The philosophy of man-making; a study in social and political ideas of Swami Vivekananda

481 Pages·1971·78.41 MB·English

by  Śāntilāla Mukhopādhyāẏa

•
•
• '
•
.
•
•
•
•
I
l
a f u d l / in .roeial a
i i
politiet1/ ideas ,
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ,
i
NEW CENTRAL BOOK AGENCY
8/1 Cbintamoni Das Lane
CALCUTTA 9
THE
PHIJ.OSOPHY
OF
. MAN-MAKINO
a study in social and
•
political ideas of
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
•
by
•
SANTI L. MUKHEBJI, M. A., Ph. D.
First published-October, 1971 I
Bs.
~o·oo
$ 8°60
£ 1·25
•
Published by
J. N. Sen
behalf of
OD
New Central Book A@ency
8/1 Ohintamoni Das Lane
Calcutta 9
Iudia
•
Printed by
Anil Kumar Ghosh
•
"The Asoke Printing Works ,
A Bidhan sarani
~09/
-Oalcutta 6
PREFACE
The present work Is an attempt at a dissertation on the social
ideaa of a : · Swami
~nd polid~al luml~•!X_~f renas~-~~t- ~~la
Vivekananda.· Tlie work la more or leas the reproduction of a
..t. heata for the Doct~~~~. . Qc:lt~ in P~.t!~~~.E.~Y of the .Y.~!v~!~.l!! ~f
I
palcutta. clioae the subject at the Instance of Prof. N. C.
Bhattllcharyya, teacher and, later, supervisor of my research.
my
· When I was on the track after having prepared the mlnary
pr~lf
bibliography, I really came to doubt the prudence of my choice
of the subject. Prior to my decision to work on Swami
Vivekananda I did not, I confess, know much about the Swami.
Of course, I was familiar with one or two of his addressea
delivered at the Parliament of Religions, In Chicago, In 1893, and
also with a few of his tracts like Tiu East and tlu W1sl.
I further knew him as the founder of the Ramakrishna Order
of monks and as one of those great personalities that had brought
about a renaissance of our Hindu faith In the modern era. Of his
'
sayings and utterances that I came across a few seemed to be
pregnant with socio-political ideas and ideals but, in my mind,
they did not appear to have quite cryatalltsed into an Integrated
system of thought.
Consequently, my Initial problem was one of proper approach
and methodology of dealing with the more or leas amorphous
materlala spread over the voluminous works of the great
thinker. My difficulties were further aaravated when I went
through his biography cursorily. At thla atage Swami Vivekananda
appeared to me to be propounding contradictory Ideas In dUferent
contexts.
However, on a more careful reading of his works I perceived
an underlying unity In all bis enunciations. I further realised
that Bengali language which was the main vehicle of hla expression
.
.
waa ·largely responsible for the apparent contradlcdons in his
expositions. ·
I had some dUficulty in reconciling Vedanta, the bedrock of
hla entire phtlosopby, with his social and political ldeae. Bui
when I discerned that Vedanta's cardinal message was freedom,
wae
the task · became lighter for me.- Then what remained to
glean the Swami's social and political Ideas from his wor1's
~wn
ill
•
iv
PBD~O•
••
which run to as many as 4,000 bdl -l'tfges, aa also from works on
I.Jim by others. The reaults of labour are now bel111 preseated
my
the reading public.
~o
To place the dissertation in lta proper perapecdve, I ha"e
ti
with Swami Vivekananda's role in what le called the · Indian
~egun
I have not quite accepted the traditional Inter
~t}naissance.
pretation either of the character of our Renaissance or of the
a role in Jt. I have sought to trace: the development of
~"amt'
I
· qis philosophy through his college d"ya, his association with
Ramakrishna, his years of wanderlna in India America.
