Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), an Indian thinker and humanist, was born into a wealthy Calcutta family of a prominent lawyer. The family was distinguished by education and freedom of thought. Vivekananda was exposed at an early age to the works of Spinoza, Descartes, Voltaire, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Comte, Mill, Darwin, and others, whose works were discussed at meetings of the intelligentsia held in his father's house. Subsequently, he corresponded with Spencer (one of the "lords of doom" in Europe), who had a serious influence on Vivekananda. However, later, when his own religious, philosophical and social concept began to form, he abandoned Spenserianism.

Vivekananda received an excellent education at the University of Calcutta, where he developed a wide range of interests, studying disciplines related to a wide variety of fields of knowledge: from physiology and medicine to music theory. He also gained fame as a poet. Vivekananda's meeting with Sri Ramakrishna, a prominent religious reformer of Hinduism, should be considered a turning point in his development as a thinker. Vivekananda devoted his entire life to popularizing his teachings (the collected works of Vivekananda in Russian library collections are presented in an eight-volume volume in English and a small volume of materials in Russian). One of the cornerstones of Sri Ramakrishna's teaching is the idea of the potential divinity of a person who should be worshipped in the specific form that is inherent in each of the individuals:

"People are more valuable than all the riches of the world "(1, p. 37). This approach, which is akin to an anthropological twist in Kant's philosophy, is revolutionary for nineteenth-century India - the worship of a particular person in Hinduism was not observed until then.

In the public life of India at the end of the last century, the contradictions between the indigenous population and the British colonialists became more acute. Vivekananda, who firsthand (when his family went bankrupt after his father's death) experienced the situation of the Indian lower classes, actively joined the national liberation movement. Some researchers believe that he was preparing to create a party of revolutionaries. Vivekananda is preoccupied with India's position in the world community, its transformation into a strong and independent state, the improvement of the situation of the masses, liberation from colonial and feudal oppression; he calls himself a "socialist". Among the reasons for the decline of India, Vivekananda points out, and the lack of proper upbringing and education of individuals, physical and spiritual weakness, inertia.

With the aim of educating and uplifting the masses, Vivekananda and his associates established branches throughout India of the Ramakrishna Mission, which has missionary, educational and charitable functions and is still active in many countries.

At the turn of the century, the United States held a Congress of Religions, one of whose delegates was Vivekananda. His speech at the Congress made a deep impression on the participants; they discovered the horizons of Indian wisdom, the ideas of the synthesis of religions. Vivekananda is invited to give lectures in England, he visits France, he gains a lot of experience.

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students. The Russian public also expected his arrival (which did not take place). Vivekananda envisioned Russia (or China) as the future driver of humanity. The scientist spent the last years of his life in India, focusing on mentoring and organizational work. The life path of S. Vivekananda is reflected in the works of R. Rolland (see 2).

According to the testimony of J. R. R. Tolkien. Nehru, Vivekananda is one of the great founders of the national liberation movement in India. The influence of his ideas on the growth of the national consciousness of the Indian people is still felt today. The idea of nonviolence is known to have been derived by M. Gandhi from L. Tolstoy, but it is less well known that L. Tolstoy himself considered S. Vivekananda to be his teacher. The ideas of the synthesis of religions (while preserving their identity) and reconciliation of classes, which Vivekananda preached, are also relevant in the modern world.

Ramakrishna Mission offices are currently open in many countries in Europe and America. The monks of the Mission in India conduct extensive charitable activities. In Russia, there is a "Vivekananda Society" with similar functions.

Modern Oriental and social science, philosophical thought of the West is widely based on the works of Indian authors (Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, M. Gandhi, etc.). It should be noted that in Russia acquaintance with the work of S. Vivekananda began in the XIX century. Before the outbreak of the First World War, his works were published in mass editions in Russia, and Leo Tolstoy included them in his famous "Reading Circle".

