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People Introduction Whenever the name Vivekananda is mentioned most of us have a mental picture of a Swami sitting in meditation with his eyes closed, in ochre robes and turban. Alternatively, we have also seen the picture of a man with stern penetrating eyes, with his arms folded across his chest on our walls. It has been more than a hundred years since his death, but Indians have great admiration for him as he was the first Indian to represent Hinduism in the west.
He was a contemporary of Gandhi but the two were polar opposites. While Gandhi shunned everything western as untruth and bad, Vivekananda thought he could rejuvenate and uplift the poor in India with the help of the west. To this end he partly succeeded. He was able to introduce Hinduism in a different light to the western society. The philosophy as proposed by Vedanta was also introduced by Vivekananda to the west. To some extent his success and identity was because of his recognition in the west. He had a large following in America, especially women. They were devoted to his cause and helped him set up his Vedanta Societies in America and Britain. He restored a sense of pride among Indians about their ancient religion by dispelling the myths among the westerners that Hinduism was an abhorrent caste-ridden, misogynistic, idolatrous religion. His Hindu evangelism helped people of the west to understand Hinduism as a serious religion and not some exotic, remote and occult religion of the east. Amazingly, he achieved all this in only four short decades before he died of apoplexy at age 39! He truly believed that he could not rest until the last unfortunate human being has been helped. His personal desire for salvation could wait as long as there is suffering in this world. He rebelled against the injustice of the caste system in Hinduism and scolded priests and princes alike, if they discriminated based on the reviled caste system. To him the ideal society would be a mixture of Brahmin knowledge, Kshatriya culture, Vaisya efficiency and the egalitarian shudra ethos. Domination by any one of the castes led to imbalance and chaos. But it is impossible to understand a man by only following his words, spoken as well as written, and a few black and white pictures. First, one needs to know the man (Narendranath Dutta) before knowing the swami (Vivekananda). Here is a brief biography of his childhood days, his training under Sri Ramakrishna and the rest of his brief adult life. We meet a brilliant man with nagging self-doubt about his duty to his family against his personal ambition of God-realization. His self-doubt even extended to his monastic life when he was conflicted whether he should renounce everything and go into self-realization on his own terms, or if he should follow the path of a karma yogi and work to uplift the downtrodden masses in India. We meet a man who had taken the vow of renunciation but did not believe in being out of touch with people and did not believe in sitting idly in his ashram. Instead he travelled across India and abroad, feeling the joy and sadness of his followers, interacting with them at all times. Vivekananda was as dogmatic in his beliefs as pragmatic in his methods. He was convinced that mere bhakti (devotion) was like compassion without hands, meaning nothing good comes out of it for the society. Karma yoga was his calling and he was also convinced that his guru, Sri Ramakrishna had specifically wanted him to serve the poor. His desire to help everyone else before his own realization is reminiscent of the Bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism, who would not attain nirvana unless all the others were led to a path of salvation. This was the ultimate sacrifice of Vivekananda. God, though everywhere, can be known to us in and through human character. He was an admirer of both Buddha and Jesus Christ. He has left a legacy behind in the form of many charitable organizations called Ramakrishna Mission and monastic orders called Ramakrishna Math throughout the world. His movement has inspired the youth of India and many Vivekananda Study Circles (VSC) have been established, wherein spiritual ideas and their practical applications are discussed. Many Vivekananda youth societies are busy working with the poor and the underprivileged with education, health and other basic needs. Vivekananda’s success in Parliament of Religions at Chicago became a legitimizing force of Indian spiritual culture against colonialism. This also gave an early impetus for later independence movement in India resulting eventually in ousting the British rule. It also brought the message of Universalism to the forefront along with the wisdom of Vedanta. But Vivekananda was not universally accepted during his short lifetime, neither by all Americans nor by Indian Hindus. There were controversies and lack of support for his mission on both lands. He had longed for acceptance and love when he was in the west but the anticipated accolades and support from India came only after much prodding by his followers both in Calcutta and Madras. Much is known about Vivekananda from his letters to his followers, while he stayed abroad. He also wrote regularly to his American friends. His life and his teachings were well documented first in America by his followers, who were mostly women. His honest words of truth make volumes. He wrote to Mary Hale of Chicago, Josephine MacLeod, Sara Chapman Bull (his American Mother), Christine Greenstidel (later Sister Christine, who wrote Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda) and to Margaret Noble (Sister Nivedita, author of The Master As I Saw Him). Great historical work by Marie Louise Burke (Sister Gargi), Swami Vivekananda in America: New Discoveries, has thrown much light into the life and times of Vivekananda. Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana (Leona Katz) published The Life of Josephine Macleod: Friend of Swami Vivekananda and The Life of Sara Chapman Bull: The American Mother of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Nikhilananda’s Vivekananda: A Biography is a detailed study of him from an Indian’s perspective. Swami’s younger brother Bhupendranath Dutta has chronicled his early family life in his book Swami Vivekananda: A Patriot-Prophet – A Study. Another publication with a wealth of information is The Life of Swami Vivekananda: by his Easter and Western Disciples (Advaita Ashrama), first published in 1912. December 14, 2008 Swami Vivekananda – The Man and His Mission
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