From Ritualism to Vedanta:

Hinduism in South Africa – Then and Now

Anand Singh

Department of Anthropology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaE-mail: singhan@ukzn.ac.za

KEYWORDS Hinduism. South Africa. Ritualism. Vedanta. Religious Change. Neo-Hinduism

ABSTRACT The rise of Vedanta (a non-sectarian based system of higher philosophical teaching) through the increasinginstitutionalisation of the Hindu religion is gradually replacing the older version of ritualism sustained through Brahmanism –the upper/priestly caste domination of sacred ceremonies in India and its diaspora populations. This article is based on anhistorical reconstruction of Hinduism in South Africa, covering past practices and contemporary patterns of worship based ona universalism that transcends caste and regionalism as practiced in India, and as exported to South Africa when Hindus firstlanded in Port Natal (now Durban). Organisations such as the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, the Arya Samaj andRamakrishna Centre of South Africa, (which exist among a range of other similar organisations), will be used as prime illustratorsof the shift that is still in progress in South Africa. Caste distinction, which has been a significant determining factor in crucialmatters such as child rearing, observance of rituals, marriage, and socialisation, prevailed for most of the period since Hindusarrived in South Africa. However, significant socio-religious shifts, to the point of new types of value realignments, have beentaking place over the past two centuries in order to meet the demands of ongoing change in a rapidly transforming world. Thisarticle will demonstrate how these shifts have been taking place over the past few decades and to what extent they have transformedto date.

INTRODUCTION

From the time that indentured labourers ar-rived from India in 1860 to work in the NatalColony’s burgeoning agricultural, railway andcoal mining sectors, Hindu religious practiceswere based mainly on memory and personalexperiences. They therefore varied accordingto caste, regional origins, and individual incli-nations, defying any pattern of uniformity andconvergence of normative practices. The livesof Hindu communities in India were wovenaround systems of economic dependencies thatalso placed a religious value on each of the ac-tivities that people were born into. Their occu-pational specialisations were equated to thecastes to which they belonged, which almostalways restricted them to whatever economicduties they were expected to perform. Their ritu-als were also caste based, but could not alwaysbe practiced in South Africa with the level oftogetherness that the villages in India affordedthem. Their diverse origins gave rise to whatpeople believed could best serve their religiousneeds in their early years in South Africa. Meer(1969: 141) noted that “The early Hindu immi-grants introduced a variety of village rituals toNatal, many of which crystallised into templecults. The religion, however, lacked a centralorganisation and it is said that Hindus were more

responsive to Christian and Muslim missionmovements.”

As their numbers grew between 1860 and1913, when the last shipload of indenturedlabourers were allowed into Natal, people fromcommon geographical areas began identifyingthe need to regularise worship patterns throughthe ritualism that they had brought with themfrom India. Among people of north Indian back-grounds, Pandits, mainly from the Brahman sub-caste of “Maharaj”, brought by colonists to cookon the ships and on the sugar cane plantations,began assuming the role of priests and religiousleaders within this segment, a watered-downversion of India’s Brahmanism (the priestlycastes’ hegemonic control of ritualism). How-ever, such patterns of worship over the past 150years have gradually given way to more philo-sophical approaches to worship, free of dogmaticadherence to the social exclusivism derived fromcaste based social boundaries (Vedanta). At thispoint it would be useful to distinguish betweenritualism and Vedanta. Against the backdrop ofthe realities that people at household and com-munity levels function in, ritualism in Hindu-ism is best understood as prayer and ceremo-nial performances that contribute towards thehopes, aspirations and psychological well-be-ing of people in terms of their localised identi-ties as people of a caste or sectarian background.

© Kamla-Raj 2013 J Sociology Soc Anth, 4(1-2): 69-76 (2013)

In contrast, Vedanta is about the universality ofbeliefs and practices that transcends the restric-tive boundaries of localised identities and ven-tures towards the worship of that unforeseencreative power and source of life called “God”(in English). Ritualism and Vedanta are notnecessarily in opposition to each other, but theformer can be understood, in Hindu philosophi-cal terms, as a lower truth in comparison toVedanta, the higher truth. While ritualism isrestrictive in terms of issues such as caste orlocalised beliefs systems, Vedanta is more uni-versal, embracing and unifying in its messageto humankind.

