Critical analysis of swami vivekananda & allegations against him part-2
"Thou brave one, be bold, take courage, be proud that thou art an Indian, and proudly proclaim, “I am an Indian, every Indian is my brother.” Say, “The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian, the Brahmin Indian, the Pariah Indian, is my brother.”~ Swami Vivekananda
There is an article by Velivada named "Why I Hate Vivekananda – 16 Castiest Quotes of Vivekananda"..... There they Criticize Swami Vivekanand and argued he was in support of Caste system and he was an admirer of Brahminism, let's see some of its quotes.
I do not propose any leveling of castes. Caste is a very good thing. Caste is the plan we want to follow.
The plan in India is to make everybody a Brahmin, the Brahmin being the ideal of humanity.
Indian caste is better than the caste which prevails in Europe or America.
Caste should not go; but should only be readjusted occasionally. Within the old structure is to be found life enough for the building of two hundred thousand new ones. It is sheer nonsense to desire the abolition of caste.
This Brahmin, the man of God, he who has known Brahman, the ideal man, the perfect man, must remain; he must not go.
“Then what was the cause of India’s downfall? — The giving up of this idea of caste. As Gitâ says, with the extinction of caste the world will be destroyed. Now does it seem true that with the stoppage of these variations the world will be destroyed…Therefore what I have to tell you, my countrymen, is this: that India fell because you prevented and abolished caste… Let Jati have its sway; break down every barrier in the way of caste, and we shall rise.”
Here is the full link:-https://velivada.com/2015/07/24/why-i-hate-vivekananda-16-castiest-quotes-of-vivekananda/
Similarly another section will say he was completely against Caste system by selectively quoting numerous verses where he Criticized caste system.
Modern caste distinction is a barrier to India’s progress. It narrows, restricts, separates. It will crumble before the advance of ideas.
Swamiji writes in a letter, ALMORA, 30th May, 1897 - Swamiji writes in a letter, ALMORA, 30th May, 1897 - "the conviction is daily gaining on my mind that the idea of caste is the greatest dividing factor and the root of Maya; all caste either on the principle of birth or of merit is bondage. [CW-6]"
The caste system is opposed to the religion of the Vedanta. Caste is a social custom, and all our great preachers have tried to break it down. From Buddhism downwards, every sect has preached against caste, and every time it has only riveted the chains. Caste is simply the outgrowth of the political institutions of India; it is a hereditary trade guild. Trade competition with Europe has broken caste more than any teaching.
Do I believe in caste? Caste is a social custom; religion has nothing to do with it.
But let us analyse what actually was his views regarding Caste & caste rules:-
1. Brahminism & Brahmins in the eyes of Swami Vivekanand
"Ay, where would I have been if I had not been blessed with the dust of the holy feet of that orthodox, image-worshipping Brahmin!(Ramkrishna Paramhans)".~ Swami Vivekanand
"The ideal man of our ancestors was the Brahmin. In all our books stands out prominently this ideal of the Brahmin."
However he clarifies that By the Brahmin he wanted to mean "Brahmin-ness".
When Europeans tried to insult India, this was how Swami ji replied:- "....No amount of money can do anything for you in India. In caste the poorest is as good as the richest, and that is one of the most beautiful things about it."
".....from the highest man to the lowest Pariah, every one in this country has to try and become the ideal Brahmin. This Vedantic idea is applicable not only here but over the whole world."
"The Brahminhood is the ideal of humanity in India, as wonderfully put forward by Shankaracharya at the beginning of his commentary on the Gitâ, where he speaks about the reason for Krishna’s coming as a preacher for the preservation of Brahminhood, of Brahminness."~ Vivekananda
".....We must be bold enough, must be brave enough to speak of their defects, but at the same time we must give the credit that is due to them."