~.d ao~
•
Man-God relationship appears to me to be the basic phlloaophtc
of Swami Vivekananda. This problem as also an analysis
;p~a
and correlation of hl·s social and political ideas have been treated
at some length. A separate chapter has been devoted to
•
}fl.ts view of eoctaltsm for the reason that there la a wide diversity
9f opinion as to his notion of socialism. Vivekananda's Monudc·
0 tder. a very significant achievement of hls meteoric life of action,
..
..
ll-iS -been dealt with in its sociological perspective. An attempt lwa
f.>een.made to assess the Swami's Influence on aur soclo-pollticel
life and on ·the Indian leaders of thought and action like Tagore,
Auroblndo and Gandhi. I have concluded the discussion wldi
an ·epllogue which seeks to enumerate ·and classify the Swami's
1ocio-palldcal ideas which are of abiding value.
To my mind Vedanta, or rather Neo,;Vedanta, ta the founda
tlmt of Sw•ttii Vivekananda's philosophy. Its implications &'re
all-tiomprehenslve, chief 11aiong which, for our pur.poeet are :
that human life ·ts potea1tially divine ; (II) that It Is the pu1 poae
ti~
of human ltfe to realise Divinity; (Ill) that for this man requii.1
fireedom ; (iv) that freedom means all-round freedotn ; (v) that
Is to be acquired ; (vi) that the freed ·tndivldual perceives
~dom
equal tty and, therefort, unity of life ; (vii) that unity Is unity In
ilivetttlty which -is the pl11n of miture ; (viii·) that the emergence
of a fraternal social structure, both on the national and the global
plme, becomes the natural 'outcome whell this unity of outlook
p9meates humanity ; (tx) th1tt a synthesis of the Eastem and the
Western values It thus an Imperative need : and (x) that stn«
tllan Is the architect of hla destiny, purpotdve endeavour -·oil bta
to achieve dwe goal ·11 'calhd ·. ·
j>alt ~.
1
v
In my dissertation I have also made an endeavour to relate
facts and Interpretations regarding the social and political ldeu
<>f Swami Vivekananda as presented by muter minds like
Sri Auroblndo and M. Romain Rolland. I have also undertaken a
.critical survey of some- of the views presented by other reputed
.authors on Swami Vivekananda. In connection with the Swami's
belief In socialism, I have sought to examine the views of
Dr. B. N. Datta, the famous Indian sociologist and a younger
brother of the Swami, and also of Dr. Y. Chelysev, the distin
guished Russian Orientalist.
The infiuence of Western thought and institutions on Swami
Vivekananda's socio-political ideas and beliefs appears to have
been overestimated In certain quarters and underestimated in
others. I have attempted to present my own views In this regard.
In proceeding with my research and In bringing It out In book
form I received friendly aaslstaµce and encouragement from many.
I am specially indebted, besides Prof. N. C. Bhattacharyya, my
inspirer and mentor, to Prof. K. P. Chaudhuri who bore me a
hand at every stage and In more ways than one. Shrl G. L. Saraogl,
formerly a Member of the Legislative Council and a sincere
friend of mine with an academic bent of mind, lent the services
<>f his highly qualified typist Shrl K. N. Rajan who did hla job with
all devotion. My friend Prof. S. K. Sen, who is a true scholar, often
frequented book shops and pavement book stalls of the city in
search of books I required, and Prof. Satlndranath Chakravarty,
a colleague of mtne, lent me quite a few books from his personal
library. Dr. Subimal K. Mukherji, Head of Political Science
Department, Calcutta Universicy, and Sri J.C. Mukherjl, a former
Deputy Registrar of the same University, came to aid when
my
ever I was in difficulty.
I shall be failing In my duty If I do not offer thanks to Principal
N. K. Sinha and my publishers, Shri Jamlni Kanta Sen and Shrt
Jogendra Nath Sen but for ·whom the present book would not
have seen the light of the day.
City College of Commerce and S. L. M.
Business Administration,
Calcutta-13.