Hinduism since 1860

There are at least two diametrically oppos-ing perspectives about the strength and prac-tice of Hinduism, since the arrival of the firstindentured labourers in 1860. One is negativeand the other more resoundingly positive. Thewritings of Vedalankar (1981), Kuper (1960)and Naidoo (1984), generally demonstrate anegativity that portrays a picture of weak anddirectionless customs and practices associatedwith Hinduism. The groups of indenturedlabourers that were brought to the Natal colonywere disparate in terms of their geographicalorigins, caste backgrounds, and variations intheir religious observances. But common to allof them was the subservience they had to showto their colonial employers, the onerous task ofhaving to please them through multiple dutiesand the inhibiting environments in which theylaboured. Their preoccupations with their du-ties and the long shifts that they had to work(usually up to 12 hours per day,although it wasnot unusual to work for 16 hours per day), for-bade an indulgence in religious practices thatlifestyles in India would have generously af-forded them. The absence of communal placesof worship such as temples or ashrams in thefirst decade can only be attributed to them be-ing first-time settlers from India. Herein lay themisconstruction by Kuper, Vedalankar andNaidoo of the alleged erosion of commitment toreligious and spiritual practices.

Kuper’s research among the Hindus in Na-tal in the 1950s was mainly among working classhouseholds where patterns of worship were re-stricted largely to the confines of the house-hold.There are several issues that all of the three

writers omitted in their analyses of worshipamong the first of the Hindus who landed inNatal. As indentured labourers, they were sub-jected to conditions that were hardly differentfrom that of slave labour, bar the abolition oflegalised slavery. Indentured labourers were nomore than units of labour who had to satisfytheir employers’ entrepreneurial needs. The ra-tions that they received and the inferior qualityaccommodation that they shared with otherfamilies in barracks style buildings were symp-tomatic of the culture of racism and intoleranceof beliefs and practices that had been prevalentsince their arrival. But it was the attraction ofthe climatic conditions in Natal and the futurepossibilities of economic prosperity and of tran-scending the racism that Hindus then faced thatforced them to opt for land rather than a freereturn trip to India after their indentureship.This aspiration took them along a path of hardwork to build their family homes, acquire moreland and ensure the provision of food for theirfamilies. Their religious practices were usuallyof no consequence to their employers, nor wasit given any official recognition or respect as areligion. The absence of schools or any otherform of formalised education added to the woesof Hinduism’s stunted existence at that time;although the existence of pathasalas (vernacu-lar schools), despite a tremendous scarcity ofresources, did play a significant role in educat-ing people in their vernacular. Central to theseschools was the teaching of the Ramacaritama-nasa, a Hindu epic that has been in existencefor several millennia (Shukla 2002; see alsoDesai and Vahed 2007).

Shukla’s (2002) refutation of the notion ofthe degeneration of religious practices and as-sertion of the strength they presently hold ismore accurate. The strength of any living entityin its later years of existence is almost always areflection of its nurturing in its infant stages.What Kuper, Vedlankar and Naidoo almost com-monly referred to as “degeneration” of Hindu-ism among the early Hindus in South Africa,was more accurately the formative years of areligious force in the making. As an endorse-ment of Kuper’s view, Naidoo (1984: 67) un-critically quoted her, arguing that Hindus were“so grotesque as to be totally devoid of any reli-gious meaning”. That historical juncture wasneither adequately represented nor understoodin the writings of the three authors who wrote

