Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, December 2002

Swami Tattwamayananda is the Editor of Prabuddha Keralam, the Malayalam monthly of the Ramakrishna Order.

The word 'Dharma', which is derived from the Sanskrit root 'dhri', is defined by Jaimini as 'the result of the performance of the prescribed Vedic rites, which is subtle and invisible in nature'. But this is relevant only in the Vedic scheme of ritualistic life. In general, it denotes an ideal, which sustains, protects, supports, nourishes and holds the world together.

Though there are certain general universal principles of Dharma applicable to all people and every age it is very difficult to pinpoint and determine what exactly Dharma means in a given situation without referring to the conduct of some great saintly men who have traversed the path of Dharma, who are considered to be the embodiments of Dharma. The ideal of Dharma has gone through various stages of evolution over the centuries. Generally speaking, the term Dharma is the foundation of the Indian scheme of life--both religious and secular.

To the ordinary layman, Dharma is just one of the Purushârthas sought after by individuals. To the more enlightened followers of Sanâtana Dharma it is the foundation of life, that which takes them through the stages of 'Artha' and 'Kâma' to the final liberation, Moksha.

According to Manu the whole of Vedic literature is the fundamental source of Dharma. Along with this he also mentions tradition, the practice of those who know the Vedas, the practices and usages of those who follow the path of Dharma in their life. The ideal of Dharma has never been static. It helps the follower of Dharma to evolve and progress towards Moksha. Though the supreme goal is Moksha, the foundation of one's life in this world is always Dharma. Its application may change according to time, space and cultural environment (which makes it a dynamic guiding principle of day to day life), but the ideal never changes.

Since Smritis or Dharmasâstras are directly concerned with customs, conventions, laws, rights, duties, responsibilities and obligations of human life at all levels, a Smritikâra has to be some kind of a social reformer as well. Spiritual teachers like Sri Krishna, Sri Râma, Buddha, Shankara and Swami Vivekananda have all been doing what Manu, Yâjnavalkya and others did--re-adjusting the Hindu way of life to the basic tenets of Vedic (Shrauta) culture by re-interpreting the fundamental principles of the Vedic scheme of life according to the demands and social compulsions of changing times. Swami Vivekananda's contributions to the fields of education, social reform, modernization of traditional religious ideas and belief-systems of Hindu society, his concept of internal Yoga and the harmonious synthesis of the occidental and oriental values of life, his concern for India's emergence as a prosperous modern state without losing its spiritual culture make him a Smritikâra of our times. A study of Indian history would tell us that Hinduism and Hindu society survived, thanks to this extraordinary phenomenon which is peculiar to India--the advent of great spiritual teachers from time to time who bring forth the best from our past, re-interpret it to suit the contemporary times through their life as well as teachings and hand over to the next generation.

Swami Vivekananda was a bold and fearless exponent of Sanâtana Dharma. But whenever evil customs and practices accumulated in Hindu society, he never hesitated to criticize them.

Though Swamiji was the exponent of modern Hinduism, he was aware of the weaknesses of Hindu society, its hypocrisies, and social injustices, such as neglect of the womenfolk, exploitation of the masses, system of social privileges, casteism, untouchability, etc. He wrote:

'You always criticize the women, but say, what have you done for their upliftment? Writing down Smriti etc., and binding them by hard rules, the men have turned the women into mere manufacturing machines! They have all the time been trained in helplessness, servile dependence on others, and so they are good only to weep their eyes out at the slightest approach of a mishap or danger.'

Manu writes: 'Wherever women are honoured there even gods become pleased. Wherever they are not honoured all rites and rituals become fruitless.' But Manu also says in the same text: 'Day and night women are to be kept under control by men. Men should always keep under their control women who are attracted to various sense objects.'

