90. DO SAINTS HELP ?
Even a romantic poet like Coleridge expressed this sentiment in Christabel:
Saints will aid if men will call
For the blue sky bends over all.
Catholics v.Protestants
The situation was so bad, felt Herbert, that he wrote a poem saying the true Church was ready to leave England and flee to America!
May be this was prescient, as we saw in the last article that religion is more alive in the US than in the UK today!
Can Saints help nations?
Yet we can definitely point to several saints who protected the people. At the height of Muslim invasions, we had a succession of saints who spread the Bhakti movement among the people. They simplified our lofty (and at times knotty) philosophy and sang in the regional tongues,thus bringing the common man solace and comfort.
We had two saints who were instrumental in creating the two last great Hindu kingdoms and stalled the march of the Muslim hordes for over three centuries.
Vidyaranya was instrumental in creating the Vijayanagar Kingdom.
Samartha Ramdas inspired Shivaji Maharaj and his Swaraj of the Hindus.
Modern Indian experience
But when the British came, none could help us, it seems.
Sri Aurobindo, Sept.1907
Gandhi's Kichdi
About a decade after this Gandhi entered the scene. He took up too many things and failed in everything, leading to the partition of the country. His chosen heir, Jawaharlal Nehru mauled our economy in the name of socialism. He gave a decidedly anti-Hindu slant to his policies in the name of secularism, and the Hindu springs of our nationalist movement were forgotten/ deliberately suppressed. Today, in the name of Secularism, India is not even a Hindu country, though 95 crore Hindus live here and have it as their Motherland. If we simply repeat the words of Sri Aurobindo now, we would be called fundamentalists!
Pre-Gandhian leaders obliterated
The rulers of Independent India have completely obliterated the Hindu spiritual fervor of the earlier nationalists and perpetuated dynastic rule, favouring minorities, thus acting as the Trojan horses for Islam and Christian interests! The textbooks followed in the govt controlled educational system are written by leftists who do not cover the pre-Gandhi-Nehru era adequately or appropriately. Even Subhas Bose is sidelined. Thus most of our youngsters have no chance to learn about the true origins and foundations of Indian nationalism.
In the circumstances, may we say that Saints have failed to protect Hindus collectively, or promote the cause of Hindu nationalism? Without these : Sri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda-Sri Aurobindo - India would not be India; yet they are not even widely known except in closed, limited circles. They have become just cult figures, not national heroes in Independent India. We have failed to honour them as the Founders of true Indian nationalism.
Nasty games in the South
photo: thanks, Sage of Kanchi.
[The Swami's message can be read in Tamil in the 7th volume of the Publication, "Deivaththin Kural " ( The Voice of Divinity )]
I therefore feel that for some reason, saints do not seem to affect the fate of nations, in the short run, or directly, anyway! In any case, as we would like them to do!
[ Care: Coleridge says Saints will aid if men will call! We do turn to saints in personal distress; do we invoke them when we have a national problem or collective need? Do Hindus even have a collective consciousness? We have no system of congregational prayers! So, may be, we can't fault the Saints, after all!]
Faith in Saints is a universal phenomenon. People in all societies at all times have believed in Saints. They have looked up to Saints for help to tide over troubles and to attract good tidings. Curiously, even those who don't believe in God venerate Saints. Looking at the continued faith people display, there must be substance in the claim on the efficacy of prayer to Saints.
Saints in Christianity and others
Saints in Christianity and others
Among Christians, it is mainly Catholics who believe in Saints. They believe that Saints have the power to intercede with God or Christ on our behalf. They also have Saints for specific functions and purposes; they have a system of patron Saints for each nation. Protestants do not believe in Saints, though individually they may honour them. Muslims have their equivalent of Saints in the holy men buried in their Dargahs and some of them attract huge crowds of even non-Muslims in India.
Indians (Hindus ) have implicit faith in all holy men and they have a tendency to call anyone appearing holy as a Sant or Saint. They in fact venerate all holy men, regardless of faith.
With the spread of secular education, people have other heroes among movie stars, sports stars and politicians. Saints have been replaced by supermen. In more simple times, common people had implicit faith in Saints and turned to them in prayer in difficulties.
Even a romantic poet like Coleridge expressed this sentiment in Christabel:
Saints will aid if men will call
For the blue sky bends over all.
Catholics v.Protestants
The cult of Saints was actively promoted by the Catholic Church. It is an important string to their bow. It is still at it, periodically adding to its army of Saints and its array of their pictures/statues. But other Christians never shared this fascination for saints. Protestants believe that each Christian can directly read the Bible and approach Christ and that they do not need any intermediaries. In fact, for them, each (true) Christian is a Saint!
