Imperial Assaults Quotes

“Vivekananda's impressions had overwhelmed him, and he reacted by scolding his Madras disciples to emphasize the distance they still had to travel in comparison. He told them to hide their 'faces in shame' and called them a 'race of dotards, who spent hundred of years ... discussing the touchableness of this food or ... promenading the sea-shores with books in [their] hands - repeated undigested stray bits of European brainwork, and the whole soul bent upon getting a thirty-rupee clerkship ...' He implored them to come out of their 'narrow holes and have a look abroad ... to see how nations are on the march,' and called for sacrifice, especially for the poor and downtrodden, and acknowledged that the English 'had been the instrument' of breaking a 'crystallised civilisation' to force India, and especially her young men, to change. Both Hirai and Vivekananda regarded imperial assaults not as victimization alone, but also as opportunities for re-creation.”
― Ruth Harris, Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda