Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Vivekananda: A Harbinger of Harmony

Swami Chetanananda is the Head of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis, USA, and is the author of many books, including Sri Ramakrishna as we Saw Him, They lived with God--and God lived with Them.

According to Hinduism, religion or dharma, upholds everything and every being. Dharma or virtue unites, adharma or vice separates. Unselfishness is divine and selfishness is sin. Moral evil is disharmony with the truth which encompasses and controls the world.

Swami Vivekananda made an interesting comment on religion: 'It is like a cow who gives plenty of milk and time to time some kicks also. The milkman does not mind the kick of the cow who gives much milk.'¹ Science did and is still doing much good for mankind, and the same science has been used again and again for the destruction of human life. Similarly in the name of religion, many good things have been achieved and there has also been much bloodshed! Is religion at fault? No. Swamiji said:

Now in my little experience I have collected this knowledge: that in spite of 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, no religion ever did any of these things. What then incited people to do these things? Politics, but never religion.'²

We are to blame. We talk about religion but do not practise it--that is why religion declines and turns into lifeless mockery. A Hindu scripture says: 'Those who talk about God, but do not do their duties and practise religion, they are enemies of God. Becuse God has to incarnate to demonstrate religion to those hypocrites.'

Vivekananda redefined religion: 'Religion does not consist in talk, or doctrines or books, but in realization.' 'Religion is the manifestation of Divinity already in man.' 'The old religion said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.' Religion is the idea which raises the brute unto man, and man unto God. Swamiji cautioned: 'Take religion from human society and what will remain? Nothing but a forest of brutes.'

Vivekananda's concept of harmony originated from four sources: the scriptures, the guru, the motherland, and from his own realization.

1. He came across the seeds of the harmony of religions as well as the solidarity of the human race in Hindu scriptures: 'Truth is one, sages call It by various names.' (Rig Veda) 'Whosoever comes to me, through whatsoever form, I reach him. All men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.' (Gita) 'As the different streams, having their sources in different places, all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead unto Thee.' (Shivamahimnah Stotra) 'Each human body is a tabernacle of God, and each soul is nothing but God.' (Upanishad) It is to be noted that thousands of years ago, when these messages of harmony were declared, there was no Buddhism, no Christianity, no Islam.

2. Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda's guru, was the prophet of harmony in this age. Every little act of his and all his teachings illustrate the principle of harmony. He harmonized the life of a true sannyasin with the life of a true householder. He realized God in the Hindu way, and then practised Christianity and Islam and experienced the goal of those faiths also. At last, he declared the message of harmony for this present age: Jato mat tato path--As many faiths so many paths. He demonstrated the harmony of religions in this present age.

I learnt from my Master that the religions of the world are not contradictory or antagonistic. They are but various phases of one eternal religion. That one eternal religion is applied to different planes of existence, is applied to the opinions of various minds and various races. There never was my religion or yours, my national religion or your national religion; there never existed many religions, there is only one. One Infinite Religion existed all through eternity and will ever exist, and this Religion is expressing itself in various countries, in various ways. Therefore we must respect all religions and we must try to accept them all as far as we can... For years I lived with that man, but never did I hear those lips utter one word of condemnation for any sect. He had the same sympathy for all sects; he had found the harmony between them.³

3. During his itinerant days, Vivekananda travelled all over India and found great diversity amongst the Hindu races. Their languages, social customs, religious practices, dress, food habits, physical formations and colours are all different; but they are all Hindus. He discovered the common bases of Hinduism. All Hindus believe: (a) in the authority of the Vedas; (b) in God; (c) that creation moves in a wavelike motion through eternity; (d) in the immortality of the Atman, which is pure and perfect, beyond the body and the mind; (e) in the doctrine of karma and reincarnation.

Once in Madras Vivekananda said that the three main schools of Vedanta --dualism, qualified nondualism, and nondualism--are not contradictory but complementary. When someone said that nobody had ever mentioned that, Vivekananda replied, 'Because I was born for this, and it was left for me to do.'

4. One day at Dakshineswar Vivekananda commented sarcastically on the Vedantic experience of oneness: 'How can this be? This jug is God, this cup is God, and we too are God! Nothing can be more preposterous!' At that moment Sri Ramakrishna touched him. Vivekananda later said: 'The magic touch of the Master that day brought a wonderful change over my mind. I was stupefied to find that there was really nothing in the universe but God!' Later, during his itinerant days in the Himalayas, he realized that the microcosm (the internal world) and the macrocosm (the external world) are built on the same plan. A perfect truth should be in harmony with experiences in both these worlds.

