Here are a few questions that people raise about Swami Vivekananda. I have given my answers to them.
1. What is Swami Vivekananda’s message to the people of today’s India?
Swami Vivekananda urged the people of India to be aware of the glorious past and create a future more glorious than the past. The current state of downfall is only a temporary setback. India is coming back to its feet to claim its true position in the community of nations and to contribute to the world like in the days of yore. Everyone of us has a responsibility to do our part in this great service to the nation and to humanity at large.
The unique contribution of India to the world has been in the field of spirituality. India has achieved greater heights in the field of religion, psychology, human values and spirituality than any other country. Indian spirituality is Universal in outlook, rational in structure and practical in implementation. This must be imbibed by all Indians, nurtured, developed and disseminated for the welfare of the world.
Spirituality needs to be supported by culture. So every Indian should be familiar with the culture of this land, which is in the form of
- stories like Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
- values like reverence (to Sun, Earth, Water, all living beings, etc.), honesty, compassion, self-discipline, austerities, etc.
- practices like Namaste, bowing down, etc.
- cultural aspects like literature, music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture, festivals, etc.
All these can be supported only by a strong agriculture, industry, economy, defense, health care, education, etc. Swami Vivekananda has done a lot of work and has inspired a lot of work in alleviation of poverty, disease, illiteracy and social discrimination among the masses of India. The prosperity of the nation and its people are very important. These are the means by which the higher end of culture can be supported, which would support the still higher end of spirituality.
A follower of Swami Vivekananda should work for the upliftment of the people of India in one or more of these levels. His motto was “Man-making“. If people are uplifted, the nation will rise automatically. This can be done only by a person who has a self-disciplined life of character, hard work, charity, culture and spirituality. So, he always insisted on “Be and make“. Inculcate all these values in your own life. Then work for the welfare of others. This twin goals towards self and the world has been succinctly put in the motto that he coined for Ramakrishna Math – aatmano mokshaartam jagat hitaaya ca – For the liberation of the self and welfare of the world.
2. Swami Vivekananda passed away at a very young age. Why?
It is not the number of years of life that counts. It is the amount of life that a person has lived in the number of years that counts. Swami Vivekananda started his public life after the passing away of his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna, in 1886. Swami Vivekananda was 23 at that time. When he passed away in 1902, he was 39. Within this 16 years of public life, he did such tremendous amount of work, which is having such a huge impact on India and the world.
It can be seen in the life of almost every saint of his stature like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharishi, that when they come into close contact with general public, their health deteriorates. When they limit their contact with only a few close people who are also highly evolved spiritually, they have been able to maintain physical health. When they mix with general public, their health deteriorates. Many saints have explicitly explained the reason for this in unequivocal words. When pure saints mix with people, out of compassion, they take upon themselves the bad karma of the people. This happens automatically even without any intention. There have been well recorded instances when Sri Ramakrishna would feel excruciating pain when some people of doubtful character touch him. Sri Ramana Maharishi used to get blisters on his body by such touch. The same has been recorded by other saints too. Even today in Ramakrishna Math, we can see that the physical health of the senior monks who give spiritual initiation deteriorates very rapidly from the time they take up the position. This is a well known phenomenon in the spiritual lore. The saints knowingly sacrifice their health and life for the welfare of people.
Swami Vivekananda had the power of choosing his death. A few months before his passing away, he completed all the legal work of transferring all the trusteeship of the Ramakrishna Math to the names of his brother disciples. He was fully satisfied that his work was done. Sri Ramakrishna had told his other disciples that Swami Vivekananda was one of the seven great sages (sapta-rishis). He was brought down to earth by Sri Ramakrishna to do the spiritual work. When Swami Vivekananda remembered about his this identity, he would soon leave. So, this was kept as a secret from him. A few weeks before his passing away, he indicated to the people around him that he now remembers his identity as one of the sapta-rishis. This was a shock to the people and they knew that the end was nearing. A few days before his passing away, he had asked an attendant to bring the calendar and picked the date. At that time, the attendant did not know what he was picking the date for. On that day, in the afternoon after ensuring that everyone had finished their lunch, he lay down in his room, asked his attendant to close the door and left his body peacefully by his will.
