In a speech on Swami Vivekananda, Pundit Nehru (the first Prime Minister of India) said that if he were to name a single individual as an ideal for children and young men to follow, he would name Swami Vivekananda. "He was the very picture of vigour and strength . . . He came as a tonic to a depressed and demoralized Hindu mind and gave self-reliance and some roots in the past," he said.

Swamiji and his teachings are inseparable. What he taught flowed directly from his entire being. His flaming words were the very vibrations of his immortal soul. We may say about the teachings of Swamiji that they are but God become words. And what words are they! There is no end to the power-reserve of his words.

Romain Rolland used to feel a thrill like an electric shock while going through his works.

To use Mahatma Gandhi's own words, "the love that I had for my country has become a thousandfold after reading his works thoroughly."

To Sri Aurobindo, "Swamiji was a soul of puissance if ever there was one. . ." Swamiji was the personification of dynamism, fearlessness and strength that came from the experience of the immortality of the soul.

Physically of an athletic build, healthy and strong, he knew no fear. He maintained the heroic attitude in all concerns. The fierce was not fierce to him, the terrible not terrible. His massive intellect was duly matched by his burning enthusiasm for the welfare of the poor. He also had a luminous and passionate urge to see God face-to-face. This quest for God brought him to Shri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. It was here that the spiritual breakthrough happened which made him finally, a great monk. There he got into the forge of God wherein he was mercilessly hammered into what he became in his later stage. Shri Ramakrishna fashioned the model of his chief disciple with the finger of fire. This disciple was charged by his guru with a noble mission of awakening his people by preaching the life-giving message of Neo-Vedanta. Swamiji found a mine of strength in Vedanta. It was tantalizingly fascinating to him. The quintessence of Vedanta lies in that one word -- Strength. He combated the prevalent idea that religion was anaemic, dull, insipid, substance-less, and hence useless and degrading. In him we find a happy synthesis of kshatravirya of the heroes of Mahabharata and brahmateja, characteristic of the ancient sages.

Inclined to an itinerant life, he travelled all over India on foot. He saw with his prophetic eye the predominance of tamas that had settled over the race like a miasmal fog. Weakness was mistaken by the people to be a sattvic quality. Ignorance, like a mantle, covered the race; superstition ran riot with human imaginations, and credulity occupied the throne of reason. Fear -- pervasive, oppressing, strangling fear -- gripped the people. Worst of all was the paralysis of resignation. Tears rolled down his cheeks. With a bleeding heart he went to the U.S.A. to get aid for his hungry people.

In the World's Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in September 1893, Swami Vivekananda, thirty years old, was an intellectual giant and when he rose to speak, the essence of Bharata-dharma flowed from his lips. The profundity of the message he delivered, and the impact it created in the world, was staggering. By making a unique juxtaposition of a mere five words he created spiritual history.

"Ye divinities on earth, -- sinners!"

The first four words thundered into being the new gospel of joy, fearlessness, strength, love and service, and freedom for the races of men. And with the last word he struck the mightiest blow to the whole structure of "soul-degenerating, cowardice-producing," negative and pessimistic thought and set in motion a new wheel of dharma: virility, energy and mastery over nature -- inner and outer.

Swamiji was a veritable embodiment of Energy. "He was known as "Cyclonic-Monk," "Hindu Napoleon," "Warrior-Monk," etc, for his dynamism.. The cry of his soul, the song of his life was the regeneration of India. Indication of his propulsive energy has been noted thus: "As soon as the Swami found clear as noon-day which way the path lay before him for a fructification of his ideas, he was seized with such a paroxysm of intense rajas, such a tremendous force surging within him and struggling for an outlet, that he felt as if he would burst. It was this mighty force that fell upon the world in its flood-tides of spirituality, destined to sweep away all that was weak and debasing, and bear in its contents all that was ennobling and life-giving." (Life of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western Disciples, 1912, Vol. IV, p. 170)

The triumphant march of Swamiji all over the country demonstrated to the people that Hinduism had regained its vitality. He breathed life into our moribund religion by forcefully explaining the strength-giving ideas and ideals. The true spirit of religion, as pointed out by him, exhorts us to galvanize our souls with a force that will change the entire outlook and vision of life. All power is within us. Purity, unselfishness, and sincere love for a holy cause will bring out that power. In the right spirit of Hinduism he freely advocated the cultivation of power and its unreserved use against the enemy to root out evil and keep it from spreading further. He repeatedly said:

"Physical weakness is the cause of at least one third of human miseries. This is not the time for us to weep. . .we have had weeping enough; no more is this the time to be soft. What our country now wants are muscles of iron and nerves of steel, gigantic wills, which nothing can resist. . . . Have faith in yourselves and stand up on that faith. Strength is the medicine for the world's disease. Strength is the medicine which the ignorant must have when oppressed by the learned. And it is the medicine that the sinners must have when tyrannized over by other sinners."

So the recurring theme of his message was:

"Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached".

Fearlessness, fearlessness. The single word STRENGTH---physical, mental and moral was the core and the kernel of his exhilarating philosophy of life. His fiery lectures From Colombo to Almora are being read as a modern Gita.

It was indeed a stupendous task and daring adventure -- to bring solidarity in the hopelessly divided Hindu fold. So much emphasis was laid, for at least half a millennium, on the grand futility of secular life, that the general concept of a strong, respectable, spiritual personality united with action was sadly lacking. It was a matter of first blasting away the boulders of ignorance, with the sheer force of his dynamic personality. Sluggish, befuddled and deluded people came out of a centuries-old cocoon of tamasic sleep. His lectures had the force of a tornado in their intensity. His fire and blasts fell on the hypocrites and on the traders in religion, too. Every single word emanated from the magazine of his spiritual experiences. He symbolised India's aspirations and vindicated our manhood in the eyes of the world. Pride and self-confidence swelled in the breast of the people and enthusiasm swept the nation like a forest fire. The mental shackles were broken and India was spiritually free. This is a part of our history.

This article is from Swami Tathagatananda's book, Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, pp. 195-198, published by The Vedanta Society of New York.

Comments on this article can be sent to: VedantaSoc@aol.com

Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these books from The Vedanta Society of New York.

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