Vedanta in America: Challenge and Opportunity

Swami Tyagananda

Swami Tyagananda is a former editor of The Vedanta Kesari and at present the Assistant Minister at the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston, U.S.A.

Every opportunity comes riding on the shoulders of a challenge. If we face the challenge we can use the opportunity; if we avoid the challenge, we also miss the opportunity. The history of Vedanta in America is the history of challenges faced and opportunities used. And since it is a history in the making, the story continues. Which means Vedanta will continue to have challenges and, if it faces them well, it will continue to use the opportunities to evolve further.

What are the challenges that Vedanta has faced in this country and how did it transform them into opportunities? But let me first say what I mean by the term HVedanta'. As used in this essay, the term Vedanta represents the philosophical foundation of the way of life that originated in India God-knows-when, but a modest estimate puts it at least as far back as 3000 years. Antiquity, however, doesn't become a virtue in itself. Vedanta's value lies not in its being the oldest extant philosophy in the world, but in being the philosophy that worked as effectively centuries ago as it does today.

Vedanta came to America in a roundabout way. Emerson was probably the first to introduce Vedantic thought to America in the mid-nineteenth century and, to a large measure, he was influenced by Thoreau. But Vedanta really made its presence felt in a big way only in 1893 when Swami Vivekananda participated in the Parliament of Religions that was held in Chicago.

Vivekananda faced many challenges but I shall mention only two. There was, first of all, the challenge of presenting Vedanta in an idiom intelligible to a common Westerner. Vivekananda did this quite effortlessly and, in so doing, he opened the door to the subsequent flooding of the West by Eastern thought. An opportunity was thus created for the meeting of the East and the West, not for trade or territorial conquest, but for the enriching of the mind.

Another challenge before Vivekananda was correcting the Western misconceptions about India generated partly by ignorance but mostly by the wilful propaganda of Christian missionaries. They needed to 'savage-ize' India in order to attract more donations for their missionary work. A great many of the lectures that Vivekananda gave after reaching America were about 'customs and manners' of the Indian people. With the shattering of myths came a greater exchange of ideas and people between the East and the West.

Four of Vivekananda's brother disciples came to America and were followed by a wave of second-generation monks of the Rama-krishna Order. Vivekananda had cleared the way and Vedanta had taken roots in the American soil. The challenge now was to consolidate the work: to nurture the tender Vedanta sapling that had begun to grow. The institutionalization of any movement throws up new challenges. One challenge was to create a Vedanta church, so to speak, which was not so radically different as to be threatening and which, at the same time, retained the basic Vedanta traditions. This was an opportunity to design a place of worship that was universal in character and practical in approach. The founding and growth of many Vedanta societies in the early decades of the twentieth century is a testimony to the insight and wisdom of the pioneers of the Vedanta movement in America.

For any movement's stability, its teachings and traditions need to strike roots in the mind and nothing achieves that as effectively as literature. The fledgling Vedanta community in America responded to this challenge by producing an impressive collection of books. Thus we now have in the West some of the most outstanding and authentic translations of ancient Vedanta texts. A challenge was thus seen as an opportunity, a window that opened Western minds to the treasures of Vedanta and, at the same time, helped gain respect and support to the growing movement.

Then came the 1960s, often described as a defining epoch in the nation's recent history. It was a time when the existing values and customs were questioned by a growing generation increasingly impatient with the compromises and hypocrisies around them. It was certainly a turbulent period that cried out for a steadying influence. Vedanta was among the several things that attracted a following and many of the ardent Vedanta students of today, both lay and monastic, have come from that period. They have influenced the movement in several important ways and their contribution has been immense. Thus a social challenge was met head-on and converted into an opportunity to help the struggling generation.

Around the same period there was a great influx of Asian immigrants after the immigration laws were relaxed. Absorbing the newcomers into the social fabric was a challenge that the country faced. This challenge was acutely felt by the Vedanta societies because of their spiritual connection with India. A large number of the Indian immigrants naturally flocked to Vedanta, altering the demography of the Vedanta societies. It became--and still is to some extent--a challenge to retain the rich diversity and not be branded as an ethnic group. But it is also an opportunity to prove the unifying power of Vedanta and its ability to rise above divisions created by race, religion, nationality, colour and gender. It is heartening to see how this challenge is being met by the Vedanta societies with innovative thinking and practices.

In recent years Vedanta has had to contend with other challenges such as globalization and the increasingly pervasive secularization of everything. Both are challenges in so far as they threaten the distinctive identity of wisdom, traditions and the importance of transcendence. But both also present opportunities to look deeply into the nature of existence and to learn the lessons that life can teach. Postmodern scholars in religion with their emphasis on deconstruction and reductionism are another challenge before Vedanta--and, simultaneously, another opportunity to define the purpose and methods of authentic scholarship. The Internet is also a challenge to make a positive use of this wonderful communication technology. Most Vedanta societies have already responded by hosting web sites and some have Vedanta books and guidance available online.

Challenges will never cease, and Vedanta has to keep encountering them and transforming them. This is the only way for Vedanta to remain effective and relevant, and to do what it is supposed to do anyway--help show us a way to peace, joy and total fulfilment. Attaining these is the ultimate challenge before us--and an opportunity to be more than what we think we are.