The Supreme goal of man in Indian religious tradition has been the realization of the oneness of existence. But for centuries we in India did not allow a large section of common people even to listen to this ideal. In Swamiji's words, 'India narrowed herself, went into her shell as the oyster does, and refused to give her jewels and her treasures to the other races of mankind.' But he tried to separate the universal spiritual teachings of Vedic religion from the fold of Varnâshrama system and open their doors not only to all Indians but to the entire humanity. To what extent he revolted even against the previous Smriti writers in this regard can be gauged from the following fiery words:

'No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and low in such a fashion as Hinduism.'

Fitting words from a saint who was the modern Smritikâra and social revolutionary rolled into one! It would be no sacrilege to state that, as a humanist, this righteous indignation and concept of social equalitarianism mark a complete departure from the views of some earlier Smritikâras. Perhaps the words of Manu restricting the freedom of womenfolk and denial of education to the downtrodden classes were ringing in his ears when Swamiji gave vent to his feelings. It is clear that the earlier Vedic texts did not approve of these inequities in the name of gender and caste. (Gârgi, Maitreyi, Apâlâ, Lopâmudrâ, Vâgâmbhrini were learned Brahmavâdinis of Vedic age).

During his travels through the length and breadth of India Swamiji was appalled to see the illiteracy, poverty and degradation of Indian society. This first-hand knowledge of the plight of his countrymen played a most prominent role in shaping his ideas of social reform which constitute what may be called, 'Vivekananda Smriti'. His anguish, pain and anger at injustices (which he knew had no sanction of the Smritis), which prevailed in the name of religion, can be seen in these words: 'I do not believe in a religion which cannot wipe the widow's tears or stop the orphan's wails.' In another context, echoing the teachings of his Guru Sri Ramakrishna, he said, 'Religion is not for empty bellies.'

Swamiji was, perhaps, the first spiritual teacher to stress the importance of material progress. He wanted to see India an enlightened, economically advanced and materially prosperous nation. The nation which gave birth to great scientific minds like Varâha Mihira, Ãryabhatta, Bhâskarâchârya etc. began to neglect the development of science, in the name of spirituality. Very often, poverty was interpreted as asceticism, non-violence and laziness as symbolic of Sattvaguna. Material progress came to be interpreted as detrimental to spiritual progress and, among the four Purushârthas, Moksha became the Purushârtha that people began to strive for. In reality, what happened was this: When common people, out of laziness and a mistaken concept of spirituality began to neglect Artha and Kâma, they lost Dharma and Moksha as well.

Swamiji said: 'Material civilization, nay, even luxury, is necessary to create work for the poor. Bread! Bread! I do not believe in a God who cannot give me bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven!'

Swami Vivekananda's humanism found its most powerful expression in his opposition to the very concept of privilege. He said, 'The idea of privilege is the bane of human life.' We find him almost completely deviating from the scheme of Varnâshrama system as expounded in some of the Dharmashâstras where certain privileges are bestowed upon certain classes on the basis of birth. Displeased he said, 'In this country men are born according to Shâstric injunctions, they eat and drink by prescribed rules throughout life,& even die according to Shâstric injunctions.'

According to Swamiji education is an effective instrument in destroying social evils such as superstition, exploitation, inequality, illiteracy, etc. The most important single cause of the social degradation of India was the neglect of education or its complete absence in certain sections of our society. Swamiji said: 'Educate and raise the masses, and thus alone a nation is possible.'

In the modern age of democracy based on the humanistic ideas of mutual understanding, equality, brotherhood, self-respect and freedom of the individual, we will need a new readjustment of our existing systems, a reinterpretation of our eternal values of Shrutis or to put it more frankly, a new Smriti. Swami Vivekananda's ideas of social reform go a long way in fulfilling this need. Though Swamiji was a great admirer of the old Gurukula system of education, he was also aware of some of its drawbacks, like inequality, discrimination on the basis of casteism (which came to be determined on the basis of one's birth), the negligence of the masses and womenfolk during the period of the Purânas and Smritis. Some of our ancient Smritis have laid down that the down-trodden classes of society are not fit for education. According to him, one of the fundamental causes of the downfall of Indian society was that we neglected the education of the common people and women. Swamiji observes: 'The old institution of living with the Guru and such systems of imparting education are needed. What we want are Western science coupled with Vedanta, Brahmacharya as the guiding motto and Shraddhâ and also faith in oneself.'

