Ranade’s great message was a severe but timely warning to the excessive zeal of certain Indian reformers, and has helped a great deal in giving a new orientation to Indian reforms. This brief sketch of Ranade may be concluded with the eulogy of C. F. Andrews: “Ranade comes nearest to Raja Rammohan Roy and Sir Syed Khan among the reformers already mentioned in the largeness of his range of vision and the magnanimity of his character; but he was more advanced than either of them in the width of his constructive aim, his grasp of the principles underlying Western civilisation, and his application of them to Indian conditions.”
The Brahma Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj were largely products of ideas associated with the West, and represent the Indian response to Western rationalism. Far different in character were two other reforming movements, which took their inspiration from India’s past and derived their basic principles from her ancient scriptures.
The Arya Samaj
The first in order of time is the Arya Samaj, founded by Svami Dayananada Saraswati (1824-1883). He was a good Sanskrit scholar but had no English education. His motto was ” Go back to the Vedas “. He wanted to shape society on the model of the Vedas by removing all later outgrowths. He not only disregarded the authority of the later scriptures like the Puranas, but had no hesitation in declaring them to be the writings of selfish, ignorant men. His basic standpoint was, therefore, exactly that of Raja Rammohan Roy, and the detailed views of both were, to a great extent, similar. Like the Raja, Dayananda believed in one God and decried polytheism and the use of images; he also raised his voice against the restrictions of caste, child-marriage and prohibition of sea-voyage; and encouraged female education and remarriage of widows. He began the Suddhi movement, i.e. conversion of non-Hindus to Hinduism–which has since become such an important feature of the Hindu reform movement. The Suddhi movement was undoubtedly meant to “realise the ideal of unifying India nationally, socially and religiously.” Like Raja Rammohan, Dayananda published his views through printed books, his most famous work being Satyartha Prakas, “which expounded his doctrine and formulated it as a doctrine sui generis “. Unlike Raja Rammohan, however, Dayananda preached directly to the masses, and did not confine his teachings to an intellectual elite. As a result, his followers rapidly increased in number, and his teachings took deep root, especially in the Punjab and the United Provinces.
Although Dayananda started from the same basic principle as Raja Rammohan, he lacked the critical spirit of the latter. He claimed that “any scientific theory or principle which is thought to be of modern origin may be proved to be set forth in the Vedas”. On an ultimate analysis his general principle amounts to this, that “the Vedas, as interpreted by Dayananda, contain all the truth”. The interpretation of Dayananda, however, differs widely from the traditional Hindu as well as the modern Western exegesis. In spite of his obvious limitations, Dayananda undoubtedly proved a dynamic force in Hindu society. His appeal to the masses, which was attended with splendid success, was an eye-opener to all reformers, social, religious and political, and the social and educational work done by him and his followers has achieved solid results. His work was continued after his death by his followers, chief among whom were Lala Hansraj, Pandit Guru Dutt, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Svami Sraddhananda.
The Arya Samaj did not, however, escape the rationalism of the present age. Already there was a growing section among it, which recognised the value of English education and was inclined to a more liberal programme. Its chief exponent was Lala Hansraj and its visible symbol the Dayananda Anglo-Vedic College of Lahore. As a countermove to this we may point to the famous Gurukul of Hardwar, founded in 1902, which seeks to revive the Vedic ideal in modern life.
It may be noted, in conclusion, that Dayananda, at the beginning of his career, tried to come to terms with the Brahma Samaj and a Conference was held in Calcutta in 1869 with that end in view. Nothing, however, came of it, and the Arya Samaj ultimately overwhelmed and absorbed the Brahma Samaj movement in the Punjab, where, in Lahore, a Brahma Samaj had already been started in 1863.
The Ramakrishna Mission
The synthesis of the two great forces, the ancient or Oriental and the modern or Western, marks the Ramakrishna Mission, the last great religious and social movement which characterises the nineteenth century. Ramkrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886), after whom the Mission is named, was a poor priest in a temple at Dakhinesvar near Calcutta. He had scarcely any formal education, Eastern or Western, worth the name, but led an intense spiritual life in his splendid isolation. He had a deep faith in the inherent truth of all religions and tested his belief by performing religious exercises in accordance with the practice and usages not only of different Hindu sects, but also of Islam and Christianity. His broad catholicity, mysticism, and spiritual fervour attracted a small number of occasional visitors, mostly from Calcutta. He lived and died as a secluded spiritual devotee, unknown except to a comparatively small group of people. To them he expounded his views in short pithy sayings and admirable parables. Most of these were collected and published before his death, and many other works about him and his sayings have been published since then.
The most famous among his disciples, and the one most beloved of the guru, was a young graduate of the Calcutta University named Narendranath Dutta, afterwards famous as Svami Vivekananda (1863-1902). It was he who carried the message of Ramakrishna all over India. His learning, eloquence, spiritual fervour and wonderful personality gathered round him a band of followers, which included both prince and peasant. With their help, and after untold sufferings, he attended in 1893 the famous ” Parliament of Religions “at Chicago, and at once made his mark. His speeches at that august assembly and other places in U.S.A. and U. K. brought him fame and friends, and from that day the teachings of Ramakrishna, as interpreted by Svami Vivekananda, came to be recognised as a world force. Ramakrishna missions and monasteries came to be established in different centres in the United States, and after the return of the triumphant hero to his country they spread all over India.
The Ramakrishna Mission stands for religious and social reform but takes its inspiration from the ancient culture of India. It holds up the pure Vedantic doctrine as its ideal, and aims at the development of the highest spirituality inherent in man; but at the same time it recognises the value and utility of later developments in Hinduism such as the worship of images, and the modern developments in natural sciences and technology. Ramakrishna demonstrated in his own life not only the compatibility of the worship of the goddess Kali with the highest spiritual life, but even something more than that, viz. that the worship of images may be utilised as an excellent means of developing the highest spiritual fervour in man. But he laid his finger on the real source of abuse in present-day Hinduism, viz. mistaking the external rituals for the essential spirit, the symbol for the real.
