The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Influence of Indian Spiritual Thought in England
THE INFLUENCE OF INDIAN SPIRITUAL THOUGHT IN ENGLAND
The Swami Vivekananda presided over a meeting at which the Sister Nivedita
(Miss M. E. Noble) delivered a lecture on "The Influence of Indian Spiritual
Thought in England" on 11th March, 1898, at the Star Theatre, Calcutta.
Swami Vivekananda on rising to introduce Miss Noble spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen ,
When I was travelling through the Eastern parts of Asia, one thing
especially struck me — that is the prevalence of Indian spiritual thought in
Eastern Asiatic countries. You may imagine the surprise with which I noticed
written on the walls of Chinese and Japanese temples some well-known
Sanskrit Mantras, and possibly it will please you all the more to know that
they were all in old Bengali characters, standing even in the present day as
a monument of missionary energy and zeal displayed by our forefathers of
Bengal.
Apart from these Asiatic countries, the work of India's spiritual thought is
so widespread and unmistakable that even in Western countries, going deep
below the surface, I found traces of the same influence still present. It
has now become a historical fact that the spiritual ideas of the Indian
people travelled towards both the East and the West in days gone by.
Everybody knows now how much the world owes to India's spirituality, and
what a potent factor in the present and the past of humanity have been the
spiritual powers of India. These are things of the past. I find another most
remarkable phenomenon, and that is that the most stupendous powers of
civilisation, and progress towards humanity and social progress, have been
effected by that wonderful race — I mean the Anglo-Saxon. I may go further
and tell you that had it not been for the power of the Anglo-Saxons we
should not have met here today to discuss, as we are doing, the influence of
our Indian spiritual thought. And coming back to our own country, coming
from the West to the East, I see the same Anglo-Saxon powers working here
with all their defects, but retaining their peculiarly characteristic good
features, and I believe that at last the grand result is achieved. The
British idea of expansion and progress is forcing us up, and let us remember
that the civilisation of the West has been drawn from the fountain of the
Greeks, and that the great idea of Greek civilization is that of expression.
In India we think — but unfortunately sometimes we think so deeply that
there is no power left for expression. Gradually, therefore, it came to pass
that our force of expression did not manifest itself before the world, and
what is the result of that? The result is this — we worked to hide
everything we had. It began first with individuals as a faculty of hiding,
and it ended by becoming a national habit of hiding — there is such a lack
of power of expression with us that we are now considered a dead nation.
Without expression, how can we live? The backbone of Western civilization is
— expansion and expression. This side of the work of the Anglo-Saxon race in
India, to which I draw your attention, is calculated to rouse our nation
once more to express itself, and it is inciting it to bring out its hidden
treasures before the world by using the means of communication provided by
the same mighty race. The Anglo-Saxons have created a future for India, and
the space through which our ancestral ideas are now ranging is simply
phenomenal. Ay, what great facilities had our forefathers when they
delivered their message of truth and salvation? Ay, how did the great Buddha
preach the noble doctrine of universal brotherhood? There were I even then
great facilities here, in our beloved India, for the attainment of real
happiness, and we could easily send our ideas from one end of the world to
the other. Now we have reached even the Anglo-Saxon race. This is the kind
of interaction now going on, and we find that our message is heard, and not
only heard but is being responded to. Already England has given us some of
her great intellects to help, us in our mission. Every one has heard and is
perhaps familiar with my friend Miss Müller, who is now here on this
platform. This lady, born of a very good family and well educated, has given
her whole life to us out of love for India, and has made India her home and
her family. Every one of you is familiar with the name of that noble and
distinguished Englishwoman who has also given her whole life to work for the
good of India and India's regeneration — I mean Mrs. Besant. Today, we meet
on this platform two ladies from America who have the same mission in their
hearts; and I can assure you that they also are willing to devote their
lives to do the least good to our poor country. I take this opportunity of
reminding you of the name of one of our countrymen — one who has seen
England and America, one in whom I have great confidence, and whom I respect
and love, and who would have been present here but for an engagement
elsewhere — a man working steadily and silently for the good of our country,
a man of great spirituality — I mean Mr. Mohini Mohan Chatterji. And now
England has sent us another gift in Miss Margaret Noble, from whom we expect
much. Without any more words of mine I introduce to you Miss Noble, who will
now address you.