Swami Vivekananda argued that many of our established practices prevailing in our society are either just local customs or are customs based on old and invalid Smritis and are contrary to the teachings of the Upanishads (Shrutis) and therefore, to be rejected. The Smritis themselves have laid down that in matters of discrepancy between Shrutis, Smritis and Purânas, the former (Shrutis) should be held as decisive, whereas the Smritis should have preference in all topics involving conflicts between the Smritis and Puranas. Jâbâlasmriti says that in cases of conflict between the views of Shrutis and Smriti on the same topic, the opinion of Shrutis should be accepted as supreme.

Swami Vivekananda was of the view that the root-cause of most of our social evils was that we reversed this order of priority and preference. This led to the weakening of social fabric and the society lost its vitality, became hypocritical, weak, poor and disorganized.

Swamiji's concept of organized social service revolutionized the very ideal of social service in India. Traditionally, though compassion and charity formed important elements in the life of an ideal householder, it was more or less taken as an individual affair, as part of Panchamahâyajnas (Manusmriti,III-70). By evolving the unique concept of social service called Daridranârâyana-sevâ, Swamiji gave it a spiritual dimension. Coming in direct contact with the Indian masses during his Parivrâjaka days he had realized the strong bond of cultural unity in India in spite of centuries of foreign invasion and rule. While on the one hand, his Vedantic mission opened new awareness and gave new dimensions to the very concept of religion and spirituality at the world level, on the other hand, it taught his countrymen how to apply Vedanta in practical life by imbibing values like unity, self

confidence, hard work, discipline, work-culture and thereby evolve a society which is not only spiritually vibrant but also materially dynamic, strong, modern and prosperous.

Whenever we discuss Swamiji's ideas on Vedantic philology we have to bear in mind the fact that by Vedanta he did not mean merely Advaita Vedanta or even the three systems of Dvaita, Advaita and Visishtâdvaita, but the whole of Hindu religion, philosophy and in some contexts even Hindu culture.

According to Swamiji the great spiritual teachers beginning with Buddha, Shankara and others were great integrators who accomplished their tasks by re-adjusting their contemporary social ways of life to our age-old Vedic tradition. In this respect they can be considered as Smritikâras as well.

But today, we need a different kind of adjustment to suit our modern times. For that we need a universal, scientific and rational re-adjustment of Vedic values of life to suit the demands of a technological age. For this purpose, Swamiji gives four important fundamental principles of Vedantic philology, namely,

1. Each soul is potentially divine. This idea acquired a new relevance and meaning to the modern world in a modern language.

2. Any one who is willing to put in the necessary effort, can attain the supreme goal of manifesting this inner divinity by following any one of the four yogas, or all of them.

3. The third important principle was the idea of Oneness of Existence--what we call the dimensions of a Universal Religion.

4. For the first time in history he taught that one starts with Dvaita, progress through Visishtadvaita and reaches the level of Advaita.

Though even Gaudapada makes the statement in Mandukya-kârikâ that Advaita does not have any quarrel with other systems (parasparam virudhyate, tairayam na virudhyate), we have to admit that the authors of post-Shankarite polemical works were certainly not as broad-minded towards the Dvaita philosophy as Gaudapâda or Sankarâchârya.

But Swamiji brought about a synthesis and reconciliation between these three systems. In fact, he thereby achieved a reconciliation and harmony between all the various religions and belief-systems as well because there is hardly any religion in the world which does not belong to any one of these three (especially Dvaita and Visishtâdvaita systems) categories. In other words, by evolving a unique concept of Universal religion based on the Universal teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the concept of practical Vedanta, Swamiji has opened a new chapter in the history of world religious philosophy. From this angle, it can be safely pointed out that he emerges as a Smritikâra of universal dimensions.