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critically about the state of Hinduism in thecolony of Natal at that time. None of them forinstance, wrote about the human capital thatMohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi saw amongthe Hindus at the turn of the twentieth century,which he capitalised on to initiate his now worldfamous approach of passive resistance againstexploitative political ideologies. It was the prac-ticing Hindu population that inspired Gandhito experiment and nurture his ideas of passiveresistance among them. Such an achievementwould hardly have been possible with peoplewhose religious and spiritual beliefs and prac-tices were inconsistent with what we know ofpresently as “Hinduism”. Shukla’s (2002) dis-cussion of Hindus from the vernacular Bhojpuri/Awadhi belt of North India depicts a populationgenerally steeped in the practices of bhakti yoga(love of God through worship and service tohumanity), and karma yoga (love of Godthrough the spiritualisation of work). Amongthe various other paths of yoga, these two meth-ods are viewed as the most appropriate for thiscontemporary period of industrialisation andcommercialism. Their dependence upon theRamacaritamanasa as a text and mediumthrough which they sustained their religiosityserved as their foundation to build upon the morecomplex ritualistic and spiritual practices thatare known to Hinduism. It was their enduranceagainst hostile political forces in the late nine-teenth and early twentieth centuries, and theirperseverance in the absence of more organisedand institutionalised forms of religious protec-tion that ensured the survival of what consti-tuted Hinduism then. It was on Sunday after-noons or on rare occasions when gatheringscould occur, usually in open air spaces, and un-der trees, that recitals took place.

Gandhi’s arrival in South Africa also led tothe popularisation of the Bhagavadgita, anotherHindu epic that provided the inspirational basisfor his passive resistance movement, hatchedand tested here, and exported to India in a waythat not only shook the British Empire but alsoled to its demise as a colonial authority. TheBhagavadgita eventually complemented the re-citals from the Ramacaritamanasa, as well asset the scene for the entry of the higher philo-sophical traditions in Hinduism to consolidatethemselves on South African soil. Gandhi’s “Ex-periments with the Truth”, a socio-political en-deavour that was intended to conscientise and

educate Hindus (and Muslims) about the powerof faith and collective action, had its roots inthe Bhagavadgita. It was from these mental andintellectual exercises that the debate about whatword would best suit the concept of “passiveresistance” arose. After much thought and de-bate over several weeks, the word “Satyagraha”was coined and formalised (Gandhi 1927;Parekh 1995). The extraction of ideas from suchan Epic was indicative of the level of conscienti-sation and commitment that Hindus had in thelate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries –albeit in degrees according to issues such asclass, levels of formal education and educationin the scripture itself. Gandhi’s successes againstthe British through his use of the Satyagrahaconcept were also attempts to popularise theBhagavadgita – which grew in significance inthe twentieth century throughout the world.Until the end of the first decade of the twentiethcentury, religious practices among Hindus weremainly ritualistic, although side by side with thiswas emerging a higher philosophy throughGandhi’s “experiment with the truth” – extract-ing from the Hindu epics and as well as his per-sonal life experiences.

Hinduism since the Early TwentiethCentury/Hindu Maha Sabha/Arya Samaj

After more than five decades the realisationthat Hindu beliefs and practices need not remainstagnant at the level of ritualism alone, grow-ing interest in the deeper philosophy of the scrip-tures such as the Vedas and the Upanishads be-gan taking root in South Africa. Gandhi’s fre-quent reference to the Bhagavadgita not onlypopularised an important text among Hindus,but also initiated a transcendence among a sig-nificant number of Hindus, from localised vil-lage-based practices that disparate groupsbrought with them from Indian villages, to amore universalistic approach to worship andphilosophical thinking about the concept of God.The mood among more conscientised Hindusbrought them to the realisation that more Hin-dus needed to be educated in the scriptures inorder to raise awareness about higher philoso-phies and practices than their routine ritualism.The first organised visit to achieve this, facili-tated by a local philanthropist, was by SwamiShankaranandaji Maharaj, who arrived in theport of Durban on 4 October 1908. Against the

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backdrop of a euphoric level of curiosity andinterest, a special welcome reception was ar-ranged for him at the Natal Indian CongressHall in Durban. The attendance was in excessof the hall’s capacity and the keenness to listento a visiting monk from India for the first timein South Africa was reflective of the need thatHindus felt for inspiration from people morelearned than themselves in scriptural knowl-edge.

