It's my greatest previlage to share some moments of a noble personality, a torch bearer of humanity, A wandering monk, A reformer of Hinduism.... He is none other the great Swami Vivekananda.
Birth and early life
Born in the Datta family of Calcutta, the youthful Vivekananda embraced the agnostic phi- losophies of the Western mind along with the worship of science.
Spiritual crisis
At the same time, vehement in his desire to know the truth about God, he questioned the people of holy reputation, asking them if they had ever seen God.
Meeting Great Guru Rama Krishna Paramahamsa
He found such a person in Sri Ramakrishna, who became his master, allayed his doubts, gave him Gods vision, and transformed him into a sage and a prophet with the authority to teach. 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 century.
Wandering Monk
With considerable distress, sudden death of his father and Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa embarked on a long journey to explore and discover India. Wherever he went magnetic personality created a great impression.
The first visit to the west
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, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy and colorful personality made an irresistible appeal to many 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 a half century,
His strength and beauty, the grace and dignity of his bearing, the dark light of his eyes, his imposing appearance, and from the moment he began to speak, the splendid music of his rich deep voice enthralled the vast audience.... The thought of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark upon the United States. America, thus, had the blessing of directly hearing a person of the stature of Buddha, radiating purity, compassion and love.
At that time Americans were looking for a philosophy that could harmonize science with humanism and mystical experience, and Vivekananda's words gave them hope for the fulfillment of their spiritual aspirations. The message was powerful not because of its dialectical superiority or philosophical subtlety, but because of the personality of Vivekananda.
He derived his ideas from the unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them in the soul stirring language of poetry.
His final words at the Chicago Parliament of Religions were, 'upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance:
1. Help and not fight.
2. Assimilation and not Destruction.
3. Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.
RK MATH
Further, he organised the Rama Krishna onder of monks, which in the most outstanding religious organization of modern India Le RK math and mission on 1 May 1897. In 1898, he established Belur Math. It is devoted to the propagation of Hindi spiritual citure not only his mother land, but also other parts of the world. He once spoke him self as condensed India.
Teaching and philosophy in East and West
In America, his 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 rational and humanistic teachings the Vedanta philosophy. In America, he became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded cloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.
His 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 Vivekanandas mind was to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the absolute. But another part of his personality responds alike to the sight of human suffering in East and West, It might appear that his mind seldom found a point of rest in it 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.
The message of Vivekananda was the message of Vedanta, a spiritual teaching that again and again saved India during the periods of decline and crisis. The keynote of this message is "Truth is one: Sages call it by various names".
Its four cardinal points are:
1. Non-duality of the Godhead.
2. Divinity of the soul.
3. Oneness of existence.
4. Harmony of religions
Last breath
Swami Vivekananda breathed his last on 4th July 1902 due to deteriorated of his health at Belur math leaving behind an immortal legacy not just in the heart of contemporaries, but for all generations to come.
He left for posterity his four classics... Jnana, Bhakti, karma, Raja Yogas, which are outstanding treaties of Hindu philosophy.
