition and this was the 'Vivekananda Way', the path of harmony and light as opposed to the blind fury of a rudderless revolution which so often makes the oppressed a vengeful oppressor and defeats the very purpose of his revolutionary rise.
The scene is now set for the battle of the classes, the resolution of the forces of age-old tyranny and the collective might of the masses, and if such a bloody conflict does take place, it will have put paid to much of the refinements of India's heritage for a sudden violent Shudra rise will inevitably lower culture considerably. It is here that we, the devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda must step in and by a deluge of spirituality cool the sociopolitical atmosphere obtaining in the nation to avert a bloody revolution and preserve culture. This does not mean as aforesaid that we are revisionists but it rather means that we who follow the teachings of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda know it for sure that human good can ultimately be brought about by transformation of human character whose effect will be all-round growth and a more equitable distribution of the earth's resources so that everybody gets to see the light of day and not merely the privileged few.
It is not easy to be a follower of Vivekananda.
He who is brave, idealistic, truthful and honest without deviousness of character, he who never craves for ascent in an organisational hierarchy but is ever content to humbly serve the cause, he who does not speak harshly to devotees or assume a pompous attitude in the name of renunciation which Sister Nivedita had termed 'spiritual pride', he who is grateful for service rendered by devotees to the Order and does not deceive or ill-treat the server thereafter on any count, he who does not hang by the sleeves of the rich and the powerful citing the possible charitable fallout of such association as the justification for it but rather honours all equally without favour or expectation, such a noble one indeed is a follower of Swami Vivekananda. Unto him will be given the charge to carry the Prophet's mission of the regeneration of humanity.
Let us fulfil the Swami's dreams about India by being worthy successors of his Cause and dedicate our lives for national reconstruction. Let us serve the living goddesses and gods, our countrymen and our sisters and brothers beyond our borders to bring about a renaissance of human culture everywhere. That indeed is the mission that Swamiji has entrusted us with and that indeed is what we shall live and die to activate and fulfil. So, live the life.
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