A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"You""OTHE TRUE METHOD OF SOCIAL*.REFORM.-,,-54 /was Da<Ju ? Who were all these great preachers, onef ottowing the other, a galaxy of stars of the first magnitude?Did not Ramanujafeel for the lower classe1/? "Did not hetry all his lif$ to admit even the Pariah to his community ?Did he not try to admit even Mahomedans to his ownfold ? Did not Nanak confer with Hindus and Maho-^neflans, and try to bring about a new stage of things ?Thfcy all tr^d, and their work ison. Thegoing^difference is tfcis. They had not the fanfaronade of thereformers o to-day ; they had not the curses on theirtips the modern reformers have. Their lips pronouncedonly blessings. They never condemned. They saidunto the people that the race must always grow. Theylocked back and they said, Hindus, what you havedone is good, but my brothers let us do better." Theynot say, You have been now let us be good."wicked,<lidThey said, have been good, but let us now bebetter." That makes a whole world of difference. Wemust grow according to our natural growth. Vain it is toattempt the lines of action foreign societies have engraft--edupon us. Impossible it is. Glory unto God that it isimpossible, that we cannot be twisted and tortured intothe shape of other nations. I do not condemn the institutions of other races; they are good for them, but not forfor us. Thisus. What is meat for them may be poisonis the first lesson to learn. With other sciences, othe?institutions and other traditions behind them, they havegot their present systems. We v/ith our traditions, withthousands of years of karma behind us, naturally, we canonly follow our own bent, run in our own grooves, and thatwe shall have to do.