Vivekananda ReviewVOLUME 1 NUMBER 5 • OCTOBER 2013

Swami Kripamayananda, The Vivekananda Review ..................................................................................................2

Lori Way, Swami Vivekananda and Pragmatism in America...................................................................................3

V. Kumar Murty, Culture and Identity...............................................................................................................................8

Vivekananda Public Speaking Competition..................................................................................................................12

CONTENTS

2 Vivekananda Review

During his visits to America, Swami Vivekananda met many intellec-tuals and leading thinkers and engaged in conversation with them about the Vedanta philosophy. One of these was Harvard professor William James. Known as one of the main exponents of the philoso-

phy of pragmatism, James found much in Vivekananda’s thought that resonated with his own ideas. John Henry Wright, another Harvard professor, wrote to his wife in March of 1896 “[Swami Vivekananda] has evidently swept Professor James off his feet. Miss Sibbens told me this evening that he [Professor James] was going in to Boston to hear his talk at every opportunity.” (Life of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 2, p. 80)

The interaction between Swami Vivekananda and William James must have been quite profound as we see James writing to Vivekananda on March 28, 1896 addressing him as “Master” (Swami Vivekananda in the West – New Discoveries, Volume 4, p. 77).

In this issue Lori Way discusses the philosophy of Pragmatism as espoused by William James, and other thinkers such as Jane Addams and John Dewey. The article discusses similarities between the social, religious and educational reforms proposed by Vivekananda and the ideas of the pragmatists.

This is followed by an article on “Culture and Identity”, two important themes in human civilization. While culture is difficult to define, we do recognize it, especially when through the vehicle of identity, it impacts on our interac-tions with others. These ideas are discussed in the article of V. Kumar Murty.

Swami Kripamayananda • Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada M6M 2E6 • kripamayananda@gmail.com

The Vivekananda ReviewSWAMI KRIPAMAYANANDA

Swami Kripamayananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and President of the Vedanta Society of Toronto.

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V. Kumar Murty – Chief EditorAndrea MacLeod – Layout Editor

Pamela Brittain – Production EditorThomas Loree – Copy Editor

Published by the Vedanta Society of Toronto

VIVEKANANDA REVIEWA bimonthly publication dedicated to the study of Vivekananda’s ideas

© Vedanta Society of Toronto, 2013

The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Vedanta Society of Toronto.

Call for submissions: Manuscripts to be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief (murty@math.toronto.edu), maximum 5000 words in Word (.doc) format

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Swami Vivekananda has had a lasting impact on Ameri-can society through his association with the great thinkers and theorists of the early 20th century. His lecture tours throughout the Midwest and New England

brought him into contact with leaders of American pragmatism such as William James and Jane Addams, who hosted him as a speaker at Harvard and Hull-House, respectively. Along with the direct influences and interaction between Vivekananda and these leaders of pragmatism, there is also a possible connection between him and John Dewey due to their similar attitudes on educational reform and the fact that Dewey would have been active in the Midwest at the same time as Vivekananda’s lec-tures there. This analysis will trace how the social, religious and educational reforms proposed by Vivekananda mirror those of James, Addams, and Dewey. It will also examine Vedantic ideals regarding truth and praxis (as expressed through jnana and karma yoga) that are consistent with American pragmatism.

Vivekananda began two lecture tours shortly after his appear-ance at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893. The first leg of this tour took him to various places around the Midwest, keep-ing him within the general vicinity of Chicago. The second leg of his tour, which began in 1894, took him to locations in New England. It was during this leg of the tour that Vivekananda met William James. The two men got along so well that James invited Vivekananda to present a series of lectures on comparative ethics, philosophy and religion at the Harvard Graduate Philosophical Society.1 It is said Vivekananda was also invited to become the chair of Eastern philosophy at the school but that he turned down the offer.2

James valued Vivekananda’s ideas because he recognized them as a new method for the discovery of truth. In Pragmatism, originally published in 1907, James writes: “The paragon of all monastic systems is the Vedanta philosophy of Hindostan [sic], and the paragon of all Vedantist missionaries was the late Swami Vivekananda who visited our shores some years ago.”3 This quote comes from James’ chapter in Pragmatism titled “The One and the Many,” in which he painstakingly examines the concept of “oneness” that is also found in Vedantic philosophy. He states that “The method of Vedantism is the mystical method. You do

not reason, but after going through a certain discipline you see, and having seen, you can report the truth.”4 James concludes in this chapter that a religious concept that accepts both pluralism and oneness must be acceptable in a world where “we find things partly joined and partly disjoined.”5

Pragmatism, as defined by James, is “primarily a method of settling metaphysical disputes that otherwise might be inter-minable.”6 James believed that “the scope of pragmatism” was twofold: “first, a method; and second, a genetic theory of what is meant by truth.”7 Thus pragmatism would have its basis in seek-ing what can be proven as truth, but James also states that this truth must have some practical application that will make life bet-ter for the individual. He writes that pragmatism poses the same question of all gathered knowledge: “What, in short, is the truth’s cash-value in experiential terms?”8 For James, a belief in God is only acceptable if it will bring peace to a person’s life. Vive-kananda was also engaged in a search for truth, which is evident from his exploration of various faiths and philosophies even at an early age. This pursuit of truth is consistent with Vivekananda’s stance on jnana yoga; he believed that if we can see God in all things (as jnana yoga teaches), we can move past failures and ex-perience peace through a belief in “this universe of God” which recognizes the divine in all things.9

