Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (Bengali: Bibekānondo; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendra Nath Datta (Bengali: Norendro Nath Dot-to), was an Indian Hindu monk and chief disciple of the 19th-century saint Ramakrishna.
He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.
He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
Born into an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined towards spirituality.
He was influenced by his guru, Ramakrishna, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to mankind.
After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India.
He later travelled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions.
Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe.
In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint and his birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day in India.
Vivekananda believed that a country's future depends on its people, and his teachings focused on human development.
He wanted "to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest".
Vivekananda believed that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in the Vedanta philosophy, based on Adi Shankara's interpretation.
He summarised the Vedanta as follows:
Each soul is potentially divine.The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free.
This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.
Vivekananda linked morality with control of the mind, seeing truth, purity and unselfishness as traits which strengthened it. He advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and to have śraddhā (faith).
Vivekananda supported brahmacharya (celibacy),believing it the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence. He emphasised that success was an outcome of focused thought and action; in his lectures on Raja Yoga he said, "Take up one idea.
Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone.
This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced".
Influence and legacy
Influence and legacy of Swami Vivekananda
Vivekananda revitalised Hinduism within and outside India, and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic reception of yoga, transcendental meditation and other forms of Indian spiritual self-improvement in the West.
Agehananda Bharati explained, "...modern Hindus derive their knowledge of Hinduism from Vivekananda, directly or indirectly".
Vivekananda espoused the idea that all sects within Hinduism (and all religions) are different paths to the same goal.However, this view has been criticised as an oversimplification of Hinduism.
In the background of emerging nationalism in British-ruled India, Vivekananda crystallised the nationalistic ideal.
In the words of social reformer Charles Freer Andrews, "The Swami's intrepid patriotism gave a new colour to the national movement throughout India.
More than any other single individual of that period Vivekananda had made his contribution to the new awakening of India".
Vivekananda drew attention to the extent of poverty in the country, and maintained that addressing such poverty was a prerequisite for national awakening.
His nationalistic ideas influenced many Indian thinkers and leaders. Sri Aurobindo regarded Vivekananda as the one who awakened India spiritually.
Mahatma Gandhi counted him among the few Hindu reformers "who have maintained this Hindu religion in a state of splendor by cutting down the dead wood of tradition".
The first governor-general of independent India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, said "Vivekananda saved Hinduism, saved India".
According to Subhas Chandra Bose, a proponent of armed struggle for Indian independence, Vivekananda was "the maker of modern India"; for Gandhi, Vivekananda's influence increased Gandhi's "love for his country a thousandfold".
Vivekananda influenced India's independence movement; his writings inspired freedom fighters such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Aurobindo Ghose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bagha Jatin and intellectuals such as Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Romain Rolland.
Many years after Vivekananda's death Rabindranath Tagore told French Nobel laureate Romain Rolland, "If you want to know India, study Vivekananda.
In him everything is positive and nothing negative". Rolland wrote, "His words are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Händel choruses.
I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of books, at thirty years' distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock.
And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in burning words they issued from the lips of the hero!"
Jamsetji Tata was inspired by Vivekananda to establish the Indian Institute of Science, one of India's best-known research universities.Abroad, Vivekananda communicated with orientalist Max Müller and scientist Nikola Tesla was one of those influenced by his Vedic teachings.
While National Youth Day in India is observed on his birthday, 12 January, the day he delivered his masterful speech at the Parliament of Religions on 11 September 1893 as the “World Brotherhood Day”.
In September 2010, India's Finance Ministry highlighted the relevance of Vivekananda's teachings and values to the modern economic environment.
The Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved in principle the Swami Vivekananda Values Education Project at a cost of INR1 billion (US$16 million), with objectives including involving youth with competitions, essays, discussions and study circles and publishing Vivekananda's works in a number of languages.
In 2011, the West Bengal Police Training College was renamed the Swami Vivekananda State Police Academy, West Bengal. The state technical university in Chhattisgarh has been named the Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekananda Technical University. In 2012, the Raipur airport was renamed Swami Vivekananda Airport.
The 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated in India and abroad. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India officially observed 2013 as the occasion in a declaration. Year-long events and programs were organised by branches of the Ramakrishna Math, the Ramakrishna Mission, the central and state governments in India, educational institutions and youth groups.
Bengali film director Tutu (Utpal) Sinha made a film, The Light: Swami Vivekananda as a tribute for his 150th birth anniversary.
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