14 / March 2018 / Yuva Bharati
love that I had for my country became a
thousand-fold...” Subhas Chandra Bose
said: “Swami Vivekananda, on the one
hand, called man to be real man freed
from all fetters and, on the other, laid the
foundation for true nationalism in India
by preaching his gospel of harmony of
religions.” C. Rajagopalachari observed:
“Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism
and saved India. But for him we would
have lost our religion and would not have
gained our freedom. We therefore owe
everything to Swami Vivekananda. May
his faith, his courage and his wisdom ever
inspire us so that we may keep safe the
treasure we have received from him.” Shri
Parameswaranji has very clearly projected
at several places the extraordinary role
Swamiji has played in shaping the future of
India, and the glorious India envisioned by
him. Vivekananda said: “...One vision I
see clear as life before me; that the ancient
Mother has awakened once more, sitting
on Her throne rejuvenated, more glorious
than ever. Proclaim Her to all the world
with the voice of peace and benediction.”
The rousing calls of Swamiji gave a new
impetus to the freedom movement in the
country. In his Editorial ‘Are We On the
Right Track?’ the author says: “Tilak and
Rajaji, Sri Aurobindo and Nehru, each
found in Swamiji some aspect which
appealed to him and which impelled him to
fight for the freedom of the Motherland.
Even Jamshedji Tata, the doyen of Indian
industry and the founder of the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, had
been inspired by Swami Vivekananda.”According to Swamiji, each nation has a
definite mission to fulfil. According to
him, spirituality is the key-note around
which the national music has always played.
Concepts such as Universal Brotherhood,
Thyaga and Seva are the very salt of
Vivekananda’s life and mission, and one
can hardly think of him to the exclusion
of these lofty ideals. At the Parliament
of Religions in Chicago, the young monk
from India proudly proclaimed himself as a
Hindu, and as one representing the Mother
of all Religions. Steeped in Vedantic lore
and fortified in the unshakable conviction
that each soul is potentially divine, it was
very natural for him to see everyone,
irrespective of caste, creed, or religion, as
members of one world family, Vasudaiva
Kutumbakam. His very opening words at
the Parliament, ‘Sisters and Brothers of
America’ was not a rhetoric of speech, but
something that came to him spontaneously
from the depths of his Vedantic realization,
and no wonder the whole audience
received it with thunderous applause, as it
was an altogether new experience to them
all—being so addressed. The real message
of Vedanta burst upon them like a bomb-
shell. In the topic ‘Ideal of Universal
Brotherhood’, Shri Parameswaranji says:
“What he visualized was the harmonious
co-existence of all nations by co-
operating with one another. It was to be
a ‘family of nations’. Universalism will
be achievable only when nationalism and
internationalism of a positive and co-
operative nature become real.... Unless
families consciously take up this noble task