India's Message to the World (Swami Vivekananda)

 Introduction:

Swami Vivekananda was a brave-saint of twentieth century India. He has made the people of the world to focus their attention on India through his address at the Parliament of Religion in Chicago. In “India’s Message to the World”, Vivekananda praises the spiritual glory of India which guided India in the past and would guide India as well as the entire world in future. While the West is finding some solutions to the problems of the present condition of human beings, India had already found some ways to keep human kind in upright condition by following the spirituality pronounced by great saints and sages. India’s ‘Purana and Upanishads’ contain all solutions to the problems of human kind. According to the Indian spirituality, renunciation is the solution for all worldly problems and miseries. 

Vivekananda’s Excitement:

In Chicago, Vivekananda felt very much excited when he saw different races of people. He felt that he was fortunate to study the wonderful customs and practices of people belonging to various races. But what he understood was that under all the various customs and beliefs, there exists human hearts in which joy and sorrow, and strength and weakness are one and the same.  

Vivekananda’s Perception:

Vivekananda says that good and evil are everywhere but they are in equal proportion. Like this, men and women are in every race and so it is necessary to keep the balance men and women in equal proportion in every race as Emperor Ashoka told “In every land dwell Brahmins and Shramanas.”

Vivekananda’s tribute to India and Indians:

Vivekananda thanks India and Indians for the great knowledge that he has achieved in the fields of philosophy and spirituality. He says that he is indebted to India and its people for his success. He proudly states that if a man who is brutal like animal happens to stand in the soil of India, he will become a ‘human being’, because such a great power exists in the philosophy, ethics, and spirituality of India.

Vivekananda’s Message:

In India amidst the ocean of humanity lies the strong current of pleasure and pain, of strength and weakness, of wealth and poverty, of joy and sorrow, of smile and tear, of life and death.  In India, the struggle between birth and death is overcome by renunciation. In India, all religions are practical and real. Here men and women attempt anything boldly to achieve their goals. But in other lands the stronger section of the society exploits the weaker section. In India alone people understand that human world has a link with nature and the universe and there has a continuous connectivity among all these elements. So, the souls of Indians find the ‘infinite’ in them. Vivekananda says that India’s spiritual-life never faced deformity even in the crises caused by various foreign invasions. Instead, India’s influence has been falling upon the world like that of a gentle dew and brining blossoms all over the world. Vivekananda considers the entry of the English into our country positively, because he believes that the English has brought India in contact with the rest of the world. Vivekananda strongly believes that India’s spirituality will save the world from the abyss of materialism. In fact, the socialists of many nations have understood that “Vedanta” – which is India’s spiritual philosophy – has the power to save the world from the fall.

Conclusions:

Thus, Vivekananda in “India’s Message to the World” glorifies Indian spirituality which has the power to save mankind from fall. He also believes that with its spirituality India was able to survive, overcoming the adversity caused by many foreign rulers. He advises the nations for spiritualization and assimilation of people under one system. These acts would turn people’s life meaningful. Therefore, it is found that ‘assimilation of different races into one has been the common task in the life of every nation.