S. Vivekananda's creative work has been analyzed by such well-known experts as B. S. Kostyuchenko, R. B. Rybakov and others. In V. V. Brodov's book (3), a separate chapter is devoted to the consideration of the thinker's sociological views. The theory of personality disposition in Vivekananda's view was considered by us specifically (4).

This article attempts to carry out a sociological interpretation of Vivekananda's theory of social action. The Indian thinker's consideration of problems related to the analysis of social well-being in the context of understanding the content of socio-ethical categories (good, evil, success, strength, etc.) makes the appeal to Vivekananda's work relevant for Russian readers in connection with the recent growth of social stratification in the country, as well as the strengthening of the tendency to social selfishness among the most the rich part of society.

Existential foundations of social well-being

Social well-being of subjects - participants of interaction can be defined as their reflection on the rational and sensory level of the measure (completeness) of the realization of their interests. Traditionally, feelings of happiness and joy are considered an indicator of positive social well - being, while anxiety (fear), aggression, and frustration are considered negative indicators: "Happiness and unhappiness are the consequences of people's relationships" (5, p. 13).

It is important that feelings of happiness and unhappiness accompany the process of self-fulfillment of subjects (including the individual). The relationship between self-fulfillment and happiness is complex and depends, as we will try to show, on the subject's chosen strategy of interaction with the social environment and with natural objects.

According to Vivekananda (see 6), the actions of any subject are based on the desire (conscious or unconscious) for freedom, which, in this understanding, is synonymous with happiness. Social freedom is represented as the freedom of self-realization of the subject, the realization of his interests.

Conflicts of interests between individuals and social groups caused by attempts to realize the desire for individual freedom permeates the entire human history: "Take the history of the human race... we see the same sufferings and joys in him from the earliest times to the present... the same differences in social positions... some are rich, some are poor, some are high, some are low, some are healthy, some are sick " (6, p. 75). The desire for equality in the modern sense (which would mean the end of all development in general, since development implies the presence of a potential difference), according to Vivekananda, is dictated by fanaticism, but in itself, it is still an incentive for the development of society. Apparently, Vivekananda was very critical of contemporary socialist ideas. It seems that repeated visits to the West dictated his negative attitude to the characteristic bourgeois society's focus on consumption. At the same time, he highly appreciated the development of industry in the West.

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There are two ways of understanding happiness, says Vivekananda: 1) as pleasures and good luck (pleasure), which are short-lived (cf. (7)); 2) as a special kind of knowledge, which results in inner strength, confidence, allowing you to acquire the necessary social characteristics. Individuals who are focused on cooperation in social interaction ("collaborators" - pursuing both their personal and corporate interests, as well as general human interests) According to Vivekananda, they strive to get rid of slavery in their life practice, and "rivals" (pursuing only their own personal and corporate interests) - to acquire a certain status and prestige. "Spiritual knowledge (we are talking about wisdom (complex vision of problems), - A. P.) is the only thing that can destroy our misfortunes forever... A spiritually strong and healthy person will be strong in all other respects, if he so desires. As long as a person does not possess spiritual strength, even his physical needs cannot be properly met" (6, p. 27). Further, in terms of importance, Vivekananda has: 1) intellectual knowledge; 2) vital possibilities (including life itself).

Both pleasure and spiritual knowledge need to be realized. It is all about the ways of this realization: Vivekananda points out the presumption of low status and prestige in the acquisition of wisdom-suffering teaches better than pleasure: "Evil and good shape character to varying degrees... In studying the great characters that have appeared in the world, we will note that in the vast majority of cases, grief taught more joy, poverty taught better than wealth, and blows aroused the inner fire better than praise " (6, pp. 7-8). Spiritual knowledge and the pursuit of pleasure are largely mutually exclusive.

