ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 A STUDY OF EFFICACY OF SECULARISM AND SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
ARUP PODDAR
Professor, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata, India
Email: [email protected]
Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020
ABSTRACT: Swami Vivekananda‟s idea of secularism is very clear that if you respect a person belonging to your own religion then why not you should also respect a person belonging to other religion in the same way. Swami Vivekananda clarified that spiritual knowledge is the supreme one and to attain spiritual knowledge one will have to have science of secular knowledge. In this article not only I have described from the complete work of Swami Vivekananda what he meant science of secular knowledge but I have also taken few dimensions of Indian court‟s judgement on secularism. In India the Indian Constitution through its preamble clearly mentions that this nation is a secular nation.
KEYWORDS: Secularism, Nation, Indian Supreme Court, Indian Constitution, Religion, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita
I. INTRODUCTION
Religious? To be or not to be, is it a myth or reality will definitely lead to dilemma and confusion. [1] If a person who is religious, only respects own religion and people following the same religion and greatly disrespects other religion and people belonging to that religion can never receive that the concerned person has the secular knowledge. [2] Whereas a person who not only respects his own religion and people but also respects the religion of others, we have to consider the concerned person has evolved from the low-level understanding of religion and politics and has embraced the true knowledge of secularism. [3] Should we debate on what is religion? One may argue here that religion is nothing but a way of life, how a person should lead his life not only to himself or to his own relatives but also before the society. [4] In the present article I would like to mention different works performed by Swami Vivekananda and from there I would like to point out the ideas of secularism. My argument would be that if I respect all the religion and people who follow those religion, where I will also include those persons who do not respect any religion but respect the services to human beings and the nature, in both the cases the concept of secularism appears. In this article, my effort would be to look into the ideas of secularism as developed by Swami Vivekananda from time to time in his lifetime. [8] & [15]
There are number of areas where Swami Vivekananda has brought the ideas of secularism in different context. For example, the difference between sacred and secular, effect on character, reason and religion, Swami Vivekananda‟s plan of campaign, reply to the address of welcome at she Shivaganga and Manamadura, the future of India, Vedantism, my master, knowledge-its source and acquirement, modern India, India‟s message to the world, our duty to the masses, reply to the Madras address, from the diary of a disciple, Alasinga, the abroad and the problem at home, the missionary work, secular knowledge, secular education, secular or spiritual. [15] I will bring out general discussion on all the above areas where Swami Vivekananda has described the ideas of secularism in various context. [7]
IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SACRED AND SECULAR APPROACH?
Let me first explain the general meaning of the expression „sacred‟, which, in common parlance only will lead to a nature of holiness or would provide the ambience of sacrosanct attitude. Here, when a person is possessed of this sacrosanct attitude, perhaps, will reach to a stage where from he will see all the religion as having one theme and that is love the nature and human beings. My argument is that, will there be any body who would come with the documentary evidence displaying that a particular religion of the world promotes the idea of disrespect to fellow creatures and other living beings including human beings. It is a well-established fact that no religion of the world ever attempts to disrespect the religion of the others. Therefore, a person who is sanctified in understanding the origin of life and religion they are of, obviously, will be possessed of holiness of mind and that purity will ultimately lead to respect the secular knowledge. Now, I would like to explain in
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 general terms what the expression „secular‟ means to us. Primarily, it means that the activities of a person or society or group of persons shall have no religious link or basis. For example, one can say that if I am donating money to the poor or distributing clothes to poor people, then it should not be linked with any religious achievement. Rather, it should be considered as a general duty of the human being that we should always help our fellow creatures as per the capacity that we have and necessity that we understand. However, there may be different argument, I meant to say counterargument which may arise while saying so that a person who is donating money or clothes to poor people, as per religious practices it is done for the purpose of achieving higher life or salvation. [5] Here, my argument would be that in both the cases the pure purpose is to ensure that the poor people will have equal rights for food & clothes and should not suffer in the society because of lack of money or clothes. Therefore, whether a person initiates such a donation either under religious practices or does the work for once own satisfaction or maybe because of family protocol, should be accepted as a pious service to the society. This kind of donation one can take as sacred and secular both, because during donation a person‟s mind is sacrosanct and at the time of donation person who is donating will never see what the religion of the donee is. [11]