3. Swami Vivekananda taught activity and nationalism to the Indian public, but in the West he taught about spiritual sadhana. Why is there this split in his teaching?
Spiritual life is going from tamas (inertia) to rajas (activity) to sattva (introversion) to beyond. A person has to start from where he is. At that time, in the later 1800s and early 1900s, Indian public was steeped in inertia due to the centuries of subjugation by invaders and colonial powers. The economy and culture had taken severe beating. Majority of the people were struggling to merely be alive – physically, economically, intellectually and culturally. To the general public, he infused new vigour by asking them to get up and start doing things. He pushed people from tamas into rajas. He asked general people to get into economic and social activity. He guided his Indian disciples to progress in spiritual life mainly through social service.
In the West, he found that the general public was already fully into rajas (activity). They were making things happen, having intellectual debates and indulging in a lot of sense pleasures. He found that the time was ripe for them to move towards sattva. He pushed them to become introvert. He asked them to think about the big questions of life and seek the answers within.
This two-fold approach is called pravritti maarga (way of expansion) and nivritti maarga (way of withdrawal) in our scriptures. A person has to first go through pravritti maarga and then after developing enough maturity proceed to nivritti maarga. This is mentioned clearly in Gita (6.3) – “For a person who wants to ascend to the milestone of Yoga, action is the means. For a person who has reached the milestone, introversion is the way to proceed further.” Sri Adi Shankaracharya in his introduction to Bhagavad Gita refers to these as abhyudaya and nissreyasa. Mundaka Upanishad says, “By doing action and analyzing the world a person should come to the conclusion that the infinite cannot be attained by finite action.” Taittriya Upanishad says, “Don’t ignore virtue. Don’t ignore well-being. Don’t ignore enjoyment. Don’t ignore study.” Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda also were very clear that, “Religion is not for empty stomach.” Unless a person has striven and achieved the basic necessities of life and some amount of simple pleasures, it is not possible for the mind to go towards spiritual life. This is mentioned in the scriptures and by all the great teachers. Swami Vivekananda’s approach is inline with the tradition.
4. Swami Vivekananda is known to have eaten non-vegetarian food. But spiritual aspirants are being advised to have a vegetarian diet. Why is this?
There is no doubt that food affects the mind. A few ounces of alcohol makes a man behave like a monkey. Different types of food has different effects on the mind to different extents. Non-vegetarian food is known to cause restlessness of the mind.
Swami Vivekananda was a master yogi, fully in control of his mind. Even during his early years, Sri Ramakrishna would send some of the eatables gifted by some people to Swami Vivekananda saying that he alone had the power to eat this food and not get affected. Swami Vivekananda had to mix with all kinds of people and if he was too particular about his food, it would have caused a lot of inconvenience to a lot of people.
When a simple means, in the form of a vegetarian diet, is available to control the mind to an extent, which spiritual aspirant would not want to make use of it? People who are not on the spiritual path and who are not trying to reach into the deeper recesses of the mind in meditation need not worry too much about vegetarian food. However, a vegetarian diet helps a person who wants to get into deep meditation. When we reach the level of concentration of Swami Vivekananda, we can think of relaxing this.
5. Swami Vivekananda used to smoke. How can we accept it?
Different values are prevalent in the society at different times. Today non-smoking is considered as a great virtue. In those days it was not. We cannot apply today’s values to the behaviour of people in a different age.
Surely, smoking spoils the health of the person. Though it is not an intoxicant, it causes addiction. All intoxicants should be avoided by all means, because it changes the thinking pattern and weakens the will power. Smoking also must be avoided if possible. However, a person who smokes in private does not cause any harm to others. This way, smoking is less of a vice than telling a lie or cheating.
