Swami Vivekananda’s essential message is of unity of all religions

Anyone who reads Swami Vivekananda carefully will agree that his essential message is one of harmony and unity of all religions.

Dr Karan Singh has written, "Such is the broadness of Vivekananda's concept of the Hindu faith that had he been around us through some magic, he would have spoken against the idea of 'clash of civilisations' as he believed in 'confluence of religions'."

In place of the intolerant attitude of religions which placed any one religion in opposition or rivalry to others, Vivekananda emphasised service of other human beings and other forms of life as the basis of all religions.

Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, wrote in a review of Swami Vivekananda's work, "Service to humanity is service to God was the main principle of his gospel to social service."

Swamiji said, "After so much tapasya and austerity, I've known that the highest truth is this: He is present in all beings. These are all the manifested forms of Him. There is no other God to seek for. He alone is worshipping God who serves all beings."

"Humankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of the religion which is oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best."

"If you go below the surface, you find that unity between man and man, between races and races, high and low, rich and poor, gods and men, and men and animals. If you go deep enough, all will be seen as only variation of the one, and he who has attained to this conception of Oneness has no more delusion."

These are the basic values of unity of all human beings and equal concern for all forms of life which form the base of Vivekananda's message to the world. So how is it that religious fanatics and communal elements have been misusing the teachings of Swamiji? This is a question we must ask, because Swamiji's warning against religious fanaticism is very firm and clear.

This is apparent above all from his famous Chicago speech at the World Congress of Religions in 1893.

Swami Vivekananda emphasised the need to harmonise the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. He said that practical advaitism looks upon and behaves with all humankind as one's own soul. Swamiji wrote, "I see in my mind's eye the future-perfect India rising out of this chaos and strife, glorous and invincible, with Vedanta brain and Islam body."

"A junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam - Vedanta brain and Islam body - is the only hope."

For Swami Vivekananda, real spirituality was far away from rituals instead its true role was to contribute to better life, more harmonious , peaceful and equality-based life, in a very practical way. He said, "The dry advaita should become alive - poetic - in everyday life, out of hopelessly intricate mythology must come concrete moral forms, out of bewildering yogism must come the most scientific and practical psychology - and all this must be put in a form that a child may grasp it. That is my life's work."

Despite his young age, Swami Vivekananda worked at several levels on complex issues. On the one hand he was determined to discover the essence of his religion so that it could be rescued from useless obscurantism and linked to the service of people and all form of life. Serving God is best fulfilled by serving people and all forms of life was his single message to his co-religionists.

Romain Rolland wrote about Swamiji, "He of all men achieved the highest equilibrium between the diverse forces of thought, and was one of the first to sign a treaty of peace between the two forces eternally warring within us, the forces of reason and of faith." It is clear from this that the essential message of Swami Vivekananda has absolutely no link with those who spread communal tensions for gaining political power and try to misrepresent the ideas of some truly great persons for their narrow sectarian ends.

(The writer is a freelance journalist who has been involved with several social movements and initiatives.)