The motivations of activity are different, but people tend to have an aberration of consciousness: the finite is seen as infinite and meaningful. Even the afterlife society appears as a continuation of the present, but with a greater number and intensity of pleasures, while the acquisition of spiritual knowledge-the basis for a stable positive social well - being-is associated with suffering. This is how humanity refuses to grow spiritually.

Spiritual and moral organization of society

Vivekananda finds modern society in the pursuit of wealth and prestige. The poor are not needed by anyone, except as a means for the rich to achieve their goals. However, Vivekananda considers the spiritual and moral organization of society to be more important than the status organization. He identifies four types of individuals in any society:

1) god-men who believe that the sole purpose of their activities is to realize the interests of all participants in social interaction, even at the cost of their own lives;

2) "good people" who take into account the interests of all participants in social interaction, but as long as this does not interfere with the realization of their own interests;

3) people who harm the interests of other participants in social interaction for the sake of realizing their own interests;

4) people who take pleasure in intentionally obstructing the interests of other participants in social interaction.

The first two layers are and. They refer to "collaborators", God-men are represented by units, maybe dozens of people, " good people "are not numerous, however," great people known to us are only secondary heroes in comparison with the greatest people who have remained unknown to the world... Silently they "[the greatest. - A. P.] live and silently go away; and in time their thoughts find expression in the minds of" geniuses "and" talents", and these latter we only know. The highest men do not seek glory... It is not their nature to do so. They belong... harmonies and can't make any noise... Then there is the category of people who have more... activities... militant natures that take up the ideas of perfect people and preach them to the world " (6, pp. 70-71).

The nature of activity - the nature of social well-being

Is there a connection between them? Yes, Vivekananda believes. The scientist adheres to an approach that is generally considered subjectivist in the Western tradition. The way of perception of life events determines the social well-being of the individual: "life seems good or bad, according to the state of mind that occurs when a person is not happy."

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life itself is neither one nor the other" (6, p. 47). Young people tend to be optimists, while older people tend to be pessimists due to the inability to satisfy the whole set of desires.

Rivalry brings unhappiness because of a certain inner attitude:"...There is no act of love that does not bring peace and inner contentment... love never comes if there is no freedom... 99 % of humanity works as slaves ,and the result of such work is misery; all this is selfish work... This is equally true for work for relatives and friends, as well as for work... for yourself" [6, p. 32]. Egoism, in this sense, is identical to the worst of all types of slavery - slavery in relation to one's own desires: "nothing in the world has power over the individual" I "of a person until it loses its independence due to its own unreason..." (6, p.58). As for the cooperative individual, "success or failure does not cause a change in his mind; under all conditions, he remains equally unshakable" (ibid.).

The basis of uncontrolled desires (pleasure) and, accordingly, ambition, is, according to Vivekananda, shortsightedness and its consequence - weakness: "We all tend to think too highly of ourselves. Our responsibilities are determined by our merits to a much greater extent than we are willing to admit. Competition breeds envy and kills the benevolence of the heart. For a grumbling person, all duties are unpleasant; nothing satisfies him, and his whole life is doomed to failure... for a worker who has achieved dispassion, all duties are equally good and are tools that kill egoism and sensuality and ensure the freedom of the soul " (6, p. 43). Vivekananda cites the characteristic features of competing individuals (constant dissatisfaction, competition, envy, ambition, unwillingness to fulfill duties due to their position in society) and cooperating individuals (humility as the opposite of aggression, perception of situations and responsibilities as instruments of affirmation in the direction of cooperation).

Rivalry is characterized by a refusal to accept responsibility, which is caused by the fear of change (as E. Fromm later clearly showed [see 8]), a possible loss of status and prestige, which is even prescribed in some religious practices: as soon as the individual really takes on real responsibility, " nature forces repeated blows... find it quickly... a real place. No person can occupy a position to which he is not adapted without harm to himself and others " (6, p. 39). (It seems that since in modern society power is determined by social status and prestige, which is often portrayed, individuals prefer not to take responsibility.) However, Vivekananda points out that an individual should be evaluated not by status and prestige (the nature and characteristics of the duties performed by him), but by competence (the nature of the performance of duties). Anxiety, according to Vivekananda, induces physical and spiritual weakness, low competence: "Fear is a sign of weakness" (6, p. 24). That is why they attach so much importance to the development of forces in a person.