After Sister Nivedita had finished her interesting lecture, the Swami rose
and said:
I have only a few words to say. We have an idea that we Indians can do
something, and amongst the Indians we Bengalis may laugh at this idea; but I
do not. My mission in life is to rouse a struggle in you. Whether you are an
Advaitin, whether you are a qualified monist or dualist, it does not matter
much. But let me draw your attention to one thing which unfortunately we
always forget: that is — "O man, have faith in yourself." That isle the way
by which we can have faith in God. Whether you are an Advaitist or a
dualist, whether you are a believer in the system of Yoga or a believer in
Shankarâchârya, whether you are a follower of Vyâsa or Vishvâmitra, it does
not matter much. But the thing is that on this point Indian thought differs
from that of all the rest of the world. Let us remember for a moment that,
whereas in every other religion and in every other country, the power of the
soul is entirely ignored — the soul is thought of as almost powerless, weak,
and inert — we in India consider the soul to be eternal and hold that it
will remain perfect through all eternity. We should always bear in mind the
teachings of the Upanishads.
Remember your great mission in life. We Indians, and especially those of
Bengal, have been invaded by a vast amount of foreign ideas that are eating
into the very vitals of our national religion. Why are we so backwards
nowadays? Why are ninety-nine per cent of us made up of entirely foreign
ideas and elements? This has to be thrown out if we want to rise in the
scale of nations. If we want to rise, we must also remember that we have
many things to learn from the West. We should learn from the West her arts
and her sciences. From the West we have to learn the sciences of physical
nature, while on the other hand the West has to come to us to learn and
assimilate religion and spiritual knowledge. We Hindu must believe that we
are the teachers of the world. We have been clamouring here for getting
political rights ant many other such things. Very well. Rights and
privileges and other things can only come through friendship, and friendship
can only be expected between two equals When one of the parties is a beggar,
what friendship can there be? It is all very well to speak so, but I say that
without mutual co-operation we can never make ourselves strong men. So, I
must call upon you to go out to England and America, not as beggars but as
teachers of religion. The law of exchange must be applied to the best of our
power. If we have to learn from them the ways and methods of making
ourselves happy in this life, why, in return, should we not give them the
methods and ways that would make them happy for all eternity? Above all,
work for the good of humanity. Give up the so-called boast of your narrow
orthodox life. Death is waiting for every one, and mark you this — the most
marvellous historical fact — that all the nations of the world have to sit
down patiently at the feet of India to learn the eternal truths embodied in
her literature. India dies not. China dies not. Japan dies not. Therefore,
we must always remember that our backbone is spirituality, and to do that we
must have a guide who will show the path to us, that path about which I am
talking just now. If any of you do not believe it, if there be a Hindu boy
amongst us who is not ready to believe that his religion is pure
spirituality, I do not call him a Hindu. I remember in one of the villages
of Kashmir, while talking to an old Mohammedan lady I asked her in a mild
voice, "What religion is yours?" She replied in her own language, "Praise
the Lord! By the mercy of God, I am a Mussulman." And then I asked a Hindu,
"What is your religion?" He plainly replied, "I am a Hindu." I remember that
grand word of the Katha Upanishad — Shraddhâ or marvellous faith. An
instance of Shraddha can be found in the life of Nachiketâ. To preach the
doctrine of Shraddha or genuine faith is the mission of my life. Let me
repeat to you that this faith is one of the potent factors of humanity and
of all religions. First, have faith in yourselves. Know that though one may
be a little bubble and another may be a mountain-high wave, yet behind both
the bubble and the wave there is the infinite ocean. Therefore there is hope
for every one. There is salvation for every one. Every one must sooner or
later get rid of the bonds of Mâyâ. This is the first thing to do. Infinite
hope begets infinite aspiration. If that faith comes to us, it will bring
back our national life as it was in the days of Vyasa and Arjuna — the days
when all our sublime doctrines of humanity were preached. Today we are far
behindhand in spiritual insight and spiritual thoughts. India had plenty of
spirituality, so much so that her spiritual greatness made India the
greatest nation of the then existing races of the world; and if traditions
and hopes are to be believed, those days will come back once more to us, and
that depends upon you. You, young men of Bengal, do not look up to the rich
and great men who have money. The poor did all the great and gigantic work
of the world. You, poor men of Bengal, come up, you can do everything, and
you must do everything. Many will follow your example, poor though you are.
Be steady, and, above all, be pure and sincere to the backbone. Have faith
in your destiny. You, young men of Bengal, are to work out the salvation of
India. Mark that, whether you believe it or not, do not think that it will
be done today or tomorrow. I believe in it as I believe in my own body and
my own soul. Therefore my heart goes to you — young men of Bengal. It
depends upon you who have no money; because you are poor, therefore you will
work. Because you have nothing, therefore you will be sincere. Because you
are sincere, you will be ready to renounce all. That is what I am just now
telling you. Once more I repeat this to you. This is your mission in life,
this is my mission in life. I do not care what philosophy you take up; only
I am ready to prove here that throughout the whole of India, there runs a
mutual and cordial string of eternal faith in the perfection of humanity,
and I believe in it myself. And let that faith be spread over the whole
land.