Social philosophy of Swami Vivekananda

by Baruah Debajit | 2017 | 87,227 words

This study deals with Swami Vivekananda’s social philosophy and his concept of religion. He was the disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Important subjects are discussed viz., nature of religion, reason and religion, goal of religion, religious experience, ways to God, etc. All in the context of Vivekananda....

Chapter 3.3 - Vivekananda’s Concept of Religion

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Swami Vivekananda very well understood the social role of religion. As a matter of fact the tools that Vivekananda used to uplift the common masses from poverty, ignorance etc. were religion and education. He used religion for spiritual growth and education for material prosperity of the individuals. But he always gave more importance on the spiritual aspect of human being. Vivekananda was mostly influenced by Sankara’s monistic tendency. Sankara emphasized the monistic tendency of Upanishads and develops it into a systematic ‘Advaitavada’. He emphasized the reality of the unconditioned and unqualified (nirguna) Brahman, and regards God (Iswara), the individual souls (Jiva) and the world (Jagat) as appearance due to an indefinable principle called Maya (cosmic nescience). Maya is neither real nor unreal. The central doctrine of Advaita is that Brahman is the only Reality, all else being an illusory appearance. Sankara himself expresses the quintessence of his philosophy in half a verse–‘Brahman Satyam Jagatmithya Jiva brahmaiva na parah.’

The meaning of this verse is that Brahman is the only ultimate reality, the world of multiplicity is false and ultimately the Atman and the Brahman are not different. This is the central theme of religion of Advaita Vedanta. The non-duality of Brahman the non-reality of the world and the non-difference of the soul from Brahman-these three constitute the essential teaching of Advaita.

In some texts of Upanishads, Brahman has been defined as Sat, Cit and Ananda-existence, consciousness and bliss. But even the description of Brahman as Sat, Cit, Ananda though more accurate than accidental descriptions, yet it can vary the reality of Brahman. Such description serves only to direct the mind towards Brahman by denying of unreality, unconsciousness and blisslessness. Hence truly speaking an accurate description of Brahman must be negative, that is, by way of saying that ‘It is not this’ not this’, or of dissociating it from all qualities and characters. Brahman is really nirguna.

Sankara, however, admits that Brahman may be described as the cause, the creator, the sustainer, the destroyer of the world and therefore also as an omnipotent and omniscient being from the lower attitude of our practical life. From that standpoint he appears to possess all these qualities. Brahman in this respect is called saguna Brahman or Isvara.

Vivekananda accepts Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta with little modification. Like Advaita, Vivekananda says that reality is one. This only reality is the Absolute Brahman or infinite Brahman. Vivekananda accepts in Vedantic line that all souls are part of Brahman. “What is meant by part of the infinite? The infinite is indivisible; there cannot be part of the infinite. The absolute cannot be divided. What is meant, therefore, by saying that all these sparks are from Him?”^[1] Vivekananda raised such avarices from his part. His resolution is, there is but one Infinite Being in the universe and that Infinite Being appears as many. But the appearance of division is due to delusion, it is not real. Brahman has not been divided, but only appears to be divided. He is one Infinite Being of the universe. All others are not parts, but whole of it.

The essence of religion is derived by Vivekananda from the above Vedantic repercussion. As all being is one with Brahman and hence, each soul is divine. But this divinity remains latent in human and other beings. The goal of religion or essence of religion is to realize this divinity, that is realization of the God in the self and to manifest it. Vivekananda believes that religion is not the outcome of the weakness of human nature. It is never because we fear. Religion is law which is upholding expanding aspect of human potential divinity. Every individual has to realize its divinity. He says that individual beings are like the sparks of Brahman and therefore divinity is potentially inherent in it. This divinity is termed as ‘God’. According to him, it is the realization and manifestation of such divinity in the soul, which form the essence of religion. So he says “Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.”^[2]

He practically represents the Vedanta philosophy of India. He realized that religion is the watch-word of Vedanta. There is only one reality is pervading through the universe. There is one idea throughout all the Upanishads that is the realization of this One reality. Hence Vivekananda says “Religion is realization, not talk, nor doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful they may be, it is being and becoming, nor hearing or acknowledging. It is the whole souls becoming, not hearing or acknowledging. It is the whole soul’s becoming changed into what it believes. That is religion.”^[3]

