THE DUTY OF A BRAHMIN TO UPLIFT THE MASSES SPIRITUALY – ACCORDING TO SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
According to swami Vivekananda
“ Brahmin, the man of god, he who has known Brahman, an ideal man, the perfect man, must remain; he must not go. ………………we must all be ready to give the Brahmins this credit. We must be bold enough and brave enough to speak of their defects, but at the same time, we must give the credit that is due to them”
Regarding the harassment done in the name of caste Swami Vivekananda rightly says
“My friends , .......... What good will it do? It will divide us all the more, weaken us all the more, degrade us all the more. The days of exclusive privileges and exclusive claims are gone, gone for ever from the soil of india, and it is the greatest blessings of the British rule in India."
This caste based ill-treatment ruins our religion. He further put it
“The poor pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to 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…………shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed……….."
The word “shame” of swamiji not only apply to Malabaris but all the places in India where there exists crude caste practices.
Here further says
" The attempts of the great RAMANUJA and CHAITANYA and KABIR to raise the lower classes of India, show that marvellous results were attained during the lifetime of those great prophets; yet the later failures have to be explained, and cause shown why the effect of their teachings stopped almost within a century of the passing away of these great masters. The secret is here they raised the lower classes; they had all the wish that these should come up, but they did not apply their energies to the spreading of the Sanskrit language among the masses.”
Bhakthi philosophy at all times tried to do its level best to uplift the downtrodden masses, but what to do?, after the death of the reformers, all these wonderful text went under the control of mutts (the protector and the promoter of caste system{caste based superiority complex and sarcastic behaviour}). The solution suggested by swamji is something wonderful, when we teach the Sanskrit languages to the masses, they need not depend on others for understanding the text. Always Sanskrit and Indian culture goes hand in hand. If we want to eradicate the differences, the only way is take our culture to the downtrodden masses.
The solution to the current social problem and our own religious problem was suggested by Swamiji more than a century before.
“The solution is not by bringing down the higher, but by raising the lower up to the level of the higher. ………………what is the plan? The ideal at one end is the Brahmin and the ideal at the other end is the chandala, and the whole work is to raise the chandala up to the Brahmin…………….”
The old diabolical barbarism should go, it is our duty to rectify the errors committed by our forefathers. We ourselves should try understanding our culture first and then start taking it to others, it is our social responsibility, religious responsibility to distribute our wonderful spiritual treasures accumulated by our rishis.
Swamiji says
“ bring them out, and give them to everybody, and the Brahmin must be the first to do it”