James also saw it as acceptable to allow for different expres-sions of religion from one person to the next. He believed that “The divine can mean no single quality, it must mean a group of qualities, by being champions of which in alternation, different men may all find worthy missions.”10 Each person could represent a different religion, yet all may be considered good and moral. This is not unlike Vivekananda’s stance on the nature of wor-ship. Although he preferred non-dualism as the highest form of Vedanta, he also recognized and accepted all religions as neces-sary to mankind’s development. Vivekananda believed that each person can continue down the path at his own pace, using jnana as a method for discerning truth; in the process, he will turn ever closer to the concept of oneness.11

Vivekananda also had views similar to James in regard to the connections between science and religion. M. Ram Murty reports that Vivekananda believed in applying the same means of inquiry

Swami Vivekananda and Pragmatism in AmericaLORI WAY

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”“to religious study that scientists used in examining the world. Vivekananda asks: “Are the same methods of investigation which we apply to science and knowledge outside, to be applied to the science of religion? In my opinion this must be so, and I am also of the opinion that the sooner it is done the better.”12 This mirrors James’ belief that through pragmatism, “[s]cience and meta-physics would come much nearer together, would in fact work absolutely hand-in-hand.”13 Both men were interested in critically examining religion rather than giving themselves over to blind faith. They both believed truth was discoverable and should be sought out as part of religious study.

Vivekananda had been dead for five years before James’

Pragmatism was published, but James was still able to draw on his words as resources. He is said to have kept several works by Vivekananda in his personal library, including Raja Yoga and a compilation of Vivekananda’s Practical Vedanta lectures, from which James quotes in both Pragmatism and The Varieties of Re-ligious Experience. Vivekananda’s works from James’ collection were donated to Harvard University on his death, but unfortu-nately many of them have been lost.14

Vivekananda also attracted the attention of another pragma-tist leader through his lecturing: Jane Addams. Robert Danisch remarks that Addams is often neglected in the study of the great thinkers of pragmatism but that her connection to this philosophy is evident.15 He states that “Ever in search of methods for making the community better, she epitomized the spirit of pragmatic me-liorism.”16 Addams’ work was not primarily academic but based on practical application. Her ability to apply her pragmatism was not lost on James, who wrote the following in a letter to her in 1909: “The fact is, Madam, that you are not like the rest of us, who seek the truth and try to express it. You inhabit reality; and when you open your mouth, truth cannot help but be uttered.” 17 Danisch also states that Addams’ beliefs, like those of James and Vivekananda, were based on scientific and objective observation but that they were also concerned with the “value of the insights of women and of disadvantaged ethnic groups.”18

In 1889, Addams established Hull-House in Chicago, a settlement home where new residents and the urban poor could

live alongside people of more affluent means. This home attracted immigrants as well as many unmarried women. Although it was not the first of its kind, Hull-House was distinctly different in its approach to the education of its residents. Addams was aware that many of the individuals who came to her would not be products of privileged circumstances, so she created a curriculum in which residents from various backgrounds could learn gradually as part of the social atmosphere of the house. Addams had invited several influential speakers to Hull-House as part of her Working People’s Social Science Club, and she offered Vivekananda the opportunity to speak there during the Midwest leg of his tour.

How Vivekananda and Addams met is not known; nor is the extent to which they may have interacted. It is be-lieved, however, that Vi-vekananda’s association with Addams and Hull-House originated shortly after his appearance at the World’s Parliament of Re-ligions. The Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago reports that Jane Addams “attended several of Swamiji’s lectures in New York and Swamiji

visited her at the Hull-House during his visit to Chicago in 1899 during which time Sister Nivedita [a female follower of Vive-kananda] came to know her quite well. ‘Miss Adams [sic] as ever is an angel,’ Swamiji wrote of her in a letter to Betty Leggett.”19 According to Asim Chaudhuri, there are no extant programs for the fall series of lectures at Hull-House, but it is known that Vivekananda most likely lectured at Hull-House sometime during October or early November of 1893 (within two months after his appearance at the Parliament of Religions). Vivekananda’s lecture was titled “Economic and Social Conditions in India.”20

Addams’ approach to social work and her democratic ideals would have blended well with the karma yoga of Vedanta, as explained by Indira Patel: “Work in the karma yoga sense of the term is to be lifted from its mundane aspects and is to be taken as a process which elevates self, raises the quality of life and this suits basically to social work.”21 Addams, like Vivekananda, believed in living and working among the poor as the best way to assess their needs. Vivekananda and Addams also shared a belief in using education and democratic reform to lift people out of poverty. Kalpana Mohapatra, author of Political Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, writes that: “To the Swami, true democ-racy is inconsistent with a narrow self-sufficient nationalism or sectarianism. It can be achieved by breaking the barriers of caste and creed, race and sex, high and low, etc….He strived for the evolution of a Vedantic civilization where science and politics would be utilized to lead man to higher and higher levels of

...Addams’ beliefs, like those of James and

Vivekananda, were based on scientific and

objective observation but that they were also

concerned with the “value of the insights of

women and of disadvantaged ethnic groups.”