Sister Nivedita [10] pointed out in her write up under the heading our master and his message about the great thinking that was possessed by Swami Vivekananda. What is religion was clarified by Swami Vivekananda in one of the addresses which was made in the Western countries. More importantly, Swami Vivekananda went with the deeper meaning of faith in religion. In one of the addresses Swami Vivekananda mentions that “if one religion true, then all the others must also be true. Thus the Hindu faith is yours as much as mine.” [17] This sentence has a deeper meaning and I would argue for that. Though, secular means that activities of the human beings should not have any religious basis, but here I will argue for religious practices when they are honoured and respected by all. Accordingly, for me secular can be seen as two sides of the coin, one, no religious basis for any work to be done and no conflict about searching that hope is belonging to which religion and second, that every religion is important and we must respect each other‟s religion and practices thereof. In this entire article, I will support the second stand, because of the fact that I can see that the world cannot be free from religious practices. Yes, one can counter my argument while saying that in the name of religious practices many mishaps are appearing, I believe the statement is true but this happens because of wrong intentions possessed by persons who are neither sacred nor secular and we should capture those unwanted elements in the society because of their presence the respective religion is blamed and brought under threat. [6] In fact, no religion in the world will ever support superstitious activities or any other activities where human sacrifice is accepted. Therefore, we should not blame the religion but we must blame the person condemn him because of one person or set of persons the entire religion cannot be taken for a ride. Therefore, Swami Vivekananda clearly mentioned in his one of the speeches that if one religion is true then we have to consider the true entity of other religions as well. Similarly, as per the above observation he also points out that the existence of different religion must be respected by everyone irrespective of whether concerned person belongs to such religion or not. In support of this finding Swami Vivekananda also mentions that if a Hindu person can be tolerant, if he can pray in the mosque as Muslims do, if he can worship before the fire for Zoroastrian, if he is kneeling before the Cross as the Christians do, then by doing the same practices by the people of other religion will definitely bring sacred and secular environment. As, it will be absurd to segregate the flowers and candles to be offered to a particular god or religious practices, therefore, segregating the people based on religious practices will also lead to absurdity. The question is whether this justification will be universally accepted? My argument would be that we cannot mix religious practices of different religions rather we should respect different religious practices and people thereof as it is to respect the secular knowledge. Otherwise, the value of secular knowledge will no more be given by the society. Secularism stands for respecting all the religions and practices thereof. [9]
Swami Vivekananda stated that man is not travelling from error to truth but travelling from lower truth to higher truth. One may argue that knowledge of me and myself, my family and difference between other living creatures where I am not treating them as equal to me, maybe the example of lower truth. But, when I consider other living creatures are also equal in terms of realising pain and pleasure like me, then my knowledge will lead to higher truth as I‟m considering everyone is equal. Similarly, when I consider my own religion is the supreme one than any other religion in the world, perhaps I am exposed to lower truth. But when I consider that other religion including my religion all our supreme then my knowledge leads to higher truth. Therefore, the movement from lower truth to higher truth is nothing but in this journey a person receives a sacred knowledge that every religion is the same, which also means that even if I am an atheist still I should not comment any negative aspect of any of the religion in the world. [11]
This was observed by Swami Vivekananda that man is to become divine by realising the divine. Here, how a person becomes sacred or divine that depends on his personal thinking. For example, being atheist if I‟m not disregarding any other religion then, perhaps my thinking is sacrosanct. What is divine is something related with
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 the existence of God not only for the purpose of knowing him but also to follow the path that the God has ordained. A person having divine propensities will never question the integrity of any religion in the world. Therefore, if a person without following religious practices come forward and serves to community or mass of people or to the nation and also never communicates anything which is not appreciable by any religious text, perhaps, the person has rising above all the qualities and becomes the subject matter of divine propensities.
