Netaji – An Intellect Par Excellence

“Forget not that the grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong. Remember the eternal law: you must give if you want to get.”

~ Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Generally, while talking about Netaji we focus on the important role played by him during independence, but we many times forget that besides being a national leader and a vigilant freedom fighter, he was also a great intellect.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

The thought and action of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose were highly influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s ideals, especially his philosophical ideas about reconstructing the nation, and thence, he described him as the maker of modern India.

Netaji mentions in one of his writings that he was barely fifteen when Vivekananda entered his life through the many books he read of him and thereafter led to a huge transformation in him and his thought process.

He was also greatly impacted by the preachings of Swami Vivekananda’s guru, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whose principles centered on the gospel of unity of all religions and the cessation of inter-religious strife.

Even, in many of his speeches, Netaji delivered the message that the foundation of the present freedom movement owes its origin to Swamiji’s message i.e., if India is to be free, it cannot be a land especially of Hinduism or of Islam—it must be one united land of different religious communities inspired by the ideal of nationalism.

He insisted, that we must all strive above the religious barriers and believed in the universal idea of Swami Ji i.e., Freedom, Freedom is the song of the Soul.

Netaji Was Greatly Inspired By Swami Vivekananda

He also mentions in one of his jottings that “Swamiji harmonized East and West, religion and science, past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen have gained unprecedented self-respect, self-confidence, and self-assertion from his teachings.”

However, today even after 65 years of Independence, the question that time and again comes up is “Are We Really Free?” I say so because the freedom that our honorable martyrs wanted was envisioned to be one with a much greater perspective than only being restricted, though mainly, to freedom from the colonial rule.

They interpreted freedom as freedom from poverty, freedom for religious strife, freedom from gender, caste and class biases, and above all freedom from the manacles of narrow, conservative, and restricted mind-set.

Netaji And The INA

But even in today’s modern-day scenario, the many incidents taking place around us – be it religion being drawn into politics, liberalism being restricted, cases of perverted mindsets, stereotypical behaviors, social evils, etc… all indicate that we are not completely free.

Thus, let us not only try to remember him but alongside, also try to inculcate the message he gave us years ago and implement it in the modern-day society, visualizing him as a scholar of greater spiritual and philosophical ideals besides being a martyr, who believed in the synchronization of religion, science, and philosophy to tackle the evils existing in the society – be it food deprivations, mismanagement of resources, pitiable poverty or misuse of power.

We must, thus, all come together and hand in hand fight the malice existing around us which would otherwise prove to be a hindrance not only to the development and growth of our nation but also to the well-being of the people living in it.

Netaji – An Eternal Inspiration For All

Today, as a country we have all the resources, manpower, and the required skills to drive towards what is referred to as a “Super Nation” but in the words of Netaji “ Men, money and materials cannot by themselves bring victory or freedom.

We must have the motive-power that will inspire us to brave deeds and heroic exploits” and only then, I think, will we be able to move towards a nation where Ram-Rahim will be the same, fraudulent gurus wouldn’t exist, poverty and starvation would perish and the darkness of self-obsession, lure of money and ignorance will see the light of knowledge, wisdom and selfless service to the society…

Ex. President Of India Dr. Abdul Kalam Says: