Hello, friends! All of us know Swami Vivekananda. But very few people truly understand his ideologies. What was Swami Vivekananda's opinion on eating beef, alcohol, astrology and similar things? You'd be shocked to know. In today's history video, come, let's delve deep into it. In my last video on Swami Vivekananda, I left a cliffhanger. So let's start today's video by clearing that up. I told you that Swami had said that you'd be closer to heaven, if you'd play football rather than reading the Gita. Had this been said today, they will instantly be labelled to be anti-Hindu. But what did Swami Vivekananda mean by this line? Here, he was actually talking about weakness. Both physical and mental weakness. He didn't ask you not to read the Gita. He said that before you read it, you need the strength to do so. Physically as well as mentally. Only if you have the strength, you will be able to better understand the Gita and the Upanishads. And to gain this strength, you need to remove the physical and mental weakness within yourself. To remove the physical weakness and to gain strength, he said that one needs to have a nutritious diet. You need to eat healthy foods, and do physical exercises regularly. Like playing football. Only then you'd become physically strong. In our lives as well, we can learn from this. Today, many people have an unhealthy diet. Eating packaged food or eating out. This needs to be avoided as much as possible. And home-cooked meals should be eaten. Even at home, try to have a variety of food. Buckwheat, tapioca, different types of grains, ragi, bajra, corn, Eat organic food, In addition to it, do physical exercise too. Nowadays many people complain that they don't get the time to exercise, so in a day, exercise for at least 15 minutes a routine that makes you sweat. That's better than not exercising at all. A certain level of physical strength is very important if you want to study well. That's all about the physical weakness. What did Swami Vivekananda mean by mental weakness? He said that mental weakness is basically due to two things. Superstition and mystery-mongering. First, let's understand superstition. Blindly believing something. Swami Vivekananda believed that over the last decades, there had been a dangerous degradation in the religion. People had been debating for decades over how one should drink a glass of water. With the right hand or the left? What kind of clothes should one wear? What food should one eat? Whether one should touch a certain thing or not. He said that it is a shame on humanity that people have come up with excuses and explanations for even the most rotten superstitions. "On one hand, you have a person that mocks the ancient sages. According to him, the entire Hindu ideology is complete rubbish. On the other hand, there's the one that brings up omens, good and bad, for everything. All the superstitions in his community, he gives philosophical, metaphysical and God knows what kind of explanations for it. According to him, all the superstitions in his village are rooted in the Vedas. You need to avoid this. I believe that rather than being such a superstitious idiot, it is better to be an atheist. Because an atheist is alive. He can do something. But if you're caught up in superstitions, you're mind would die. The quality of life starts declining." Even today, you can see such superstitions everywhere. Most of the religions today are full of such rituals and superstitions. The second mental weakness in Swami Vivekananda's opinion is mystery-mongering. This basically means the people that make religion and spirituality a mystery. And spin useless tales around these. Like a fraudster saying that he is a mystic. Claiming to have mystical knowledge "don't question what I do, just accept everything I'm saying." And then some 'Baba' comes and tells you to have green chutney with samosas to get blessed. And people believe all of it. People believe in this even more when the fraud 'Baba' starts speaking in English. Some 'Baba' says that if you glare at the water, then the molecular composition will change. Will H2O become H3O? There are numerous examples where scientific facts die a slow and painful death. This basically means that you paint the superstitions to look like a spiritual mystery. Some Babas claim that one shouldn't wear black clothes because it attracts negative energy. Does that mean that the people with darker skin tones are always negative? Many times they use scientific facts, the quote them but with a generous amount of their pseudoscience mixed in it. And then claim that at the edge of science, their spiritual knowledge begins. Friends, Swami Vivekananda was a staunch rationalist. A questioning realist. Not only did he consider things like superstitions and mystery mongering to be weaknesses, but he also compared them to degradation and even death. "Beware of mystery mongering. There is no mystery in religion. What's the mystery in the Vedas, Vedantas, Literature, Holy books? Our knowledge of nature is limited. That's why some things seem supernatural to us. But none of these things is a mystery. On this land, never have we been taught that the truths of the religion are mysteries. Or that they are the property of some secret society residing at the peak of the Himalayas. I have been to the Himalayas. You didn't because it is hundreds of miles away from your home. I'm a hermit and I've walked around for 14 years. There is no such secret society anywhere." Talking about astrology, Swami Vivekananda believed that the Greeks had brought astrology into India. And the science of astronomy, they learnt it from the Hindus and carried it back. Friends, there is a very important distinction between astronomy and astrology. Astronomy means the scientific study of the universe outside the Earth. As in if you study planets, stars and space,