OCTOBER 2013 5

expression.”22

Addams was also open to the ideas of “oneness” and univer-sality which were espoused by James and Vivekananda. In her book Newer Ideals of Peace, she writes that “We must be willing to surrender ourselves to those ideas of the humble, which all religious teachers unite in declaring to be the foundations of a sincere moral life.”23 For Addams, this meant that every human life had something to contribute, and each belief system con-tained something of value. Vivekananda shared this idea, saying that “All the various systems of religion, in the end, converge to that one point, that perfect union.”24

Vivekananda and Addams shared similar beliefs in relation to women’s rights as well. Vivekananda was particularly concerned with the rights of women in India, and often compared their plight to what American women were experiencing. He was also a supporter of empowering women and allowing them to make their own decisions: “Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are neces-sary for them. In matters concerning them, who are you? Liberty is the first condition of growth.”25 Addams’ association with Vivekananda may have contributed to the views she expressed about the empowerment of women in “Utilization of Women in City Government,” Chapter 7 of Newer Ideals of Peace: “Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions are a snare in which the feet of women have always become readily entangled.”26 Addams believed that women of her time felt torn between the need to respond to a “family claim,” which kept them in traditional roles, and a “social claim,” which called them to be active in civic service.27 She urged women to take up active participation in public life, which was also expressed by Vivekananda. He believed respect for women would be the cor-nerstone of a successful society: “Where women are respected, there the gods delight; and where they are not, there all works and efforts come to naught.”28

Addams’ Hull-House became a place of civic education for women as well as the immigrant community. It also became a beacon of intellectualism for the Midwest, so it is no surprise that other great minds of pragmatism would be drawn to Addams’ door. One of those individuals was John Dewey. Although Cornel West acknowledges the contribution of James to the field of prag-matism, he believes that “American pragmatism reaches its high-est level of sophisticated articulation and engaged elaboration in the works and life of John Dewey.”29 Dewey’s own stance on pragmatism can be examined by studying two passages from his book, A Common Faith. In “Religion Versus the Religious,” he states: “Faith in the continued disclosing of truth through directed co-operative human endeavor is more religious in quality than in any faith in a completed revelation.”30 This means that the search for truth could be subjective, variable, and evolving; it could not be contained in the writing of any particular religious text. Dewey also states, in “Faith and Its Object,” that “The mind of man is being habituated to a new method and ideal: There is but one sure

road of access to truth – the road of patient, co-operative inquiry operating by means of observation, experiment, record and controlled reflection.”31 Again, Dewey advises his audience that access to truth is something that must be worked at in order to be achieved, and it is not the result of merely reading something that has already been prepared by someone else. These two statements correlate with Vivekananda’s and James’ belief in the pursuit of truth and the concept of oneness. Vivekananda asks, “Is God’s book finished? Or is there still a continuous revelation going on? It is a marvelous book, these spiritual revelations of the world.”32 In referencing all holy scriptures as a singular “marvelous book,” he identifies all sacred literature as part of an unfolding continu-um. He believes that each holy book of the various religions has its own merit but that there are also books yet to be written that would be just as powerful in bringing people closer to God.

It is likely that Vivekananda and John Dewey would have had some knowledge of one another due to the fact that Dewey had worked at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago when Vivekananda was lecturing throughout the Midwest. Dewey was also a frequent visitor to Hull-House dur-ing the time that Vivekananda would have delivered his lecture there, and it is known that Dewey lectured at Hull-House as well. Danisch also reports that Dewey had written in a letter to his wife about how much he was influenced by Addams’ commitment to social justice projects at Hull-House. 33 It is entirely possible that Dewey may have come into contact with Vivekananda during his time at Hull-House, or Dewey may have been indirectly influ-enced by Vivekananda through his connection to Jane Addams. Either way, it is evident that the two men seem to share similar ideas about educational reform.

