26-05-2014, 02:28 PM
Swami Vivekananda's
Swami Vivekananda's.docx (Size: 18.86 KB / Downloads: 16)
INTRODUCTION
Swami Vivekananda's inspiring personality was well known both in India and in
America during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of
the twentieth. The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented
Hinduism. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as his
deep spiritual insight, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human
sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an irresistible
appeal to the many types of Americans who came in contact with him. People
who saw or heard Vivekananda even once still cherish his memory after a lapse
of more than half a century.
In America Vivekananda's mission was the interpretation of India's spiritual
culture, especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the religious
consciousness of the Americans through the rational and humanistic teachings
of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became India's spiritual ambassador
and pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New
World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and
science.
In his own motherland Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern
India and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness. To the Hindus he
preached the ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service to man
as the visible manifestation of the Godhead was the special form of worship he
advocated for the Indians, devoted as they were to the rituals and myths of their
ancient faith. Many political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their
indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda.
The Swami's mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind,
he strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation
of the Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda
had a direct and intuitive experience of Reality. He derived his ideas from that
unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them in the soul-stirring
language of poetry.
The natural tendency of Vivekananda's mind, like that of his Master,
Ramakrishna, was to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of
the Absolute. But another part of his personality bled at the sight of human
suffering in East and West alike. It might appear that his mind seldom found a
point of rest in its oscillation between contemplation of God and service to man.
Be that as it may, he chose, in obedience to a higher call, service to man as his
mission on earth; and this choice has endeared him to people in the West,
Americans in particular.
In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten
were devoted to public activities — and those, too, in the midst of acute physical
suffering — he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga,
Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu
philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired
letters in his own hand to his many friends and disciples, composed numerous
poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the many seekers who came to him for
instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks
EARLY YEARS
Swami Vivekananda, the great soul loved and revered in East and West alike as
the rejuvenator of Hinduism in India and the preacher of its eternal truths
abroad, was born at 6:33, a few minutes before sunrise, on Monday, January 12,
1863. It was the day of the great Hindu festival Makarasamkranti, when special
worship is offered to the Ganga by millions of devotees. Thus the future
Vivekananda first drew breath when the air above the sacred river not far from
the house was reverberating with the prayers, worship, and religious music of
thousands of Hindu men and women.
Before Vivekananda was born, his mother, like many other pious Hindu
mothers, had observed religious vows, fasted, and prayed so that she might be
blessed with a son who would do honour to the family. She requested a relative
who was living in Varanasi to offer special worship to the Vireswara Siva of that
holy place and seek His blessings; for Siva, the great god of renunciation,
dominated her thought. One night she dreamt that this supreme Deity aroused
Himself from His meditation and agreed to be born as her son. When she woke
she was filled with joy.
The mother, Bhuvaneswari Devi, accepted the child as a boon from Vireswara
Siva and named him Vireswara. The family, however, gave him the name of
Narendranath Datta, calling him, for short, Narendra, or more endearingly,
Naren.
Swami Vivekananda's.docx (Size: 18.86 KB / Downloads: 16)
INTRODUCTION
Swami Vivekananda's inspiring personality was well known both in India and in
America during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of
the twentieth. The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented
Hinduism. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as his
deep spiritual insight, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human
sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an irresistible
appeal to the many types of Americans who came in contact with him. People
who saw or heard Vivekananda even once still cherish his memory after a lapse
of more than half a century.
In America Vivekananda's mission was the interpretation of India's spiritual
culture, especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the religious
consciousness of the Americans through the rational and humanistic teachings
of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became India's spiritual ambassador
and pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New
World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and
science.
In his own motherland Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern
India and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness. To the Hindus he
preached the ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service to man
as the visible manifestation of the Godhead was the special form of worship he
advocated for the Indians, devoted as they were to the rituals and myths of their
ancient faith. Many political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their
indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda.
The Swami's mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind,
he strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation
of the Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda
had a direct and intuitive experience of Reality. He derived his ideas from that
unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them in the soul-stirring
language of poetry.
The natural tendency of Vivekananda's mind, like that of his Master,
Ramakrishna, was to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of
the Absolute. But another part of his personality bled at the sight of human
suffering in East and West alike. It might appear that his mind seldom found a
point of rest in its oscillation between contemplation of God and service to man.
Be that as it may, he chose, in obedience to a higher call, service to man as his
mission on earth; and this choice has endeared him to people in the West,
Americans in particular.
In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten
were devoted to public activities — and those, too, in the midst of acute physical
suffering — he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga,
Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu
philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired
letters in his own hand to his many friends and disciples, composed numerous
poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the many seekers who came to him for
instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks
EARLY YEARS
Swami Vivekananda, the great soul loved and revered in East and West alike as
the rejuvenator of Hinduism in India and the preacher of its eternal truths
abroad, was born at 6:33, a few minutes before sunrise, on Monday, January 12,
1863. It was the day of the great Hindu festival Makarasamkranti, when special
worship is offered to the Ganga by millions of devotees. Thus the future
Vivekananda first drew breath when the air above the sacred river not far from
the house was reverberating with the prayers, worship, and religious music of
thousands of Hindu men and women.
Before Vivekananda was born, his mother, like many other pious Hindu
mothers, had observed religious vows, fasted, and prayed so that she might be
blessed with a son who would do honour to the family. She requested a relative
who was living in Varanasi to offer special worship to the Vireswara Siva of that
holy place and seek His blessings; for Siva, the great god of renunciation,
dominated her thought. One night she dreamt that this supreme Deity aroused
Himself from His meditation and agreed to be born as her son. When she woke
she was filled with joy.
The mother, Bhuvaneswari Devi, accepted the child as a boon from Vireswara
Siva and named him Vireswara. The family, however, gave him the name of
Narendranath Datta, calling him, for short, Narendra, or more endearingly,
Naren.