Swami Shankaranandaji’s experience andacumen in organised religion in India served asthe basis for his approval to travel to South Af-rica and assess the situation for what it was. Hewas renowned for being a perceptive, eloquentand majestic leader, with a penchant for bring-ing people together on a more organised basis.After several public lectures his analysis of thesituation in South Africa brought him to theacknowledgement that Hindus in the countrysuffered from inherent weaknesses like weakreligious administration and a visible lack ofcommitment to higher spiritual ideals. His aimtherefore was to bring Hindus together on a moreorganised basis. In this vein he inspired theformation of organisations such as the VedaDharma Sabha, the Hindu Young Men’s Asso-ciation and the Young Men’s Vedic Society.While each had to forge an identity of their own,they remained committed to common ideals thatwere being fostered by Swami Shankaranandaji.Such commitment brought them to converge onthe purpose of consolidating Hinduism as a re-ligion that had more to do with higher philo-sophical traditions and ideals than with restric-tive family or individual-oriented rituals. Withina period of three years these achievements servedas a basis for greater consolidation of Hindusolidarity and rising awareness through publiclectures and educational programmes. However,Swami Shankaranandaji’s stay was interruptedin 1911 when his spiritual master (guru) fell ill,forcing him to return to India. He returned toSouth Africa after a few months and began theprocess towards forming a regional Natal HinduMaha Sabha. But a young lawyer (a Mr Pather)convinced him to go national and form a singlebody for all Hindus throughout South Africa.He agreed and preparations for this event cul-minated on 31 May 1912, when the South Afri-can Hindu Maha Sabha (SAHMS) was formed.This initiative urged Swami Shankaranandajito travel to other provinces as well, especiallythe-then Transvaal and Cape Province, in order

to spread his influence as well as bring Hinduscloser together through organised religion.

Since its formation the SAHMS had takenup a range of issues that were not only a resultof mere neglect by the state in South Africa, butalso deliberate conspiracies hatched by it to in-hibit and frustrate people of Indian origin. In abrochure to mark its 70th anniversary in 1982,the SAHMS boasted about hosting at least 20conferences during this period, and noted thatit had taken up issues that were neglected dueto the absence of any tangible organisationaldirection, as well as issues that required com-munity effort to sensitise the state about its de-risive attitude towards issues that were Indian.For instance, it brought people from all the In-dian linguistic groups together, with one of themain purposes being to support the sustainabilityof Indian languages, and to ensure that differ-ent linguistic groups did not necessarily lead todivergent positions on what it was to be Hinduin a foreign and hostile environment. At leasttwo common causes that all Hindus had withthe colonial and Union governments (1910 on-wards), for instance, were the recognition oftheir marriages and the maintenance and build-ing of places of worship (especially temples).The SAHMS took up the fight for the recogni-tion of Hindu marriages from 1945, while is-sues around places of worship were raised fromits very inception, although a special conferencewas held around the maintenance of temples inJanuary 1944 (Nowbath et al. 1960: 110). Theiradded purpose was to adopt the westernisedpattern of worship on Sundays – calling on Hin-dus to attend religious services on Sundays be-cause economic circumstances made it mostsuitable to do so.

The SAHMS was also faced with the enor-mous problem of indigent Indians who werebeing increasingly marginalised as anti-Indiansentiment gathered momentum among theirwhite counterparts. While they were deniedunrestricted access to political activities, theywere being victimised even more in areas ofeconomic opportunities. Such poverty madethem vulnerable, and missionary religions suchas Christianity and Islam often capitalised onthose they thought could be easily converted totheir respective religions. The offers of food andemployment by Christian and Muslim organi-sations often came at a price – that of foregoingHindu religious beliefs for either one of them.

