• “ In the Western home, the wife rules. In an Indian home, the mother rules. If a mother comes into a Western home, she has to be subordinate to the wife; to the wife belongs the home. A mother always lives in our homes: the wife must be subordinate to her. See all the difference of ideas.[Source]
• In the Western world the idea of a religious man is that he never smiles, that a dark cloud must always hang over his face, which, again, must be long drawn with the jaws almost collapsed. People with emaciated bodies and long faces are fit subjects for the physician, they are not Yogis. It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties. And this, the hardest task of all, the cutting of our way out of the net of Maya, is the work reserved only for giant wills.[Source]
• It seems, however advanced the Western nations are in scientific culture, they are mere babies in metaphysical and spiritual education.[Source]
• Just as the Western ideal is to keep up luxury in practical life, so ours is to keep up the highest form of spirituality, to demonstrate that religion is riot merely frothy words, but can be carried out, every bit of it, in this life.[Source “
Comment
Those who had been exposed to the views of European colonialism on Eastern religions, and the cultures and societal values of Asian peoples may be interested in some of the views on the West by a highly respected Hindu of an earlier generation. I offer these as a matter of interest.
The above extracts are from an Internet site titled ‘Swami Vivekananda quotes.’
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 