Remembering Swami Vivekananda and His Clarion Call to the Nation

Remembering Swami Vivekananda and his Clarion Call to the Nation (Presented by ‘Swami Vivekananda 150th Birth Anniversary Celebration Committee’, IISc) ABSTRACT “I Have a Truth to Teach, I, the Child of God” : Mr. Bishwabandhu Chattaraj This talk highlights the truth Swami Vivekananda wanted to teach the entire human race. To trace the source of this truth, one has to go deep into the trainings he received from his Master Sri Ramakrishna on the real import of Advaita Vedanta with practical examples. Although Shankaracharya propounded his concept – “Brahman is the only truth, the world is unreal” long back, the theory of Advaita Vedanta was confined to only scholastic exercise among a few scholars. Vivekananda took a vow that he would make the teachings of Vedanta comprehensible to all the common house-holders. To translate his mission into practice he set out to travel length and breadth across the country on foot. He met people from all walks of life and realized their ignorance, misery and squalor. He was burning with a fierce desire to demolish this evil. Ultimately he reached Kanyakumari and swam across the sea to the last piece of land of our motherland, where he sat for continuous meditation and visualized the injunctions he received from his Master. He set forth his immediate tasks as organizing all his brother disciples to come under one roof top with the motto of service ‘for one's own salvation and for the welfare of the world’ and undertaking the enormous task of educating the Indian masses. For arranging the finance for this enormous task, he decided to proceed to America to join the Parliament of religion, which he had declined to do earlier when Maharajas of different estates had approached him. What happened in America is history now. He unfolded Neo-Vedanta – a spectacular interpretation of Advaita Vedanta – as to see God in every being and sent across the message of “Harmony and peace and not dissension”. “Education is the panacea of all evils” – A Way Ahead towards a Cleaner India : Mr. Adhip Chaudhuri In the present day world the dynamics of globalization and free market economy have brought in socio-economic changes making life full of stress. Moral and ethical values have declined. The gap between the affluent and the poor has widened. There is a feeling of insecurity all around. Religious intolerance, cultural exclusiveness and blind fanaticism are the order of the day. Swami Vivekananda had forewarned about these more than a century ago during his travel across India. He was deeply moved to see the appalling conditions of the masses. “Education is the panacea of all evils”, he said. Education is a process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, intellect is sharpened and helps a man to become self-reliant. He stressed on the education of women. He was against contemporary education which produced clerks only. Society can be reformed only by meaningful education of every individual – this message along with some interesting anecdotes from Swami Vivekananda’s life would be highlighted in this talk. Value of Education vis-à-vis Value Education – Swami Vivekananda’s Fundamental Thoughts on Education : Swami Atmapriyananda Education in the modern context has come to be dominated by information. How cleverly one can manipulate the mountain loads of varied information, one has accumulated, forms a major component of modern education, which has become insensitive to cultivation of higher emotions, richer perceptions and deeper sense of values. The so- called modern civilization might assign great value to this type of education, but does it really enrich the person, the human being with lots of psychological emotions to grapple with? In this context, this talk would focus on the Value education which inculcates in the educated person the ‘profound sense of the person’s own value’, an unshakable conviction that, in reality, it is the higher Self of a person that is the very source of all values. Roger Penrose’s prologue in his masterpiece ‘Emperor’s New Mind’ and Narada- Sanatkumara dialogue in ‘Chhandogya Upanishad’ come to mind in this context. Modern science and technology, in their mad pursuit of the outer, are increasingly throttled by the Frankenstein of their own production; they are thus turning a full circle towards the science of the inner Self. What Swami Vivekananda predicted more than hundred years ago appears to be fast realizable: “Science and religion will meet and shake hands. Poetry and philosophy will become friends. This will be the religion of the future, and if we can work it out, we may be sure that it will be for all times and peoples.” This realization of the Self, the Atman, as the ultimate source of values will engender a totally new weltanschauung and revolutionize all sciences including social sciences. Swami Vivekananda’s fundamental thoughts on education and their practical application in the