According to Vijaya Bharathy, both Vivekananda and Dewey stressed that educational curricula “should be flexible, [and] should represent the outer world, cater[ing] to individual needs.”34 Both were also in favor of what would be considered “active learning” by today’s educational theorists. They believed education should be learner-centered and activity-based. Accord-ing to Bharathy: “Both the philosophers accepted that education must begin with a psychological insight in[to the] child’s ca-pacities, interests and habits. They believe that the child derives satisfaction and pleasure in learning a subject if it is within the scope of his own interest and aptitude and the success of teaching and also learning depends on this.”35 This is similar to the types of educational reforms that had taken place during the Bengali Renaissance and also draws from the “social” atmosphere that was the hallmark of Addams’ educational endeavors. V. Kumar Murty also speculates as to whether or not Dewey could have met Vivekananda, as he, too, finds similarities in their philosophies of education: “As Swami Vivekananda explains, faith in oneself means faith in others as well. Education should arouse social consciousness in us. Thus he wanted education to arouse a spirit of philanthropy. This is similar to Dewey’s idea that education should be a fundamental component of awakening the individual

6 Vivekananda Review

to social consciousness.” 36

Vivekananda’s message to America, represented through jnana and karma yoga, can be found in the lineage of American pragmatic philosophy today. Yet further research is needed to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western thought. To ignore the influence of one or another is to do a disservice to both; there must be ongoing dialogue about the connections between these two spheres of influence. The similarity of Vivekananda’s work to that of American pragmatists is a reminder that the desire to seek truth and to help others transcends many belief systems, some-thing which can unite the diversity of East and West even today.

Lori Way • P.O. Box 154, Kendallville, IN 46755 • loribishopway@hotmail.com NOTES1 James, 1995, p. 466.2 Chetanananda, p. 163.3 James, 1995, p. 58.4 Ibid., p. 58.5 Ibid., p. 62.6 Ibid., p. 18.7 Ibid., p. 26.8 Ibid., p. 77.9 DeLuca, pp. 100-102.10 James, 1985, p. 384.11 DeLuca, pp. 40-41.12 Quoted in M. Ram Murty, 2013, 9.13 James, 1995, p. 20.14 James, 1985, p. 466.15 Danisch, p. 68.16 Ibid., p. 67.17 Quoted in Pettegrew, p. 243.18 Danisch, p. 68.19 From “People Associated with Swami Vivekananda in Chicago: 1893”20 Chaudhuri, p. 136.21 Patel, p. 87.22 Mohapatra, p. 69.23 Addams, p. 27.24 Quoted in DeLuca, p. 208.25 Quoted in Usha.26 Addams, p. 186.27 Danisch, pp. 75-76.28 Quoted in Usha.29 West, p. 69.30 Dewey, p. 26.31 Ibid., p. 32.32 Quoted in DeLuca, p. 83.33 Danisch, p. 67.34 Bharathy, p. 190.35 Ibid., p. 127.

36 V. Kumar Murty, p. 5. REFERENCESJane Addams, Newer Ideals of Peace, MacMillan, New York, 1907.Vijaya Bharathy, Educational Philosophies of Swami Vivekananda and

John Dewey, A.P.H. Pub, New Delhi, 2000.Asim Chaudhuri, Swami Vivekananda in Chicago: New Findings,

Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 2000.Swami Chetanananda, Vivekananda: East Meets West (A Pictoral

Biography), Vedanta Society of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 1995.Robert Danisch, Pragmatism, Democracy, and the Necessity of

Rhetoric, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 2007.Dave DeLuca, ed., Pathways to Joy: The Master Vivekananda on

the Four Yoga Paths to God, Inner Ocean, Makawao, HI, 2006.John Dewey, A Common Faith, Yale UP, New Haven, 1934.William James, Pragmatism, Dover Publications, New York, 1995.---, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Harvard UP, Cambridge, MA,

1985.Kalpana Mohapatra, Political Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda,

Northern Book Centre, New Delhi, 1996.M. Ram Murty, “Reason and Religion,” Vivekananda Review 1, no. 1

(Feb. 2013), 8-10, accessed April 9, 2013, www.viveka-institute.orgwp-content/uploads/2013/03/Vivekananda-Review-Feb-2013.pdf

V. Kumar Murty, “Education According to Vivekananda.” VivekanandaReview 1, no. 1 (Feb. 2013), 3-5, accessed April 9, 2013, www.viveka-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Vivekananda-Review-Feb-2013.pdf.

Indira Patel, Vivekananda’s Approach to Social Work, Sri RamakrishnaMath, Madras, 1987.

“People Associated with Swami Vivekananda in Chicago: 1893,” SriRamakrishna Universal Temple, Vivekananda Vedanta Society ofChicago, (2008), accessed April 1, 2013, www.vedantasociety-chicago.org/sv_in_chicago/sv_in_chicago_7html.

John Pettegrew, “The Religion of Democracy in Wartime: Jane Addams,Pragmatism, and the Appeal of Horizontal Mysticism,” AmericanJournal of Theology & Philosophy 33, no. 3 (2012), 224-244, accessed via Project MUSE April 23, 2013, muse.jhu.edu.

K.B. Usha, “Swami Vivekananda on the Women Question,” Samyukta:A Journal of Women’s Studies 2b (November 24, 2009), accessedApril 19, 2013, http://samyukta.info/site/node/320.

Cornel West, The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy ofPragmatism, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 1989.

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Introduction

Fifty-seven years ago in central India, near Bhopal, archae-ologists made an amazing discovery. Nestled in rock formations sheltered from the elements was a collection of paintings, which are the earliest traces of human life in India. Although artifacts had been found there as early as 1888, no serious study had been done and the area was assumed to be a Buddhist site. It was the Indian archaeologist Vishnu Sridhar Wakankar who determined the true value and extent of the site. He ascertained that the place had been inhabited about 30,000 years ago, i.e., many millennia before Buddha, and that the community or communities that lived there used the surface of the rock shelters to depict scenes from their lives.