Power

First, it is dangerous to reflect on one's own weakness: "... constant self-condemnation would create more evil than any other weakness. Before a person who begins to hate himself, the doors of degeneration open. The same can be said about the whole nation " (6, p. 16). In particular, Vivekananda places the responsibility for the weakening of the people on the priestly class, which is concerned with increasing its prestige by declaring people difficult to correct sinners." Rivalry can also be directed against the subject himself, as for example, in the case when personal interests are replaced by corporate ones: "we are inactive because we are connected either by some ideas or by a simple dullness of feelings" (6, p.14).

Further, weakness may be a consequence of an activist position that tends to absolutize human activity. And Vivekananda's observation received factual and later reflexive (E. Fromm points out that being active does not mean being productive) reinforcement in the West. Help to the environment can be provided only in a relative sense, if we take into account the fact that all products of human activity are subject to destruction. Therefore, "all

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help consists in exercising ourselves morally" (6, p. 46). The absolutization of the character of activity is nothing more than an ambition aimed at gaining a certain prestige, and the consequence of incompetence is that strength is only portrayed.

Secondly, Vivekananda believes that the implementation of cooperation, which initially requires strong-willed efforts, causes an increase in consciousness, an increase in intelligence, which helps to perceive and comprehend life's problems. Experienced realities give rise to an aspiration that gives you efficiency (competence + will). (In competition ,the "circle""turns" in the opposite direction: lack of will - unconsciousness-incompetence /ignorance/ - lack of will.) " The great self-control required by selfless work is a greater manifestation of strength than any other... Every outward force that follows the selfish impulse is immediately exhausted; it does not return... when restrained, it results in the development of strength. This self-control builds a strong will, a powerful character... people do not know this secret, yet they strive to rule over humanity" (6, p.12). There is nothing more difficult than to act without waiting for an increase in status and prestige. A coward becomes a brave man and a fool becomes a hero when people approve and praise them - in modern society, as a rule, status and prestige determine the individual's behavior.

The focus on cooperation can be provided by a certain level of competence and the will associated with this level; competence is associated with the choice of interaction strategies and the volitional component.

Thus, we can conditionally represent the ratio of strength (will), competence and choice of interaction strategies as follows:

- <- Interaction Strategy < - - - > Competence < - - - > Strength - > -

As mentioned above, the layer of cooperating individuals in society is insignificant (including in the Russian one [see 9]), so for the average person, "the only way to ascend is to fulfill the next next duty. Gaining power in this way. we are gradually reaching the highest state" (6, p. 41), competence in work, generational reproduction and the exercise of power.

Debt

According to Vivekananda, society is built on the principle of gradualism. Accordingly, there are different levels of duty and morality, corresponding to a certain status, strategy of interaction, etc. The duty of one level should not be the duty of another: "one class of society thinks that some things fall within the scope of its duties, while the other layer... he would have been in despair if he had been forced to do so" (6, p. 15). At the same time, since the psychology of an individual is largely determined by the attitudes of his layer, then following the ideal of the layer is reasonable. Over the course of a lifetime, however, the debt requirements change repeatedly. And the actions of the individual should be considered in accordance with his specific actual personal, group and universal duty. According to Vivekananda, the rational ideal of an individual's life in the absolute sense consists in acquiring a commitment to cooperation.

In layers marked by rivalry, it becomes a duty to pursue the narrow-group and personal interests of the participants in the interaction. However, as Vivekananda shows, if at the initial stage of personal development strategies for gaining economic power, power, and prestige are not implemented while ignoring the nature of interaction, then the implementation of the strategy of cooperation (wisdom, peace, clarity of mind, self-denial) is impossible. Only with experience does the individual come to understand that status and prestige are subject to the nature of social interaction as their ideal expression.

