THE ARMED REVOLUTION FOR FREEDOM ... 8

THE ARMED REVOLUTION FOR FREEDOM ... 8

Swamiji's last gospel was that of manliness. I have a feeling that, apart from its general requirement, it was prompted specifically by Swamiji's desire to see India free from British occupation. He, thus, left his final gospel by way of exhortation to the youth to exhibit the required manhood to bring about the revolution. Swamiji had said that he would not live to see the revolution but he must have seen it coming in his prophetic forevision and known that it would follow soon after his death.

And it did. Bengal led the way and then Punjab followed in exhibiting the manhood that Swamiji had voiced as his parting message unto his motherland. Hundreds of young men went to the gallows and hundreds more were deported across the Kalapani (black waters) to the Andamans for daring to take up arms against the Raj. The Punjab saw the development of the Ghadar Mutiny which was aborted after traitorous leakage of information to the British authorities. In Bengal Bagha Jatin and his revolutionary comrades were foiled by similar information-interception and the Battle of Buribalam claimed the heroes' lives. Rash Behari Bose and Basanta Kumar Biswas bombed the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, and severely injured him in 1912, and after the failed Ghadar Mutiny which Bose led, he escaped to Japan to work from abroad.

Aurobindo Ghosh led the revolutionary movement in Bengal in the first decade of the 20th century but left politics after the Alipore Bomb Case, thereby betraying the cause of freedom to seek personal safety, security and spiritual solace in the silence of his Pondicherry Ashram, although in the bargain he had led quite a few souls to kiss the hangman's noose and others including his own brother, Barin Ghosh, to endure terrible torture in deportation to the Andamans. This was the one departure in terms of loss of manhood which Vivekananda would have detested, despite the tallest protestations made by the renegade revolutionary in having had instructions direct from Vivekananda himself in his Alipore cell which seems highly improbable given the character of Swamiji which surely did not in terrestrial terms suddenly change into he becoming the preceptor for cowards. This was 1908 and Vivekananda was dead six years.

Manhood Swamiji had left behind as his living gospel for he personified what was best in it. Two streams of disciples followed. One took to monastic vows to give effect to his spiritual teachings. The other plunged into revolutionary activity and lit the fire of freedom despite the aberrations of Pondicherry and Sabarmati.

Today, we need to ourselves exhibit that manhood to enhance the freedom which our forefathers won for us with their blood and toil, torment and torture, suffering and sacrifice, their undying spirit buoyed by the master spirit of the age who they best represented -- Vivekananda. 

Written by Sugata Bose