WHO CARES AFTER ALL TO CARRY RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA TO THE WEST?

WHO CARES AFTER ALL TO CARRY RAMAKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA TO THE WEST?

In these times of inner erosion, in these days of lost values, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda could have made huge inroads into the heart of humanity. But, alas, we do not have preachers of courage and character, zeal and force who can carry them to the West today with any measure of care and confidence and adherence to original principles that would make a mark on the minds of the educated masses.

We see US universities frequently debating Christianity and Islam, atheism and theism, but barring the rare lecture Hinduism finds no place in these university campuses. At a time when Islamic terrorism has gone global which has prompted discussions of the relative merits of Judeo-Christian and Islamic values, Hinduism hardly finds more than the rare mention and no representation whatsoever in these academic arenas. This is regrettable.

We need to organise ourselves better. Christianity and Islam are so well organised in this regard. Their proselytising programmes are so well charted out and carried home with perfection to the people. But Hinduism is simply absent in this whole affair. The mother of religions has not been swept out of the sphere of religious discussion. She has simply failed to put up an appearance even at these fora of public conversation about religion. This needs redress.

Hinduism must organise itself with propagation of its message to man its principal focus. Think tanks need to be formed of scholars not only erudite but speakers who can deliver their words with flair, fluency and impeccable diction, practitioners well versed in the realisations of the principles they preach, and, above all, preachers who revel in spreading the word of the Sanatan Dharma, of its innumerable seers and saints, Avatars and Acharyas with a passion that touches the hearts and minds of their audience.

In the 1950s and the 1960s there was a great opportunity that had been availed of by Hindu preachers in the US to carry the Dharma to the West but Ramakrishna-Vivekananda had hardly any carriers despite Swami Nityasvarupananda bemoaning it. Now it is again opportunity going abegging as we in our indolence wait for Ramakrishna-Vivekananda themselves to descend to earth to carry home their message to the world.

With what meagre resources of doctrine and dogma Muslims and Christians are raising a pseudo-intellectual storm, carrying failing philosophy with apology and aggression to confound and convince the audience, and here we are sitting pretty in our comfortable chairs imagining our future status as World Teacher (Vishva Guru) and doing nothing on an organised scale to make it happen. As if India is the world! No, the world is much bigger than that.

Ramakrishna-Vivekananda are being failed. "Like the Buddha had a message for the East, I have a message for the West," was how Vivekananda himself had famously put it. But now that he is no more in mortal coil, is it not our bounden duty to fulfil his promise?

Written by Sugata Bose