Dr Karan Singh -6

A GREAT PATRIOT

Then lastly, Swamiji had a deep and divine love for India. He looked upon India not merely as a collection of mountains and rivers and streams and forests, but as a virtual living entity, as a Goddess, as Bharati Bhavani, as a spiritual entity to whom we should sacrifice everything if we are to achieve spiritual realisation. This is also an important theme, that rang through Swamiji's speeches and which in fact enthused a whole generation of nationalists including people like Sri Aurobindo, who later were to become great revolutionaries and philosophers. And Swamiji had this love for India which again today we have got to reiterate. All of us look upon ourselves as Indians, certainly. All will join easily enough in singing the National Anthem and raising the National Flag. But when it comes to lesser loyalties, whether it is loyalty to one's caste, to one's language, to one's State, to one's political party, we often find people functioning in the manner which weakens the unity of India. And I think Swamiji's intense, glowing love for India has to be recreated today if we are to fulfil the vision that he saw when he was sitting on the Rock at Kanyakumari. And this was again love which comprehended all the weakness of India. It was a love which did not merely try to brush aside all that was weak in India, but which realised that these are the weaknesses and if you are a true devotee of India, you have to fight these weakness. This is the position today also. In this respect also, Swamiji's speeches continue to be a source of inspiration to us.

HIS UNIVERSALITY

And finally Swamiji's vision went beyond India. He did not want the regeneration of India, only as an Indian nationalist. He wanted Indian nationalist. He wanted Indian regeneration, rebirth, and renaissance because he was convinced that India had a message for the world. He was convinced that India had a spiritual destiny to fulfil for mankind which it could only do if it first sheds its own fetters, if it first set its own house in order, if it first purged itself of its own sense of weakness. Then Swamiji felt, that India could be the Guru of humanity. And therefore, you must remember that Swamiji, although a great Indian, was much more than an Indian. His message is as relevant today for the people of the world outside India, as it is for Indians themselves. 

POWER FROM TRUTH

These as I see, are the main facets of his teachings and I think it is important to remember that he always stressed the importance of strength in achieving these objectives. Shakti, Strength, is of two kinds, creative and destructive. There is Daivic Shakti and there is the Asuric Shakti also. We must be very careful because when we enter the realm of strength and Shakti-pooja the two paths go very closely, alike and unless we are careful we will become worshippers of power like Hitler or Stalin or people who became mad because they worshipped the Asuric shakti and not the Daivic Shakti, Divine power, the power of harmony and not of disharmony, the power of love and not of hate, the power of integration and not of disintegration.