Looking at these rock paintings, one is struck by several things. First, they are extremely well-preserved. The pigments that were used are quite durable and the geological structure is such that there has been little damage from the elements. Also, although the content of the scenes contains the usual depictions of hunting and other activities that are connected to survival, there is also a painting in which numerous people are dancing and at least one person can be seen playing an instrument that looks like a khol or pakhwaj. This scene is striking because it does not seem to be related to survival, at least at the physical level; nor does it seem to have anything to do with social hierarchy. One is left wondering what the significance of the scene is and why it was drawn.

The explanation would seem to be that the human beings who comprised the community in question were not solely con-

cerned with physical survival. By extension, we might conclude that there is an aspect to human existence that goes beyond mere survival and which has to do with our need to express ourselves to each other, to members of our community, and also to future generations. The dance scene is an early depiction of what we might call “culture.” Indeed, we may even regard all the rock drawings to be a part of culture.

‘Culture’ is difficult to define, though its importance is some-thing we all understand intuitively. Perhaps it is an “intimation of immortality,” as the poet Wordsworth would say. Perhaps it’s an assertion that at some level we transcend our physical mortality, if not as individuals, then at least as a community. Culture is an expression to ourselves and to our neighbours and others of our distinctiveness. It is also an expression of membership in a com-munity.

Culture is often considered as important as religion, To devi-ate from one’s cultural identity is seen by some as sacrilegious. Religion, in the sense of dogma, ritual, observance and sacra-ment, is part of culture. Swami Vivekananda says time tends to make things holy.2 What is old is considered sacred. Traditions become sacred, and of course, traditions are a part of culture.

From 30,000 years ago, let us move to today. In many major cities of North America, there is a sizeable immigrant population. In fact, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that immigrants built North America. Each successive generation views itself less as immigrants and more as part of the mainstream population. However, new immigrants, and perhaps even first-generation or second-generation immigrants still feel keenly aware that they are different. What is the root of this feeling? It has to do with culture and identity.

While it is hard for us to define culture in the abstract, we become aware of it when there is a commingling or a clash of dif-ferent cultures. Dealing with such clashes is a common problem for members of any diaspora community. There are two opposing forces at work: one is the desire to integrate into one’s adopted society; the other is to preserve what has given strength and sustenance to previous generations. As eager as parents may be to see their children integrate into their adopted society, they will also feel distressed if, later in life, those children fail to appreciate and observe certain age-old customs.

Except in rare cases, problems such as these cannot be addressed intelligently and calmly when they occur. Attention should be paid to prevent such problems from arising. We speak of viveka, or discernment, as a spiritual qualification. However, it is a most necessary qualification for living life intelligently, for

Culture and IdentityV. KUMAR MURTY 1

An early depiction of culture,near Bhopal

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anticipating problems, and acting in the present in a manner that prevents or minimizes the chance of problems appearing in the future. We cannot and should not pretend to be something other than what we are. This does not mean we are shutting the door to our own cultural evolution and growth. We are only insisting that that growth be natural and organic and holistic, not artificial or forced.

How does one draw the line that delineates the border between intelligent and practical integration into one’s adopted cultural milieu, and preservation of one’s culture and identity? For a certain faction, of course, there cannot be any integration, and we must, at any cost, maintain our tradition in the most literal and strictest interpretation. If we examine cases in which this line of thinking is adopted, we shall find that culture and religion have been identified as one and the same.

There is another extreme view, which is that one should integrate at any cost. This ultra-liberal perspective usually takes hold where there is considerable separation from culture and religion, or where religion itself is separated into its cultural and spiritual aspects. In this perspective, the observances, the dogma, the rituals of religion are all classified as part of culture and an acknowledgement is made that while cultural traditions of the past have been a source of strength and direction, they must un-dergo change and evolution. What matters are spiritual principles, which are timeless.

Vedanta tends to lean towards this latter perspective, taking a universal view of spiritual traditions from around the world. It finds no difficulty in accepting and including different perspec-tives within its fold.

Adherents of traditions with more rigidly defined boundaries are often perplexed by this point of view. Their spiritual identity — the certainty of their beliefs — is so strong that it overshadows all other aspects of their identity. To challenge it or even suggest there may be alternatives is to threaten that which is central to their existence. They show open hostility to religious traditions different from their own and their reactions to the concept of reli-gious harmony vary from curiosity to derision. They will say that those who seek harmony among the different faiths are not even sure of what they believe in.

In this context, the best approach may be a middle path. Ma-hatma Gandhi said: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”3 In other words, stand firm in your own cultural moorings but be open to benefit from the cultural and spiritual wisdom of other traditions.

