We all remember Vivekananda as the arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached man. So I was surprised, a bit (too) unpleasantly, when I discovered some his not so well known words and thoughts.The revelation was shocking, and made me wonder about all the Vivekananda adoration that goes on in this country, especially among middle class Hindus. What amazes me is the process of creation of icons, which whitewashes their lives to create a veneer of respectability and acceptability. Here are a few quotable quotes from Narendranath Dutt a.k.a Swami Vivekananda.
1. On race
"The Hindus believe--that is a peculiar belief, I think; and I do not know, I have nothing to say to the contrary, I have not found anything to the contrary--they believe there was only one civilised race: the Aryan. Until he gives his blood, no other race can be civilised. No teaching will do. The Aryan gives his blood to a race, and then it becomes civilised. Teaching alone will not do. He would be an example in your country: would you give your blood to the Negro race? Then he would get higher culture." (on February 2, 1900 at the Shakespeare Club, in Pasadena, California)
2.On the differences between man and woman
"Now, you see, a woman never drinks wine or eats meat. It was a hardship on us when we were students, but not on the girls." (Delivered at the Shakespeare Club House, in Pasadena, California, on January 18, 1900)
3.On the hardships faced by lower castes
"In India, even the lowest caste never does any hard work. They generally have an easy lot compared to the same class in other nations; and as to ploughing, they never do it."(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club House, in Pasadena, California, on January 18, 1900)
4.On the institution of caste
"The older I grow, the better I seem to think of caste and such other time-honored institutions of India." (from "Swami Vivekananda on India and Her Problems")
5.On the duties of a wife
"Even I, who never married, belonging to an Order that never marries, would be disgusted if my wife, supposing I had married, dared to displease my mother. I would be disgusted."(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club House, in Pasadena, California, on January 18, 1900)
6.On widow burning in India
Vivekananda denied that people burned widows. It was true, however, that widows had burned themselves. In the few cases where this had happened, they had been urged not to do so by holy men, who were always opposed to suicide. Where the devoted widows insisted, stating that they desired to accompany their husbands in the transformation that had taken place, they were obliged to submit themselves to the fiery tests. That is, they thrust Her hands within the flames, and if they permitted them to be consumed, no further opposition was placed in the way of the fulfilment of their desires.(from a report of a lecture at Detroit, United States, in the Boston Evening Transcript, 5th April, 1894)
8. Caste again
"To the non-Brahmana castes I say, wait, be not in a hurry. Do not seize every opportunity of fighting the Brahmana, because as I have shown; you are suffering from your own fault. Who told you to neglect spirituality and Sanskrit learning?"( excerpted from "Swami Vivekananda on India and her problems")
7.On slavery
"The history of the world teaches us that wherever there have been fanatical reforms, the only result has been that they have defeated their ends. No greater upheaval for the establishment of right and liberty can be imagined than the war for the abolition of slavery in America. You all know about it. And what has been its results? The slaves are a hundred times worse off today than they were before the abolition.
Before the abolition, these poor negroes were the property of somebody, and, as properties, they had to be looked after, so that they might not deteriorate. Today they are the property of nobody. Their lives are of no value; they are burnt alive on mere pretences. They are shot down without any law for their murderers; for they are niggers, they are not human beings, they are not even animals"(Complete Works, Vol.3)
What a load of bullshit has this man said!
How come we all think of him the way we think of him? Beats me.
And a shame it is that his birthday is national youth day. Whatever that is.