II. EFFECT ON CHARACTER
Karma in its effect on character is one of the important factor of describing that how human mind is a secular. Generally, it is presumed that a person performs his duties under two circumstances, one, a duty which is obligatory to him, for example, duties performed at the workplace and second, duties performed by his own liking as per the inner mental attitude available within himself. In this regard, the inner mental attitude means a person‟s internal character which is expressed by himself whenever he performs his duties with his whims and fancies. There are instances, where this kind of functions leads to good work but at the same time may lead to evil work as well. Swami Vivekananda says that knowledge is already in existence whether good or bad, which means that knowledge is covered or under a veil and it is the duty of the human beings to uncover that knowledge or lift the veil to gain this sacrosanct knowledge. For example, to support this stand, Swami Vivekananda says that Newton who discovered the gravity after falling of fruit from the tree is something which is not discovered by Newton, because the knowledge of gravitational force is already available from the creation of the universe and for us, that is human beings it was only uncovered by him. Therefore, the knowledge which is secular will also be reflected from the duties performed by the same person. [18]
REASON AND RELIGION
The concept of reason and religion has been delivered by a Swami Vivekananda in England. While defining the relationship between reason and religion he made a few very interesting but important points to reflect the idea of secular knowledge. For example, he pointed out that if two persons are in conversation and the first person claims to the second person that I have gained complete knowledge on philosophy, physics, chemistry including all religious texts, however, I feel never satisfied that when knowledge will become the complete one, I meant to say not the sacred one or secular one. The second person argues that when you are studying subjects like physics, chemistry, philosophy, economics you are only gaining the knowledge of the materialistic world, that is, metaphysical but when you are reading different religious texts then you‟re gaining the knowledge of philosophy of life. Therefore, once you realise that who you are and what is the purpose of your life in true sense and you see that all the living creatures have been established by the creator for some specific purposes than you gain the sacrosanct knowledge and you will become a secular. Accordingly, it reflects the reasons for the existence of religion, because that guides that how a person should lead the life in harmony with others. Swami Vivekananda has also pointed out the difference between secular knowledge and religious knowledge. One may argue here that religious knowledge means the knowledge of one of the religion therefore very limited knowledge in terms of respecting the religion of the others. But, when we speak of secular knowledge which, obviously, would lead to knowledge is about all the religions and having respect for all the religions. [9] & [21]
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN
Swami Vivekananda delivered a lecture at Victoria Hall in Madras where he mentioned four categories of gifts. For example, first gift is the knowledge of spirituality or spiritual knowledge second gift is the secular knowledge third gift is gift of life and the fourth gift is the gift of food. Swami Vivekananda categorically spoke the essence of delivering secular knowledge and spiritual knowledge and mentioned that secular knowledge is something which is forced by the State or nation and which is applicable to the people who are residing in a society. Therefore, the secular knowledge is something behind which the force of the nation will always work, however, it is to be understood that secular knowledge is a state of mind which is forced by the State, therefore, regulates the human mind to be sacrosanct and secular, that is, under Force respect all the religion, but this is something if not originated from within the human beings then force will not work for long and religious problems will occur off and on. On the other hand, religious knowledge is something which comes as a dew which falls on the plants and grass and helps to nurture the plants and flowers to come in its full bloom. Therefore, the mode of giving religious knowledge is performed in silence rather than of secular knowledge forced by the state‟s law. [21]
III. THE FUTURE OF INDIA