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Deliberations on the extent of the problem wereraised at the centenary conference of the arrivalof Indians in South Africa in 1960 and growingpublic awareness campaigns have contributedto the arrest of the pace of conversions. A peri-odical called The Hindu became the official or-gan of the SAHMS in 1945. However, the lackof trained personnel to sustain it as a regularoffering eventually led to its discontinuation.

The SAHMS’s work was substantially comp-lemented by the formation of the Arya Samaj,an affiliate of the Arya Pratinidi Sabha, in 1919.While one of the Arya Samaj’s major contribu-tions was the promotion of Hindi, it had a muchbroader agenda that centredaround a 10-pointplan. In their attempt to simplify methods ofworship among Hindus they advocated the wor-ship of the one formless God, as opposed to theworship of deities with innumerable forms andnames. This message, they believed, was amplyfound in the study of the Vedas – a privilegethat they propagated as the right of all to study,irrespective of caste, creed or religion. In do-ing so they demonstrated visible opposition toBrahmanism – which restricted scriptural stud-ies and the conducting of rituals to Brahminsonly. In this endeavour the Arya Samaj estab-lished educational institutions – for the three-some propagation of Hindi as a vernacular, thepropagation of religion, especially in the under-standing of the 16 Sanskaras (rites of passage),and for the promotion of secular education aswell – this was a public demonstration of thewill to adapt to the changing circumstances ofpeople of Indian origin in a foreign environ-ment. These efforts also demonstrated theorganisational capacity of the Hindus, openlycalling upon Hindus not to fall prey to the forcesthat attempted to convert them to other religions.Side by side with such initiatives were welfareefforts to promote awareness of Hindu’s dutiestowards the indigent and towards untouchabil-ity – a caste phenomenon that prevailed in alesser form in South Africa as well. Hindus’general harshness towards widows also drew theattention of the Arya Samaj, causing it to take apublic stand in favour of widows remarryingand against child marriages. These two issuesstill stand, especially in India, as socially de-generative issues which cloud the elements thatgive Hinduism an otherwise positive image as asystem of religious and spiritual beliefs and prac-tices. In equally visible and committed ways,

the organisation acquired a commendable repu-tation for building orphanages, homes as placesof care for the elderly and medical dispensarieswhere free medicines were given to the poor.

The community and charity work of theSAHMS and Arya Samaj in the early twentiethcentury were essentially attempts at rebuildingfaith and confidence in a population group thatwas, although predominantly Hindu, still rela-tively diverse and desperately in need of direc-tion. The common political and economic ex-periences of most Indians in South Africa, aswell as their minority status, provided fertileground for both the SAHMS and the Arya Samajto embark on programmes that succeeded inbringing Hindus across caste, linguistic and re-gional barriers to converge on issues that werenecessary for both common purpose in a hostilepolitical and economic environment, and for thesake of drawing insular boundaries against com-peting religious forces that preyed upon the weakand the vulnerable to convert. The approach toreligion since the early twentieth century bythese organisations also marked a shift awayfrom the antiquated style of self-imposed seclu-sion in naturalistic environments for the sakeof achieving Moksha – God realisation and re-lease from earthly bondages, especially birth/rebirth and death. Uninhabited or sparsely in-habited forests and mountains were ideal placesfor the life of a recluse – where the characteris-tic peace and quiet provided the ideal condi-tions to turn inwardly and meditate. Such se-clusions were by no means easy tasks, since theywere livesof renunciation of comforts and con-veniences that drew them away from the mate-rial world and enforced austerities and penancesthat benefitted the person who chose to renouncethe world. Concentration and meditation wasfor self-upliftment and self-realisation – to seeone’s self as an extension of that ultimate truthcalled God (hum Brahman asmi: I am one withGod). The modern-day approach, over the pasttwo centuries, was a shift away from such indi-vidualistic approaches to God realisation to-wards aims and approaches that were beyondthis pattern of spiritual practice. Numerousorganisations that draw from the knowledge basereferred to as Vedanta, began, from about themid-twentieth century, to make themselves morevisible through welfare services and religiouseducational programmes. Prominent amongthem in Durban are the Ramakrishna Centre of

