Brahmacharya & National Development India, as a Nation in the western sense of the term, came into existence just

60 years ago. Some historians belonging to the Nationalist school of History argue very strongly that the Indian nation has been in existence for thousands of years. It is a moot issue. It is of greater importance to us that, after India became an independent nation, its status in the comity of nations has not been all that illustrious. At least it has not been commensurate with the population percentage in the country presently, nor has it even remotely approximated its past grandeur. Why is that? Sister Nivedita once wrote: The civic ideal called as loudly for monastic devotion as the spiritual. We Indians have yet to realize that there is such a thing called the Civic Ideal. What is the Civic Ideal? Individual spiritual emancipation (or Mukti) has been the goal of life, sought after by generations upon generations of Hindus. As such, this goal of human existence has etched itself in the popular psyche in an indelible way. Anything can be sacrificed for the sake of attaining this goal. The sincerity of the common Hindu in this search cannot be doubted. This could be seen as a consequence of the religious democracy that the ancients established in this land since time immemorial. However, the Hindus have not been able to visualize that various social units too call for the same kind of dedication and devotion. Hence, even after some five full centuries of foreign subjugation, Hindus never felt that they could be politically free. It didnt matter to them who ruled them politically, be the Hindu kings, or Muslim monarchs or the British Empire. As long as they were free to practice their religion, they were satisfied. There is one more thing to note in this regard. The Hindu religion has always had a social manifestation-the Caste system. It left the common Hindu free from giving much thought to social considerations. You are born into a caste and that took care of everything political, economic and social. Did he feel once in a while that he needed some enjoyment in life? Well, that had to be brushed aside, for such ideas were ephemeral, meant to take him away from his goal of final spiritual emancipation. Did he feel once in a while that he could do with some more money and land and power? Well, were not such ideas but meant for today, not be depended upon tomorrow, as fleeting as clouds in the sky? Why should he spend so much time and energy on such highly temporary issues, while with the same energy, he could be achieving a permanent emancipation in a spiritual way? Of course, Hinduism was not like this right from the beginning. For many centuries, it believed in multiple goals for mankind. It went to great lengths to balance these multiple goals. In fact, the caste-system itself was an outgrowth of these efforts at balancing the multiple goals of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Gradually, with the passing of time, the three goals of Dharma, Artha and Kama got sidelined and Moksha became overbearing in its presence in the national psyche. That phase can be identified with the advent of Buddha. Ever since, India started to slip in the comity of nations and retrograded and entered a deep slumber, out of which she has not yet woken up fully. What is commonly understood by the term Civic Ideal closely resembles the conception of Dharma in ancient India. Sister Nivedita spent lot of time in explaining this ideal to Indians.
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Basically, it connotes that we are social beings, always a part of a larger community. Seclusion is a fiction. In the context of social life, there arise questions of what actions are right and what are wrong? Questions such as can there be something called Absolutely right and Totally wrong form part of the considerations on Dharma or Civic Ideal. It is a great irony that the nation which gave maximum thought to the conception of the Civic ideal should be supremely uncivil in its national behavior. In this country you will the cleanest homes and the dirtiest streets. Why is that so? Because, our conception of a clean home means, cleaning the inside and throwing the dirt right outside the house onto the streets. Somehow, the conception of the street as also belonging to us is not there at all. Similarly, we Indians seem to be incapable of ever identifying with public utility spaces. In this country you will find people bribing for any good reason on earth. No aim is low enough for a bribe here. The land which gave the world the grandest conceptions of Selfless activity and Maximum good of the maximum number of people today ranks very high in the list of corrupt nations. And all of us do nothing about it apart from having deep learned discussion about the state of affairs over a cup of coffee! Is there a connection between Brahmacharya & Nation-building? Swami Trigunatitananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishnai, was of the opinion that Brahmacharya was to be observed not only by spiritual aspirants, but by every person. Every virtue needed by a citizen is lodged in Brahmacharya. Swami Vivekananda once said, It is owing to this want of Brahmacharya that everything is on the brink of ruin in IndiaChastity is the life of a nation. Do you not find in history that the first death-sign of a nation has been unchastity? When that has entered, the end of the race is in sight. This observation of Swami is of great value for India. What did Swami mean by this? Every responsible citizen of India ought to think deeply on these great sayings of Swami Vivekananda. The idea that every virtue that makes a man great, consequently, that makes a Nation great, is lodged in Brahmacharya has to be driven deep down into our minds. There is an urgent necessity for doing this. Sacrifice for the common weal: Consider, for instance, the following words of Swami: The idea of the sacrifice for the common weal is not yet developed in our nation. Why has this not developed? Because the blood has become weak due to lack of Brahmacharya. Hence he says: The one tendency will be to strengthen the man, to make the blood pure, the body vigorous, so that it will be able to resist and throw off all external poisons. We have seen that our vigor, our strength, nay, our national life is in our religion.That is the life of our race and that must be strengthened. He further added, Whether you believe in spirituality or not, for the sake of the national life, you have to get a hold on spirituality and keep to it. Then stretch the other hand out gain all you can from other races, but everything must be subordinated to that one ideal of life; and out of that a wonderful, glorious, future India will come I am sure it is coming a greater India than ever was. Sages will spring up greater than all the ancient sages; and your ancestors will not only be satisfied, but I am sure, they will be proud from their positions in other worlds to look down upon their descendants, so glorious, and so great. Let us all work hard, my brethren, this is no
