The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Writings: Prose/What we Believe in
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN[1]
I agree with you so far that faith is a wonderful insight and that it alone
can save; but there is the danger in it of breeding fanaticism and barring
further progress.
Jnâna is all right; but there is the danger of its becoming dry
intellectualism. Love is great and noble; but it may die away in meaningless
sentimentalism.
A harmony of all these is the thing required. Ramakrishna was such a
harmony. Such beings are few and far between; but keeping him and his
teachings as the ideal, we can move on. And if amongst us, each one may not
individually attain to that perfection, still we may get it collectively by
counteracting, equipoising, adjusting, and fulfilling one another. This
would be harmony by a number of persons and a decided advance on all other
forms and creeds.
For a religion to be effective, enthusiasm is necessary. At the same time we
must try to avoid the danger of multiplying creeds. We avoid that by being a
nonsectarian sect, having all the advantages of a sect and the broadness of
a universal religion.
God, though everywhere, can be known to us in and through human character.
No character was ever so perfect as Ramakrishna's, and that should be the
centre round which we ought to rally, at the same time allowing everybody to
regard him in his own light, either as God, saviour, teacher, model, or
great man, just as he pleases. We preach neither social equality nor
inequality, but that every being has the same rights, and insist upon
freedom of thought and action in every way.
We reject none, neither theist, nor pantheist, monist, polytheist, agnostic,
nor atheist; the only condition of being a disciple is modelling a character
at once the broadest and the most intense. Nor do we insist upon particular
codes of morality as to conduct, or character, or eating and drinking,
except so far as it injures others.
Whatever retards the onward progress or helps the downward fall is vice;
whatever helps in coming up and becoming harmonised is virtue.
We leave everybody free to know, select, and follow whatever suits and helps
him. Thus, for example, eating meat may help one, eating fruit another. Each
is welcome to his own peculiarity, but he has no right to criticise the
conduct of others, because that would, if followed by him, injure him, much
less to insist that others should follow his way. A wife may help some
people in this progress, to others she may be a positive injury. But the
unmarried man has no right to say that the married disciple is wrong, much
less to force his own ideal of morality upon his brother.
We believe that every being is divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered
over with clouds of ignorance, the difference between soul and soul is owing
to the difference in density of these layers of clouds. We believe that this
is the conscious or unconscious basis of all religions, and that this is the
explanation of the whole history of human progress either in the material,
intellectual, or spiritual plane — the same Spirit is manifesting through
different planes.
We believe that this is the very essence of the Vedas.
We believe that it is the duty of every soul to treat, think of, and behave
to other souls as such, i.e. as Gods, and not hate or despise, or vilify, or
try to injure them by any manner or means. This is the duty not only of the
Sannyasin, but of all men and women.
The soul has neither sex, nor caste, nor imperfection
We believe that nowhere throughout the Vedas, Darshanas, or Purânas, or
Tantras, is it ever said that the soul has any sex, creed, or caste.
Therefore we agree with those who say, "What has religion to do with social
reforms?" But they must also agree with us when we tell them that religion
has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the difference
between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all such fictions
and monstrosities.
If it be pleaded that through this difference we would reach the final
equality and unity, we answer that the same religion has said over and over
again that mud cannot be washed with mud. As if a man can be moral by being
immoral!
Social laws were created by economic conditions under the sanction of
religion. The terrible mistake of religion was to interfere in social
matters. But how hypocritically it says and thereby contradicts itself,
"Social reform is not the business of religion"! True, what we want is that
religion should not be a social reformer, but we insist at the same time
that society has no right to become a religious law-giver. Hands off! Keep
yourself to your own bounds and everything would come right.
Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.
Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.
Therefore the only duty of the teacher in both cases is to remove all
obstructions from the way. Hands off! as I always say, and everything will
be right. That is, our duty is to clear the way. The Lord does the rest.
Especially, therefore, you must bear in mind that religion has to do only
with the soul and has no business to interfere in social matters; you must
also bear in mind that this applies completely to the mischief which has
already been done. It is as if a man after forcibly taking possession of
another's property cries through the nose when that man tries to regain it
— and preaches the doctrine of the sanctity of human right!
What business had the priests to interfere (to the misery of millions of
human beings) in every social matter?
You speak of the meat-eating Kshatriya. Meat or no meat, it is they who are
the fathers of all that is noble and beautiful in Hinduism. Who wrote the
Upanishads? Who was Râma? Who was Krishna? Who was Buddha? Who were the
Tirthankaras of the Jains? Whenever the Kshatriyas have preached religion,
they have given it to everybody; and whenever the Brahmins wrote anything,
they would deny all right to others. Read the Gitâ and the Sutras of Vyâsa,
or get someone to read them to you. In the Gita the way is laid open to all
men and women, to all caste and colour, but Vyasa tries to put meanings upon
the Vedas to cheat the poor Shudras. Is God a nervous fool like you that the
flow of His river of mercy would be dammed up by a piece of meat? If such be
He, His value is not a pie!
Hope nothing from me, but I am convinced as I have written to you, and
spoken to you, that India is to be saved by the Indians themselves. So you,
young men of the motherland, can dozens of you become almost fanatics over
this new ideal? Take thought, collect materials, write a sketch of the life
of Ramakrishna, studiously avoiding all miracles. The life should be written
as an illustration of the doctrines he preached. Only his — do not bring me
or any living persons into that. The main aim should be to give to the world
what he taught, and the life as illustrating that. I, unworthy though I am,
had one commission — to bring out the casket of jewels that was placed in my
charge and make it over to you. Why to you? Because the hypocrites, the
jealous, the slavish, and the cowardly, those who believe in matter only,
can never do anything. Jealousy is the bane of our national character,
natural to slaves. Even the Lord with all His power could do nothing on
account of this jealousy. Think of me as one who has done all his duty and
is now dead and gone. Think that the whole work is upon your shoulders.
Think that you, young men of our motherland, are destined to do this. Put
yourselves to the task. Lord bless you. Leave me, throw me quite out of
sight. Preach the new ideal, the new doctrine, the new life. Preach against
nobody, against no custom. Preach neither for nor against caste or any other
social evil. Preach to let "hands off", and everything will come right.
My blessings on you all, my brave, steadfast, and loving souls.
- Notes
- ↑ Written to "Kidi" on March 3, 1894, from Chicago.