Democratic Administration in the Light of Practical Vedanta

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India today is at the cross-roads. We are in a curious predicament. The observe of the coin is bright, the reverse grim. We are heirs to a glorious civilization whose mighty stream has been flowing uninterruptedly down the millennia, enriching and ennobling all on its path. Fifty years back we have also recovered our political independence from the largest empire the world has seen, and that without firing a singly shot-something unique in history. Yet chaos stalks the land. Things are falling apart. Values cherished over the centuries are getting eroded. In a country of rich natural resources the poverty of the masses is abysmal. The haves exploit the have nots in a hundred ingenious ways. Women and the weaker sections of society reel under injustice and handicaps. Corruption is rampant. Mindless violence maims and destroys the precious lives of the innocent. The sensitive citizen finds himself asking, Whether India? Democracy is the spirit of this age and India happens to be the largest democracy in the world. Hence greater is the responsibility of India to be the kindly light leading the comity of nations as in earlier epochs. In a democracy the quality of the administration counts a lot. If the administration is just and impartial, strict in principles and liberal in execution, the concept of the welfare state will no longer be a pious platitude. How this can be achieved is the thrust of this latest book of Swami Ranganathananda who has been a globe trotter of the last half a century, addressing elite audiences in the East and the West on practical politics leavened by spirituality. Democratic Administration in the Light of Practical Vedanta is a nosegay of seven lectures delivered by the swami on various occasions from 1968 to 1986 to gatherings of administrators in cities as wide apart as Thiruvanantapuram and New Delhi. This was published in1996 with the first six lectures. In this revised edition one more lecture is added and the size of the book made bigger.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Swami Ranganathananda

Born in village of Trikkur, Kerala State, on December 15, 1908, Swami Ranganthananda joined the Ramakrishna Order, the international spiritual and cultural movement founded by Swami Vivekananda, at its branch in Mysore in 1926. He was formally initiated into Sannyasa in 1933 by Swami Shivananda, one of the eminent disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and the second President of the Order. After spending the first twelve years in the Order's branches in Mysore and Bangalore, the first six years of which as cook, dishwasher and house-keeper and later as warden of student's hostel, he worked as Secretary and librarian at the Ramakrishna Mission branch at Rangoon- from 1939 to 1942, and thereafter as President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Karachi, from 1942 to 1948. From 1949 to 1962, he worked as the Secretary of the New Delhi branch of the Mission, and from 1962 to 1967, he was the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Cultural Studies, and Editor of its monthly journal. From 1973 to 1993 he was President of Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad and from 1994-1998 he was Vice President of Worldwide Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Now he is its President, and stays at Belur Math. He has undertaken extensive lecture tours form 1946 to 1972 covering 50 countries. Form 1973 to 1986 he visited annually Australia, USA, Holland and Germany. In 1986 he was awarded the first Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.