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time for sleep. On our work depends the coming of the India of the future. So, spirituality has to be cultivated, at least for the sake of our national existence. And how can spirituality be cultivated if there is no Brahmacharya? Consider again, the urgent problem of oppressive, all-round weakness in us. He says, In spite of the greatness of the Upanishads, in spite of our boasted ancestry of sages, compared to many other races, I must tell you that we are weak, very weak. Shraddha & National Development: Then there is the glaring absence of Shraddha in us: Why is it that we three hundred and thirty millions of people have been ruled for the last one thousand years by any and every handful of foreigners who chose to walk over our prostrate bodies? Because they had faith in themselves and we had not. We have lost faith. Would you believe me, we have less faith than the Englishman and woman-a thousand times less faith!...this Shraddha is what I want, and what all of us here want, this faith in ourselves, and before you is the great task to get that faith. Give up the awful disease that is creeping into our national blood, that idea of ridiculing everything, that loss of seriousness. Give that up. Be strong and have this Shraddha, and everything else is bound to followthis loss of Shraddha has made us terribly dependent, weak, and slavish in our attitude to life. The whole national character is one of childish dependence. They are all ready to enjoy food if it is brought to their mouth, and even some want it pushed downyou do not deserve to live if you cannot help yourselves.you must always remember that every nation must save itself, so must every man, do not look to others for helpyou must not depend on any foreign help. Nations, like individuals, must help themselves. This is real patriotism. If a nation cannot do that, its time has not yet come. It must wait. Our immediate need, as a nation, is to rouse this Shraddha in ourselves. We want Shraddha; we want faith in our own selves. Strength is life, weakness is death. We are Atman, deathless and free; pure by nature. Can we ever commit any sin? Impossible! Such a faith is needed. Such a faith makes men of us, makes gods of us. It is by losing this idea of Shraddha that the country has gone to ruinwhat we want is this Shraddha. Unfortunately, it has nearly vanished from India, and this is why we are in our present state. What makes the difference between man and man is the difference in this Shraddha, and nothing else. What makes one man great and another weak and low is this Shraddha. This Shraddha must enter into you. Whatever of material power you see manifested by the Western races is the outcome of this Shraddha, because they believe in their muscles, and if you believe in your spirit, how much more will it work! Believe in that infinite soul, the infinite power, which, with consensus of opinion, your books and sages preach. That Atman which nothing can destroy, in It is infinite power only wanting to be called outbeing a conquered race, we have brought ourselves to believe that we are weak and have no independence in anything. So, how can it be but that the Shraddha be reawakened, and then only, all the problems which face our country will gradually be solved by ourselveshave faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we needhave faith that you are all, my brave lads, born to do great things!

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Business sense, National Development & Brahmacharya: Another quality we need to develop in ourselves is purity in our practical dealings: All combined efforts in India sink under the weight of one iniquity we have not developed strict business principles. Business is business, in the highest sense, and no friendship or as the Hindu proverb says, Eye-shame should be there. One should keep the clearest account of everything in ones charge and never, never apply the funds intended for one thing to any other use whatsoever even if one starves the next moment. This is business integrity. Can it not be argued that political means can by themselves bring about National Development? Swami says, No. no amount of force, or government, or legislative cruelty will change the conditions of a race, but it spiritual culture and ethical culture alone that can change wrong racial tendencies for the betterone must admit that law, government, politics are phases not final in any way. There is a goal beyond them where law is not needed. Christ saw that the basis is not law, that morality and purity are the only strengthyou have the saying that men cannot be made virtuous by an act of parliament; the Chinese experienced it before you. And that is why religion is of deeper importance than politics, since it goes to the root, and deals with the essentials of conductwhat guarantee have we that this or any civilization will last, unless it is based on religion, on the goodness of man? Depend on it; religion goes to the root of the matter. If it is right, all is right meddle not with so-called social reform, for there cannot be any reform without spiritual reform first. None can regenerate this land of ours without the practical application and effective operation of this ideal of the oneness of things. The truths of the Upanishads are before you. Take them up, live up to them, and the salvation of India will be at hand. All healthy social changes are the manifestations of the spiritual forces working within, and if these are strong and well adjusted, society will arrange itself accordingly. Go back; go back to the old days when there was strength and vitality. Be strong once more, drink deep of this fountain of yore, and that is the only condition of life in India. We have already seen that all these urgent requisites needed by us to bring about real development of our nation, each one of them is a by-product of Brahmacharya. Hence, practice of Brahmacharya by all of us is imperative for National Development. ******************** One should not think that Brahmacharya is to be observed only by the pious; it is equally efficacious to those who do not care for religion, who do not believe in God, or transmigration of the soul, or in the Vedas. Because the six treasures as they are called, viz-control of the senses & mind, forbearance, abstinence, faith and mental concentration-all of which are included within Brahmacharya-are of the highest value to those who want their own good and that of their country, be they materialists or unbelievers in salvation or in the hereafter.
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