"It is the duty of the Brahmin, therefore, to work for the salvation of the rest of mankind in India. If he does that, and so long as he does that, he is a Brahmin, but he is no Brahmin when he goes about making money."~ Swami Vivekanand
"As Manu says, all these privileges and honours are given to the Brahmin, because “with him is the treasury of virtue”. He must open that treasury and distribute its valuables to the world."~ Swami Vivekanand
"There is an old superstition in Bengal that if the cobra that bites, sucks out his own poison from the patient, the man must survive. Well then, the Brahmin must suck out his own poison. To the non-Brahmin castes I say, wait, be not in a hurry. Do not seize every opportunity of fighting the Brahmin, because, as I have shown, you are suffering from your own fault."
"The Swami spoke to me of the institution of caste, and held that the Brahmin would continue to live as long as he found unselfish work to do and freely gave of his knowledge and all to the rest of the population. In the actual words of the Swami which are still ringing in my ears, "The Brahmin has done great things for India; he is doing great things for India, and he is destined to do still greater things for India in the future."
Source:- REMINISCENCES OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA, K. SUNDARAMA IYER
2. Just like you see Vivekananda praised Brahmins similarly let me show what he said about Evil Brahmins:-
"Come, be men! Kick out the priests who are always against progress, because they would never mend, their hearts would never become big. They are the offspring of centuries of superstition and tyranny. Root out priest craft first."
(ORIENTAL HOTELYOKOHAMA.
10th July, 1893.)
"it cannot also be doubted that sometimes the Shudras used to be oppressed more than the helots among the Spartans and the negroes among the Americans!"
(The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/IX Sir, BARANAGORE,
17th Aug., 1889.)
"Poor fellows! Whatever the rascally and wily priests teach them — all sorts of mummery and tomfoolery as the very gist of the Vedas and Hinduism (mind you, neither these rascals of priests nor their forefathers have so much as seen a volume of the Vedas for the last 400 generations) — they follow and degrade themselves. Lord help them from the Râkshasas in the shape of the Brahmins of the Kaliyuga.
[CW-8, Diwanji Saheb – Letters of Swami Vivekananda, BOMBAY,
22nd August, 1892.]
"....come and see what they, the Pâdris, are doing here in the Dakshin . They are converting the lower classes by lakhs; and in Travancore, the most priestridden country in India — where every bit of land is owned by the Brahmins, and the females, even of the royal family, hold it as high honor to live in concubinage with the Brahmins, nearly one-fourth has become Christian!." [CW-5]”
In another lecture “The future of India” Swamiji said - “Was there ever a sillier thing before in the world than what I saw in Malabar country? The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums, and that they are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their manners and know better. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed; their own children are allowed to die of starvation, but as soon as they take up some other religion they are well fed. There ought to be no more fight between the castes. [CW-5]”
3. Vivekananda and social reforms:-
He initiated many untouchables into Gayatri mantra and gave them sacred thread at Kolkata during the holy birthday of Sri Ramakrishna and converted them into Brahmin. He said - "Whoever will come here on this sacred birthday of Shri Ramakrishna I shall invest him with the holy thread. These people have fallen from their true status....Each Hindu, I say, is a brother of every other, and it is we who have degraded them by our outcry, "Don't touch, don't touch!" And so the whole country has been plunged to the utmost depths of meanness, cowardice, and ignorance. These men have to be uplifted; words of hope and faith have to be proclaimed to them. We have to tell them, "You are men like us, and you have all the rights that we have. [
[Source:- CONVERSATIONS AND DIALOGUES [From the Diary of a Disciple (Shri Sharat Chandra Chakravarty, B.A.)]
(Translated from Bengali)
[Place: Belur, the rented Math premises. Year: 1898.]]".
"if the Brahmin has more aptitude for learning on the ground of heredity than the Pariah, spend no more money on the Brahmin's education, but spend all on the Pariah. Give to the weak, for there all the gift is needed. If the Brahmin is born clever, he can educate himself without help. If the others are not born clever, let them have all the teaching and the teachers they want. This is justice and reason as I understand it [CW-3].”
“If there is inequality in nature, still there must be equal chance for all — or if greater for some and for some less — the weaker should be given more chance than the strong. In other words, a Brahmin is not so much in need of education as a Chandâla. If the son of a Brahmin needs one teacher, that of a Chandala needs ten. For greater help must be given to him whom nature has not endowed with an acute intellect from birth. It is a madman who carries coals to Newcastle. The poor, the downtrodden, the ignorant, let these be your God." (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LXXI Rakhal, 1895)
Vivekananda's view was this in simple words:- "The solution is not by bringing down the higher, but by raising the lower up to the level of the higher [CW-3]."
