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>Mani Varadarajan wrote:
>>
>> The calls for Hindu nationalist pride are the most obvious
>> example of this new form of Hinduism and is a trend that is
>> completely alien to the tradition of which they are heirs.
>>
>> The originators of this modern movement (started 19th century)
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> include Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Swami Vivekananda, and others
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> in pre and post revolutionary India.
>>
>> The non-English speaking, traditional Hindus in India
>> find this form of Hinduism completely irrelevant to
>> their lives; unfortunately, this is the new face of
>> Hinduism to the rest of the world, precisely because of
>> its modern, English-speaking roots.
>A good article, but I'd like to offer some comments on the sentences I
>have underlined. The smArtha-s in TN do not consider Swami Vivekananda
>or his movement as irrelevant. While one may not (at least I do not)
>agree with all his views, he has some very good points to make,
>especially in the context of actually practicing religion. Dry
>ratiocination is not uncommon among the so called intellectuals and
>Swamiji has done much to point out this problem. Moreover there was a
>reason why Swamiji was pointing out repetedly the greatness of hinduism.
>It was because movements like Brahmo Samaj etc were trying to
>christianize Hinduism. Such comments of Swamiji must be seen in the
>context they were uttered. It is very easy for the "liberal, broad
>minded, non-hindutva brigade" hindu to denounce Swamiji, and it's
>certainly very fashionable these days. But consider how the psyche of
>the Indian in those days was filled with a sense of "shame" on being a
>hindu.
>Further the Ramakrishna Mission is hardly irrelevant. Rather, they have
>been doing signal service (at least from the smArtha point of view) by
>publishing various texts, veda-s, works of shrI sha.nkara and the
>quality of translations, printing etc are in general extremely good. Go
>to any smArtha household which practices even a bit of religion in Tamil
>Nadu. You'll find most households have their standard texts like
>vishhNu, lalita sahasranAma-s, sUktAni, rudram etc only from the
>Ramakrishna Mission. Not bad for a "modern, English speaking"
>organization.
>I am aware that Vivekananda bashing is a favorite sport in this forum,
>but most of it is unwarranted. Mostly these people are not smArtha-s
>and/or people who have not been much in India. Thus they have really no
>idea that the RK mission and Vivekananda can hardly be called
>irrelevant. One need not agree with all the views of Swamiji, but that
>does not warrant calling him irrelevant.
>Ramakrishnan.
An excellent rejoinder. Those who think Swami Vivekananda is irrelevant and is
only for English knowing Hindus should visit Belur Math during his birthday
celebrations. A few hundred thousand people gather every year and the vast
majority of those people are not "modern english speaking".
Pradip
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