Swami Vivekananda gave an altogether new and revolutionary interpretation to the concept of Moksha, which as the supreme goal of human life, cannot be completely divorced from Dharma. Swamiji stressed that though Mukti liberates man from the cycle of births and deaths, it is by no means an escapist concept. He, being essentially a humanist, realized the importance of man and elevated him to the status of God. He wanted to bring Vedanta philosophy to the lives of common men. What used to be mistakenly considered as a philosophy of running away from the realities of life became, in Swamiji's hands, the art, science and philosophy of finding solutions to the problems of life in this world at individual, social, national and international levels, apart from being the highest and metaphysical doctrine that man can conceive of and strive to attain. To quote him: 'It shall no more be a rahasya [secret] to be confined to hermitages.'

Further: 'If the fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better a fisherman; if the student thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be a better student; if the lawyer thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better lawyer.'

To give a more concrete shape to his Neo-Vedantism Swamiji also gave a new interpretation to the ideal of Sannyasa:

1. A Sannyasin should not be just a seeker of his own individual salvation. He should seek his salvation through the salvation of all.

2. A Sannyasin must consider spiritual and social services as of equal importance. To be an ideal Sannyasin, one should forget the distinction between the spiritual and secular.

On the basis of this new interpretation of the Sannyasa ideal Swamiji taught that unselfishness is the essence of the Sannyasa ideal. In his words:'Those of you who are Sannyasins must try to do good to others, for Sannyasa means that.'

The Gita defines Swadharma as one's own inborn nature, depending upon the level of a person's spiritual evolution. In his commentary on the Gita, Ramanuja calls it: 'One's Dharma which is suitable for performance by one's own effort.' Swadharma is our natural means to continue our evolution and progress from our present state. From a purely psychological standpoint, Swadharma is the method of sublimating all our faculties to a higher level, thereby speeding up our evolution.

Swadharma, being a dynamic concept, is bound to change according to the demands of time and space. From the standpoint of a spiritual aspirant, it is a vehicle, which leads one naturally to his destination, which may be either Yoga or Moksha.

Swami Vivekananda believed that the concept of Swadharma of our times is different from what it might have been during the times of the earlier Smritikâras. During his travels, he had seen the miserable condition of the Indian masses. At that time millions of people in India were living below poverty line, went about half-naked, lived on herbs and roots and were illiterate. He asked us to worship God in the form of the poor, the illiterate and the downtrodden and said, 'Where should you go to seek for God--are not all the poor, the miserable, the weak, Gods? Why not worship them first?'

2. Spreading education among the downtrodden classes of India to remove their superstitions without disturbing their religious convictions.

5. To evolve a system of education which should be a harmonious blending of the modern western scientific method as well as the traditional Gurukula system with emphasis on values such as Shraddhâ, Brahmacharya, etc.

7. To infuse values like patriotism, discipline, obedience to the leader, work ethic, civic responsibility, etc. among the people, especially the youth.

8. To infuse a sense of pride and self-respect and a sense of reverence for our spiritual, cultural and national heritage, especially among the educated people.

The guiding principle of Swamiji's concept of social service was 'for the freedom of oneself and for the welfare of the world'. It was a complete and integrated philosophy of life which guaranteed success in life, both spiritual as well as material. This ideal of service and Sâdhanâ combined in a single integrated whole is one of the greatest and everlasting contributions of Swami Vivekananda to India and Hinduism.

Indian society had accepted Dharma or religion as the mandate of 'Râshtra-dharma'. (As it is difficult to clearly differentiate Râshtra-dharma from Râja-dharma in Indian context we take them as identical concepts.) That is why it is said in the Vedas that even the ruler of the kingdom or the kingdom itself is not superior to Dharma. It is stated that 'just as the mother earth provides protection and support to all beings, the king should do the same to all his subjects.' Before the advent of Muslim invaders, the institution of monarchy in India was never any kind of personal despotism. The kingdom was considered to be an institution built on the principles of Dharma and the king, though the supreme administrative and judicial power, was a representative of Dharma. (How different from the views of Rousseau who said that only a society based on Social Contract is in a position to provide to its members, moral liberty that proceeds from blind submission to the law of reason!) Incompetence and violation of the kingly duties and obligations can be considered as justification for his removal, even according to Manu.