Vivekananda is interested in the problem of the origin of religion. According to him religion originated in man’s bold attempt to go beyond the limitations of nature. Religion originated in fearlessness. He took into consideration two theories of the origin of religion that were given by two different schools of scholars. These two are–the theory of ancestor worship and the theory of nature worship. According to the first one, ancestor worship was the beginning of religion. It was prevalent among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, and Chinese etc. In ancient times peoples belong to these religions believed that the spirit lived even when the body was dissolved. Again, according to the second school, which mostly depended on ancient literature, emphasized that nature-worship was the beginning of religion. The different forces of nature appeared to the people in the ancient times to be mysterious. These peoples deified and worshiped the forces of nature.

These two theories have been reconciled in Vivekananda’s own theory. He claims that in this third view is to be found the true story of origin of religion. According to Vivekananda religion is originated in the struggle to transcend the limitations of nature. Explaining this point he says “Either man goes to seek for the spirits of his ancestors, the spirits of the dead, that is, he wants to get a glimpse of what there is after the body is dissolved, or, he desires to understand the power working behind the stupendous phenomena of nature. Whichever of these is the case, one thing is certain, that he tries to transcend the limitations of the senses.”^[4] This is the reason behind both ancestor worship and nature worship. Man remains active throughout his life and at one time man dies. The primitive peoples could not give any explanation for this phenomenon. It is because his senses could not apprehend the realm beyond death. Man wanted to get a glimpse of what remained there after the body is dissolved. Ancestor-worship was the expression of that wish. Similarly, nature-worship was an attempt to understand the working behind the forces of nature. At the ancient times, man could not apprehend the forces of nature though their senses. From this it is clear that in both the cases an attempt has been made to go beyond the realm of the senses.

Swami Vivekananda takes the specific examples of dreams so far as the first glimpse of religion is concerned. According to him “It is very natural that the first glimpse of religion should have come through dreams.”^[5] In ancient days, it appeared as quite natural to the enquiring mind that if mind could go on working even in the state of dream when the body was apparently dead, there is no wrong in supposing that it can go on working even when the body is actually dissolved. According to Vivekananda, that might have suggested to man the idea of soul as well as its immortality. Thus we find that all the explanations of the origin of religion, like fetishism, animism, natureism etc., somehow presuppose the basic fact that religion originates in man’s attempt to go beyond the limitations of the senses. Man, in primitive times experienced uneasiness within when certain phenomena appeared to him as beyond his capacity of senses. Man’s religious activities were expressions of that feeling of uneasiness. Primitive man used to live like any other animals. His activities were confined to such activities only that could satisfy his basic instincts. But, when unlike other animals, he started to go beyond the sensuous existence, religion was born. This view appears to Swami Vivekananda as the most comprehensive and hence the most satisfactory explanation of the origin of religion.

According to Vivekananda religion is that search of human heart which brings the light of eternal to the finite creature. Man is conscious about his limited existence and he is always dissatisfied with his limitations. Therefore, man wants to get something higher and mightier than him. Religion is the expedition which expands human self and knots finite self with infinite eternal one. It is the search of human destiny, realization of man’s basic divine nature, through the search of God. He writes “Man has wanted to look beyond, wanted to expand himself, and that we call progress, evolution, has been always measured by that one search, the search for human destiny, the search for God.”^[6] Amidst our various daily struggles to meet our needs, though we are too much immersed in our ambition, a moment comes in our life when our mind wants to get out of our day-to-day work. Our mind wants to sour higher and higher to go beyond itself to catch some glimpses of the eternal light. Religion is an attempt to transcend this limit of phenomenal world.