This is in fact what Sri Ramakrishna taught. He asked that everyone hold on to his spiritual ideal but without thinking that others are wrong.4 In a world that dogmatically holds to Aristo-telian logic, Sri Ramakrishna’s teaching may seem enigmatic. If my ideal is true, then other ideals must be false. The law of the excluded middle asserts that if a statement is true, its negation is

false. But Sri Ramakrishna’s teaching asserts that the law of the excluded middle does not hold on the spiritual plane. In fact, it is not even clear that it holds on the moral or ethical planes.

If this law were to hold at the moral and ethical levels, then we would have an objective sense of good and evil. If something is good, then it cannot be evil, and vice versa. But we know that morality and ethics are not that simple. It is often impossible to know with certainty that a thing is good or bad.

Staying rooted in one’s own tradition while remaining open to other, affirmative traditions enables us to live as decent human beings, at peace with ourselves and with those around us. An analogy is given of the earth orbiting the sun. While it does so, it also orbits around itself, as if to acknowledge its own greatness. We need to have a clear sense of cultural identity, and from that firm vantage point, we will be in a better position to examine what other cultures have to offer.

The commingling of cultures raises several questions: How will the members of a given cultural community react when members of another culture come into their midst? Will they react with open arms and with understanding and appreciation or will it be with resentment and suspicion? Swami Vivekananda hails America as the motherland of liberty. At the same time, he also tells of an incident that occurred while he was wandering the grounds of the Chicago exhibition. Someone shoved him from behind. Vivekananda turned to him and asked him why he did that. The man only stammered: “why do you dress that way?” probably referring to his turban. Swami Vivekananda goes on to comment that this person was probably a respected person of his community, a gentleman, perhaps a father who took good care of his family. But all of these noble cultural attributes disappeared when he saw a person from outside his circle.5 In another inci-dent, in Boston, Vivekananda was chased by a street mob, though he was able to avoid violence to himself by outrunning them.6

In 1996 Samuel Huntington wrote a book titled The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order in which he theorized that future conflicts would be along the lines of cultural identity, as opposed to, say, economic or ideological differences. Huntington’s thesis was quite controversial and sparked vigorous debate, as it seems to assume that cultural identity is static or that it can be seen independently of other aspects of identity.

The relationship between civilization and culture is complex. We understand civilization to refer to a society that is organized around a particular culture. In this interpretation, civilization and social organization can evolve only when culture evolves, either through a refinement of its principles or through a more wide-spread adherence to its standards.

We also note that when we try to identify the cultural basis of a civilization, we are referring to the dominant ideals that it represents and not to the cultural practices of all or even most of its citizens. For example, we associate the concept of democracy with Athens, even though women had no participation in civic affairs and were expected to remain confined to their homes to

OCTOBER 2013 9”“

bear and raise children. Slavery, too, was condoned in Athenian democracy.

In a more modern context, Mahatma Gandhi held the view that foreign domination of Indian society was possible only so long as the foreign (i.e., Western) culture was seen as superior. Thus he strongly advocated the understanding and practice of Indian culture. In some sense, this gives credence to Hunting-ton’s theory. However, Gandhi made it clear that he was open to learning from all cultures, and absorbing those aspects that were beneficent.

This is consistent with the thought of Swami Vivekananda, who, as a world teacher, saw an opportunity for human evolution. Commenting on the roles played by art and utility in different cultures, he remarked:

Have you seen their [peasants’] granaries for keep-ing paddy? What an art is there in them! What a variety of paintings even on their mud walls! And then, if you go and see how the lower classes live in the West, you would at once mark the difference. Their ideal is utility, ours art. The Westerner looks for utility in everything, whereas with us art is ev-erywhere. With the Western education, those beauti-ful Ghatis of ours have been discarded, and enamel glasses have usurped their place in our homes! Thus the ideal of utility has been imbibed by us to such an extent as to make it look little short of the ridiculous. Now what we need is the combination of art and utility.7

Political scientist Edward Saïd would seem to endorse the view that when two cultures commingle, they both experience organic growth and enrichment. In his essay “The Clash of Igno-rance,” written in response to Huntington’s thesis, Saïd stresses the interdependency and evolution of different cultures.

Indeed, when we see people reacting to different cultures with inexplicable animosity and resentment, we have to un-derstand that the problem is not culture itself, nor its attendant

concept of identity. Rather the problem is that these people have erected watertight boundaries around their culture, boundar-ies which fail to acknowledge that it is part of a greater human culture, and an even greater culture of life. The incident Swami Vivekananda describes is quite mild in comparison with the more violent confrontations that take place all over the world even today. Now we understand why those who move into a different cultural milieu may make such concerted efforts to be assimilat-ed. They change their names, their way of dress, their food habits, all in an attempt to be ‘accepted’ by their adopted culture.

However, this solution to the problem of cultural conflict comes with great risk. One may end up becoming a pariah in two cultures. On the one hand, it is possible that no amount of accommodation will make one completely accepted into the new culture. On the other hand, one may become alienated from one’s native culture and this in turn could undermine the strength of that culture for the individual. As Swami Vivekananda points out, “it is culture that withstands shocks”.8 Life is full of the unexpect-ed. Being part of a culture is like being part of a large family in which members help each other to face and overcome difficulties.

