Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Contents

This is the speech delivered by Swami Vireswaranandaji, the tenth President of Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Belur Math, at Duliajan, Assam, on 31.03.1968. Courtesy: Swami Prameyananda, Belur Math.

If we look around the world today, we find that destructive forces are more prominent and we do not, at first glance, see any constructive work going on in the world. Destructive forces are so very prominent that we look at those forces only and we feel very much depressed about the future of the world. But if we carefully examine the condition, we will find that, side by side, constructive forces are also working in the world though they are not so prominent as the destructive forces.

We need not be afraid of the destructive forces because without destruction nothing new can be built. This has happened always in this world from time to time. For example, during the age of the Mahabharata, you have seen that after the great destruction at Kurukshetra, a new civilization grew up. Similarly, we also know that after the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a dark age and after that a new civilization, the modern European Civilization, grew on the ruins of that Roman Civilization and the constructive forces that were behind it were supplied by many great people. Their life and message gave the impetus to the new civilization. So also in India today we are having the end of a darkness and are on the threshold of a brightness. And so we are seeing both sides. That is why, when we look at the dark side, we become very depressed, but if we see the bright side, then we will find that many constructive forces also are working in the world. When we live in a house, if the house is rather too old, it is not safe to live in the house by repairing because it is too old; so we have to destroy and demolish it and construct a new building. Here also the old European Civilization which was started some 2,000 years back, has slowly grown; it has grown to the maximum and then it has drifted away from the life-giving ideals supplied by many great savants. As a result, today the Civilization is in turmoil. So we see that men of the West are trying now to save their great Civilization by bringing in all sorts of ideals which are not sufficient to keep it going because there are as it were half way houses; they cannot appeal to the full man, the soul of man. They are trying to keep ideals which are materialistic, but mere materialistic ideas and ideals cannot satisfy man's soul. It is only religion that will satisfy man's soul and so there has to be a change in the inner man which religion alone can bring about, and that is where all the sensual and materialistic ideals get stuck. We need spiritual ideals which address the whole man.

In this age spiritual ideas have been given by two great personalities--Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda--who have come just at this juncture. They lived a life dedicated to God, and they have preached certain ideas which are wanted today to bring about a new civilization. What are these ideals? We can just summarize them in this way. First, there was doubt about the existence of God. There was an idea that God does not exist as there is no scientific proof of His existence; we cannot find Him in the laboratories and therefore, He does not exist. Nor is there any need for a God, we can arrange things ourselves. That was the idea and that has brought the world today to the brink of ruin. So, there is need for an ideal to give back this faith in God to humanity.

Swamiji was trained in materialistic education and had read speculative philosophies, so he had agnostic ideas. He went from person to person asking whether God existed, because he had at the bottom of his mind a faith in God but hecould not keep it up as whatever he read was against it. And so he was going from one person to another asking them whether they had seen God. But nowhere he got a positive answer. When he went to Sri Ramakrishna and asked the same question, the Master said, 'Yes, I have seen God, I see him as I see you and I can also make you see God.' This assertion by Sri Ramakrishna at once removed all doubts from the mind of Swamiji. It was not only from the mind of Swamiji, it was from the minds of many people in the world. This doubt was removed by Sri Ramakrishna's declaration. All over the world people are now beginning to have faith in God. All who have read Sri Ramakrishna's life and message are slowly coming back to have faith in God. So this is one of the ideals which is necessary for the new age to bring about peace in this world. Religion therefore is necessary.

But there are so many religions and they are at loggerheads. They fight with each other and the result is that we are nowhere. So Sri Ramakrishna, in his life, during his Tapasya period, practised the tenets of all religions and found that sincere spiritual practices lead to the same goal of God-realization. After that he declared that all religions lead to God. This was another great truth that was required in this world in which today various religions are fighting with each other.

There was another need also and that was to have the idea that in this world God is both transcendent and immanent. Normally, when we want to realize God, we always try to realize Him in a transcendental aspect. So whenever we become religious we cut ourselves away from the world. We try to realize God in deep meditation, in solitary places, in monasteries or in forests away from the world. The world does not get much benefit from this except that the ideal is held before it. But today we realize that much constructive work is necessary in India, and at the same time, we should not lose this ideal. It was the unique gift of Swamiji who combined both and gave a new ideal which was based on one of the experiences of Sri Ramakrishna who, coming down from Samadhi said, Shivajnâne jivasevâ i.e., do serve man seeing God in him. If we do that then all services become transformed into worship. The transcendental God, you may find in deep meditation. The same God you may realize in the immanent aspect by worshipping him as pervading humanity.

All kinds of work done in whatever field for the construction of the nation, will be work for the regeneration of the country. At the same time, we will be holding the great ideal of the country that God-realization is the goal of all humanity. This ideal will be kept intact and we will be working only for that ideal, but through a practical approach which asks us to do work seeing God everywhere, seeing all work as God's work and, above all, seeing the spark of God in His children.

In this way, if we do work then we will proceed towards realization of God and at the same time the country also will be benefited by that. But we must have this ideal intact. For example, you have got the oil refinery and the oil refinery is meant for extracting petrol out of crude oil, but many by-products are produced which is not the aim of the plant. The aim of the plant is to produce refined petrol but these by-products are there and these also have a market value which brings money. But the idea and the objective of the plant is to produce petrol, not the by-products. Similarly, when we do work, if we have this idea that we are serving and worshipping God, then our main idea will be to realize God and not to do social work. The social work is a by-product of our Sâdhanâ. So it is Swamiji's unique gift that he combined these two and gave one single idea Atmano mokshârtham Jagaddhitâya cha i.e., for God-realization and also for the good of the world. These two are not different things, they are combined in the same action of ours that helps to go towards God-realization and at the same time does good to the country, does good to the society. This is a unique gift which Swamiji has given and it is very essential all over the world today and particularly in India because if we do not do the constructive work then India will be in a condition of poverty and so we have to do something for the uplift of the country. But in doing that if we forget the ideals for which India stands (i.e. God-realization) then we lose much more than we gain by constructive work. So we should not lose sight of the ideals and at the same time, we have to do work for the construction of the nation. These two things can be combined only with Swamiji's ideal that we are not doing social work, but are worshipping God immanent in man. Our social service is only a by-product of our spiritual Sadhana.