SWAMIJI AND SOCIALISM

SWAMIJI AND SOCIALISM 

By religion Swamiji had not in mind anything exclusive akin to the dogmatic Abrahamic religions, namely, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but something vast and universal in scope as the Vedic Dharma is. Hence, he defined religion as 'the manifestation of the divinity already in man' which was in line with the Upanishadic concept of the Dharma as opposed to the Semitic concept of uniquely revealed faith to specific prophets. The latter idea was repugnant to Marx, for the West had to suffer a great period of utter civilisational darkness owing to it. His reaction to such superficial and irrational idea of spirituality was necessarily materialistic and what followed were his thesis of Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism in the tradition of Hegelian thinking. Hence, the opium epithet which Marx used in connection with religion must be understood in the light of medieval European history. Had Marx been born in India, his views, if even materialistic then, would nonetheless have been much moderated by Sanskrit study unlike his followers here of shallow understanding and stupid affirmation. Hence, their misapprehension of Vivekananda in surface pseudo-scientific terms. 

Marxists like Bhupendranath Datta [Swamiji's youngest brother who had even interviewed Lenin in post-Revolution Russia] were of a different view regarding Vivekananda, though. Bhupendranath Datta's seminal work, 'Swami Vivekananda -- Patriot-Prophet' clarifies all such Marxist confusion about the great Swami, a book in which the author severely castigates such surface Marxists for unduly denigrating Swamiji. Obviously, Bhupendranath was aware of such unseemly undeserved criticism of Swamiji by his communist comrades for which he took them to task. Bhupendranath was even of the view that Swamiji's vast intellectual legacy in sociopolitical terms was greatly undermined by his spiritual followers themselves, including his own brother disciples, that is, the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, on account of their incapacity to comprehend his depth and range of thinking beyond merely the spiritual aspect appertaining it. The book is a classic, a standout seminal piece of literature, perhaps the best work on Swamiji that one may read in sociocultural terms and one that is being highly recommended by this writer to all for careful study to clarify conceptions about Swamiji and socialism. 🕉

Written by Sugata Bose