Social Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda

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Miss Santwana Dasgupta has closely studied Swami Vivekananda's thoughts on sociology and has also written profusely on the subject. On her retirement from teaching as Head of the Department of Economics at Bethune College, Calcutta, she has spent the last two years or so studying the subject more intensely. As the readers will see, she is now convinced more than ever that the social model advocated by Swami Vivekananda is by far the best. She analyses other better known models and points out where they err. The point she tries to make is that the problem of man is basically spiritual and it is at that level that man has to undergo a revolutionary change. This does not preclude social and economic changes. They are welcome, but they do not go far enough. Something drastic is needed. This is where Vedanta comes in. It is only Vedanta that gives man his total emancipation. Anything short of that doe's not satisfy him. One may or may not agree with Miss Dasgupta's contentions, but that she makes a good point no one will dispute. The book deserves serious notice not from sociologists alone but from all thoughtful persons.

As a young student at the school level I was first introduced to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature by my parents, both of whom were direct disciples of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. And when I was a post-graduate student at the Calcutta University during the early forties, I had the very good fortune of having Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar, the renowned Indian economist and sociologist, as my teacher. He made Swami Vivekananda and his revolutionary spirit and the revolutionary import of his fiery message for future social transformation, living in his class lectures with his exceptional capacity of erudition and elocution. One day my father drew my attention to two most remarkable lectures of Swami Vivekananda, viz., 'Vedanta and Privilege' and `Privilege' (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. I), which contained the essence of Vivekananda's Social Philosophy.

I was deeply impressed and henceforth drawn to read intensively Vivekananda's writings in which I found a new world of illuminating ideas and I was excitingly absorbed in it. But on another day my teacher, Professor Sarkar, knocked me out of my world of exciting absorption and mental delight when he stated in his class that `Vivekananda was the father of socialism in India but his socialism was not scientific, he was a romantic socialist.' I could not agree with my learned professor since whenever I studied Vivekananda, what struck me most was the wonderful rationality and scientific character of his thought. I protested but when my revered teacher demanded supporting arguments, I could not supply them with my the then very limited knowledge of Vivekananda, modern science and scientific socialism. I was very unhappy, restless and did not know what to do, losing completely my mental peace for days and months together. Then one day, after a year or two, when my student days were over, at a public meeting, which both of us went to attend, Professor Sarkar introduced me to a little brochure with the heading 'The Social Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda' and its author Sri Trilochan Das, one of his former students. A glance through the brochure made it clear that it was a repetition of the views of Dr Sarkar, viz., that Vivekananda was a romanic and not a scientific socialist.

I decided at once to carry on investigations myself to find out whether Vivekananda's social philosophy had a scientific basis or not. Now, Professor Sarkar loved to see his students disagreeing with him and making independent investigations and establishing independent views. No doubt such a teacher is rarely to be found. He wanted me to make independent enquiries and discover Vivekananda for myself and not to repeat his opinions merely. Thus Professor Sarkar led me to the path of carrying on life-long researches on Vivekananda and be blessed by the exhilarating experience of being merged in the ocean of the wonderful thoughts of the great prophet and master-mind all my life. With a sense of deep respect and indebtedness I remember my departed teacher today. Towards the late forties my first article on Vivekananda entiled Vivekananda Samyavad' was published in the Bengali journal Taruner Swapna at the initiative of its editor Smt. Malavika Dutta. My next article on social changes was published in Udbodhan by Swami Shraddhananda, the then editor of the paper. Towards the end of the fifties my articles on `Vivekanander Samajtantravad' was serially published in Udbodhan, the Bengali organ of the Ramakrishna Order. And when Vivekananda Centenary Celebration was near at hand, I was persuaded by Swami Niramayananda, the then editor of Udbodhan, to get the whole thing published in the form of a book. And Sri Suresh Das, of General Printers and Publishers, offering to publish it, the book came out in 1963 with a new title —Vivekanander Samaj-Darsan.

On January 1, 1964, Swami Sambuddhanandaji, Secretary, Vivekananda Centenary Committee, persuaded me to read a paper on 'Vedanta and the Social Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda' at the day's session of the weak-long Parliament of Religions, that were being held in Calcutta at the time to observe the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda. The paper was highly appreciated and was later on published in the Parliament of Religions 1963-64 by the Centenary Committee: In 1969 I was invited to contribute to an anthology named Bases of Indian Culture by the Swami Abhedananda Centenary Committee, Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta, and my contribution to it was published under the title `Socio-Religious Views of Swami Vivekananda'. In 1976 The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture published an anthology (in Bengali) of research-oriented papers on Swami Vivekananda under the title Chintanayak Vivekananda in which I contributed an article entitled Vivekananda Samajdarsane Rastranaitik O Arthanaitik Chinta" at the request of the Institute.

In 1979 I was invited by the same Institute to contribute another article on 'The Political and Economic Ideas of Swami Vivekananda' for its proposed publication on the history of the Indian Renaissance which I readily wrote and submitted. The book is yet to be publised. In November 1981 I was invited by the Institute to deliver two lectures under the Kashi-Saudamini endowment lecture scheme on 'The Humanism of Swami Vivekananda'. These lectures were published serially in the Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in 1982 in its January to April issues. Now, all these efforts spread over more than four decade, have gradually resulted in the development of the present book. In 1987 I was granted a research fellowship by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture to enable me to complete my book which was then more than half-way through.

When my first series of articles appeared in Udbodhan, there was practically no work on the social philosophy or social ideas of Swami Vivekananda besides Professor Sarkar's own brochure on 'The Might of Man in the Social Philosophy of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda' and a few more stray remarks from him here and there, the brochure of Sri Trilochan Das, and a small book Vivekananda Samajtantravad by Swami Sundarananda.

**Contents and Sample Pages**