The President took time to connect the mission of Swami Vivekananda with moral, social and economic growth of India. He was addressing a function in Mumbai to commemorate the 120th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic journey from Mumbai to the West for participation in the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893. More than ever before our country today needs to follow the teachings of great thinkers like Swamiji. Today our nation is tormented by loss of morality and social ethics, which, at one time, were our proud heritage. Why have we fallen from those high standards of morality is a question that we should try to answer. The President has touched upon very sensitive issue because the Indian mind is caught in a whirlpool of confusion and uncertainty. Revival of our glorious traditions of morality and ethics of social life is of paramount importance. A very cogent point made by the President is that the tarnishing of our national character or weakening of the moral fibre of our society should not hamper nation’s progress. It is important that while pursuing short-term objectives we should not lose our sense of right and wrong.
The President made it clear in the very beginning that if India wanted to remove poverty and deprivation of her teeming masses, there was no alternative to imploring private sector to contribute along with the public sector to economic and industrial development of the country. After all material well being of a nation is what the Governments pursue. This has to be brought about by right means and clear goals.
Paying tribute to the Swami Vivekananda, the President said that the importance of his message to the world was that humanity had to be treated as one creation. Discrimination of human beings on any count, caste, creed, class and gender was unacceptable. Furthermore, the world had to realize that injustice would be resisted.
Great Indian minds like Swami Vivekananda have enormous relevance to the country at this point of history. Never before did India come face to face with unfortunate decline in moral standards to the extent that we find today. Last couple of years brought us humiliation owing to scams and corruption that have rent our society asunder. From the heights of morality we have sunk deep into abyss of immorality and dissipation. Such is the magnitude of or moral decline that we find even comprehensive laws inadequate to meet the challenging situation. It is this sad state of affairs that we need revival of faith in great minds like Swami Vivekananda. Self-assessment and introspection are perhaps the greatest laws that can govern the course of our social bahviour. The President has hinted at the impact of dwindling moral authority on the minds of the people in general. It is true that we have found resentment to malpractices committed by the representatives of people in the Government. Even sizeable groups of civil society have been protesting against the rot that has set in. But corruption has set in so deep in the body of our polity that small protests and resistances mean little. This situation cannot go on indefinitely. It would be appreciated and would also go in line with the Indian tradition if moral restraints were imposed voluntarily by the rulers and the ruled in discharging the duties assigned to them by the state. India would be glad to go through moral revolution of her society. That is what makes great minds like Swami Vivekananda highly relevant to our social order. His 150th birth anniversary will be celebrated throughout the country at its proper time. But if we want to pay real tribute to him we need to follow his teaching of universalism in letter and in spirit.
Once again the President has emphasized education as the real instrument of change in our society. Education for creative purpose has the potential of changing the contour of our society and lifting us up from poverty and backwardness. But the quality of education has to improve considerably. It must carry the powerful element of morality and social ethics. It should help individuals develop into instruments of movement of society to better and higher levels of humanism. This has been the crux of the message of Swami Vivekananda and it shall remain a guiding principle with our nation in times to come.
Follow our WhatsApp channel