A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"Onwell.A certain young man of little ^understanding use"""IAN APPEAL TO INDIANS. 579tmost to its well-being; do you give up yourdesire ofindividual pleasure for the good of the many." .^On one s;de, New India is saying, If \ve o^nly adopt*Western ideas, Western language, Western food, Westerndress ani Western manners, we shall be as strong andpowerful as the Western nations".;on the other, Old Indiai$ saving, iFools by ! imitation, other s ideas never becomeones own, nothing, unless earned, is your own. Doesthe ass in the lion s skin become the lion ?",^Qn one side, New India is saying,"What the WesternnJbions do are surely otherwise g^ood,how did they becomeso great?" the other side, Old India is saying, Theflash of lightning is intensely bright, but only for a moment;l*i/k out, boys, it is dazzling your eyes.Beware !"Have we not then to learn anything from the West ?Must we not needs try and exert ourselves for better things?Are we perfect ? Is our society entirely spotless, withoutany flaw? There are many things to learn, we muststruggle for new and higher things till we die, struggleis the end of human life. Sri Ramakrishna used to say,Fata din bdncki, tata din sikhi" "Aslong as I live, solong I That man or learn."thai? society, which has nothingto learn, is already in the jaws of death. Yes, learn wemust many things from the West, but there are fears asalways to blame Hindu Shastras before Sri Ramakrishna.One day, he praised the Bhagavad-Gita, on which SriRamakrishna said, Methinks, some European pandit hap.,praised the Gita, and so he has also followed suit."O Inflia, this isyour terrible danger. The spell ofimitating the West is getting such a strong hold upon you,that what isgood or what is bad, is no longer decided by