2 Octr. , 1971.
I
•
comNTS
PREFACE
t. AND THE INDIAN
VIVEKANANDA
1
RBNAISSANCB I
Character of Renaissance ; Teutonic Renaluance ;
Indian Renaissance character and _a urvey : aoclo.;
religious movement, literary movement, national
movement ; advent of Vivekananda.
2. VIVEKANANDA AND 1'HB INDIAN
RENAISSANCE II
•
Neo-Vedanta or Practical Vedanta charactertatlc
features; about Neo-Vedanta.
ac~ptlciam
· 3. RAMAKRISHNA AND NARBNDRANATH 73
Ciolllu Dli of Ramakrishna, Narendranath's tram.
formation ; lniluence of Keababcbandra Sen upon
Vivekananda. ·
4.
TRANSFORMAn oN OP VIVEKANANDA IN
96
AFl'BR YBARS
Nature of Vivekananda's transformadon; cry1talll1a
tlon of Practical Vedanta ; excha111e of ideals ; Viveb-
. nanda'a acqufaltlon In America.
5. VIVEKANANDA ON GOD AND MAN HIS BASIC
IDBA 123
.
.
Predominant note of Swami Vivekananda's teaching ;
bis idea of God and hla view of man ; Karma-Yoga
the method of Ood-reallaatlon; Neo-Vedanta-the
new religion.
SOCIETY 139
~.
Nature of aoctal phlloaophy before Vivekananda :
Comte and Spencer ; sources and nature of Vlveka•
nanda'a social Ideas; analvsta of hla aoclal philosophy;
views on aome social lnatltudons and questions ; the
doctrine of heredity. Appendix: Swami Vivekananda
on education.
•
vii
•
viii
OON'.l'INT8
lB ·
7. SOCIETY AND STA 19.S
Nature of political ideas of Swami Vivekananda ;
liberty, equality, fraternity and unity 'rllb'9; tind
;.~-:·
duties ; correlailon- .of liberty.- clibts, c,lutfes .and, lovo ;
q
particular rights; particular duties ,; -•utho.rity
,
obligation; the cycle of caste and the theory of revolu.-
.
'
tion ; forms of government; encfs·a nd sphere of govern-
ment ; race, people, nationality. and nation ; nationalism
•
and internationalism ; view of p\lnishmeot•
.
8. SOCIALISM 27?
.
'
Society and State In Vivekananda's view ; Vivekananda,
the socialist ; Marx and Vivekananda ; foundation and
ctiaracter of the Swami's soclaltsm.
,
9. VIVEKANANDA'S IDl!AL SOCIETY AND IDEAL
STATE 290
Caatigatlon of po)ittcal Ideal aociew and
'1-m~1ae.y;;
o.£
ideal State ; a variation the ideal ; teaU•ation of the
.
.
ultimate idea).
10. INFLUENCE OE ON SOCIAL AND
VlVEKA.NAN.pA~
POLITICAL LIFE 297
The national movement ; national unity movement ;
freedom movement ; national serVtce movement ;
sybthesis of science and spftitualtty ; unity
huma~
movement ; rediscovery of the Gita ; worship of
strength ; pcwt3r*V of .t 1ae masses·; dtsolpltne and dis-
•
crimination ; regeneration of faith. · ··
11. INFLlJf.NCB:'fOF VIVEKANANPA ON. LSADSR:-
SHIP , 317
Tilak. Tagare,,Autoblndo,.OaDdhl, Cbaadta.. ..
Su~s
12. VIVEKANANDA'S MONASTIC ORDER 362
Vivekananda's dreams and ideals; his strup . f.Qr
oi
Implementing the plan : a philosophic interpretation
the· struggle ; emergence of the · 'Order ; objectives of
the R.amakrtshna Mission ; government and organi
sation of the Order ; an evolution of the working of
the Ord)er•
. EPILOOU! 389
The basic eternal values In Vivekananda.
'
T H E PHILOSOPHY O F.
MAN-MAKING·
a in social and political ideas o f·
~tudy
•
SWA MI VIVEKANANDA
•