Thus far we have discussed cultures and cultural identity. Let us now narrow our focus and consider the whole concept of identity. From the external world, let us enter into the inner psychological world. Our sense of identity gives us a concept of ourselves, of who we are. And we need this concept at the indi-vidual level as well as at the communal level. It is an integral part of our lives and gives us cohesion and strength.

If we ask ourselves what our identity is, we may find that the answer is by no means straightforward. Our identity is actually made up of multiple ‘sub-identities’, as it were. We may have an identity that derives from our profession, another identity that comes from our social position, and yet another that comes from our role in the family, and so on.

Some of these are formal identities. We adopt them in certain contexts but have no trouble shedding them in other contexts. Our formal identities have the potential to collide and create conflict within us. Then we will be torn about which of our identities to

favour. For example, one’s identity as a parent might, at times, conflict with one’s identity as an em-ployee. When an identity matures beyond the formal level into something that might be termed ‘essential’ to us, then it begins to contribute to our culture. At that stage, it influences our thoughts, actions, at-titudes, etc..

The question ‘who am I?’ is familiar to students

Now we understand why those who move

into a different cultural milieu may make such

concerted efforts to be assimilated. They

change their names, their way of dress, their

food habits, all in an attempt to be ‘accepted’

by their adopted culture.

10 Vivekananda Review

of Vedanta, who analyze it from the perspective of permanence. In Vedanta we try to separate who we are from what we pos-sess, whether the possession is material or psychological. The purpose of this Vedantic inquiry into identity is to help us realize that while we may have assumed various identities, it is only our spiritual identity that is permanent.

But spiritual identity remains largely a matter of specula-tion and faith. Let us therefore begin with our temporal iden-tity, which is something we have already accepted as real. Our temporal identity is not static; it grows and transforms over time. It is predicated on our concept of ourselves. This concept is itself based on our relationships with the things and beings of the world; it is also determined, at least in part, by our own imagina-tion. Thus identity has both an external and an internal aspect. As our cognition evolves from childhood to adulthood, there is gradual growth from egocentrism to acknowledgement of the existence of other beings. There is also a gradual awareness of the abstract concept of empathy together with an awareness of the importance of looking at things from different perspectives.

Our sense of existence also evolves. Existence is equated at first with sensual perception, but if this persists into adolescence, we would say that there is something wrong. With advanced cog-nitive development one begins to understand that there are things such as thoughts that cannot be perceived sensually but which nevertheless exist.

However, our temporal identity is not static; it is complex and changes over time. For this reason, stubborn adherence to a narrow singular identity can have disastrous consequences. Amartya Sen writes: “… there is also a big conceptual confusion about people’s identities, which turns multi-dimensional human beings into one-dimensional creatures.”9 Reducing oneself to a singular identity tends to result in a narrow world-view; at its worst, it leads to bigoted and even violent action.

Sen asks why we allow ourselves to be defined so narrowly and why we likewise adopt a reductionist view of others: “To see a person exclusively in terms of only one of his or her many iden-tities is, of course, a deeply crude intellectual move… , and yet, judging from its effectiveness, the cultivated delusion of singular-ity is evidently easy enough to champion and promote.”10

It is not only those who deliberately seek to influence social actions who resort to this kind of oversimplification. Academ-ics approaching an unfamiliar or new subject often do the same. Thus, Sen writes,

… civilizational classifiers have often pigeon-holed India as a ‘Hindu civilization’ – a description that, among other things, pays little attention to India’s more than 145 million Muslims (not to mention Indian Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Parsees and others), and also ignores the extensive interconnections among the people of the country that do not work through religion at all, but through involvements

in political, social, economic, commercial, artistic, musical, or other cultural activities.11

Identity and Identification

Identification includes external things and beings as well as our inner thoughts. All of these identifications are acquired either knowingly or unknowingly. Let us discuss the knowing and unknowing aspects of identification and identity.

Of all the things with which we identify, the most pernicious tend to be certain thoughts, or rather, a certain species of thought. The mind functions at both the conscious and subconscious levels. Identification at the conscious level is through will, and identification at the subconscious level is through imagination.

The subconscious mind is most open to suggestion and imag-ination, and quickly accepts identification. A leading practitioner of this principle was the French psychologist Émile Coué. In his work Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion (1922), he writes:

Contrary to what is thought, it is not our will which makes us act, but our imagination (the uncon-scious). If we often do act as we will, it is because at the same time we think that we can. If it is not so, we do exactly the reverse of what we wish. Ex: The more a person with insomnia determines to sleep, the more excited she becomes; the more we try to remember a name which we think we have forgot-ten, the more it escapes us (it comes back only if, in your mind, you replace the idea ‘I have forgotten’, by the idea ‘it will come back’); the more we strive to prevent ourselves from laughing, the more our laughter bursts out; the more we determine to avoid an obstacle, when learning to bicycle, the more we rush upon it.

We must then apply ourselves to directing our imagination which now directs us; in this way we easily arrive at becoming masters of our selves physically and morally. How are we to ar-rive at this result? By the practice of conscious autosuggestion.