Unity in diversity is an important theme of Hinduism or Vedanta. Brahman or God has become many through His incomprehensible Maya power. God transcends space and time; He is also immanent in space and time. In God contraries meet and stand synthesized into a grand harmony. Vivekananda taught the nondual Vedanta, where one can find true unity. Brahman, the Absolute has no parts. The creator is Brahman, the creature is also Brahman. The Spirit is Brahman, matter is also Brahman. The sentient, the conscious, is Brahman, the insentient, the unconscious, is also Brahman. The static, the unchanging, is Brahman, the dynamic, the ever-changing, is also Brahman. Being is Brahman, becoming is also Brahman. He is greater than the greatest and at the same time smaller than the smallest. He is the Life of all life and He is also Death, the great dissolver.

Vedanta formulates, not a universal brotherhood, but universal oneness. I am the same as any other man, as any other animal--good, bad, anything. It is one body, one mind, one soul throughout.... One leaf may fall--does the tree die? The universe is my body. See how it continues. All minds are mine. With all feet I walk. Through all mouths I speak. In every body I reside.⁴

According to Vivekananda, this realization of unity alone can wipe out violence, narrowness, bigotry, and superstition.

Religious sects are not bad, but sectarianism is horrible. A sectarian is he, who thinks that his religion is the only true one and clings to it fanatically and hates all other religions as false. Can such people ever attain the Truth? At present there are 296 Christian denominations in the USA and Canada, but all formed their sects based on the teachings of Christ. There are many sects amongst the Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus. Many people denounce religious sects, but it is amazing how Vivekananda defended them:

I am not against any sect. I am glad that sects exist, and I only wish they may go on multiplying more and more. Why? Simply because of this: If you and I and all who are present here were to think exactly the same thoughts, there would be no thoughts for us to think. We know that two or more forces must come into collision in order to produce motion. It is the clash of thought, the differentiation of thought, that awakes thought. Now, if we all thought alike, we would be like Egyptian mummies in a museum looking vacantly at one another's faces--no more than that!⁵

Variety is the sauce of life. A restaurant, which lists various kinds of food in its menu attracts many people. A person gets bored if he eats the same food everyday. Sri Ramakrishna did not care for one-sidedness. He said, 'In order not to become monotonous, I eat a variety of dishes.'⁶ We know from our own experience that monotony is boring and disgusting. Although I am not a connoisseur of Western music, I sometimes go to listen to symphonies. I see several musicians on the stage with their instruments. Each one of them contributes music and thus all create the symphony. If the violinists, or flutists, or drummers, or any individual group think that they alone will be on the stage and none else, then it will be a solo performance, which may be appreciated by a few but not by the majority. It is the duty of the conductor to conduct the music in such a way that each musician takes part in the symphony and gives joy to the audience. God is the great conductor in the symphony of life. He created all religions, manifests in all religions, listens to the prayers of the people of all religions, and bestows His grace on all his children.

On January 1, 1881, listening to the nahabat music of Dakshineswar temple garden, Ramakrishna said to the brahmo leader Keshab Chandra Sen:

Do you hear how melodious that music is? One player is producing only a monotone on his flute, while another is creating waves of melodies in different ragas and raginis. That is my attitude. Why should I produce only a monotone when I have an instrument with seven holes? Why should I say nothing but, 'I am He, I am He'? I want to play various melodies on my instrument with seven holes. Why should I say only, 'Brahma, Brahma'? I want to call on God through all the moods--through santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhur. I want to make merry with God. I want to sport with God.⁷

Vivekananda got this idea of symphony from his Master. In the West he talked about the ideal of a universal religion: 'What I want to propagate is a religion that will be equally acceptable to all minds. It must be equally philosophic, equally emotional, equally mystical, and equally conducive to action.'⁸ Thus Swamiji synthesized the four yogas--Jnana, Bhakti, Raja, and Karma. He said: 'Everyone who has only one or two of these elements of character I consider one-sided. This world is almost full of such one-sided men, who possess knowledge of that one road only in which they move, and to whom anything else is dangerous and horrible. To become harmoniously balanced in all these four directions is my ideal of religion.'⁹

