India

Very few have known India so thoroughly as did Swami Vivekananda, and it may be said, without any fear of contradiction, that very few have loved India with the same degree of intensity as he did. Once Swami Vivekananda asked: You talk of patriotism, but has the thought of your motherland taken so much hold of you, that you have lost your sleep and you carry the burden of the misery of your people throughout your waking moments? That is real patriotism. Those who are acquainted with the life story of Swami Vivekananda know that he had this kind of patriotism.

There are some people in our country whose love for India is great and who are also ready to implement that love in service and self-sacrifice, but unfortunately they themselves are strangers to their own country. They have not known what real India is; they are, as it were, not rooted in the soil of the country. To know real India you must know her ancient culture; you must know the people and identify yourself with their hopes and aspirations, joys and sorrows, and with their daily problems. Swamiji was unique in this respect. He had not only an intellectual grasp of the cultural heritage of India, born of deep study, hard thinking and keen observation, but he had also direct realizations of the spiritual truths for which India stands. He was a saint and a patriot in one. And, above all, as a wandering monk, moving from one corner of the country to the other, mixing with the high and the low, the prince and the peasant, the educated and the unlettered, he saw with his own eyes, how the heart beats of ancient India persist even through the apparent degradation of the present days, and how India bears ever in her bosom the spark of divine fire which under favorable conditions is likely to blaze up again. As such, Swami Vivekananda was the fittest person to talk on India and give guidance to the workers engaged in the task of molding her destiny. Here in the following pages are collected some of the writings of Swami Vivekananda dealing with India. They may be found very useful at a time when India is entering on a new era of her history.

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