if you research them, that's known as Astronomy. Like the astronomers. We had ancient astronomers in our country like Aryabhatt. But on the other hand, astrology means, to predict the future based on planets and stars. Swami Vivekananda made fun of astrology. He said that if a star in the sky, could disturb his life, then that star is worthless. He did acknowledge that some people were good at making predictions, but it did not mean that they were making predictions based on the stars in the sky. It could simply be mind reading. Friends, on this topic, I had made an interesting video 2 years ago. On astrology and mind-reading. This is the video. Do check out this video after watching this one. I'll put the link to it in the description below. "Astrology and mystery mongering is a sign of a weak mind. When weak people lose everything, and find themselves to be weak, then they opt for every strange way to make money. They go to astrologers and things like this. He is a coward and an idiot who says that it was his fate. But a strong person, stands up knowing that he would make his own fate. Ageing people talk about fates. The youngsters don't go to astrologers. That's why whenever things like astrology and mystery-mongering start infecting our minds, we should visit a doctor. Eat well and rest as well." If you want to know more about Swami Vivekananda's life, then I would definitely recommend this audiobook on KUKU FM. KUKU FM is a brilliant audio-learning platform where on can get audiobooks and hundreds of historical biographies on influential personalities. Normally, there is a 20% discount on KUKU FM if you use the DHRUV20 coupon code. But because of the ongoing Diwali special sale, you can use the DIWALI50 coupon for 50% off. This sale will be live till 7th November only. So go and access their entire library, and in this Diwali, light up your knowledge as well. The link is in the description below. Now returning to our topic. Friends, let's talk about cow-worship now. Today, many people in our country consider cows as mothers. They worship cows. And very often, these are the same people who worship Savarkar. Consider Savarkar to be a great person. So I'll begin this topic with a fun fact. Did you know what Vinayak Savarkar had to say about cow worship? He had said that cows are useful animals. We should care for cows. But to worship an animal that sits in its own dung, is a humiliation for humanity. He questioned how could some people use the cow's urine and dung to purify. How could people think them to be 'pure.' And Savarkar wasn't the only one. Dr Ambedkar had a similar opinion on this. But even before Savarkar and Ambedkar, Swami Vivekananda was the person to have spoken up about it openly. In the year 1900, he gave a lecture in California. Where he said this. "You'd be shocked to know that according to the old traditions, a person that didn't eat beef wasn't considered a good Hindu. On several occasions, it was important to sacrifice a bull and eat it." In a different discussion, he had said that there used to be a time when a Brahmin wouldn't be considered a Brahmin if he didn't eat beef. In 1897, Swami Vivekananda returned from America. And visited Priyanath Mukhopadhyaya's home. There, someone from the cow protection society had come to meet him. The man who had come told him that they protect the cows from the butchers. That they buy the weak cows from the butchers and keep them in the stables and care for them. Swami Vivekananda said that it was a good endeavour and asked about their source of income. Then the man replied, that men like him contribute to them. Then Swami Vivekananda asked him about the terrible famine in central India, where people were starving to death and the death toll had crossed 900,000 so many people had died of hunger if their society had done anything to help them at all. The man then replied that their society is for protecting cows only. They protect cows, not humans. Swami Vivekananda called it disgraceful that with so many people starving to death, they are doing nothing to help them when they can. Then the man justified it by saying that the famine was because of the people's Karma. This enraged Swami Vivekananda. "The associations that have no compassion for humans, that see their brethren starving to death, and still don't donate even a fistful of rice, when for birds and animals, they arrange a feast, I have not even an ounce of compassion for them. And I don't believe that society benefits from them. If you use Karma as justification, you say that people are dying because of their Karma, then it is to be concluded that in this world, it is useless to work hard and struggle for anything. The work that you're doing to protect the animals, is no exception. The same can be said for your work as well. That the cow is in the hands of the butcher because of her Karma. And gets killed. And so we don't need to intervene in this either." Swami Vivekananda said that if he had money he would use it for humanity first. To provide food and good education to people. To give them spirituality. And then if some money remained, only then could he give their society any money. With this, let's move on to our next topic. What was Swami Vivekananda's opinion on alcohol? Friends, alcohol is an interesting topic. Many people think that they'd lose their religion if they drink alcohol. And it's not in Hinduism only. It's seen in many religions. In some, because of drinking alcohol,