Here naturally comes the difficult and the vexed question of caste and of social reformation, which has been uppermost for centuries in the minds of our people. I must frankly tell you that I am neither a caste-breaker nor a mere social reformer. I have nothing to do directly with your castes or with your social reformation. Live in any caste you like, but that is no reason why you should hate another man or another caste. It is love and love alone that I preach, and I base my teaching on the great Vedantic truth of the sameness and omnipresence of the Soul of the Universe.
[The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Mission of the Vedanta]
#Vivekananda's suggestion for present-day So-called orthodox Brahmins.:-
"It seems that most of them are only nursing a false pride of birth; and any schemer, native or foreign, who can pander to this vanity and inherent laziness by fulsome sophistry, appears to satisfy most. Beware, Brahmins, this is the sign of death! Arise and show your manhood.."
"As Manu says, all these privileges and honours are given to the Brahmin, because “with him is the treasury of virtue”. He must open that treasury and distribute its valuables to the world."~ Swami Vivekanand
Swamiji's personal attitude towards caste:-
♦Vivekananda was offered a new and handsome hookah to smoke. Before doing so, he told his host. "If you have any prejudices of caste, you should not offer me your hookah, because if a sweeper were to offer me his hookah tomorrow, I would smoke it with pleasure, for I am outside the pale of caste."
♦The problem of untouchability had been solved for Swami Vivekananda during his wanderings in India, He had eaten the food of the poorest and humblest people whom no casteman would condescend to touch, and he had accepted their hospitality with thankfulness.
"On his visit, he went to Kodungallur Bhagavathy Temple in Thrissur, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. But he was not given permission to enter the temple despite being waiting for 3 days, because of the reason that a person whose caste was not known could not enter the temple. Vivekananda did not want to interfere with the tradition, so he decided to prostrate the Goddess from outside, and sat under a banyan tree. This incident had made him say that ‘Kerala is a lunatic asylum’.
"The Pariahs number several millions in the whole of India and are a sect of people so low that some of our books say that if a Brahmin coming out from his house sees the face of a Pariah, he has to fast that day and recite certain prayers before he becomes holy again. In some Hindu cities when a Pariah enters, he has to put a crow’s feather on his head as a sign that he is a Pariah, and he has to cry aloud, “Save yourselves, the Pariah is passing through the street”, and you will find people flying off from him as if by magic, because if they touch him by chance, they will have to change their clothes, bathe, and do other things. And the Pariah for thousands of years has believed that it is perfectly right; that his touch will make everybody unholy. Now my Master would go to a Pariah and ask to be allowed to clean his house. The business of the Pariah is to clean the streets of the cities and to keep houses clean. He cannot enter the house by the front door; by the back door he enters; and as soon as he has gone, the whole place over which he has passed is sprinkled with and made holy by a little Gangâ water. By birth the Brahmin stands for holiness, and the Pariah for the very reverse. And this Brahmin asked to be allowed to do the menial services in the house of the Pariah. The Pariah of course could not allow that, for they all think that if they allow a Brahmin to do such menial work it will be an awful sin, and they will become extinct. The Pariah would not permit it; so in the dead of night, when all were sleeping, Ramakrishna would enter the house. He had long hair, and with his hair he would wipe the place, saying, “Oh, my Mother, make me the servant of the Pariah, make me feel that I am even lower than the Pariah.” “They worship Me best who worship My worshippers. These are all My children and your privilege is to serve them” — is the teaching of Hindu scriptures."
"If I am a Pariah, I will be all the more glad, for I am the disciple of a man, who — the Brahmin of Brahmins — wanted to cleanse the house of a Pariah. (here “the man” means Ramakrishna)."
