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Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda, who represented the spiritual side of the modern Indian Renaissance in the late nineteenth century, was not only a spiritual guide but ‘the prophet of Indian Independence’, a bridge-builder between the East and the West, a fiery patriot to whom patriotism meant ‘feeling’ for the starving masses of India and finding a practical solution to remove their poverty and ignorance, and an organization-builder for translating his ideals of spirituality, sacrifice and service into practice.
Of him, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose said: "He was so great, so profound, so complex. A Yogi of the highest spiritual level in direct communication with Truth, who had, for the time being, consecrated his whole life to the moral and spiritual uplift of his nation and of humanity - that is how I would describe him. If he had been alive I would have fallen at his feet. Modern India is his creation " if I err not." The philosopher - statesman, Shri C.
Rajagopalachari, looked upon him as the saviour of Hinduism and India. "But for him," he said, "we would have lost our religion and would not have gained our freedom."
It can be rightly said of Swami Vivekananda that any chronological review of his life and work would do scant justice to the man, ‘the giant in spirituality’.
Born on January 12, 1863, in Calcutta, of Shri Vishwanath Datta (an attorney) and Bhuvaneshwari
Devi, Narendranath Datta (as Swamiji was christened) had his early education at home. He graduated from the Presidency College in 1884 and took his law degree in 1886. But destiny had willed that he was to become not a lawyer of great repute but patriot-saint trumpeting to the world the greatness of Indian (philosophical) spiritual tradition. The turning-point in the life of the self-proclaimed ‘rationalist and agnostic’ came when Narendra met Sri Ramakrishna an came under his spiritual influence in 1881. The master found in the disciple ‘a great soul perfect in meditation’.
Following the Mahasamdhi of Sri Ramakrishna
(August 16, 1886) and at the Master’s behest, Narendra formed an association of like-minded
young men intent on self-realization at Baranagore in 1886. In 1888, he started on his Parivrajaka life, wandering round the country as a
sannyasin, meeting all kinds of people including his mentor, Pavahari Baba. In 1892, sitting on a piece of rock at
Kanyakumari, Swamiji (he was called then Vividishananda and
Satchidananda) hit upon a plan of ‘giving back to the nation its lost individuality and raise the masses’. His opportunity came in the form of a visit to the U.S. where, at Chicago, he addressed the Parliament of Religions on September 11, 1893 and became famous overnight. He spent the next four years in America and England, broadcasting the message of Vedanta, particularly of
Advaita.
Returning to India, Swami Vivekananda (the name he assumed on the eve of his departure to the U.S. on May 31, 1893) founded the Ramakrishna Mission (May 1, 1897), and the Ramakrishna Math at Belur (January 2, 1899) and the Advaita Ashrama (1899). Swamiji visited England and America again during 1899 - 1900 but returned much shattered in health due to relentless traveling and lecturing on India, Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta. He ‘retrieved the most abstruse points of the Vedanta from the domain of mere speculation by a vital something which seemed to emanate from him.' (Swami
Tapasyananda).
The brilliant light that was Swamiji went out at 9 p.m. on July 4, 1902, when he had not even completed four decades of mortal existence. But Swamiji lives in the institutions he has built and in his speeches and writings (collected in 8 volumes).
"Sastras, the Guru, and the Motherland - are the three notes that mingle themselves to form the music of the works of
Vivekananda".
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