present-day context thus assume increasing relevance for the resuscitation of the basic human values in education. Presentation on Swami Vivekananda and his disciples’ contribution in the foundation of IISc On a historic voyage in 1893, Swami Vivekananda, a young monk and seer, had his deep influence on Jamsetji N Tata, a great industrialist. This changed the mindset of Jamsetji regarding the spread of education and the uplift of the nation. It had far-reaching consequences in the history of Education in India. Besides the generation of a new vision, Vivekananda along with his disciples were also involved in the subsequent relentless support towards the fulfillment of this dream. Thus, their contribution in the foundation of IISc is truly noteworthy. Glimpses on this history would be presented with reverent remembrance. Swami Vivekananda’s Visionary Ideas on Awakening of India – A Socio-economic Perspective : Mr. Tarun Goswami After Swami Vivekananda’s success at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, Aurobindo Ghose, then a teacher at the Baroda College, wrote an article in ‘Induprakash’ which stated, “The going forth of Vivekananda marked out by the Master as the heroic soul, destined to take the universe in its two hands and change it, was the first visible sign that India is awake not only to survive but to conquer.” Annie Besant who was present at the World Parliament remarked that Vivekananda was the “blazing Indian Sun” in the cold weather of Chicago. After listening to Vivekananda, many Americans who were present in the auditorium said that “We are sending missionaries to his country; instead he should send to us.” His success had infused new gush of enthusiasm in Indian life and this was evident by the mass reception on his triumphal return from the West in 1897. He urged the common people to be self-reliant and reconfirmed his belief that the hope of India was from the masses. To rebuild the nation, Vivekananda insisted on three things – mass education, mass awareness and mass organization. In several letters from the West, he instructed his brother monks to bring the light of education to the down-trodden. He wanted his friends, admirers and fellow countrymen to feel for the poor, the outcast and the down-trodden and raise them. “Him I call a Mahatman whose heart bleeds for the poor, otherwise he is a duratman.” He was very happy to hear that the Maharaja of Mysore had set up a normal school to teach the unfortunate and congratulated him saying that “this life is short, the vanities of the world is all transitory but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.” Thus, this talk would depict Swami Vivekananda’s vision for the uplift of our nation. Swami Vivekananda and Modern Science : Mr. Tapas Datta In the year 2010, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), I had talked about “Vivekananda, Ancient Wisdom and 19th century Science” – showing how Vivekananda had used scientific knowledge – current at that time, to explain philosophical, psychological and spiritual concepts from Indian wisdom traditions. Post talk, during the Q&A session, there was a question that science had changed a lot in the last 100 years after his demise, and whether Vivekananda’s explanations and insights were still relevant. I had tried to briefly answer this comment then by saying that Vivekananda had, by his foresight, anticipated some of the conclusions of 20th century science as well. This talk centers around this very question – where are Vivekananda’s insights and thoughts with respect to the latest thinking of science? The talk will observe certain visionary insights and thoughts of Swami Vivekananda, in the light of recent science – physics, cosmology, biology and psychology. However, most of the scientific theories I will be talking about, are so recent that they are still speculative, that is, they haven’t been completely proved by experimental data. But they have been published in peer reviewed journals and are currently broadly discussed in the scientific community. Swami Vivekananda’s Musical Talent vis-à-vis Indian Music : Swami Sarvagananda This lecture demonstration would focus on the expertise of Swami Vivekananda in music. Vivekananda (then Narendranath) inherited the legacy of Indian classical music from his ancestors. He had a methodical training in Indian Classical Music (Hindustani Sangeet) from his teachers Ahmed Khan, Habu Dutta, Beni Ustad were all traditional musicians. Some of them were preceptors of Ustad Alauddin Khan, Guru of Pt. Ravi Shankar. Dhrupad was a special choice for Swami Vivekananda. He could sing excellent Dhrupad as well as play Pakhaoaj simultaneously. Music worked as catalyst in the events of his meetings with his Master Sri Ramakrishna. In 1885, Narendranath started compiling a book on music called ‘Sangeet Kalpataru’ which was released in 1887 being an effulgent proof of his musical prudence.

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