[Buddha-l] Vivekananda

[curt]

I have read that Vivekananda was suspected of promoting armed opposition 
to the British. In particular, his teachings on "karma yoga" were 
considered to be open to the interpretation that fighting for Indian 
independence was a legitimate form of spiritual practice (a position 
that I would personally agree with). All during the World Parliament of 
Religions I don't think he never once mentioned the word "Ahimsa", by 
the way (see http://www.caip.rutgers.edu/~kanth/jwz/mbm/sv/svindex.html).

I finally received the Complete Works. Even though its in English it is 
obviously intended for an Indian audience. Each of the eight volumes has 
a large notice on the back saying that this is a "Subsidized Edition" 
and that the whole set should not be sold for more than 320 Rupees (this 
is printed directly on the back cover).

Here is a little of what Vivekananda had to say about Christianity. He 
said it in English before an audience in Detroit Michigan:

"The Spaniards came to Ceylon with Christianity. The Spaniards thought 
that their God commanded them to kill and murder and tear down heathen 
temples. The Buddhists had a tooth a foot long which belonged to their 
Prophet, and the Spaniards threw it into the sea, killed a few thousand 
persons, and converted a few score. The Portuguese came to western 
India. The Hindus have a belief in the Trinity and had a temple 
dedicated to their sacred belief. The invaders looked at the temple and 
said it was a creation of the devil; and so they brought their cannon to 
bear upon the wonderful structure and destroyed a portion of it. But the 
invaders were driven out of the country by the enraged population....."

He then goes on to say that when the British came their missionaries 
weren't so bad, at least at first. Then there's this:

"Every day you read of the Christian nations acquiring land by bloodshed 
[this is in 1894 - when European colonial expansion was in full swing]. 
What missionaries preach against this? Why should the most blood-thirsty 
nations exalt an alleged religion which is not the religion of Christ? 
The Jews and the Arabs were the fathers of Christianity, and how they 
have been persecuted by the Christians! The Christians have been weighed 
in the balance in India and been found wanting...."

"Where is the spirituality one would expect in a country that is so 
boastful of its civilization? I have not found it. "Here" and 
"hereafter" are words to frighten children. It is all "here". To live 
and move in God - even here, even in this body! All self should go out; 
all superstition should be banished. Such men live in India. Where are 
such men in this country? Your preachers speak against "dreamers". The 
people of this country would be better off if there were more 
"dreamers". If a man here followed literally the instructions of his 
Lord [Jesus], he would be called a fanatic. There is a good deal of 
difference between dreaming and the brag of the nineteenth century. The 
bees look for the flowers. Open the lotus! The whole world is full of 
God and not of sin...."

[from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, volume 8, p.214-219 
"Christianity in India"]

- Curt

Andrew Fort wrote:

>One more thought on this thread: I have done some research on Vivekananda,
>but I don't know Bengali, so I am taking others' word for this, but
>Vivekananda scholars say that his writing in Bengali is clearly more
>nationalistic and "Hindu chauvinist" than his English writing.  And, of
>course, like all of us, he spoke differently to different audiences.  Which
>leads me to agree with Richard, Curt, and Paul Simon, that "a man sees what
>he wants to see, and disregards the rest. . . "  Andy
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