Pratap Bhanu Mehta has summed up the contribution made by Swami Vivekanand in shaping modern India in his analysis entitled, What Vivekananda valued( IE,16/1/12). Swami is truly the Renaissance Man of modern India. No wonder that Mahatma Gandhi, Gurudev Tagore, Netaji Subhas Bose and many other freedom fighters admired him. He highlighted the essential values of Hinduism – divinity of man and pluralism – which are the basis of democracy and its values liberty, equality and fraternity.
Swami had no patience with rituals which caricature Hindu values. He asked the elite of the country to serve India by promoting health and education. As Mehta observes, "he made possible a radical criticism of tradition without making tradition despicable." He also said that no social structure has religious sanction and it is a product of social dynamics of society.
Mehta has rightly emphasized the values of abhaya ( fearlessness) and aparigraha ( renunciation) in the teachings of the Swami and these are the only antidotes to the selfishness of man. These values could provide a healing touch to the world ravaged by hunger, disease and ignorance. Indeed, it is possible to have world without war and poverty if man can transcend his narrow identity and embrace the universal human identity. This is the message of Swami Vivekanada. We have to thank Mehta for reminding us this legacy of the Swami.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/what-vivekananda-valued/899988/
January 16,2012.
*******