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South Africa, the Divine Life Society, theChinmaya Mission, the International Society forKrishna Consciousness and the Sai Baba Move-ment. While all of these organisations are mo-tivated by common aims and objectives such asraising hopes and aspirations, morale and mo-rality among individuals and communities, theyuse particular ideals and human figures as pointsof reference and as sources of inspiration to con-tinue with their work. It is the will and commit-ment to follow leaders who lead or have led byexample, as a means to pave the way for theachievement of higher levels of consciousness,if not for redemption from bad deeds or salva-tion for a better life in the hereafter. The worthof such organisations is often judged by the cred-ibility of the individual leaders that inspirepeople to work selflessly and without motive forany personal gain. Each of the organisationsmentioned have in their midst the ideal figuretowards whom respect is forever bestowed andwhose life serves as a worthy example to followand to be associated with, however historicalhe/she might be. All of the original sources ofinspiration in these organisations are from In-dia, and their influences have permeated thereligious inclinations of South African Hindusto create more religious stalwarts and followerswithin this country.

This article focuses on just one of theseorganisations, to amplify the extent and com-mitment of the welfare, religious and commu-nity work that they are engaging in viz. theRamakrishna Centre of South Africa.

Vedanta and the Consolidation ofWorship through Service

The community-oriented approaches of theSAHMS and the Arya Samaj were off-shoots ofthe already credible approaches towards social,religious, political and economic reconstructionin India. An appreciation of the work of reli-gious organisations in South Africa is bestachieved against the background of their motherorganisations in India. The philosophies thatthey adopted and the work that they do in thespirit of Vedanta transferred itself to South Af-rica as well. Religious leaders, still very muchrenunciates in the tradition of their predeces-sors, began reassessing the role that they shouldbe playing in an India that became so impover-ished through the devastation caused by 750

years of Moghul rule and 250 years of rule bythe British Empire. Without foregoing the jour-ney towards the goal of self-realisation of humBrahman asmi, through highly individualisticmeans, the modern-day approach was to not onlyto see God within, but also to see God without,especially among the poor and downtrodden.Recorded through the public discourses andwritings of a notable saintly figure, SwamiVivekananda (1863-1902), the move in theRamakrishna Mission and Math in India wasincreasingly towards his oft-quoted persuasiveadvise that “Service to man is worship of God”.The authenticity of Swami Vivekananda’s phi-losophy and urge to encourage people to workfor the sake of others, and to see God in thembefore seeing Him in themselves, could hardlybe doubted. Affectionately labelled “the Won-dering Monk”, he travelled throughout India,often on foot, bringing him into direct contactwith the nature and extent of poverty and thesordid living conditions that the downtroddenin that country had to endure. It was in theseface-to-face experiences of impoverishment ofits worst kind that Swami Vivekananda realisedthe meaning of his spiritual master (Sri Rama-krishna Paramahamsa’s) advice that instead ofselfishly taking up a position under a tree in aforest to realise God, he should become the treeitself, vast and expansive in order to provideshade and shelter to all those who sought ref-uge and direction under him. Time, practice andsubmission to Sri Ramakrishna ensured that herealised this mission in his life and providedthe inspiration and direction to those who sur-rendered to him, to prepare for greater commit-ment to selfless community work.

Against the background of the manifold prob-lems that bedevilled India over the last millen-nium, Vedanta inspired followers and religiousorganisations to recognise the need to adopt aniconoclasmic approach against the deeply in-grained social evils that characterised India evenup to the mid-twentieth century. The wide so-cial and economic rifts in the class and castestructures had necessitated a radical shift fromthe past – with the aim of eroding the socio-economic barriers that were inhibiting progressand which were antithetical to the pillars of thephilosophy enshrined in Vedanta. The Rama-krishna Mission in South Africa has, like itsparent body, adopted a six-point approach to itsuniversalistic philosophy, referring to it as“Practical Vedanta”,viz.:

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• Each soul is potentially divine – man’s realnature is neither the body nor the mind,but the SELF or divine consciousness atthe core of each being.