~ Swami Vivekanand
Hindu religion no longer requires the prop of the caste system. A Brahmin may interdine with anybody, even a Pariah. He won’t thereby lose his spirituality. A degree of spirituality that is destroyed by the touch of a Pariah, is a very poor quantity. It is almost at the zero point. Spirituality of a Brahmin must overflow, blaze and burn [so] as to warm into spiritual life not one Pariah but thousands of Pariahs who may touch him. The old Rishis observed no distinctions or restrictions as regards food. A man who feels that his own spirituality is so flimsy that the sight of a low caste man annihilates it need not approach a Pariah and must keep his precious little to himself.
(Madura Mail, January 28, 1893)
“Learn good knowledge with all devotion from the lowest caste. Learn the way to freedom, even if it comes from a Pariah, by serving him. If a woman is a jewel, take her in marriage even if she comes from a low family of the lowest caste.” Such is the law laid down by our great and peerless legislator, the divine Manu."
(RAMNAD, 25th January, 1897.)
Love makes no distinction between man and man, between an Aryan and a Mlechchha, between a Brâhmana and a Pariah, nor even between a man and a woman. Love makes the whole universe as one’s own home. True progress is slow but sure. Work among those young men who can devote heart and soul to this one duty — the duty of raising the masses of India. Awake them, unite them, and inspire them with this spirit of renunciation; it depends wholly on the young people of India.
(2nd May, 1895.)
"The only safety, I tell you men who belong to the lower castes, the only way to raise your condition is to study Sanskrit, and this fighting and writing and frothing against the higher castes is in vain, it does no good, and it creates fight and quarrel, and this race, unfortunately already divided, is going to be divided more and more. The only way to bring about the levelling of caste is to appropriate the culture, the education which is the strength of the higher castes. That done, you have what you want."
[The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Future of India]
4. Hindu scriptures are in favour of Brahmins in each & every aspect and against non-brahmins ?
Here Swamiji pointed out:-
•law does not allow him(Brahmin) ever to become rich.
•The law grinds him down to poverty.
•the higher is the caste in the social scale, the more restricted are its enjoyments.
•Penalties were higher for misconduct
•The life of a really orthodox Brahmin is one of continuous renunciation.
•orthodox Brahmin must not occupy himself with any secular business.
• They are the poorest of all the classes in the country
•he must not receive gifts from everybody.
The lowest caste people can eat and drink anything they like. But as men rise in the social scale, more and more restrictions come.
•Compared to Western manners, their(Brahmins) lives are of continuous asceticism.
"In India a priest that preached for money would lose caste and be spat upon by the people."
Ref:- Religion Not The Crying Need Of India 20th September, 1893
"I have seen castes in almost every country in the world, but nowhere is their plan and purpose so glorious as here. If caste is thus unavoidable, I would rather have a caste of purity and culture and self-sacrifice, than a caste of dollars. Therefore utter no words of condemnation."
5. Degradation of Brahmins:-
The priests in India, the Brahmins, possessed great intellectual and psychic powers. It was they who began the spiritual development of India, and they accomplished wonderful things. But the time came when the free spirit of development that had at first actuated the Brahmins disappeared. They began to arrogate powers and privileges to themselves. If a Brahmin killed a man, he would not be punished. The Brahmin, by his very birth, is the lord of the universe! Even the most wicked Brahmin must be worshipped!
[The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 8/Lectures And Discourses/Buddha's Message To The World]
5. Views Regarding Caste system:-
Q & A with Swamiji
Q. — What does orthodoxy mean with the Hindus?
A. — In modern times it simply means obeying certain caste laws as to eating, drinking, and marriage. After that the Hindu can believe in any system he likes.
There was never an organised church in India; so there was never a body of men to formulate doctrines of orthodoxy. In a general way, we say that those who believe in the Vedas are orthodox; but in reality we find that many of the dualistic sects believe more in the Purânas than in the Vedas alone.
Q. — Do all Hindus believe in caste?
A. — They are forced to. They may not believe, but they have to obey.
Q. — Do the Yogis attach any importance to caste?
A. — No; caste is only the training school for undeveloped minds.
Q. — What part will the Ramakrishna Mission take in the regenerating work of India?
A. — From this Math will go out men of character who will deluge the world with spirituality. This will be followed by revivals in other lines. Thus Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas will be produced. The Shudra caste will exist no longer — their work being done by machinery. The present want of India is the Kshatriya force.
