On Vivekananda’s 160th birth anniversary, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati tells us about the monk and his teachings
Swami Vivekananda brought India’s cultural heritage into the international spotlight when he began his speech at the Parliament of World Religions with the phrase, “My sisters and brothers of America.” As commonplace as it seems to Indians to begin a talk with “bhaiyon aur behno”, the idea of referring to an auditorium full of strangers as a family was, for many Americans, surprising; it was their first glimpse of traditional Indian culture. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — “the world is a family — is one of the basic tenets of India’s spiritual-cum-cultural heritage. It was this message that the Swami was forwarding to Chicago.
Today, more than 100 years later, we are faced with a critical divide between haves and have-nots. We produce enough food to feed 10 billion people a day, yet tens of thousands of children die each day of starvation while others feast themselves to diabetes and heart disease. Now, as never before, the world needs to adopt this message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. No one in a family would even conceive of grabbing all the chapatis laid out for dinner. Instinctively, we understand that every family member is entitled to his/her fair share. Sacrifice for each other’s well-being comes naturally.
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
Vivekananda’s reference to the people of America as his “sisters and brothers” was not merely profound at that time; rather it was a call that we must hear today. It’s, however, true that not only are the Americans our sisters and brothers. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam has no discrimination, does not play favorites, and has no hierarchy. Can we extend the feeling of family to the impoverished and malnourished of Africa, Asia, and the rest of the world? Can we extend the arms of our family to the suicidal farmers killing themselves over desiccated fields and yieldless harvests?
According to the Swami, India’s downfall lay in the country’s neglect of its masses. No family can be truly successful if its members are hungry, or homeless, or ailing without means for treatment. Resurgent India is not only about financial resurgence; nor is it just about India being the leader of the developed world. Rather, it’s about the nation rekindling its fundamental humane values and tenets.
Women as Divine
Additionally, it is important to note that Vivekananda did not say, “My brothers and sisters of America.” Rather he said, “My sisters and brothers of America.” The distinction is minor and yet profound, particularly as India faces a time of singular darkness and despair regarding women’s rights and protection. This emphasis on the feminine is an inherent part of traditional Indian culture. Our mantras chant, “Twameva Mata, Cha Pita Twameva…” First mother, then father. Manusmriti and other Hindu scriptures often remind us: “Where women are adored, there the gods are pleased.” So, neither is this tenet of women’s empowerment, women’s rights and women’s significance new, nor was it new when Vivekananda based his remarks according to this cultural niyam. So, women’s rights are not something that needs to be instituted in India, but rather something that has to be re-instituted. That respect, reverence, and love for women not as objects of desire but as manifestations of the divine feminine, is part and parcel of India’s heritage. Without it, as we are seeing in the streets of India today, no resurgence will be successful.
India as Tirth
We are often told of Vivekananda’s trip to the US and the UK, spanning approximately four years from 1893–97. As he was getting ready to depart from London for India, one of his British friends asked him, “Swamiji, how do you like your motherland now after four years’ experience of the luxurious, glorious, powerful WestIJ” Vivekananda replied: “India I loved before I came away. Now the very dust of India has become holy to me, the very air is now to me holy; India is now the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the tirth!” No doubt, the West had unparalleled material comfort, then as it is now. However, to the Swami, those were not the most important aspect of life; what he longed for was India’s inherent holiness, which was enhanced by its spiritual culture. Today, sadly, the focus in India has shifted to material comfort alone.
When I first came to India two decades ago, I found people genuinely happy here. Even those who lived in abject poverty were eager to share. “Please come home for dinner,” I heard countless times from people who could not even afford to feed their own families, let alone an extra mouth. In the nearly two decades I have lived here, much has changed. Perhaps bombarded with Western ideas, movies, fashion magazines, and cultural indoctrination, the values in this country seem to have shifted drastically. The ‘new India’ has started judging its self-worth much like the West does — through material standing and bank balance. This isn’t the sign of a resurgent India, which will happen only when the country returns to the values espoused by Swami Vivekananda.