• The ultimate goal of life is to manifest thisinherent Divinity.

• This state of God realisation can be attainedby sincere yearning for God, the pursuit oftrue knowledge, psychic control and dedi-cated selfless service;

• God is present in all beings as the SupremeSelf, hence service to man is to be regardedas service to God;

• Spiritual life must have a foundation inmorality;

• Every religion is a pathway to the UltimateReality (70th Anniversary Brochure 2012:13).

In a world that was swiftly transformingthrough secularism and influences of industriali-sation through both capitalistic exploitation aswell as the idealism of communism, PracticalVedanta sought to confront these ideologicalframeworks in ways that ensured the sustain-ability of Vedanta in its purest form. The ap-proach contested the social exclusiveness of thepast based on caste in India. Brahmanism, whichreigned supreme for centuries in respect of re-cital and knowledge dissemination of the scrip-tures, was speedily being replaced by a moreegalitarian approach towards the accessibilityof the scriptures. That each soul was now beingseen as potentially divine and that anyone witha sincere yearning for God can achieve Moksha,was in direct contrast to the position that theShankaracharya adopted in his time,viz. thatonly Brahmins could achieve God realisation(Moksha). Sri Ramakrishna, himself of Brah-min birth, promoted the ultimate ideal of Godrealisation as achievable by anyone who lived apure and dedicated life that was entrenched inthe lofty ideals of humility, service to human-kind, and unwavering thought in God conscious-ness. As long as the former two aspects werelocated within the ambit of God consciousness,Moksha was as achievable as it was in the daysof yonder when monks retreated to the undis-turbed silences of the forests to meditate andturn inwardly in order to discover the Truth forcewithin. Welfare work and the social and eco-nomic upliftment of people is viewed as no lessspiritually elevating than the self-centred prac-tices of the past. Hence the modern-day approach

towards Vedanta, especially over the past twocenturies, has made a radical shift away frommere individual or household-based ritualism,as well as recluse style austerities and penances,thrusting itself towards the universal approachcoined by Swami Vivekananda, that “Service toman is worship of God”.

Within the context of these six principles ofPractical Vedanta, the Ramakrishna Centre ofSouth Africa has, through its spiritual commit-ments as a basis for its activities, extended it-self across racial and class boundaries to offerservices in at least ten identifiable areas as theiroutreach programmes viz. in education, familywelfare centres, nutritional programmes, medi-cal clinics, legal advisory services, skills devel-opment programmes, veterinary clinics, seniorcitizens’ forums, educational publications andcultural programmes that cut across gender andage boundaries. What is viewed in the secularworld as social responsibilities and cultural en-hancements, are not necessarily in conflict withwhat is at the core of spiritual practice. TheRamakrishna Centre of South Africa is a typi-cal embodiment of the modern version of theinstitutionalisation of religion, through whicha wider spectrum of people can be reached andappropriate services rendered to them. Thismanifold to all-embracing approach to Vedantahas not only ushered in a meaningful relation-ship between the members and the institution,but has also become a useful and meaningfulextension to welfare services where the state andother community-based organisations are unableto mobilise professional help to render appro-priate services.

The distinction of an institution such as theRamakrishna Centre of South Africa is that itnot only mobilises professional help in the formof selfless service, but it also provides crucialservices in state run institutions such as hospi-tals and clinics, where specialist medical ser-vices are often absent. In a country that is fastlosing its medical professionals to first worldcountries because of the political uncertaintiesin South Africa, brought about by escalating lev-els of violence and perceived corruption, spe-cialist medical services are not easily found instate run institutions. Those that can acquiresuch services often have it on a part-time basisonly. Most medical professionals operate moreprofitably as self-employed practitioners. Theytherefore cannot offer more than a set number

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of hours per week to public institutions. In nu-merous state sponsored hospitals where medi-cal attention is often in the hands of nurses andnewly qualified general practitioners, diagnosesof patients are often dangerously wrong. Henceincorrect remedial treatment is administered andpatients often leave the hospital no better, if notworse than the condition in which they arrivedat the hospitals. But the service that the volun-teers of the Ramakrishna Centre offer is notmerely medical, or auxiliary or legal, but a spiri-tual one – in that each consultation is precededby a prayer offering and rendered as a spiritualoffering by virtue of a silent recitation and thethought of Sri Ramakrishna in mind. All of theseactivities are performed in the names of the HolyTrinity and the selfless service that they preachedabout.