"The Hindus proper looked up to the Vedas as their religious scripture. They held each individual to the customs of caste, but gave him full liberty to think for himself in religious matters."
(Boston Herald, May 17, 1894)
"Money has made warfare in the world, and caused Christians to trample on each other’s necks. Jealousy, hatred and avariciousness are born of money-getters. Here it is all work, hustle and bustle. Caste saves a man from all this."
Here Swamiji's view regarding re-conversion of those who were converted earlier either by force or their own-will, what caste will they get after expiation? Here is what Swamiji said:-
6. Vivekananda's views regarding inter-varna marriages:-
"How should intermarriage be introduced between different nationalities?”
Swamiji:- "I do not advise our intermarriage with nations professing an alien religion. At least for the present, that will, of a certainty, slacken the ties of society and be a cause of manifold mischief. It is the intermarriage between people of the same religion that I advocate."
“Don't you see how in our society, marriage, being restricted for several hundreds of years within the same subdivisions of each caste, has come to such a pass nowadays as virtually to mean marital alliance between cousins and near relations; and how for this very reason the race is getting deteriorated physically, and consequently all sorts of disease and other evils are finding a ready entrance into it? The blood having had to circulate within the narrow circle of a limited number of individuals has become vitiated; so the new-born children inherit from their very birth the constitutional diseases of their fathers. Thus, born with poor blood, their bodies have very little power to resist the microbes of any disease, which are ever ready to prey upon them. It is only by widening the circle of marriage that we can infuse a new and a different kind of blood into our progeny, so that they may be saved from the clutches of many of our present-day diseases and other consequent evils. [CW-5]”
Ref:- [Shri Surendra Nath Sen—from private dairy, the 22nd January, 1898.]
Here from above we see he somehow supported inter-varna marriages but we must kept this in our mind as well
7. Swamiji's view about original caste system according to him:-
"The Vedas teach that he who knows God is a Brahma [Brâhmin];
he who protects his fellows is a Chocta [Kshatriya], while he who gains his livelihood in trade is a Visha [Vaishya]. These different social diversions [divisions] developed or degenerated into iron-bound casts [castes], and an organized and crystallized priestcraft stood upon the neck of the nation."
"Mahâbhârata, which says that in the beginning of the Satya Yuga there was one caste, the Brahmins, and then by difference of occupations they went on dividing themselves into different castes, and that is the only true and rational explanation that has been given. And in the coming Satya Yuga all the other castes will have to go back to the same condition."
"Now, this Jati Dharma, this Svadharma, is the path of welfare of all societies in every land, the ladder to ultimate freedom. With the decay of this Jati Dharma, this Svadharma, has come the downfall of our land. But the Jati Dharma or Svadharma as commonly understood at present by the higher castes is rather a new evil, which has to be guarded against. They think they know everything of Jati Dharma, but really they know nothing of it. Regarding their own village customs as the eternal customs laid down by the Vedas, and appropriating to themselves all privileges, they are going to their doom! I am not talking of caste as determined by qualitative distinction, but of the hereditary caste system. I admit that the qualitative caste system is the primary one; but the pity is qualities yield to birth in two or three generations."
(The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Writings: Prose and Poems/The East and The West/Introduction)
"This system of division into different Varnas is the stepping-stone to civilisation, making one rise higher and higher in proportion to one’s learning and culture. In Europe, it is everywhere victory to the strong and death to the weak. In the land of Bhârata, every social rule is for the protection of the weak."
(The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Writings: Prose and Poems/The East and The West/Progress of Civilisation)
He initiated Mlecchas and declared them as Brahmins as well
Conclusion:- Swamiji did not recommend the total abolition of caste, but suggested its readjustment according to modern modifications, as would appear from the following passages: ―From the time of the Upanishads down to the present day, nearly all our great teachers have wanted to break through the barriers of caste, i.e., caste in its degenerated state, not the original system. What little good you see in its degenerated state, not the original system. What little good you see in the present caste clings to it from the original caste, which was the most glorious social institutions‖
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