Seeing the degeneration and degradation all around moral and spiritual poverty, value erosion, corruption, selfish aggrandizement, unabashed dishonesty, glorification of muscle and money power and lack of indigenous cultural moorings, one naturally heaves a deep sigh and wonders if Swamiji was carried away by his innate predilection for oriental hyperbole. When will such a glorious India come, if at all? Or is it mere wishful thinking?
We believe that Swamiji was not only a prophet and a seerone who could see into the future, a trikálajða rishi (a sage who had first- hand knowledge of the past, present and future); he was also a scientific visionary, one who had made a thorough, in-depth and scientific study of world history with special reference to India. His capacious and luminous mind could move at will over the entire gamut of world culture and civilizations, world religions and thought currents. But in all this, the special reference point was always India. Mother India was the Goddess of his adoration and any thing concerning her stirred him always to the impassioned eulogy of her past glory.
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Author is Vice- Chancellor, RKM- Vivekananda University, Kolkata.
This article was first published in the Prabuddha Bharata, monthly journal of The Ramakrishna Order started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896. This article is courtesy and copyright Prabuddha Bharata (www.advaitaashrama.org). I have been reading the Prabuddha Bharata for years and found it enlightening. You can subscribe online at www.advaitaashrama.org. Cost is Rs 100/ for one year, Rs 280/ for three years, Rs 1,200/ for twenty years and Rs 2,000 for twenty five years