Vivekananda as universalist

Historian Ruth Harris' book presents Vivekananda as a multidimensional person and succeeds in its attempt to restore an "understanding of the monk's complexity"

Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda

Author: Ruth Harris

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Pages: 539

Price: Rs 799

The path to knowledge often originates from a state of ignorance. The primary title of this book — Guru to the World — sounded unambiguously Vishwaguru-ish, a word dropped ad nauseam  in recent years to create the illusion of imminent and unparalleled enhancement of India’s global influence. Consequently, when this reviewer first learnt of this book, it got automatically framed within the context of Vivekananda being appropriated by the Hindu right wing. It naturally was seen as yet another effort of the political bandwagon that enlisted writers and scholars of repute or otherwise, to promote exceptionality of certain individuals and profundity of certain policies. Maybe it was decided that it is now time to promote the idea of the supremacy of Hinduism, the conclusion emerged.

Over the past decade, there have been a few instances when foreign writers were contacted and solicited to write a book for which access in the “right” quarters was ensured. Because this has happened in the past, the question arose if this too was one of those “commissioned” books? Such categorisation also stemmed from my lack of intimate awareness about the author’s work as a historian. I was somewhat aware about her decades-long engagement with European history but was unaware that her interest had taken a turn towards Asia in recent years.

Few Indians growing up in the middle-class milieu, intelligentsia or otherwise, escape Swami Vivekananda’s towering presence in conversations. What they hear or perceive depends on the specific orientation or character of the people or group who introduce the child to the ideas of the monk. It was no different for me; the first tale narrated at Varanasi’s Ramakrishna Mission, in my grandfather’s presence, was about the pre-teenager Narendranath’s disregard for the caste order. Today, however, one hears of this rarely, deafened as one is by assertions that project Vivekananada’s address to the Parliament of the World’s Religions at Chicago in 1893 as an epochal “victory”.

The tale that was narrated in the early 1970s, probably to other pre-teenagers too, emphasised Vivekananda’s reformist streak from childhood essentially to convey that there was much in Hinduism that needed to be made more humane, although this streak he forsook later by his “robust defence of caste”. In time, the cause of pride in his achievements morphed into appreciation of Vivekananda’s intellectual valour as an embodiment of Indian nationalism, to wow the West through the intellectual frame of Hindu spiritualism.  In a way, many would even consider Vivekananda to be first ambassador of a Hindu Samrajya or Empire that in the mind of a significant number of Hindus is an objective and certainly a possibility in near future.

In her choice of this daunting shift to a different  political and intellectual terrain, Ruth Harris left friends, colleagues and well-wishers dismayed over the reasons for leaving “behind three decades of work in French and European history to plunge into a study of Indian religion and the Atlantic world.” As she recreated Vivekananda’s return in 1897 via Colombo as a “conquering hero” after “crisscrossing the Western world” in the course of which he unflinchingly put across the “value of Hinduism and Indian thought”, the initial apprehensions regarding the book appeared not ill-founded. But while recognising that Vivekananda is considered not just one of “India’s ‘fathers’”, but also “true rock star” who was the first to tell the “civilisational story of India”, the author immediately put on record her understanding that Vivekananda’s “nationalism was balanced by powerful universalist and idealist values.” Fairly early on, Ms Harris notes that not only does Prime Minister Narendra Modi regularly respectfully refer to Vivekananda in his speeches and social media posts, but he also “does his utmost to mold his image to fit that of Vivekananda, while linking himself and Hindu nationalism to the swami.” The author is aware that Vivekananda’s “broad vision, especially in his own times, have been obscured” because of the conscious decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party  to “bind Hinduism” closely to the party’s “definition of Indian identity and destiny.” The book succeeds in the attempt to “restore an understanding of Vivekananda’s complexity”. She minces no words in writing that “making a direct link between the swami and the current politics of Hindu nationalism is both reductive and dangerously (sic) misleading.” In fact, she argues that the seer was not just a “shaper of a reinvigorated Indian self-identity” and provides evidence towards this repeatedly.

The book is neatly divided into three segments. The first part explores the relationship between Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramahans, who enabled the swami to overcome his disdain for several traditions and get the courage and knowledge to reinterpret past beliefs. The second part of the book examines Vivekananda’s visits, exposures and interactions in the West, the people he met and how the relationships evolved. The third part of the book, detailing Vivekananda’s relationship with Margaret Noble or Sister Nivedita, is the most poignant section. While Vivekananda was Ramakrishna’s favourite “son”, Noble was his Western “daughter”.

The chapter titled “Education, ‘Divine Play,’ and the Nation” examines the complex and multi-layered relationship between Vivekananda and Nivedita, the role she played, especially after his death. This section also delves into how Noble thought of her and Vivekananda and the love she felt for him. The book’s success lies in presenting Vivekananda to readers not as an insular and uni-dimensional person. The book could not have been written at a better time in India’s history.

The reviewer is an NCR-based author and journalist. His latest book is The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India