The monk who shaped India’s secularism

Vivekananda was a proponent of a multicultural nation rooted in religious tolerance and modernity
and men stood behind his project of
establishing the Ramakrishna Mis-
sion in 1897.
Vivekananda emphasised that In-
dia needed to trade Indian spirituali-
ty for the West’s material and mod-
Rahul Mukherji ern culture and was firmly behind
India’s scientific modernisation. He
supported Jagadish Chandra Bose’s
Has Indian nationalism turned utter- scientific projects. In fact, Viveka-
ly exclusivist? What would one of the nanda’s American disciple Sara Bull
icons of nationalism, Swami Viveka- helped patent Bose’s discoveries in
nanda, have to say about this shift? the U.S. He also invited Irish teacher
Nationalism, after all, is a battle for Margaret Noble, whom he rechris-
the myths that create a nation. tened ‘Sister Nivedita’, to help uplift
The practice of Indian secularism, the condition of Indian women.
despite its pitfalls, has distinguished When she inaugurated a girls’ school
the country from many of its neigh- in Calcutta, Vivekananda even re-
bours. India is the nation with the quested his friends to send their girls
third-highest number of Muslims in to this school.
the world. Its ability to consolidate Vivekananda also inspired Jamset-
democracy amidst unprecedented ji Tata to establish the Indian Insti-
diversity could teach a lesson or two tute of Science and the Tata Iron and
even to advanced industrial econo- Steel Company. India needed a secu-
mies that have operated along the lar monastery from where scientific
lines of a classic monocultural na- and technological development
tion. The country’s secular ideals would uplift India’s material condi-
have their roots in its Constitution, Swami Vivekananda believed in the philosophy of sarva dharma sama bhava tions, for which his ideals provided a
promulgated by its people, a majori- (all religions lead to the same goal). VIVEKANANDA ILLAM/THE HINDU
* source of inspiration.
ty of whom are Hindus. Would this
state of affairs change because a dif- Not only were Kashmiris not con- hansa is unique in the annals of Influence on Gandhi, Nehru
ferent morality, Hindu nationalism, sulted, they were made to suffer an mysticism as one whose spiritual Vivekananda made a remarkable im-
has surreptitiously overtaken India’s information blackout. Does this kind practices reflect the belief that the pact on the makers of modern India,
tryst with secular nationalism? of Hindu nationalism align with the ideas of personal god and that of an who later challenged the two-nation
Indian secularism has always at- cosmopolitan nature of India’s mil- impersonal god as well as spiritual theory, including Mahatma Gandhi,
tempted, however imperfectly, to lennial traditions? practices in Christianity and in Islam Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chan-
respect the credo of sarva dharma Another question that needs to be all lead to the same realisation. dra Bose. He used the term ‘Daridra
sama bhava (all religions lead to the asked is: Is it fair to appropriate Swa- While in Chicago, Vivekananda Narayan’ to imply that ‘service to the
same goal), which translates to an mi Vivekananda, another follower of stressed three important and novel poor is service to god’, many years
equal respect for all religions. Ho- the sarva dharma sama bhava philo- facets of Hindu life. First, he said that before Gandhiji addressed the social-
wever, the early-day Hindu national- sophy whom Prime Minister Naren- Indian tradition believed “not only in ly oppressed as ‘Harijan’ (children of
ists were clearly at odds with the dra Modi keeps citing, as a Hindutva toleration” but in acceptance of “all god). The Mahatma in fact opined
idea. This was the reason Nathuram icon? religions as true”. Second, he that his love for India grew thousand-
Godse assassinated one of its stron- Here, it is necessary to understand stressed in no uncertain terms that fold after reading Vivekananda.
gest proponents, Mahatma Gandhi. what Vivekananda’s life and world Hinduism was incomplete without It is for these reasons that the lat-
view said about Indian nationalism. Buddhism, and vice versa. ter’s birthday was declared as the Na-
Hindu nationalism today His Chicago lectures (1893) marked Finally, at the last meeting he pro- tional Youth Day.
For the likes of Godse, a corollary of the beginning of a mission that claimed: “[I]f anybody dreams [of ] Was Vivekananda then a propo-
the two-nation theory was that inde- would interpret India’s millennial the exclusive survival of his own reli- nent of Hindutva or of the millennial
pendent India was primarily a land tradition in order to reform it and he gion and the destruction of others, I traditions that have survived many
for Hindus. More than 70 years after later spent about two years in New pity him from the bottom of my an invasion and endured to teach the
Independence, this notion has York, establishing the first Vedanta heart, and point out to him that upon world both “toleration and universal
gained prominence as never before Society in 1894. He travelled widely the banner of every religion will soon acceptance”? Should Hindu nation-
in India’s post-colonial history. This across Europe and engaged Indolo- be written, in spite of resistance: alism take his name but forget his fi-
is evident when the Central govern- gists such as Max Mueller and Paul ‘Help and not fight’; ‘Assimilation ery modern spirit that rediscovered
ment says it will consider all Hindus Deussen. He even debated with emi- and not destruction’, and ‘Harmony and reformed India’s past? And
in neighbouring countries as poten- nent scientists such as Nicola Tesla and peace and not dissension’. shouldn’t India’s secular nationalism
tial Indian citizens. The most recent before embarking on his reformist also acknowledge its deeply spiritual
example of this is the bifurcation of mission in India. Religion and rationality roots in the beliefs of pioneers like
Jammu and Kashmir, the country’s One of the key elements of his Vivekananda’s interpretation of In- the reformer?
only Muslim-majority State, into two message, based on the experiments dia’s past was radical and, when he
Union Territories, with all special of his spiritual mentor Sri Ramak- returned from the West, he had with Rahul Mukherji is Professor, South Asia
provisions taken away from the erst- rishna Paramahansa, was that all reli- him a large number of American and Institute, at the Centre for Asian and
while State’s residents. gions lead to the same goal. Parama- European followers. These women Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University