Relevance of Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts for nation rebuilding – Part III
Dr Ashok Modak
So far I have elaborated in detail how Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts have provided adequate energy to us to overcome minuses and to consolidate or strengthen our pluses. I have given several evidences to substantiate how Swamiji’s thoughts have helped us in several arenas such as national integration, democratic march, pursuit of secularism, advances in science and technology, social engineering, etc. Survival of our nation and state is of course basic and Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts are equally pertinent in this field as well.
The unholy alliance between Pakistan and China has posed a threatening challenge to our motherland is fairly known to all. As for Pakistan, we all know that it has rendered full support to India specific-Jehadi group and sectarian militias. It has actually created, nurtured and strengthened obscurantist extremists like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jamaat-ut-Dava, Deobandis and so on. In the scenario that has unfolded itself Pakistani leaders at present face a radical blow back against themselves. Nuclear weapons do not provide any assurance or guarantee to them against blowback from religious radicalism. Sectarian bloody clashes have made Pakistan highly explosive!
Tragically enough, China which happens to be permanently hungry for land, water and raw materials has decided to encircle India. It has already reached the Arabian Sea through the acquisitions of Pakistan’s territory. Long back it grabbed Tibet and declared not only Arunanchal Pradesh but entire Jammu and Kashmir also as disputable.
In these circumstances, we should study the dynamic and aggressive profile of Swamiji. Sister Nivedita’s guidance in this context is highly relevant. In her book: ‘The Masters as I Saw Him’ one comes across the following statement: “His object as regards India had always been to make Hinduism aggressive”. We also read at another equally pertinent statement: “He longed to see a dynamic religion”. Nobody can of course deny that basically he was receptive, accommodative and inclusive. He stated on several occasions that we Hindus never invaded any foreign land, that we never colonised any other nation, that we never caused any destruction, that the genesis and the growth of Hindu nation have been positive, constructive and prescriptive.
Swamiji was in fact proud of our mild nature. We should not however forget that he was equally the protagonist of aggressive and dynamic posture against an invader! Swamiji who had a deep faith in neutral polity occasionally sponsored a fight against faith driven polity. Such a conviction on his part led him to glorify the role of Guru Govind Singh. Same conviction prompted him to shower full appreciation on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He was indeed a rare mixture of Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh.
It was in a speech delivered at Alambazar Math in the year 1897 that Swamiji highlighted his thoughts on Bhagavat Gita. He felt it essential to devote considerable time of his speech for lucidly interpreting one of the most memorable shlokas of the second chapter of the Gita.
“DYkSC;a ek Le Xke% ikFkZ uSrr~ Ro¸;qiin~;rsA
{kqnaz g~n;nkScZY;a RoDRoks·fr’B ijUriAA”
Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Pritha! Ill doth it become thee. Cast off this mean faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of thine enemies!”
Vivekananda’s interpretation is highly inspiring. A reader is thrilled to study Vivekananda’s words: – “Bhagavan Krishna says to Arjuna: “DYkSC;a ek Le xe^% ikFkZ
Yield not to unmanliness O son Pritha. There is in the world neither sin nor misery, neither disease nor grief; if there is anything in the world which can be called sin, it is this fear, know that any work which brings out the latent power in thee is Punya (Virtue ) and that which make thy body and mind weak is verily sin. Shake off this weakness. Thus faint—heartedness!
DYkSc;a ek Le xe% ikFkZA
Thou are a hero, a Vira, this is unbecoming of thee.”
Vivekananda expected Indians to be brave and intrepid. He wanted Indians to cast off fear. According to him Indians are required to be scorchers of the enemies. And that was why he ended his speech by underscoring the point that this particular Shloka contains the whole crux of the Gita.
Shloka, he gets the merits of reading the entire Gita for in this one Shloka lies imbedded the whole message of Gita”. Sister Nivedita has informed us of a dialogue between a disciple and Swami Vivekananda. The Disciple asked Swamiji whether one should seek an opportunity of death in defence of right or should he draw a lesson from Gita and decide never to react.