In Vivekananda’s view religion is the attempt to experience perfect freedom from the part of human self. He distinguishes between the living and the dead thus “How can we make the distinction between the living and the dead? In the living there is freedom, there is intelligence, in the dead all is bound and no freedom is possible, because there is no intelligence.”^[7] With the help of following example he explains this point. “A huge locomotive has rushed on over the line and a small worm that was creeping upon one of the rails saved its life by crawling out of the path of the locomotive. Yet this little worm, so insignificant that it can be crushed in a moment, is a living something, while this locomotive, so huge, so immense, is only an engine, a machine. You say the one has life and the other is only dead matter and all its powers and strength and speed of the locomotive are only those of a dead machine, a mechanical contrivance. Yet poor little worm which moved upon the rail and which the least touch of the engine would have deprived of its life is a majestic being compared to that huge locomotive. It is a small part of the Infinite and, therefore, it is greater than this powerful engine.”^[8] A small worm is a majestic being compared to a huge powerful engine which may be thousand-fold larger than the worm. It is because the worm has more freedom than the engine. In living creature there is freedom, there is intelligence. This freedom distinguishes us from mere machine. Because the machine has no intelligence. We are part of Infinite Ocean of consciousness, intelligence and freedom.

In the above example Vivekananda shows us the point that as human being who has the intelligence, struggles for more freedom than he has already possessed. With the help of his intelligence human being realizes that he is a limited creature with limited freedom, and absolute freedom is yet to be realized. According to Vivekananda, the effort from mankind to realize absolute freedom is religion. Religion is an attempt to be free and hence religion and freedom both go hand in hand. Both religion and freedom are related terms. Here another significant point to be noted that intelligence is one kind of postulate of religion. In other words, to be religious, intelligence is prerequisite. It is because intelligence makes us conscious about our limitation. As a result among all the living creatures human being has its religion for attaining more freedom. It is not known that other living beings have religion except man.

Human intelligence starts a ceaseless inquiry from the down of its consciousness, about the meaning and mystery of life. A universal dissatisfaction is always associated with man. We struggle hard to attach to some goal and then discover that we do not want that. Vivekananda writes “It is because freedom is every man’s goal. He seeks it ever. His whole life is a struggle after it. The child rebels against law as soon as it is born. Its first utterance is a cry, a protest against the bondage in which it finds itself. This longing for freedom produces the idea of a Being who is absolutely free. The concept of God is a fundamental element in the human constitution.”^[9] Thus there is always an unconscious struggle of the human with the spiritual, of the lower with the higher mind. And this struggle is to break bondage and to be free.

Vivekananda for the justification of any issue took his stand on the nondualistic Vedanta philosophy of Sankara. He explained Vedanta on his own way in accordance with the knowledge he had received from Ramakrishna. According to Vedanta all is Brahman. Brahman is the source of freedom and every moment men assert freedom. Individual attains freedom only when all the distinction of ‘I’ and ‘not I’ disappears, or when individual is one with Brahman. This is called self-realization or God-realization. Thus, according to Vivekananda, the search which begins to shatter the limitation to attain perfection ends, when the individual identifies itself with the absolutely free being which is called ‘Brahman’ in Vedanta philosophy. This identification is the end or ultimate goal of religion.

Vivekananda opines that all men are marching towards freedom. Man cannot give up the idea of freedom without man’s being is lost. And religion paves the ground for freedom. This freedom means freedom in its totality-physical, mental, spiritual. This freedom is the watchword of the Upanishads. He says, “Freedom is the

watchword, be free, a free body, a free mind and a free soul. That is what I have felt in my life. I will rather be doing evil freely, than be doing good under bondage.”^[10] So we can say that in Vivekananda’s philosophy, freedom is the key-note of religion. Religion is the cultivation of freedom.

The concept of freedom carries with it a perfectly free being, because where there is absolute freedom there must be an absolutely free being. And this absolutely free being is called God. According to Vivekananda, the whole of nature is worship of God. Wherever there is life there is this search for freedom and that freedom is the same as God. Necessarily this freedom gives us mastery over all nature, but this freedom is impossible without knowledge. The more we are knowing the more we are becoming master of nature. So he says “Mastery alone is making us strong and if there be some being entirely free and master of nature, that being must have a perfect knowledge of nature, must be omnipresent and omniscient. Freedom must go hand in hand with these, and that being alone who has acquired these will be beyond nature.”^[11]

The conception of religion of Vivekananda is linked with Vedantic principle of feeling oneness of the universe. He emphasizes that the knowledge which brings the feeling of oneness towards mankind leads to the fruit of religion, that is freedom. Further he says “In what sense you are pure? The God in you is God in all. If you have not known this you have known nothing. How can there be difference? It is all one. Every being is the temple of the most high; if you can see that, good, if not spirituality has yet to come to you.”^[12] He again says “See God in every person-working through every all hands, walking through all feet, and eating through every mouth. In every being He lives, through all minds He thinks. He is self-evident, nearer unto us than ourselves. To know this is religion, is faith, and may it please the Lord to give us this faith! When we shall feel that oneness, we shall be immortal.”^[13]

