Swami Vivekananda, the great exponent of Hinduism; in fact, a brand ambassador of Sanatan Dharma, showcasing the glory of a heathen race in the Parlianent of World religions in USA, way back in 1893. However, much before he had earned the global reputation through his powerful speech in Chicago, he was travelling incognito in a train. Incidentally, Bal Gangadhar Tilak too was travelling as a fellow traveller, sitting opposite to him. Significantly, few youth, who too were travelling alongside them, taking the potshot at Swami Vivekananda’s saffron robes, sarcastically commented, ‘ How these saffron clad monks, despite being parasites on society, have little or no shame in surviving on income of the society’. Reacting imperturbably to this biting sarcasm, great Swami said, ‘ Look, young men, you people have invariably missed the wood for a tree: kindly recall, that monks in several ages and eras, when society was in turbulence; in the agitated state of passing through existential crises, the monks in saffron garb dared to bite the bullet, picking up the gauntlet to transform the society. In fact, when casteism was ruling the roost, Buddha was born to extricate the society from the precipice of impending catastrophe. Likewise, when Sanatan Dharma was virtually losing its substratum, when the notoriety of Buddhism and Jainism had seriously challenged Sanatan Dharma, great Adi Shankara rose in robust defence of Sanatan Dharma to re-establish the Sanatan values. Hence, the saffron robes is not meant for contempt, but for celebration’.
The saffron robes, as and when it came under stress or being maligned; when the gravity of values that saffron robes, over millennia, had come to be institutionaslised, as the sign and symbol of love, compassion and renunciation, appeared to have lost much of its lusture in the contemporary times. Especially as the saints, instead of characterising the values of ‘selflessness’ and ‘ renunciation’, it has come to earn the opprobrium of deceit and degeneration of human emotion. Worse still, the people fear the saffron robe as never before, for the deep respect and values that saffron attire commanded in the ancient and medieval times, has been replaced by the sense of suspicion and mistrust. No wonder, with the proliferation of monks in saffron robes, over time, has exposed them irrevocably to the allegation and accusation of being the parasites on society. Regrettably, masquerading of thugs in saffron, is another cogent justification of Saffron robes having lost much of its sheen and lusture, with multiple scams of saffron monks coming to light, especially that of Ram Rahim and Asha Ram Bapu.
Unequivocally, when the time is inordinately duplicitous, with ever proliferating thugs in saffron robes, it needs the discerning pair of eyes like doves to sequester milk from the water: to differentiate between the unscruplous men wrapping saffron attire around themselves and those who genuinely stand for its values and mission. Indubitably, one of such monks in the contemporary times who represent the saffron values is, His Holiness Mahamandaleshwar Swami Umakantanandjee, a monk from Jharia, coal town, into that of a harbinger of a new dawn; the monk who heralds the renaissance of Bharatvarsha, in the contemporary times. Significantly, Swami Umakantanandjee is the perfect blend of the divine agility of Swami Dayanandjee and divine wisdom of Swami Vivekananda. Moreover, he is the rarest of rare breeds today who has been perpetually in communion with Mother Divine. Interestingly, while we are amazed to hear about the incidents of Ramkrishna Parmahansa with Mother Kali, we have Swamy Umakantanandjee who is always in communion with Mother divine. Thus it was not Ramkrishna Parmahansa who would converse with Mother divine but we have, even in such duplicitous times as this, such a monk like Swami Umakantanandjee who is always in communion with Mother divine. A monk whose predictions, based on his communion with Mother divine, had resulted in the vindication of certain metaphysical truth crystallising in realistic terms. No wonder, this monk, unlike the one as depicted in the famous novel of Robin Sharma, The monk who sold his ferrari, expounds the words of wisdom which is the trigger for the renaissance of Bharatvarsha, in the contemporary times. Swamijee says that, India is already a Jagatguru, and, just like a sun, which is to be seen to be believed, India is already a Jagatguru, and therefore, one has to have the discerning pair of eyes to behold the grandeur of India as the Jagatguru.
Vivekanand Jha, author, academician and a Public Intellectual.
He is the Convener of Education pe Charcha.