Swamiji replied: –“I am for no reaction for Sanyasins; but self defence for the house holder!” The footnote added by Nivedita here is suggestive: – “God knows wherefrom this gentleman has drawn this lesson from Gita”. I have already referred to Swamiji’s viewpoint that masses in India must prefer Dharma to Moksha, that people should take active interest in mundane world matters. And as masses outnumber Sadhus and Sanyasis, Vivekananda refused to apply impractical norms for masses. Least wonder, he recommended self defence for you and me!
Such a pragmatic approach on his part made him prescribe the application of fourfold political maxims – of conciliation, bribery, sowing dissensions and open war. Swamiji’s guidance is absolutely clear: – “Apply the fourfold political maxim, win over your adversary and enjoy the world”. His interpretations of the word ‘Dharma’ and ‘Dharmika’ are worth serious attention. He in short wants from us constant performance with efficiency!
The 95 page essay titled as ‘The East and the West’ written by Swamiji himself is really most valuable in this context. Vivekananda has invited our attention through this essay towards golden years of India when Dharma and Moksha walked hand in hand. If the personalities like Yudhishthira, Arjuna, Duryodhana, Bhishma and Karna then worshipped Dharma, great sages like Vyasa, Shuka and Janaka epitomised Moksha.
Vivekananda has thus asked us to pursue the balance between Dharma and Moksha. Vivekananda has asked us to remember that for Sadhus and Sanyasins the goal of Moksha deserves to be pursued even in day to day transactions. For such worthy souls the twelfth Chapter of the Gita provides the following Shloka:-
vn~os’Vk losHkwrkuka eS=% d#.k ,o pA
fueZeks fujgadkjks lenq%[klq[k{kehAA
“ He who has no enemy and is friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free from the feelings of me and mine even minded in pain and pleasure and forbearing – these and other epithets of like nature are for him whose one goal in life is Moksha.”
Vivekananda has stated later in the same essay that Jesus Christ has advised his followers to remain calm and quiet even during adverse times. “If anybody slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the left cheek as well …” thus runs the advice. Bhagawan Krishna has asked us to destroy the enemies and enjoy the world”. Followers of Christ however implemented Krishna’s guidance, they have kept Christ’s advise aside, and we Indians have forgotten Gita and opted for implementing Jesus Christ’s guidance in full spirit.” Dear brothers and sisters, we Indians have perhaps drawn right lessons from Gita and during Vivekananda year we have become well-equipped with nuclear triad. As a result, presently we are capable of launching nuclear warheads from land, air and sea. We already possess Agni and Prithvi missiles, so we can carry nuclear warheads from surface to surface; we have aircrafts such as Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi-Mark 1, which deliver nuclear weapons.
Such a care of the survival of our Matra Bhoomi in the light of Swami Vivekananda’s guidance will undoubtedly enable us to accomplish the dream of national reconstruction.
(The writer is Ajunct Professor, University of Mumbai)
John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study published earlier this year showing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and off some genes linked to stress and immune function.
While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mental health benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to rely on blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denninger’s latest studies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes in greater detail.
“There is a true biological effect, said Denninger, Director of Research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals. “The kinds of things that happen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body, not just in the brain.”
The government-funded study may persuade more doctors to try an alternative route for tackling the source of a myriad of modern ailments. Stress induced conditions can include everything from hypertension and infertility to depression and even the aging process. They account for 60 to 90 per cent of doctor’s visits in the US, according to the Benson-Henry Institute. The World Health Organisation estimates stress costs US companies at least $300 billion a year through absenteeism, turn-over and low productivity. Denninger’s study, to conclude in 2015 with about $3.3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, tracks 210 healthy subjects with high levels of reported chronic stress for six months. Unlike earlier studies, this one is the first to focus on participants with high levels of stress. The study published in May in the medical journal Plos One showed that one session of relaxation-response practice was enough to enhance the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism and insulin secretion and reduce expression of genes linked to inflammatory response and stress. There was an effect even among novices who had never practised before.
In a study published last year, scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles and Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn found that 12 minutes of daily yoga meditation for eight weeks increased telomerase activity by 43 per cent, suggesting an improvement in stress-induced aging. —Bureau Report
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