George Herbert, the metaphysical poet of the 17th century [ whose influence is felt on such diverse modern poets as Coleridge, Emily Dickinson, Emerson, G.M Hopkins,T.S.Eliot, W.H.Auden, Robert Frost ] went so far as to characterise Pope himself as the Antichrist. As the article in Poetry Foundation notes:
Herbert seems to align himself with the apocalyptic Protestant militants of late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century England as he energetically and somewhat venomously satirizes the pope as Antichrist, Rome as "Western Babylon," the Jesuits as the Devil's army, priests as crafty wizards, and Roman Catholicism in general as a religion of shameless glory rather than grace. And England is by no means a secure fortress: reformed though it is, the British church is all but ready to succumb to the darkness that has afflicted all previous churches.
The situation was so bad, felt Herbert, that he wrote a poem saying the true Church was ready to leave England and flee to America!
| Religion Westward Bent |
| By George Herbert (1593–1633) |
|
Can Saints help nations?
This raises a question: do saints help nations, as they seem to help individuals? If they can save people, why not their nations? After all, each nation has a Patron saint!
This is difficult to answer. Historically, the so called Christian nations have fought among themselves, even as the Christian sects savagely fought one another. The two world wars were fought mainly by Christian nations and there were followers of saints among both winners and losers!
AS for India, we can say that for all our faith in the Saints, we as a nation have done very badly. There was a time when the South was full of roaming saints- Alwars and Nayanmars , who inspired the Bhakti movement and the Bhagavata Purana. However, for the last 1000 years, foreigners have dominated and ruled over us. Alien religions and anti-religious [ mainly anti-Hindu] rhetoric are making steady inroads here.
Yet we can definitely point to several saints who protected the people. At the height of Muslim invasions, we had a succession of saints who spread the Bhakti movement among the people. They simplified our lofty (and at times knotty) philosophy and sang in the regional tongues,thus bringing the common man solace and comfort.
We had two saints who were instrumental in creating the two last great Hindu kingdoms and stalled the march of the Muslim hordes for over three centuries.
Vidyaranya was instrumental in creating the Vijayanagar Kingdom.
Samartha Ramdas inspired Shivaji Maharaj and his Swaraj of the Hindus.
Modern Indian experience
But when the British came, none could help us, it seems.
Calcutta was the British capital in India, till 1931 . But Calcutta was also the Capital of Hindu renaissance and resistance! Few Indians realise this today. Bengalis had deep Hindu fervour and the three major sects- Shakta, Vaishnava and Shaiva worship flourished there, even under the Muslim nawabs. The British were more subtle: they left the work of direct conversion to the Christian missionaries but slowly poisoned our minds through an educational system introduced in 1836.
Ramakrishna stops Christian onslaught
Ramakrishna stops Christian onslaught
But soon thereafter, Sri Ramakrishna appeared there. He taught Hindus how their religion was eternal [Sanatana], how the teachings it contained were all true and valid still. Though not educated formally, and not knowing English, Sri Ramakrishna attracted many educated youngsters and commanded respect from the educated sections of Bengali society! He had tremendous impact on English educated Bengalis who had felt attracted to European ways.
Vivekananda and Hindu Nationalism
His English-educated chief disciple Vivekananda went to America and in the Parliament of Religions there at Chicago he preached in the name of the most ancient religion of the World- Hinduism. This was on 11 September 1893. This electrified and rejuvenated the whole country and Hindus everywhere.
This inaugurated and inspired the saga of modern Hindu nationalism. Earlier, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had captured our minds and hearts with the song Bande Mataram. Swami Vivekananda reminded us that religion/spirituality constituted the very essence of Indian life and national existence and if we gave up our religion and spirituality and took to social reform , India would fall within three generations.
Nationalism as Political Agenda
Vivekananda and Hindu Nationalism
His English-educated chief disciple Vivekananda went to America and in the Parliament of Religions there at Chicago he preached in the name of the most ancient religion of the World- Hinduism. This was on 11 September 1893. This electrified and rejuvenated the whole country and Hindus everywhere.
This inaugurated and inspired the saga of modern Hindu nationalism. Earlier, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had captured our minds and hearts with the song Bande Mataram. Swami Vivekananda reminded us that religion/spirituality constituted the very essence of Indian life and national existence and if we gave up our religion and spirituality and took to social reform , India would fall within three generations.