From the above it has been seen that Vivekananda’s conception of religion is necessarily based on transcendental oneness of all creatures. His religion is based on equality, which is key-note of Vedanta. This equality leads him to potential divinity of all souls as part or reflection of the same ultimate reality which is ‘Brahman’. So in Vivekananda’s philosophy there is no difference among us, there is no difference between men and women, between high and the low. We all are the manifestation of the same reality. The same Brahman resides in every one.

Philosophy of Religion always deals with the concept of existence of God. Vivekananda asked us to see God in everyone. In his philosophy God is identified ‘self’. He told that, God is within our own self. That is propelling us to seek for him, to realize him. That is his concept of God. To him God exists, but he is not the man sitting upon a cloud. But if we approach to our real self we can see the Him within us. He is pure spirit. He is our self. God is the body, God is the mind, the soul and everything in this world. He is something still higher than known, unknown, and unknowable. If it can be known, He will be no longer God. God can only be known in and through man. We are ordinary morals and God can be seen in man alone as a form. Vivekananda’s in this regard suggested us to play our part in the universe as an actor on the stage. He asked the people to see each and every man in the world as God. His identification of God is in everything, in every work, every thought, in every feeling. Such realization of divinity in humanity leaves no room for arrogance.

Since God is identical with self, so Vivekananda views that it is in love that religion consists and not in ceremonies. To put him “It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony, in the pure and sincere love in the heart.”^[14] It is love which makes us able to see God in others. Love is worship. As he says: “He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva…He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, or creed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples.”^[15] Thus, according to Vivekananda, he who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, creed, race on anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees him only in temples. This can be explained with the help of the following example. A rich man has a garden with two gardeners one of them works hard and produces plentiful crops from it, while the other idles away his time, singing the praises of the master. Certainly the master will be placed with the first only. Shiva is the master and the whole world in his garden. He will be pleased only with those who take case of his children among whom are included all that are weak and poor, all animals and all his creation. He who wants to serve the father must serve his children first. So a devotee of his must serve all his creatures in the world first. From these remarks it follows that Vivekananda’s love is not a mere wishful thinking or feeling. A person who is motivated or guided by love tries his/ her best to do something positive which will alleviate the suffering of others. Love unites us with others. This is true of all other moral virtues. To him unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple or any other religious places to worship God is useless. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship. But for internal worship purity of the heart is essential. And this purity is nothing but looking everyone with an equal eye.

Vivekananda has laid down also what religion is not. For him religion is not dogmas, doctrines, rites, rituals and other externals. But he did not outright reject these. In his view these externals are helpful at the kindergarten stage of religion. But man must soon cross this kindergarten stage and come to the higher stage where he realizes- ‘spirit as spirit’. Thus Vivekananda’s view of religion is not theological. His concept of religion is purely spiritual. Religion in this dynamic sense forms the foundation of Vivekananda’s social philosophy.

Religion is not also priestcraft. Vivekananda points out “Priestcraft is in its nature cruel and heartless. That is why religion goes down where priestcraft arises.”^[16] In fact, according to Vivekananda, priestcraft is the absence of religion, it is an irreligious phenomenon. It is based on a claim of privileges on the ground of superiority attained in the spiritual field. Vivekananda points out that this claim of superiority is not tenable in terms of Vedanta. “….. as to spirituality”, says Vivekananda, “no privilege should be claimed there. ….All beings, great or small, are equally manifestations of God; the difference is only in the manifestation. … The most ignorant man, the most ignorant child, is as great a messenger of God as any that ever existed, and as great as any that are yet to come. … Wherever there is a being, that being contains the infinite message of the Most High.”^[17] Vivekananda declares, “The work of Advaita [Vedanta], therefore, is to break down all these privileges.”^[18]

It is clear from this statement that priestcraft is a privilege-making force. But religion is a privilege-breaking force. In the history of religion, none before Vivekananda did lay down this dichotomy, and show this difference, between religion and priestcraft. Karl Marx and some other critics have made a mess of priestcraft and religion, and held religion responsible for all the vices of priestcraft. Raising his voice in protest against such critic Vivekananda says-“... for all the devilry that religion is blamed with, religion is not at all in fault: no religion ever persecuted men, no religion ever burnt witches… What then incited people to do these things? Politics, but never religion…..”^[19] Politics certainly has to be blamed for all the atrocities that have been perpetrated in history in the name of religion and they have always been instigated by the priests.