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 Future of India depends much on the way we educate the people. Education is something which not only moulds the human character of the present but also of the future generation. If the primary education is not helping to build the good character of the human beings then getting a good future of India also not possible because of such lack of appropriate educational approach to build a good character. Once Swami Vivekananda spoke that “education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life building, man making, character making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library”. Swami Vivekananda points out the duties of Brahmins in India. Swami Vivekananda clearly mentions that to take the mankind into salvation it is the only duty associated with the Brahmins. Therefore, a person cannot be called a Brahmin if he is not involved in salvation of the mankind but goes about making money. The non-Brahmin people should help those Brahmins who are genuine in the above cause. Therefore, according to Swami Vivekananda, a real Brahmin will have no secular employment because the secular employment is for the non-Brahmin people. This is because, historically speaking the spiritual knowledge to be delivered by the Brahmins to other castes and people. From the above, it is clear that the persons who are interested with the responsibility of imparting proper education for character building of the human beings, they must perform the duties with all sincerity and courage to secure the future of India as secular nation. [11]
VEDANTISM
The Hindus from the Jaffna wrote a letter to Swami Vivekananda informing their indebtedness to Swamiji while saying that the true knowledge of religion in India was disseminated by the Swamiji to the Western world, for example, United States and England. While doing so, Swamiji discussed the true meaning of religion from the readings of Vedas and inform the Western world people that only respecting one‟s own religion will lead to creation of disorder in the society and respecting the religion of the others including your own will bring harmony in the society. The Hindus from Jaffna pointed out in the letter that practising their own religion was hampered by the invaders such as Portuguese and Dutch. These invaders took initiations to destroy the temple and shrines which are used as public worship purposes. Swami Vivekananda made it very clear that it is not in the hand of the human beings to ensure the complete disappearance of any particular religion in the world. Swamiji took an example from the Vedas and clarified that one cannot fix the date by which Vedas were written and it is never possible to find out such dates. The utterance available in Vedas are different and from time immemorial and can be differentiated with the situation that talking of religion is not religion at all unless that has content to understand the true meaning of religion. Parrot may say mechanically, similarly, machine can utter mechanically but cannot provide any clarifications regarding the meaning of true religion. Persons seriously reading the content of Vedas will obviously see the secular knowledge and by which the person shall become secular. [22]
MY MASTER
When I am going through the Works of Swami Vivekananda, I find that two addresses one at the New York and other at England of the year 1896 are combined together under the heading of my master. [16] It is quite interesting to note here that the Swamiji clearly depicts an idea that when a boy goes to school to learn, the boy basically learns all the issues associated with the material advancement. The secular knowledge obviously will help in the field of material advancement. More importantly, to teach at schools and convince the little children about what has been seen that is very correct and carries this advancement of knowledge for any future course of action is not so easy task for a teacher. Swami Vivekananda said that the earlier days teaching-learning process was quite different because of the fact that the church used to impart the knowledge for the material advancement without an interested motive and similarly the parents of the students used to provide kind and cash to the teachers for their survival. It has also been said by the Swamiji that orthodox Brahmins establish a barrier with other nonorthodox Brahmins and people of the other cast, is nothing but a kind of renunciation which ultimately helped them to reach to a salvation path. However, as it has been already stated that the real Brahmins should never engage themselves in any secular business. Here, my master and it means my guru or teachers and how my guru has inculcated the ideas of secular knowledge and spiritual knowledge as well is possibly understood from the above paragraph. [16] & [23]
KNOWLEDGE-ITS SOURCE AND ACQUIREMENT
At the time of defining the ambit of knowledge, its source and acquaintance with such knowledge is something which Swami Vivekananda spoke that no doubt there is a difference between sacred knowledge and secular knowledge, in the other words, there is a slight difference between spiritual knowledge and secular knowledge, because spiritual knowledge is of higher order whereas the secular knowledge which speaks about material