CONCLUSION

It is unlikely that ritualism among Hinduswherever they are, either in India or in theDiaspora, will fade away to the point of beingtotally replaced by the lofty principles of Vedantaand selfless community service. There is still aplace, affinity and need for ritualism, especiallyduring important events such as births, deaths,weddings, and daily propitiation of the deitiesin morning and evening prayers, which not onlymark the specialness of the occasions, but makea pronounced statement about beliefs and iden-tities. The peculiarities of the rituals and thecommon association that Hindus of various so-cial backgrounds may experience during a ritualbring about a sense of community throughshared beliefs and customary practices. In theseaspects ritualism remains significant as a per-sonal as well as communal link and associationthat people feel they have with God. Propitia-tion of God by devotees of the Divine Life Soci-ety, Sai Baba Movement, the International So-ciety for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), orthe Ramakrishna Centre may differ by virtue oftheir respective spiritual preceptors’ advice andinspiration. But they differ significantly in formand practice from the early days of the Hindus,whose forms of worship referred to as villagerituals which crystallised into temple cults. Con-temporary Hinduism has outgrown this situa-tion and outlasted the missionary zeal of Chris-tianity and Islam, notwithstanding the fact thatthe indigent in Indian-dominated townships(sub-economic housing provided by the local

state), have and still are being converted in largenumbers.

The approach to religion by these organi-sations is now beyond the restriction to ritual-ism, shown especially in their commitment to-wards social welfare services. The building andongoing support of centres for education, vic-tims of HIV/AIDS, skills training and capacitybuilding, feeding schemes for the indigent, andhealth services, among a range of other activi-ties has by now achieved a permanent place andestablished a sense of significant respect for areligion that first began in South Africa as onethat should not be taken seriously. The servicesrendered by the medical practitioners associated,for instance, with the Ramakrishna Centre ofSouth Africa, exposes the serious dearth of medi-cal specialists in state run hospitals. Their ser-vice has become invaluable to a health systemthat is known to be haemorrhaging through aserious lack of specialist services, that it attacheseven greater significance to their work that theyrefer to as “selfless”. However antiquated theearlier practices of Hinduism might have beenthey certainly served a purpose by virtue of theorganisational structures that sprang out of themover time.

REFERENCES

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Gandhi MK 1927. Autobiography or the Story of myExperiments with the Truth. India: (Translated fromGujarati by Mahadev Desai). Navajivan Mudranalaya.

Kuper H 1960. Indian People in Natal. Durban: NatalUniversity Press.

Meer F 1969. Portrait of Indian South Africans. Durban:Avon House.

Naidoo T 1984. The Influence of the Arya Samaj on Hinduismin South Africa, PhD Thesis. University of Durban-Westville.

Nowbath R, Chotai S, Laloo BD 1960. The Hindu Heritagein South Africa. Durban: Published by the South AfricanHindu Maha Sabha.

Parekh B 1995. Gandhi’s Political Philosophy – A CriticalExamination. Delhi: Ajanta Publications.

Singh N 1986. .A Study of the Divine Life Society with SpecialReference to it Socio-religious Implications in SouthAfrica. M.A. Dissertation, Unpublished. Durban:University of Durban-Westville.

The Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa 2012. (A Branch ofthe Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, West Bengal,India). 70th Anniversary Brochure.

Vedalankar N 1981. Shastra Navanitam – A Concise Studyof the Hindu Scriptures. Durban: Veda Niketan.

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