Hindu Unity and Pride: Vivekananda’s Legacy for Our Age

By Vinay Nalwa

“Mark me, then and then alone you are a Hindu when the very name sends through you a galvanic shock of strength. Then and then alone you are a Hindu when every man who bears the name, from any country, speaking our language or any other language, becomes at once the nearest and the dearest to you. Then and then alone you are a Hindu when the distress of anyone bearing that name comes to your heart and makes you feel as if your own son were in distress.”(The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. 3, p. 379, The Common Bases of Hinduism)

The latest film on Bengal brings back memories of the forgotten massacres of Hindus in Noakhali and Kolkata. The atrocities the world ignored, leaders hushed up, and history books glossed over. For those who watch the movie, the pain feels personal. As if the wounds of our own brothers and sisters have been reopened. I too had to dig deep into forgotten chapters to uncover the horrors of Noakhali and Calcutta. What I found was a painful revelation. The cries of Hindu men, women, and children silenced in those massacres are not just stories of the past. They still echo within us when we choose to listen.

It is in this moment of remembrance that Swami Vivekananda’s Lahore address, delivered nearly 128 years ago, strikes with renewed force. There he gave one of his most stirring definitions of Hindu identity beyond ritual or sect. His words remain a call for unity and the courage to transform remembrance into collective responsibility.

The Common Basis of Hinduism, delivered in Lahore on the evening of 5 November 1897 after his return from the West. Welcomed warmly by both the Arya Samaj and the Sanatana Dharma Sabha, he delivered three important lectures during this visit — The Common Bases of Hinduism, Bhakti, and Vedanta. Among these, his address on the Common Basis of Hinduism stands out as a timeless call for Hindu unity, spirituality, and resurgence.

Vivekananda began the speech by recalling the sacredness and heroism of Punjab, the land of five rivers. This was, in his words, the land that bore “the brunt of all inroads and invasions into India.” Despite centuries of turmoil, he noted, its spirit had not been broken. Here arose saints like Guru Nanak, who opened his arms to embrace all humanity, and Guru Gobind Singh, who shed his blood for the cause of Dharma with unmatched valour. For Vivekananda, this was not a land of despair but of resilience, a symbol of the unbroken continuity of India’s spiritual life.

Standing before his audience, Vivekananda declared that he had not come to highlight differences but to seek agreement and unity. “For criticism the days are past,” he proclaimed. “The time has come for rebuilding and reconstruction.” He recognized that the previous century had witnessed a flood of criticism of customs, institutions, and traditions much of it necessary, even salutary. But now, he urged, the focus must shift from fault-finding to nation-building. The task was to gather India’s scattered spiritual forces and channel them toward progress.

With his characteristic candour, Vivekananda addressed the word “Hindu.” He refused to accept it as a term of reproach. Instead, he insisted, Hindus must transform it into a name that stands for all that is “glorious and spiritual.” He confessed that he was one of the “proudest men ever born,” not for his personal achievements, but because of his ancestors, those illustrious forebears who laid the foundations of India’s spiritual heritage. By reclaiming this pride, he urged, Hindus could recover the courage and conviction necessary to guide the world.

Vivekananda saw spirituality as the indestructible jewel of India’s life. Centuries of invasions and persecution could not erase it. Unlike many civilizations that vanished, Hindu civilization endured and even thrived. “So long as we hold on to this grandest of all our inheritances, spirituality,” he said, “there is no power under the sun that can kill the race.” For him, this was not just one aspect of life, but the very essence of being Hindu.

The Common Principles of Hinduism

Vivekananda’s message was not abstract philosophy, it was survival wisdom. He reminded us that beyond sects and rituals, Hindus are bound by timeless truths, the Vedas, faith in the Divine, the eternity of nature, and the immortal soul. Quarrels among sects, Vivekananda warned, were a shame upon those who claimed descent from such tolerant and inclusive ancestors.

For Vivekananda, the task before Hindus was clear: to preach these unifying principles, to spread the idea of God in every form, and to strengthen national life through spirituality. He saw the nation’s future not in political power or economic dominance but in the consolidation of its spiritual forces. National union, he affirmed, must be “a gathering up of its scattered spiritual forces.”

Enduring Relevance

More than a century later, Vivekananda’s message still resounds. At a time when divisions like social, sectarian, or ideological continue to challenge Hindu society, his call to return to the common bases of Dharma is both urgent and inspiring.

In his Lahore lecture, Vivekananda offered not just a vision of unity but a roadmap for Hindu society: constructive work rooted in pride, resilience, and spirituality.

Hindus today are scattered across the world, some facing persecution, others striving to preserve sanskar. Yet, as Vivekananda said, to be Hindu is to feel strength in the name, to embrace every Hindu as one’s own, and to stand with the vulnerable. His call for regeneration remains our call unity in bhakti, strength in Dharma.

What he spoke for his century remains our charge today to live as one Hindu family.

(I would urge every reader to go beyond these lines and read Swami Vivekananda’s full Lahore lecture, “The Common Bases of Hinduism” (The Complete Works, Vol. 3). His words still breathe strength and unity, reminding us what it truly means to live and stand as one proud Hindu family.)

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