6. Was the concept of four Yogas created newly by Swami Vivekananda?
The four Yogas or paths to spiritual attainment – Karma Yoga (path of action), Raja Yoga (path of meditation), Bhakti Yoga (path of devotion) and Jnaana Yoga (path of knowledge) – have been in practice from the time of Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. There was an article titled “Four Yogas in Bhagavad Gita” published in Vedanta Kesari in August 2017. However, there are some differences.
Traditionally, Karma Yoga, Dhyaana Yoga and Jnaana Yoga are considered as a sequence of disciplines to be followed. A spiritual aspirant should first get purity of mind (free from strong likes and dislikes) through Karma Yoga (accept all situations in life as gift from God and offer all actions as gift to God). After attaining a certain level of maturity in Karma Yoga, the aspirant should train the mind to become introvert and concentrated through Dhyaana Yoga. After attaining certain level of maturity in Dhyaana Yoga, the aspirant should gather the knowledge of Truth through Jnaana Yoga, which consists of shravana (listening to Vedantic teachings systematically from a competent teacher over a period of time), manana (getting all intellectual doubts cleared) and nididhyaasana (converting intellectual conviction into emotional strength). This entire process becomes easier and smoother by having a good dose of devotion through Bhakti Yoga. Thus, the Yogas are classified based on “competency development“. Karma Yoga, Dhyaana Yoga and Jnaana Yoga must be followed one after the other in the same sequence. Only then the goal can be reached.
Swami Vivekananda’s classification of the Yogas is based on “faculty usage“. Approaching God through the faculty of action is Karma Yoga. Approaching God through the faculty of emotion is Bhakti Yoga. Approaching God through the faculty of will power is Raja Yoga. Approaching God through the faculty of intellect is Jnaana Yoga. This is very clear in the popular words: “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one, or more, or all of these – and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.” So, based on the faculty that a person is naturally strong in, he can take one or more or all in different proportions.
Also, as per the traditional approach or understanding, a person must develop competency for meditation by following Karma Yoga, and must develop competency for knowledge by following Dhyaana Yoga. The teacher must evaluate the current maturity level of the disciple and advice the right course of spiritual practice. The limitation here, especially during modern times, is that the teacher should know the disciple well and the disciple should have close guidance of the teacher.
In Swami Vivekananda’s approach, the student is exposed to all the four Yogas simultaneously. Depending on what appeals to the interest and conviction of the aspirant, he himself can choose the mix of the four Yogas that would be best suitable to him at his level of development. The idea is that what interests a person and what he is convinced about depends on his spiritual development. So automatically a person will tailor his saadhana to suit him. Close guidance of a teacher is not required. General guidance is enough.
7. How to start reading more of Swami Vivekananda?
- Swami Vivekananda’s life and teachings, especially to Indian people are very well summarized in the small booklet: “Vivekananda – His Call to the Nation”. Here is the link to buy the book in both printed and e-book versions.
- A very good selection of Swami Vivekananda’s complete works is in the book “Vivekananda Reader”. Here is the link to buy the book in both printed and e-book versions.
- The transcripts of most of his talks to Indian public can be found in the book, “Lectures from Colombo to Almora”. Here is the link to buy the book in both printed and e-book versions. This can be found in the 3rd volume of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Here is a selection from the book that was published in Vedanta Kesari, a monthly magazine of Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.
- A more detailed life of Swami Vivekananda can be read in the book by Swami Nikhilanada. Here is the link to buy the book in both printed and e-book versions. Here is the link to read the contents online.
- For a still more detailed biography, you can look at the 2-volume biography of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western disciples. Here is the link to read the contents online.
- Another source of incidents and accounts of Swami Vivekananda’s life is in the Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western admirers. Here is the link to buy the book in both printed and e-book versions. Here is the link to read the contents online.
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda in 9 volumes has all his lectures, writings and letters that have been discovered so far. Here is the link to read the contents online.