The understanding of duty by rival individuals is distinguished by the low prestige of the honor codes of groups that are not similar to the code of the evaluating group: "the good disposition of these people is usually enclosed in the framework of their own language and their own customs" (6, p.38). This dictates, for example, the attitude towards foreigners and, conversely, the behavior of foreigners (sailors, merchants, missionaries, colonizers) when visiting. Vivekananda has a low opinion of the" spiritual civilization " of the West, including the British, as opposed to its material civilization.

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Debt, understood in this sense, does not bring satisfaction due to obstacles that arise from other participants in the interaction who protect their interests. Less friction occurs in the family, here the debt is easier to "bear".

According to Vivekananda, in modern society, debt is often just a crystallized addiction. It is also a desire to realize the interests of certain fragments of society that are not necessarily relevant to society. This predilection encourages, does not give respite: "This is the life of a slave who finally falls down in the street and dies in the harness like a pack horse" (6, p. 69). At home, individuals also think about this activity that binds them. Debt " becomes, so to speak, a chronic disease... Then the whole world fights, and people sincerely rob each other of this debt. Duty is good because it moderates rudeness. For the lower categories of people who are not able to create another ideal for themselves, it is useful" (6, p. 69).

For the cooperative individual, who recognizes the multiplicity of types of debt and the correspondence of certain types of debt to certain subjects of interaction, there is the most respected duty - the duty of the mother, because it is based on selflessness. As well as universal debts:

1) desirable for all - not causing harm to the participants in the interaction (as far as possible);

2) the householder (the most common status), who must initially acquire a certain qualification (knowledge); the weak, sick, children, women, relatives, fellow countrymen and simply those who have applied for help depend on the householder (Hindu morality, however, prohibits advertising their status to increase prestige. As well as to communicate with individuals with significantly different orientations in social interaction, in particular, to avoid competing individuals, but to seek contact with cooperating ones). The debt of a householder does not change with political changes; an individual can be judged not by how he creates savings (social capital), but by how he disposes of these savings. Such "socialism" is also more adequate to modern conditions of existence.

Conclusion

In society, there is a formal legal system. But Vivekananda believes that only the authorities (external force)really control people's actions as an attribute of rivalry and charity (an attribute of cooperation).

Rivalry has an obligatory consequence of struggle and violence. Vivekananda makes a paradoxical conclusion for Western activism: the foundations of all activity, as it is understood in modern society, are in competition. The activity is aimed at gradually improving social well-being.

A cooperating individual (in its pure form) would not be able to act at all, and the determination of modern society is devoid of any value for him. However, according to S. Vivekananda, positive social well-being of the subject can only be ensured by the individual's commitment to the strategy of social cooperation.

list of literature

1. Vivekananda S. On India and her Problems / Advaita Ashrama. 1946.

2. Rolland R. The Life of Vivekananda. Collected works Vol. 19. L? 1936.

3. Brodov V. V. Istoki filosofskoy mysli Indii [The origins of Philosophical Thought in India]. Moscow, 1990.

4. Prusak A. I. P. Bourdieu - S. Vivekananda: Dialog through the century / / Ontosynthesis of social reality / Ed. Dudchenko B. C., Moscow, 1998.

5. Verma D. P. Yoga of Reason, Moscow, 1994.

6. Vivekananda S. Izbrannoe [Selected works]. Magnitogorsk, 1992.

7. Fromm E. To have or be? M? 1990.

8. Fromm E. Escape from Freedom. N. Y., 1941.

9. Voronin G. V. Dukhovnaya organizatsiya lichnosti i obshchestva [Spiritual organization of personality and society]. Cand. diss. Moscow: ISAN, 1996.

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