Swami Vivekananda as a Women Activist
As part of Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary, GB carries a 3-part-series on Swamiji as the humanist, spiritual leader and a socialist, who could vociferously relegate to the background, Gods of his own religion, for the greater cause of his country. In an era when India is going through religious intolerance, cases of lynching in name of sacrilege, Swami Vivekananda’s true teachings somehow need to come to the forefront
Vivekananda was effusive in praise about the women in America. He repeatedly applauded the American women for their culture, education, generosity, kindness, spirituality and broad mindedness. He considered them more cultivated than the average man, because while the men slaved all their life for money, the women snatched every opportunity to improve themselves. In his usual enthusiastic way, he wrote in a letter to the Maharaja of Khetri in 1894: “American women! A hundred lives would not be sufficient to pay my deep debt of gratitude to you! I have not words enough to express my gratitude to you. Oriental hyperbole alone expresses the depth of Oriental gratitude – If the Indian Ocean was an ink stand, the highest mountain of the Himalaya the pen, the Earth the scroll and Time itself the writer, still it will not express my gratitude to you!”
Swamiji said: “The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women. In ancient Greece, there was absolutely no difference in the state of man and woman. The idea of perfect equality existed. No Hindu can be a priest until he is married, the idea being that a single man is only half a man and imperfect. The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence.”
Vivekananda had said all those nice things about American women when they were not even allowed to vote, even if they snatched every opportunity to improve themselves: discrimination against women was very intense at that time. To stress the point of equality Vivekananda invoked a story from Ramayana to an audience in Cambridge. He said: “Central concept of Hindu philosophy is of the Absolute. That is the background of the Universe. This Absolute being, of whom we can predicate nothing, has its powers spoken of as She, the real personal God in India is She. This Shakti of the Brahman is always in the feminine form. Rama is considered the type of the Absolute and Sita that of Power.”
It is true that Vivekananda did not specifically address the inequality issues of America, but during a talk in Chicago on the subject of women of the East, he briefly touched on women’s equality and independence. He said: “The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women. In ancient Greece, there was absolutely no difference in the state of man and woman. The idea of perfect equality existed. No Hindu can be a priest until he is married, the idea being that a single man is only half a man and imperfect. The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence.”
Vivekananda was effusive in praise about the women in America. He repeatedly applauded the American women for their culture, education, generosity, kindness, spirituality and broad mindedness. He considered them more cultivated than the average man, because while the men slaved all their life for money, the women snatched every opportunity to improve themselves.
In his opinion, the nation that does not respect women, has never become great, nor will it ever be in future. He went further to say: “Women in statesmanship, managing territories, governing countries, even making war have proved themselves equal to men, if not superior. Whenever they have had the opportunity, they have proved that they have as much ability as men, with this advantage, that they seldom degenerate. They keep to the moral standard, which is innate in their nature.”
Source: Articles by Anil Baran Ray and Arun Kumar Biswas
Book: Vivekananda as the Turning Point