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 advancement is of lower order in comparison to spiritual knowledge. As it has been already stated in my article that a person who is having sacred knowledge will also have secular knowledge, because a person who is possessed with knowledge of higher order will also know the implications of the knowledge of lower order. Therefore, person having secular knowledge may not have sacred knowledge but it is a true fact that a person who is having sacred knowledge invariably will have secular knowledge as well. Swami Vivekananda has categorically mentioned at many occasions that there is little difference between sacred and secular knowledge. More importantly, Swamiji has stated that the difference between secular knowledge and spiritual knowledge is of 1° only, therefore, there is no huge and massive difference between the two knowledge. [6] As it has been stated earlier also that person possessed of sacred/spiritual knowledge will obviously have the secular knowledge as well, but this may not be vice versa for a person who is having a simple secular knowledge. Because, in secular knowledge either you do not give importance to no religion or you give importance to all the religion, irrespective of the fact that whether you know the in-depth analysis any of such religion. Accordingly, it can be advanced that both the knowledges are not opposed to each other or contradictory to each other but can be placed side-by-side. For example, a person who would like to have the higher order of knowledge he will have to learn first, the secular knowledge and thereafter can obtain the higher order of knowledge in the name of sacred/spiritual knowledge. [24]
IV. MODERN INDIA
In the complete work of Swami Vivekananda, he mentioned that the way of life as the Buddhist priest follow is of worth mentioning. This is because Royale sages renounced the world and many of them became the follower of the Buddhism principles and they started residing in monasteries being the homeless ascetics. From this practice of Buddhism, the various ideas were reflected such as, to become tolerant, to become non-violent, not to disturb the mental attitude in praise and criticism and gain the highest order of knowledge above the secular knowledge. Once a person follows the Buddhism and becomes homeless ascetics, generally, will be unconcerned with secular knowledge, this is because in spiritual knowledge which is otherwise called a sacred knowledge a person becomes sacrosanct with no further confrontation with the materialistic approach. Because, when a person is possessed of secular knowledge, there will always be a possibility that the concerned person may fall from that secular knowledge to non-secular knowledge because of self-conflicting elements of material world. [24]
INDIA’S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD
Once Swami Vivekananda intended to write a book to disseminate the knowledge of philosophy of life, however, the work was unfinished for some unknown reasons. Swamiji noted 42 points to be covered in his book. In which, point number 41 dealt with gift of spiritual and secular knowledge. Though, Swamiji never finished all the 42 points to complete his book, however, the meaning of gift of spiritual and secular knowledge that he has depicted in number of occasions either while replying a letter or while addressing the public at large whether in India or at the West. When I read Swamiji‟s complete work then I find a number of places where he has tried to bring a logical distinction between sacred or spiritual and secular knowledge and sometimes Swamiji wanted to bring no distinction between sacred and secular knowledge as well. From his complete work it is also understood that there are persons who are born with this gift of spiritual and secular knowledge and that they are luckiest of the lot, however, many persons can achieve this gift of spiritual and secular knowledge by way of teaching-learning process. The only issue here is that how many universities in the world are developing course curriculum on religious texts. For example, if universities are offering courses on religious practices then the teaching-learning process as mentioned above could be a fruitful mechanism. My argument would be that the study of Vedas, if it is being done with the preparation of course module from any university that will be a success story of teaching-learning process regarding knowing the philosophy of life. This is the example of one religion, other religious texts can also be taken into account to disseminate the real knowledge of philosophy of life. [16] & [25]
OUR DUTY TO THE MASSES
Swami Vivekananda wrote a letter to the maharaja of Mysore on June 23, 1894 from Chicago, USA in which Swamiji among other points categorically mentioned the duty of us to the mass of the people in terms of protecting right to equality. Swamiji clearly mentioned in that letter that the value of life is equal to every individual whether poor or rich, higher caste or lower caste. Our duty is to provide proper ambience of educational facilities to lower caste so that they also realise the value of their life and develop their lost individuality. Swamiji also mentioned that the ultimate duty of every nation is to help every man and woman to realise the path of salvation. How to impart education which are not only will help to build the character of
