The word "Hindutva", etymologically as also judicially construed by the Supreme Court, means Hinduism. Nevertheless, it has been assigned the following pejorative meaning in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary: "A very strong sense of Hindu identity, seeking the creation of a Hindu state." In defining Hindutva, the COD has obviously been influenced by political propagandists, which has led it to ignore the court's decision, as also the tenets of Hindu philosophy that speak of the unity and identity of souls and not division.
To ensure that such disinformation does not stretch any further, it is time to understand Hindutva in the light of the thoughts of its greatest exponent in modern time, Swami Vivekananda.
"The greatest name man ever gave to God is truth," said Swami Vivekananda. "Truth is the fruit of realisation; therefore, seek it within the soul." Man's search for the ultimate truth, according to Swamiji, was like the chemist's resolution to find the one element from which all elements had derived. As chemistry will become perfect after reaching that single source-element, so is the case with religion. Once we reach the ultimate source of creativity, we discover the perfect unity of humanity, the summum bonum of Hindu religion. Only after realising that ultimate source of unity could the Vedantic sage exclaim "Tat tvam asi" (thou art that).
To Vivekananda, Hindutva taught self-abnegation. "Religion comes with intense self-sacrifice. Desire nothing for yourself. Do all for others." The secret of liberation was not to be bound by anything, not even good deeds. "Therefore," wrote Swamiji, "be not bound by good deeds or by desire for name and fame. Those who know this secret pass beyond this round of birth and death and become immortal."
"Bold has been my message to the people of the West," wrote Vivekananda in India's Message to the World, "bolder is my message to you, my beloved countrymen." India, according to him, had solved its problem ages ago, and held on to it through good or evil fortune since the days of the Upanishads, and that solution was unworldliness or renunciation Hindu concept of renunciation, as explained in the Bhagavad Gita, is to render the mind unattached even while absorbed in karma, like the lotus leaf is unaffected by water.
Vivekananda's message was not just of renunciation but selfless service as well. Addressing Girish Ghosh, a renowned writer and theatre director, the fiery Swami said, "Do you know Girish babu, it occurs to me that even if a thousand births have to be taken in order to relieve the sorrows of the world, surely I will take them." Vivekananda was against all superstitions such as untouchability. "We refuse entirely to identify ourselves with 'Don't touchism'. That is not Hinduism... it is an unorthodox superstition which has interfered with national efficiency all along the line."
On the question whether the Indian tradition segregated spirituality from the mundane activity like governance, his answer was in the negative. In his speech on Practical Vedanta delivered in London on November 10, 1896, he narrated the Upanishadic anecdote of how Shvetaketu, and sage Aruni, former's father, received hitherto unknown spiritual lessons from king Pravahana Jaivali of Panchala. We are also told of the anecdote of Shukdeva, son of Vyasdeva, receiving Brahma gyana (lessons on Brahman) from king Janaka. Thus it is evident that according to Indian tradition, spirituality was coterminus with governance.
A non-believer in God is commonly called an atheist. But Vedanta says, a man who does not believe in himself is an atheist. The greatest error, says Vivekananda, is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, that you cannot do this or that. "Every time you think in that way, you, as it were, rivet one more link in the chain that binds you down."
Vedanta, according to Vivekananda, teaches us to reconcile the actual to the ideal, the present life to the life eternal. It can be carried into the everyday life of every nation to great benefit as it teaches us to have faith in ourselves as the "children of the Immortal" and to do our duty selflessly. Vedanta also teaches whatever makes for oneness is truth. Love is truth as it unites, while hatred is false as it divides.
The dynamic Swami was not against multiple sects in India. "It is the clash of thought, the differentiation of thought that awakes thought," said he in California on January 28, 1900. "When religions are dead, there will be no more sects; it will be the perfect peace and harmony of the grave. But so long as mankind thinks there will be sects... variation is the sign of life, and it must be there."
Mahatma Gandhi, after reading the
works of Vivekananda, observed: "The love that I had for my country became
a thousand- fold." Nehru admitted: "His whole life and teaching inspired
my generation." There is hardly a leader in the country who does not hold
Swamiji in the highest esteem. Instead of maligning "Hindutva", we should
try to understand it in the light of his thoughts and infuse spirituality
to uplift self-centric, immoral and criminalised politics of the day.