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21. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) Was the Foremost Disciple of Ramakrishna and a World Spokesperson for Vedanta

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21. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) Was the Foremost Disciple of Ramakrishna and a World Spokesperson for Vedanta 21. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was the foremost disciple of Ramakrishna and a world spokesperson for Vedanta. India's first spiritual and cultural ambassador to the West, came to represent the religions of India at the World Parliament of Religions, held at Chicago in connection with the World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) of 1893. His Chicago speech is uniquely Vedantic. Jawaharlal Nehru refers to this universal dimension of Vivekananda in his Discovery of India. ―Rooted in the past, and full of pride in India‘s heritage, Vivekananda was yet modern in his approach to life‘s problems, and was a kind of bridge between the past of India and her present.‖ Swami Vivekananda - spokesperson for Vedanta. India's first spiritual and cultural ambassador to the West. (image source: Webmaster's personal collection of art). Refer to Chitra Gallery. *** The cyclonic monk from India‖ that is how delegates to the Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1894 described Ramakrishna‘s great disciple, Vivekananda. Romain Rolland, in his admirable biography of this “tamer of souls” refers to Vivekananda‘s dominating personality in these words: ―a great voice is meant to fill the sky. The whole world is its sounding-box…..Men like Vivekanada are not meant to whisper. They can only proclaim. The sun cannot moderate its own rays. He was deeply conscious of his role. To bring Vedanta out of its obscurity and present it in a rationally acceptable manner; to arouse among his countrymen an awareness of their own spiritual heritage and restore their self-confidence; to show that the deepest truths of Vedanta are universally valid, and that India’s mission is to communicate these truths to the whole world – these were the goals he set before himself. (source: The Spirit of Modern India - Edited by Robert A McDermont and V. S. Naravane p.6 - 7). He said: "From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu's religion. God is the ever-active providence, by whose power systems after systems are being evolved out of chaos, made to run for a time, and again destroyed. This is what the Brahmin boy repeats every day: "The sun and the moon, the Lord created like the suns and the moons of previous cycles." And this agrees with modern science. (source: Hinduism - By Swami Vivekananda chapter: A Universal Religion p. 3) Vivekananda said: "The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukti - freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery." The Lord has declared to the Hindu in His incarnation as Krishna: "I am in every religion as the thread through a string of pearls. Wherever thou seest extraordinary holiness and extraordinary power raising and purifying humanity, know thou that I am there." (source: Swami Vivekananda Paper on Hinduism http://www.itihaas.com/modern/vivek-speech3.html). For him India was synonymous with the spirit of religion. He said "If India is to die, religion will be wiped off the face of the earth." (source: A Call To The Eternal - By Swami Ashokananda p. 78). Swami Vivekananda in his essay, The Future of India: "It is the same India which has withstood the shocks of centuries, of hundreds of foreign invasions, of hundreds of upheavals of manners and customs. It is the same land, which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its undying vigour, indestructible life. Its life is of the same nature as the soul, without beginning and without end, immortal; and we are the children of such a country." (source: Hindutva is liberal - By A. B. Vajpayee - rediff.com). Swami Vivekananda said about the Bhagavad Gita: "No better commentary on the Vedas has been written or can be written." (source: Gita, An Antidote For All Ills - Times of India). "Hinduism is the mother of all religions" - so wrote Swami Vivekananda. ―This is the ancient land, where wisdom made its home before it went into any other country… Here is the same India whose soil has been trodden by the feet of the greatest sages that ever lived… Look back, therefore, as far as you can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that look forward, march forward, and make India brighter, greater, much higher, than she ever was.‖ "Say it with pride : we are Hindus", is what Swami Vivekananda taught his fellow Hindus. (source: Ayodhya and After - By Koenraad Elst). "Hindu Dharma is the quintessence of our national life, hold fast to it if you want your country to survive, or else you would be wiped out in three generations". (source: Cry for a Hindu Nation - By V Sundaram - boloji.com). Swami Vivekananda called upon his people to ‗rise, awake and acquire‘ and reminded them that "Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realizing not in believing, but in being and becoming." (source: India Rediscovered - By Dr. Giriraj Shah p. 31 Abhinav Publications New Delhi 1975). Swami Vivekananda: The fiery monk from the East who founded the Vedanta Society of America in 1894, was a champion of Mother India. Watch Swami Vivekananda Introduces Hinduism in Chicago The Hindu movement that he started became so successful in America, that Wendell Thomas wrote a book called, 'Hinduism Invades America" where he observes: "An old faith is now invading a new country." Swami Vivekananda also claimed: "I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance." "Say it with pride : we are Hindus", is what Swami Vivekananda taught his fellow Hindus. *** Vivekananda said if you want to do anything in India, do it with the re-establishment of dharma or its reawakening. In India the soil and the dharma (the upward aspiration) are one and the same, are body and soul. (source: The Soul of India - By Satyavrata R Patel p. 206). Swami Vivekananda, who founded the Vedanta Society of America in 1894, was a champion of Mother India. He had said: ―The time has come for the Hinduism of the Rishis to become dynamic. Shall we stand by whilst alien hands attempt to destroy the fortress of the Ancient Faith?…shall we remain passive or shall we become aggressive, as in the days of old, preaching unto the nations the glory of the Dharma?…In order to rise again, India must be strong and united, and must focus all its living forces. To bring this about is the meaning of my sannyasa! (source: Hinduism Invades America - By Wendell Thomas p. 64 - 72 published by The Beacon Press Inc. New York City 1930). "By what strange social alchemy has India subdued her conquerors, transforming them to her very self and substance..... ? Why is it that her conquerors have not been able to impose on her their language, their thoughts and customs, except in superficial ways?" (source: The empire strikes back - By Suma Varghese - Free Press Journal December 5 1997). "If one religion is true, then all the others must also be true. Thus the Hindu faith is as yours as much as mine." (source: http://www.geocities.com/hindusoc/special/hindintr.htm). Vivekananda's philosophy was one of pride in the past. " Look back, therefore, as far as you can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that, look forward, much forward, march forward and make India brighter, greater, much higher than she ever was... We must go to the root of this disease and cleanse the blood of all impurities.‖ He had put immense faith in Hinduism: "To my mind', our religion is truer than any other religion, because it never conquered. Because it never shed blood, because its mouth always shed on all, words of blessing, of peace, words of love and sympathy. It is here and here alone that the ideals of toleration were first preached. And it is here and here alone that toleration and sympathy become practical; it is theoretical in every other country; it is here and here alone, that the Hindu builds mosques for the Mohammedans and churches for the Christians.” (source: Secularization of India…? - By S. Balasundar - Hindu voice). Religion is the main theme of India. Swami Vivekananda wrote: "Each nation, like each individual, has one theme in life, which is its center, the principal note round which every note comes to form harmony....if one nation attempts to throw off its vitality, the direction which has become its own through the transmission of centuries, the nation dies....if one nation's political power is its vitality, as in England, artistic life is another and so on. In India religious life forms the center, the keynote of the whole music of life." (source: Glimpses of Indian Culture - By Dr. Giriraj Shah p. 27). He proclaimed the non-dualistic "spirituality" of Vedanta as the metaphysical root and basis of universal tolerance and brotherhood, as well as of India's national identity. He said: “India alone was to be, of all lands, the land of toleration and of spirituality…in that distant time the sage arose and declared, ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti (He who exists is one; the sages call him variously). This is one of the most memorable sentences that was ever uttered, one of the grandest truths that was ever discovered.
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