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 human beings but also will give an option to man and woman to reach to the goal of salvation is always a difficult task. Swami Vivekananda clarified in his letter to the maharaja of Mysore stating that the problem in India is that in spite of taking many initiations still poor people can be seen frequently. The primary reason for non-upliftment of poor people is the lack of education. On the other hand, there is a problem of issues related with livelihood therefore children belonging to the poor households would prefer to join parent to earn more money to maintain the livelihoods rather than going to school to learn fundamental and basics of philosophy of life. Swamiji reminded the maharaja of Mysore while stating that even if being the maharaja he opens number of free schools in many villages in his kingdom, those schools will have hardly any boys and girls belonging to poor family. Therefore, merely opening free schools cannot have fruitful achievement of goal to impart valuable education. Swami Vivekananda reminded a situation which I am displaying on a different word that if well is not coming to you to quench your thirst thne it is better you should approach to well to quench your thirst. Accordingly, if children from the poor families cannot approach to the school or teachers will impart education why not the school or the teachers should approach the children of the poor families to impart education in a better manner. Swami Vivekananda also reminded that there are number of self-sacrificed ascetic persons are available in India those sanyasis can be involve in imparting this kind of education. Our duty to the masses is that we must promote equality not only in terms of food but also in terms of understanding the value of life through education. [25]
REPLY TO THE MADRAS (CHENNAI) ADDRESS
When Swami Vivekananda was addressing at Madras, at the time he mentioned that Sikhism and the Sikh gurus are secular. All religion which asserts that living in harmony is the essence of secular nation, perhaps, deals with both the secular and sacred knowledge. Swamiji stated that every individual has a divine element within himself and once that element is realised by a person will feel that everything around him is not contradicting with his existence rather everything is in harmony with his existence. Immediately, peace of mind is achieved which finally helps to realise the knowledge of spirituality and ultimate reason for taking birth. Swamiji stated that secular knowledge cannot be achieved by a nation who promotes racism, lower caste and higher caste individuals, poor and rich people and facilities thereof, division of people on the basis of caste for imparting education. The person who has realised the divine element within himself will face no or little impediments for imparting secular knowledge to the society. [26]
FROM THE DIARY OF A DISCIPLE
Yong ascetics should be trained teachers for both secular and spiritual knowledge. They should be engaged for teaching of the secular and sacred knowledge. Swami Vivekananda stated from his experience that whoever will be involved in teaching to the masses about imparting these sacred and secular knowledge is not that easy for everyone. Particularly for those who has tendency to lead the luxurious life and cannot really understand the meaning of renunciation. Enjoyment and renunciation/sacrifice both are contradictory to each other. The enjoyment is something which will kill the valuable time, energy and enthusiasm by which to involve himself for teaching the secular and sacred knowledge to the masses will become never possible. On the other hand, renunciation is an element of impact which will surely provide an opportunity to the person who renounced the world to go ahead with the plan of teaching the sacred and secular knowledge to the mass of the people. Swamiji stated that in India we have a number of young ascetic persons, the only way that let there be initiations under which they should be properly involved in dissemination of sacred and secular knowledge. Merely mentioning the sacred knowledge in a book and merely reading those phrases from the book will never provide an opportunity to any nation to become secular, it is only when a person has understood the secular knowledge by heart then only the nation can achieve the secular state. [15]
ALASINGA
Swami Vivekananda wrote a letter to Alasinga in the year 1894 any mentioned that one should organise people‟s gathering not to promote a particular sect or religion but to intensify the secular business. From this statement, Swamiji clearly asserted that no individual religion or sect will at all promote the secular business, however, if one can involve all sect and religion then achieving the secular business would be easy and will bring harmony in living condition. It is very important to note here that Swami Vivekananda always supported secular knowledge and secular business rather than giving importance to a particular sect or religion. [27]
THE ABROAD AND THE PROBLEM AT HOME
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 At Madras in the year 1897 Swami Vivekananda was asked many questions, in which two important questions are pertinent to mention here. The first question was asked to Swamiji that what he thinks about Indian masses. Swamiji promptly replied that the Indian masses are terribly poor and they never think it is a crime, moreover, they are ignorant of secular knowledge. Then another question was asked to Swamiji that what will you do to improve the condition of such masses. Swami Vivekananda very clearly advanced his argument stating that the Indian masses need an education under which they are exposed to secular knowledge by that education. The ideas are well understood by our ancestors, the same ideas can be inculcated slowly down the line to the ideas of the present masses and to take the help of religion to impart the secular knowledge to the masses. Therefore, from this paragraph it is clear that Swamiji was promoting the idea of secular education, secular knowledge and importance of ideas possessed by the ancestors including the sound principles of religion related with the dissemination of secular ideas. [26]