Swami Vivekananda discusses this principle in detail in Raja Yoga.13 Many of our identifications lie buried in the subconscious out of view. When circumstances are ripe, they manifest. At that time, we may surprise others and even ourselves with the way we speak and act. We may say or do things that we later regret. And we wonder how we could have been so stupid and what we should do to prevent such a thing from happening in the future. But as it stands, we are slaves to our own identifications. Swami Vivekananda says we tell people to be good without helping them to understand the means by which they can be good.14 The only

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way to gain control is to neutralize the tendencies, the samskaras (as they are called), that make us behave that way.

Thus the problem Raja Yoga addresses is how control might be obtained. It is not to be achieved, as we might at first think, by repressing certain thought patterns. The key, rather, is to sublimate them and allow ourselves to become attached to new thought patterns — thought patterns which might be described as spiritual. In this way, a new identification or identity is created that better suits our ideal of behaviour and growth. This is similar to Coué’s autosuggestion.

Some may balk at the idea that we can change our behaviour or identity. Is it not delusional to think so? This kind of charge was leveled against Swami Vivekananda. In a talk at Harvard University, a member of the audience asked him if what he was speaking of was hypnotism. His answer was that it was in fact de-hypnotism that he was speaking of, as we were already hypno-tized.15

We must strive to be vigilant since whatever is placed before us ultimately affects our subconscious. We wonder why we have certain identifications without realizing that we have actually cre-ated them. And Raja Yoga says that just as we have created them, we can create new and healthy identifications.

The subconscious mind is especially susceptible to sug-gestion when the conscious mind is put in a passive state. This happens for example, when we are staring vacantly at a computer or television screen, a habit that is all too common in this age of portable video devices.

Spiritual Identity

Finally, this brings us to spiritual identity. The spiritual teachers of the world are unequivocal in their assertion that there is a more fundamental identity that emanates from the spiritual plane. They also assert that an awareness of that identity allows us to realize our oneness with all existence and therefore to inter-act more harmoniously with the world. This consequence alone would be cause enough to enquire further into the idea of spiritual identity.

V. Kumar Murty • Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2E4 • murty@math.toronto.edu

NOTES1 Based on a talk at the Vedanta Society of Providence on Sunday, November 25, 2012. The author thanks Swami Yogatmanandaji for the kind invitation to speak.2 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (hereafter referred to as CW), Volume 2, pp. 159-160.3 Mahatma Gandhi, 1980, p. 151. The original appeared in the

journal Young India in the June 1, 1921 edition on p. 170.4 In The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 80, Sri Ramakrishna tells his disciple Mahendranath Gupta “You believe in God without form; that is quite all right. But never for a moment think that this alone is true and all else false.” This statement is typical of his teaching. It is perhaps this kind of universality that prompted historian Arnold Toynbee to remark that if the world is to survive, it must follow the Indian way consisting of Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence and Sri Ramakrishna’s path of the harmony of religions.5 CW, Volume 1, p. 65.6 Life of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1, p. 404.7 CW, Volume 5, p. 374.8 CW, Volume 3, p. 291.9 Amartya Sen, p. 174.10 Ibid., p. 175.11 Ibid., p. 177.12 E. Coué, p. 60.13 CW, Volume 1, pp. 119-313.14 CW, Volume 1, p. 171.15 CW, Volume 5, p. 303.

REFERENCESE. Coué, Self-mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion,

American Library Service Publishers, 1922, New York. Re-printed by The Echo Library, 2009, Middlesex, UK.

Mahatma Gandhi, All men are brothers, Continuum Press, NewYork, 1980.

Mahendranath Gupta, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Sw.Nikhilananda, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York, 7th edition, 1984.

Amartya Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny,Norton, New York, 2006.

Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works, Mayavati Memorial Edition, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1989.

Life of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and Western disciples,5th edition, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, 1981.

The Vedanta Society of Toronto

is organizing a public speaking competition

to celebrate Vivekananda’s legacy.

November 3, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto

The competition is open to high school students in two groups:

The competition will have two parts:

•A prepared speech for 7–8 minutes (see topics below)•An impromptu speech for 2–3 minutes (topics to be given during competition)

Please note:

•Speeches must have a special reference to Vivekananda’s life and work•No notes are allowed during speeches

Participants will be judged on:

•Content (60%)•Delivery (30%)•Language and Grammar (10%)

For more information, please contact Shukla Datta at shukladatta53@yahoo.com

THE 2ND ANNUAL

Vivekananda Public Speaking Competition

COMPETITION RULES AND DETAILS

Senior Level: Grades 11 and 12Prepared Speech Topic: The Power of Education

Junior Level: Grades 9 and 10Prepared Speech Topic: Believing in Yourself

Awards in each of the Junior and Senior categories are:

•First Prize: $200•Second Prize: $100•Third Prize: $50

To register, visit www.viveka-institute.org/public-speaking-competition

Light lunch will be provided for participants.

“The man is simply a marvel of oratorical power.” — William James

Registration is required. Deadline: October 31, 2013