The concept of an ideal king or an ideal kingdom that prevailed in ancient Bhârata-Varsha as revealed in these scriptures and the highest place assigned to the ideal of Dharma (as revealed in the mantras uttered during the coronation ceremony) vindicate the well-known statement made by Swamiji: The place of the sword was assigned at the feet of learning and Dharma.

This Dharma ideal, which is the most visible form of religion, was the guiding principle of Indian concept of national life. Swamiji says that every nation has one great ideal which forms the backbone, the genius of that race. In Indian context, it has always been religion and its applied form, namely, Dharma. He said that an ideal state should have a harmonious synthesis of all the merits of the Brâhmanical, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra classes. It should have the intellectual power associated with the Brahmins (without their exclusiveness), the dynamism and energy associated with the Kshatriyas (without their cruelty and ruthlessness), the liberal outlook, especially in matters like education and social upliftment associated with the Vaisya (without its exploitation) and the egalitarianism of the Sudra rule (without cultural and spiritual degradation).

To build a modern, vigorous, united and prosperous India on the foundation of its age-old religion, spiritual values and traditional culture--that should be the ideal of Rashtra-dharma for our age.

Swami Vivekananda believed that the supreme spiritual principles enshrined in the system of Vedanta philosophy alone could save our modern world from the evils of materialism, atheism and moral anarchy. All the positive ideas found in the Smriti can be traced back to the Upanishads. In fact, a Smriti is only a manual of the methodology and practical application of the universal Upanishadic principles to contemporary situations both at the social and individual levels. Thus, Manu, Yâjnavalkya, Gautama, Parâshara and others were only laying down certain practical methods to apply the Upanishadic ideas to the needs of their times. Naturally, there were many drawbacks in their works, when we look at them from a modern standpoint. Therefore except certain universal principles (which can, of course, be directly found in the Upanishads) they are not relevant to our times. So today, we need a new Smriti to suit an age dominated by reason, globalism, scientific and technological values and above all, pragmatism.

We can say that Swami Vivekananda is the Smritikâra of our age because he was the first Ãchârya to interpret Hindu religion in a language and style which do not contradict our times. For example, he says that religion is as scientific as science itself and as rational as reason itself. When Swamiji wrote that 'the infinite Oneness of the soul is the eternal sanction of all morality,' he was proclaiming to the world that all kinds of inequalities, untouchability, casteism and differences in the name of culture, creed and colour, which have been sanctioned in the earlier Smriti, have no relevance today. In his own words:

'Aye, let every man and woman and child, without respect of caste or birth, weakness or strength hear and learn that behind the strong and the weak, behind the high and low, behind everyone, there is that Infinite Soul, ensuring the infinite possibility and infinite capacity of all to become great and good.'

Though these ideas can be found throughout the Upanishadic literature, their treatment by the earlier writers of Smritis were quite different.

When we look at the impact of Swami Vivekananda's revolutionary ideas and his new interpretations of the age-old customs and practices of Hindu society ever since his return from America after the Parliament of Religions till our own age, we can only conclude that his emergence as a new Smritikâra was the fulfilment of a long-felt historical necessity. In a way, he was taking us back to the world of the Upanishadic culture from which we have deviated so much over the centuries. For the first time in the history of Hindu Dharma-Shâstras we got what can be rightly called a Universal Smriti. If anybody asks today what is the Smriti of our modern scientific-technological age, there is only one answer: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

International understanding and globalism in all the areas of national and social life have become a reality today. Whatever may be our concept and philosophy of life it must be formulated with the whole world for a stage, on the basis of universal principles of collective living. In this context, it may not be an exaggeration to state that as the exponent of neo-Vedantism, which fulfils all the requirements and characteristics of a Universal Religion, Swami Vivekananda was, perhaps, the first religious reformer who gave to the world what may be truly called a Universal Smriti.