THE MISSIONARY WORK
For Swami Vivekananda the main mission was to ensure that India has a religion not only one but many, however, the Swamiji wanted to inform the Western countries that they should also know the details of Hindu religion. The purpose was not to claim that which religion is supreme but to inform that apart from other religion as practised by Muslims and Christians, Hindus are also having Hindu religion. My argument would be to advance the idea of secular knowledge which says that either no religion or all the religion. Swami Vivekananda‟s mission was to bring into the basket of many religions a Hindu religion as well (Published on Madras Times, February 1897). [15] & [28]
INDIAN COURTS ON SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AND SECULARISM
In India the Indian Constitution through various provisions makes it amply clear that the religion is personal affair and therefore, cannot be declared by the State that which religion that nation should promote. It is important to mention here that in the year 1976 the expression 'secular' was added to the Indian Constitution. In the other words, it can be clarified that nation has no official religion, but if a person has freedom to practice his own religion then should not create impediments to the practices of other religion by the other people. The courts in India have considered the expression “secularism” as the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. The honourable Supreme Court while deciding the Ayodhya case [12] took the reference of the statement once issued by Swami Vivekananda which says “Religion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in intellectual argumentation; it is being and becoming, it is realisation”. While understanding the inner meaning of articles 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution, it can be easily stated that India as a nation will have no official religion, however, a person in India will be free to profess, practice and propagate any religion. This means there is a co- existence of all religions in India. The Indian Supreme Court made a detailed analysis of the term „secularism‟ in S.R. Bommai case [13]. The present case was decided by the nine judges‟ bench. The meaning of secularism has been given in different context and dimensions. First, secularism means that it will promote religious tolerance, equal treatment to all the religion and groups thereof, protection to the life, property and place of worship of different religious people. Second, it means religious freedom and not only a relationship between human beings and God but also a relationship between human beings and human beings. In the other words, secularism does not mean anti-God. Before the year 1976 the expression secularism was not incorporated directly in the Indian Constitution, however, there was indirect message to religious freedom from articles 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution which were available right from the commencement of the Constitution. It was only 42nd amendment in the year 1976 by which we can visualise the expression secularism in our Indian Constitution in uncovered form. Third, the secularism not only means religious tolerance but more than that there is an attitude of equal treatment to all religion. The Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati case [14] clearly mentioned that the term secularism is the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. In Ayodhya case (see supra) the Supreme Court in Para 93 clearly described that Swami Vivekananda participated in the world‟s parliament of religion in the year 1893 which was held in Chicago. Where Swami Vivekananda spoke about the Hinduism and stated that the way of life which allows to understand the religious tolerance and universal acceptance has been described very well in Hindu religious text. Perhaps, my argument would be that the fundamental characteristics of the expression secularism is based on these two pillars, first, tolerance and second, acceptance. Though, secularism never allows the nation to declare any particular religion to be the official religion, however, same nation also allows that all religion will stay in harmony with universal acceptability.
V. CONCLUSION
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 Finally, I would like to state that Swami Vivekananda has provided a detailed description of science of secular knowledge and a sacred/spiritual knowledge. It is important to mention here that Swami Vivekananda pointed out that secular knowledge is the first step to realise spiritual knowledge. Swamiji also clarified that secular knowledge has materialistic approach and spiritual knowledge will lead to a particular approach from the materialistic approach to understand that there is one source of God, all are equal, all are equally potential and all are belonging to one place and source only. In the end it is clear that a study of efficacy of secularism means no official religion a country can practice, but gives respect to all the religion to be propagated.