Nationalism as Political Agenda
But real Nationalism in its political spirit started with the trio of Lal-Pal- Bal. However its true authors were Tilak and Sri Aurobindo. It was, above all, Sri Aurobindo who furnished us with a philosophy of nationalism, clearly declaring that "Sanatana Dharma- that is nationalism for us" ( Uttarpara speech- May 1909 ) He said that if India was rising, it was for the sake of Sanatana Dharma. The country was reverberating with the cries of Vande Mataram.
Brutal British Suppression
Brutal British Suppression
But the British brutally suppressed the movement . Tilak was imprisoned in Mandalay, where he languished for six years, and Sri Aurobindo himself was in solitary confinement in Alipore jail for a year, implicated in a false case. The British magistrate acquitted him but soon he left politics and took to spiritual sadhana, settling at Pondicherry, then French territory.
Gandhi's Kichdi
About a decade after this Gandhi entered the scene. He took up too many things and failed in everything, leading to the partition of the country. His chosen heir, Jawaharlal Nehru mauled our economy in the name of socialism. He gave a decidedly anti-Hindu slant to his policies in the name of secularism, and the Hindu springs of our nationalist movement were forgotten/ deliberately suppressed. Today, in the name of Secularism, India is not even a Hindu country, though 95 crore Hindus live here and have it as their Motherland. If we simply repeat the words of Sri Aurobindo now, we would be called fundamentalists!
Pre-Gandhian leaders obliterated
The rulers of Independent India have completely obliterated the Hindu spiritual fervor of the earlier nationalists and perpetuated dynastic rule, favouring minorities, thus acting as the Trojan horses for Islam and Christian interests! The textbooks followed in the govt controlled educational system are written by leftists who do not cover the pre-Gandhi-Nehru era adequately or appropriately. Even Subhas Bose is sidelined. Thus most of our youngsters have no chance to learn about the true origins and foundations of Indian nationalism.
Nasty games in the South
In the South [ especially Tamil Nad ] we have a different stream. Here, the so called Dravidian forces gathered strength on a wave of anti-Brahmin hatred, initially based on the false Aryan-invasion theory and the apprehension that if India became free, the influence of Brahmins would rise, as the educated Brahmins were in the forefront of the freedom movement under Gandhi. The movement had thus a double edge: anti -freedom and anti- Hindu. The anti-freedom idea lost force once they tasted power, and they have been controlling the reigns of power for half a century now! Like the Central govt. at Delhi, they too have effectively blacked out the founders of Indian nationalism. But the anti-Hindu stance has not lost its vigour, first in the guise of anti-Brahminism and now in the name of secularism!
Mahaswami of Kanchi
Mahaswami of Kanchi
Amidst all this turmoil, there was the Jagadguru of Kanchi, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi, we all simply call Mahaswami or Paramacharya, standing like a rock. He adorned the Mutt for 87 years [1907- 1994]. He set a personal example in austerity, tapas, simplicity and wisdom. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an internationally reputed Muslim scholar and Vice-Chancellor of Teheran University said after meeting Mahaswami in 1970:
The Mahaswami stressed the necessity of revival of Vedic learning, adherence to Dharma, and adoption of a life of simplicity and service.
The Swami's message to politicians/legislators
On India attaining Independence, some legislators and politicians approached him for a message. He gave them two- one in general terms, and one specifically on what the govt ought and ought not to do in the matter of religion. The politicians suppressed the second message. It saw the light of the day after 50 years, in 1997, three years after the Mahaswami had passed away! In these fifty years all that the swami said should not be done had been done! The result is that the so called independent secular Indian government is even more inimical to Hindus than the British ever were! Thus though thousands have benefited by blessings from the Mahaswami, Hindu nation as such has not derived any benefit or protection.
The Swami's message to politicians/legislators
On India attaining Independence, some legislators and politicians approached him for a message. He gave them two- one in general terms, and one specifically on what the govt ought and ought not to do in the matter of religion. The politicians suppressed the second message. It saw the light of the day after 50 years, in 1997, three years after the Mahaswami had passed away! In these fifty years all that the swami said should not be done had been done! The result is that the so called independent secular Indian government is even more inimical to Hindus than the British ever were! Thus though thousands have benefited by blessings from the Mahaswami, Hindu nation as such has not derived any benefit or protection.
[The Swami's message can be read in Tamil in the 7th volume of the Publication, "Deivaththin Kural " ( The Voice of Divinity )]
I therefore feel that for some reason, saints do not seem to affect the fate of nations, in the short run, or directly, anyway! In any case, as we would like them to do!
[ Care: Coleridge says Saints will aid if men will call! We do turn to saints in personal distress; do we invoke them when we have a national problem or collective need? Do Hindus even have a collective consciousness? We have no system of congregational prayers! So, may be, we can't fault the Saints, after all!]