In Vivekananda’s view theological doctrines also are not the essence of religion. Vivekananda challenged all the theological doctrines such as the Christian doctrine of original sin, salvation, of rewards in heaven and punishment in hell and such other doctrines. ‘Ye! Divinities on earth! Sinners! It is a sin to call a man so;it is a standing libel on human nature’, he declared in one of his immortal speeches at the Chicago Parliament of Religions in 1893. Quoting the first five words of the speech ‘Ye! Divinities on earth!-sinners?’ Professor Binoy Kumar Sarkar, observes that these five word formula was like a bomb-shell shocked all the peoples in the Parliament of Religions. Sarkar says ‘The first four words summoned into being the gospel of joy, hope, virility, energy and freedom for the races of men. And yet with the last word, embodying as it did a sarcastic question, he demolished the whole structure of souldegenerating, cowardice-promoting, negative, pessimistic thoughts. On the astonished world the little five-word formula fell like a bomb-shell. The first four words he brought from the East and the last word he brought from the West.”^[20]

Again, to Vivekananda, religion was not mere this or that creed. To put Vivekananda “I make the distinction between religion and creed. Creed is something antagonistic and combative. Religion is of the Self-which is in every religion.”^[21] Therefore, he criticizes those who take only an intellectual interest in religion. “Religion is with these people”, he observed, “a sort of intellectual opium-eating, and there it ends.”^[22] It is interesting to note that like Karl Marx, Vivekananda also thought that at times religion may turn out to be the opium of the people. But that happens, when religion is only lifeless intellectualism. When it is practical, living, then it is different.

According to Vivekananda Symbology, History, Philosophy and Mysticism are the fundamentals of religions of the world. He says all the religions of the world past or present, embrace one or more of these principles. But highly developed religions embrace all these four principles. Symbology means the employment of various aids to preserve and develop the religious faculty of man. The philosophy of each religion as illustrated in the lives of divine or human teachers acknowledged by each religion. This includes mythology. For what is mythology to one race or period, is or was history to other races or periods. Again he says philosophy is the rationale of the whole scope of each religion. Mysticism is the assertion of something superior to sense knowledge and reason.

So far as his concept of religion is concerned, Vivekananda believed in the equal validity of all religions. Vivekananda was always against the hope for exclusive survival of one religion and destruction of others. Some believe in pluralism from the conviction that pluralism provides a wider range of alternatives, a greater freedom of choice and consequently greater opportunities of self-expression and self-realization. Some believe in it as a convenient and respectable method for maintaining social harmony and communal peace in a multi-religious society like India. Whether one learns to accept the validity of religions out of faith and conviction, or whether one learns to treat other’s religion with tolerance out of an understanding of the historical bonds between the community and that religion, the present and the future of human society has hardly any other option. The unique contribution of Swami Vivekananda lies in the formulation of unity when he said that... 'Each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.' According to Vivekananda Religious quarrels are always over the husks. When purity goes away from our religion and when spirituality goes away from our soul we begin to quarrel with the followers of other religions, even sometimes with the followers of the same religion. None should try to convert others into his/her own religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each religion must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve the individuality and grow according to his own law of growth. Here we get the idea of religious acceptance. Vivekananda emphasized on acceptance not on toleration. He says that the so-called toleration is often blasphemy.

Every religion has its founder, preacher etc. If we study the lives of the founders or preachers of different religions we will understand that every one of them was destined to play a part only. Their propagated ideals are not universally accepted. But some are accepted. We can refer here to an example. Contribution is an essential part of Islam which is accepted by everyone without discrimination of religion. Vivekananda says that harmony consists in the sum total of different universal ideals of different religions propagated by different preachers. But harmony in no way consists in one note.