Romain Rolland mentioned: 'In the two words equilibrium and synthesis Vivekananda's constructive genius may be summed up. He embraced all the paths of the spirit.... As in a quadriga, he held the reins of all four ways of truth, and he travelled towards Unity along them all simultaneously. He was the personification of the harmony of all human energy.'¹⁰

Vivekananda visualized the religion of the future, where science and religion will meet and shake hands; poetry and philosophy will become friends; reason and faith will embrace each other; and heart and intellect will forget their conflict forever. He remarked:

In the old Upanishads we find sublime poetry; their authors were poets. Plato says, inspiration comes to people through poetry, and it seems as if these ancient rishis, seers of Truth, were raised above humanity to show these truths through poetry. Music came out of their hearts.... When the scientific teacher asserts that all things are the manifestation of one force, does it not remind you of the God of whom you hear in the Upanishads: 'As the one fire entering into the universe expresses itself in various forms, even so that One Soul is expressing Itself in every soul and yet is infinitely more besides?' The Hindu nation proceeded through the study of the mind, through metaphysics and logic. The European nations start from external nature, and they are coming to the same results.¹¹

Man is man--whether he belongs to the East or the West. His features, colour, language, culture, religion may differ, but the same blood flows in the veins of all human beings. When we talk about the East and the West, we must remember that Truth has no geographical limits, and it is the same at all points of the compass. The law of gravitation does not function more in America than in Africa or Asia; the facts of chemistry are as true in an Indian as in an Italian or a Canadian laboratory.

A knower of Truth is a universal person. He or she transcends all geographical, social and religious barriers. Vivekananda experienced the Truth. He wrote to an Indian disciple from New York on 9 August 1895: 'Every day my sight grows clearer. What is India, or England, or America to us? We are the servants of that God who by the ignorant is called Man. He who pours water at the root, does he not water the whole tree?... There is one basis of well-being, social, political, or spiritual, to know that I and my brother are one. This is true for all countries and all people.'

After the Parliament of Religions of Chicago in 1893, many interfaith and interreligious councils evolved in many cities in the USA and Canada. The different religions are slowly learning to hold out hands of friendship to each other in every part of the world. Most of the swamis in America are involved with these interfaith groups to promote mutual understanding and harmony. Comparative religion is in the curriculum in many schools and universities in America. This helps to develop a fairer attitude towards other religions. Vivekananda's catholic approach towards religions directly and indirectly influenced many thinkers of the western world. Swamiji spoke of the secret of harmony in the final session of the Parliament: A seed becomes a plant by assimilating the earth, air, and water, without becoming earth, air, and water. Similarly each person can assimilate the spirit of others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

Variety must continue to exist. It is the law of creation. Perfect balance or perfect harmony means dissolution. In the symphony of religions, each religion has its own place, and each is playing its own role. In the Chicago parliament, each representative was busy representing his or her own faith, but Swamiji spoke on behalf of all religions. The universal religion has no location in time and space. Its ambit is infinite. Krishna, Buddha, Zarathushtra, Confucius, Christ, Moses, Muhammed, Nanak, Ramakrishna--all have honoured places in it. The real universal religion is not a creed or a doctrine; it is an experience. It is God-consciousness, which runs through all faiths. It is the melting pot of diversity. Vivekananda preached this universal religion in the West as well as in the East.

Our watchword will be acceptance and not exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy and I do not believe in it. Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you to live. Is it not blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live? I accept all religions that were in the past, and worship with them all. I worship God with every one of them, in whatever form they worship Him. I shall go to the mosque of the Mohammedans; I shall enter the Christians' church and kneel before the crucifix; I shall enter the Buddhist temple, where I shall take refuge in Buddha and in his Law. I shall go into the forest and sit down in meditation with the Hindus, who is trying to see the Light which enlightens the heart of everyone. Not only shall I do all these, but I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future. Is God's book finished? The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran, and all other sacred books are but so many pages, and an infinite number of pages yet to be unfolded. I would leave my heart open for all of them.¹²

1. Inspired Talks, p. 102
2. C.W. IV. 125
3. C.W. IV. 180, 178
4. VIII. 129
5. C.W. II. 363
6. Gospel, 782
7. Gospel, 1009-10
8. II. 384-85
9. II. 88
10. Life, p. 326
11. C.W. II. 140
12. II. 371-74