in some because of eating meat. And because of smoking in some religions. Before I tell you about Swami Vivekananda's opinion on this topic, I would like to clarify one thing, drinking alcohol and smoking are injurious to health. I don't consume either of these neither do I endorse these. And neither did Swami Vivekananda endorse them. But his point regarding these was based on virtue and sin. As I told you at the beginning of the video, you shouldn't eat packaged food. Because it is unhealthy. But I didn't tell you that you shouldn't eat unhealthy food because it is a sin. Or that it would bring negativity towards you. Swami Vivekananda had a similar opinion on meat, alcohol and smoking. Swami Vivekananda had said that fanatics are full of hatred. 90% of the fanatics lead a horrible life. If you distance yourself from these fanatics, then you would have sympathy for even an alcoholic. You'd understand that even a drunkard is a human, like you. "Then, you'd try to understand all the situations that are dragging him down. And you'd feel that had you been at his place, you might have committed suicide. I'm reminded of a woman her husband was an alcoholic. She complained to me about her husband becoming so. I replied, "Madam, if 20 million wives became like you, then all husbands would become alcoholics." Swami Vivekananda had an American friend. Mrs Jonson. She was a police superintendent. She objected heavily to Swami Vivekananda's habit of smoking. Swami Vivekananda replied to her saying "Mrs Ashton Jonson believes that any spiritual man shouldn't be sick. She also feels that my smoking is a sin. But I am what I am. Were I so flexible that I could become whatever someone wanted me to be. But unfortunately, I am yet to see a person that can please everyone." Obviously, don't see it as an excuse since Swami Vivekananda used to smoke,
you'd be justified in doing so too. It is not so. It is very harmful to your health. And in fact, Swami Vivekananda had once told his disciples, that smoking is not good. And that he was trying to overcome this habit. About meat-eating. Swami Vivekananda loved to eat meat. In fact, one of his favourite food was Hilsa (Ilish) fish with Malabar spinach (Pui-Saag). When he went to America, the first time he had fish with a family there, he wrote about his experience of this to his friend in a letter. "Yes, I know. Shankaracharya has said that food is for the senses. Whereas Shri Ramanuj has taken food to mean nourishment. In my opinion, we should take that meaning that matches with both of them. Will we spend our entire lives debating this? Which food is pure and which is not? Or will we ever exercise to focus our senses?" Swami Vivekananda was furious at how religion was limited to the pressure cooker. People couldn't look at the truth beyond it. He compared it to a fruit. About how we are arguing over its skin and forgetting about the fruit inside the skin. Now let's talk about Swami Vivekananda's opinion on priestcraft. The fake Babas and molvis and priests that go around basically the self-proclaimed guardians of the religions. Swami Vivekananda believed that priest-craft is tyrannical, cruel and heartless. He said that things like these should be eradicated from the world. He said that Buddha was also strictly against priest-craft. "Priests think that there is a God. But it is possible to understand or reach that God only through them. You donate money in God's name, worship God, and leave everything up to God. In the world's history, this priest-craft could be seen time and again. This unquenchable thirst for power. Like the thirst of a tiger. It seems like it is a part of human nature. The priests overpower you, create thousands of rules for you, they tell you the simplest of truths in the most roundabout way they can. They tell you stories to show their superiority over you. You are made to follow many rituals and traditions. These make life so complex, they confuse the mind so much, that if I tell you everything clearly, you wouldn't like it. You'd go home disappointed." He believed that after ages of superstitions and tyranny, priest-craft was born. He said that they won't give it up themselves and will always be against progress. So it is up to the people to eradicate priest-craft from their society. They have to take the control of their lives into their own hands. Listening to all of this, you can understand why Swami Vivekananda liked Budhha so much. He believed that Budhha was the greatest human to ever live on the Earth. "He was the only one who did not aim to gain any power. The other great people said that they were reincarnations of God. And the ones to believe in them, will go to heaven. But what did Budhha say even till his last breath? "No one can help you. Help yourself and build your path to enlightenment yourself." "Help yourself." Budhha gave control of the lives of people into their own hands. He had given people freedom and confidence. Similarly, Swami Vivekananda encouraged people to stand on their own feet. To be brave. He had also given people some principles to adopt. Friends, after listening to all of Swami Vivekananda's ideologies and understanding them, your biggest question would be, What is Hinduism? Swami Vivekananda rejected everything that is often associated with this religion. Done away with superstition. No to any Mystery. No more Food Code about what one should and shouldn't eat. No Dress Code. No priest-craft and believing in the priests. No worshipping Cows. So what is religion? For Swami Vivekananda, Hinduism is a set of principles. The principles were laid down in the Upanishads and the Gita. He considered them to be the real scriptures. In his opinion, the Smritis and the Puranas are full of fallacies and mistakes. And the people to write those had limited intelligence. He believed Ram, Krishna, Budhha, Chaitanya, Nanak and Kabir were the true embodiments. With hearts as vast as the sky. So the true embodiments and the true scriptures, which principles do they talk about? Friends, all of them are based upon I am Brahma and so are You. Meaning everything has God in it. There is God in every being. It means that the principles that we should adopt are compassion, sympathy, universalism, equality, and liberty. As simple as that. If you listen to Swami Vivekananda's speech, the one he gave in Chicago, You'll see all these principles within his first few sentences. "I bless you so that your arrogance over your race, creed, birth, religious merit disappears forever." But nowadays, many forms of ill-will can be seen among the people. Sexism, casteism, raceism, xenophobia, communal hatred, classist attitude, These need to be forsaken. I hope that today's episode forces you towards the right path. Look at your life. Where can you bring improvements and eradicate these negative things from your life? Let's meet in the next video. Thank you very much.