VI. REFERENCES
Journal Article [1] See generally, Stephen A. Newman, “From John F. Kennedy's 1960 Campaign Speech to Christian Supremacy: Religion in Modern Presidential Politics” 2008/09, 53 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 691. [2] See generally, Andrew A. Cheng, “The Inherent Hostility of Secular Public Education Toward Religion: Why Parental Choice Best Serves the Core Values of the Religion Clauses” Fall 1997, 19 Hawaii L. Rev. 697. [3] See generally, George W. Dent, Jr. “Secularism and the Supreme Court” 1999, 1999 B.Y.U.L. Rev. 1. [4] 1 See generally, Stanley Ingber, “Religion or Ideology: A Needed Clarification of the Religion Clauses” January, 1989, 41 Stan. L. Rev. 233. [5] See generally, Aalok Sikand, “Seeking a Hindu Perspective on Dispute Resolution from the Holy Scriptures of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita” 2007, 7 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 323. [6] See generally, Volha Kananovich, “"Execute Not Pardon": The Pussy Riot Case, Political Speech, and Blasphemy in Russian Law” Autumn, 2015, 20 Comm. L. & Pol'y 311. [7] Malkovsky B, “Swami Vivekananda and Bede Griffiths on Religious Pluralism: Hindu and Christian Approaches to Truth” (1998) 25 Horizons 217 [8] Cenkner W, “Vedanta: Voice of Freedom. By Swami Vivekananda. Edited by Swami Chetanananda. New York: Philosophical Library, 1986. 328 Pages.” (1988) 15 Horizons 211
Book [1] Olcott HS, “Vivekananda, Bombay, Panchamas,” Old Diary Leaves 1893–6: The Only Authentic History of the Theosophical Society (Cambridge University Press 2011). [2] In November 1895 Swami Vivekananda met Margaret Elizabeth Noble an Irish woman who would become Sister Nivedita (See, Isherwood & Adjemian, 1987 at Pp. 121-122). India., and G.A. Natesan and Company. Indian Reforms: the Government of India Bill, 1919. With Full Text of the Bill, the Memorandum, Mr. Montagu's Speech and Sir Sankaran Nair's Minute. Madras, G.A. Natesan, 1919., 1919. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/10.2307/saoa.crl.26422466. Accessed 12 June 2020. Book Chapter [1] “Conclusion: A Prehistory of Hindu Pluralism.” Hindu Pluralism: Religion and the Public Sphere in Early Modern South India, by Elaine M. Fisher, University of California Press, Oakland, California, 2017, pp. 183–194. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pq345d.10. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Case Laws [1] See, Dr. M. Ismail Frauqui V. Union of India case AIR 1995 SC 605. [2] See, S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case [1994] 2 SCR 644. [3] See, His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru and Ors. v. State of Kerala and Anr. AIR 1973 SC 1461.
Website [1] For details please see, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/(last visited on 18 February 2020). [2] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/master_and_message.htm last visited on 12.05.2020. [3] For details please see, https://archive.org/details/AddressesAtTheParliamentOfReligions; During his first visit to the West he travelled to the UK twice, in 1895 and 1896, lecturing successfully there, (Banhatti, 1995 at P. 30); Despite declining health, Vivekananda left for the West for a second time in June 1899 (Virajananda 2006 at P. 450). [4] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_1/karma-yoga/effect_on_character.htm (last visited on 13 February 2020).
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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 19, 2020 [5] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_1/lectures_and_discourses/reason_and_ religion .htm (last visited on 13 February 2020). [6] For details please see, https://archive.org/details/AddressesAtTheParliamentOfReligions; During his first visit to the West he travelled to the UK twice, in 1895 and 1896, lecturing successfully there, (Banhatti, 1995 at P. 30); Despite declining health, Vivekananda left for the West for a second time in June 1899 (Virajananda 2006 at P. 450) [7] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_3/lectures_from_colombo_to_almora/my_plan_of_ campaign.htm (last visited on 12 February 2020) [8] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_3/lectures_from_colombo_to_almora/vedantism. htm (last visited on 14 February 2020) [9] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_4/lectures_and_discourses/my_master.htm (last visited on 14 February 2020) [10] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_4/translation_prose/knowledge_its_source_and_ acquirement.htm (last visited on 15 February 2020) [11] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_4/writings_prose/indias_message_to_the_world. htm (last visited on March 16, 2020) [12] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_4/writings_prose/reply_to_the_madras_address. htm (last visited on February 17, 2020) [13] Alasinga Perumal was the South India devotee who went door to door raising money for Sw. Vivekananda first trip to the US for the Parliament of Religions in 1893. Later he helped establish Vedanta centers in Madras. (As available in http://www.vedanta.com/store/alasinga_perumal.htm; last visited on February 19, 2020) [14] See generally, http://www.advaitaashrama.org/cw/volume_5/interviews/the_abroad_and_the_problems_at_ home.htm (last visited on February 18, 2020)
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