Practical Vedanta synthesises the outer and the inner

The strong point of the Indian tradition is, as we have seen, its vision of the spiritual dimension of the human personality, and the scientific tradition of religion in which this vision is embodied. Stressing as it does the spirit of seeking and inquiry, and upholding experiment and experience as the criterion of true religion, the Indian tradition frees religion from all dogmatic and creedal limitations and blends with the spirit of modern science. This Indian spiritual tradition has within it the energy and the power to deepen the scientific humanism of the modern West. The Western tradition, similarly, has the energy and the power within it to broaden the scope of the Indian tradition, channeling its blessings from a small minority of the spiritually gifted to the millions of ordinary men and women. This synthesis of the inner and the outer, of the sacred and the secular, had already been achieved in the plane of thought in the unifying philosophy of Vedanta, and especially in its great formulation, namely, the Gita. Its achievement in the plane of the work-a-day world is what Vivekananda gave to modern India as his unique contribution in his philosophy and programme of Practical Vedanta, and what the nation is engaged in ever since.

Our programme of material improvement of the country does not necessarily commit us to the philosophy of materialism. On the other hand, our spiritual philosophy, as Vivekananda pointed out, considers involuntary poverty to be unspiritual and commits us to the improvement of the material condition of the people with a view to improving their spiritual life. This is the meaning of his plea for what he terms a “toned down materialism” for India. “I do not believe in a religion”, Says he, “Which cannot wipe the widow’s tears or stop the orphan’s wails" again, “even if a dog goes hungry in my country, my religion will be to find food for that dog”.

EXTRACTS FROM: Eternal Values for a Changing Society Volume III – Education for Human Excellence; 1 – India's Educational Vision (Pg:16-17; ed. 1995)
This was the address delivered at the Calcutta University Convocation on February 15, 1966.