Swami Vivekananda

Birth and Early life

Narendranath Dutta was born in Shimla Pally, Kolkata, West Bengal, India on 12 January 1863 as the son of Viswanath Dutta and Bhuvaneswari Devi. Even as he was young, he showed a precocious mind and keen memory. He practiced meditation from a very early age. While at school, he was good at studies, as well as games of various kinds. He organized an amateur theatrical company and a gymnasium and took lessons in fencing, wrestling, rowing and other sports. He also studied instrumental and vocal music. He was a leader among his group of friends. Even when he was young, he questioned the validity of superstitious customs and discrimination based on caste and religion.

In 1879, Narendra entered the Presidency College, Calcutta for higher studies. After one year, he joined the Scottish Church College, Calcutta and studied philosophy. During the course, he studied western logic, western philosophy and history of European nations.

There started to arise questions about God and the presence of God in young Narendra's mind. This made him associate with the Brahmo Samaj, an important religious movement of the time, led by Keshab Chandra Sen. But the Samaj's congregational prayers and devotional songs could not satisfy Narendra's zeal to realize God. He would ask leaders of Brahma Samaj whether they have seen God. He never got a satisfying answer. It was during this time that Professor Hastie of Scottish Church College told him about Sri Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar.

With Ramakrishna

Narendra met Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881. He asked Ramakrishna the same old question, whether he had seen God. The instantaneous answer from Ramakrishna was, "Yes, I have seen God, just as I see you here, only in a more clear sense." Narendra was astounded and puzzled. He could feel the man's words were honest and uttered from depths of experience. He started visiting Ramakrishna frequently.

Though Narendra could not accept Ramakrishna and his visions, he could not neglect him. It had always been in Narendra's nature to test something thoroughly before he could accept it. He tested Ramakrishna to the maximum, but the master was patient, forgiving, humorous and full of love. He never asked Narendra to abandon reason, and he faced all of Narendra's arguments and examinations with infinite patience. In time, Narendra accepted Ramakrishna, and while he accepted, his acceptance was whole-hearted. While Ramakrishna predominantly taught duality and Bhakti to his other disciples, he taught Narendra the Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy of non-dualism.

During the course of five years of his training under Ramakrishna, Narendra was transformed from a restless, puzzled, impatient youth to a mature man who was ready to renounce everything for the sake of God-realization. Soon, Ramakrishna's passed away into Mahasamadhi in August 1886. After this Narendra and a core group of Ramakrishna's disciples took vows to become monks and renounce everything, and started living in a supposedly haunted house in Baraganore. They took alms to satisfy their hunger and their other needs were taken care of by Ramakrishna's richer householder disciples.

Soon, the young monks of Baraganore wanted to live the life of  wandering monks with rags and a begging bowl and no other possessions. On July 1890, Vivekananda set out for a long journey, without knowing where the journey would take him. The journey that followed took him to the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. During these days, Vivekananda assumed various names like Swami Satchidananda, etc., It is said that he was given the name Vivekananda by Maharaja of Khetri for his discrimination of things, good and bad. He is affectionately called Swamiji by his admirers and devotees.

During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed in king's palaces, as well as the huts of the poor. He came in close contact with the culture of different regions of India and various classes of people in India. Vivekananda observed the imbalance in society and tyranny in the name of caste. He realized the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent in 24 December 1892. There he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari.

Vivekananda went to Madras and spoke about his plans for India and Hinduism to the young men of Madras. They were impressed by the monk and urged him to go to the United States and represent Hinduism in the World Parliament of Religions. Thus, helped by his friends at Madras, Raja of Ramnad and Maharajas of Mysore and Khetri, Vivekananda set out on his journey to the USA.

Vivekananda perhaps, is best remembered as the man who "stole the show" at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Illinois, where he earned wild applause for beginning his address with the famous words, "Sisters and brothers of America." Vivekananda's arrival in the USA has been identified by many to mark the beginning of western interest in Hinduism not as merely an exotic eastern oddity, but as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West. Within a few years of the Parliament, he had started Vedantic centers in New York City, New York and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical, but some from Western academics and Indian journalists, who questioned his bombastic claims to have conquered America with the Vedanta philosophy. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.

Swami Vivekananda, moved by the spirit of America's Declaration of Independence, on July 4, 1898, wrote a poem titled, To the Fourth of July.

Move on, O Lord, in the resistless path!

Till the high noon overspreads the world,

Till every land reflects thy light,

Till men and women with uplifted head

behold their shackles broken, and

know in springtime joy, their life renewed.

Vivekananda was overwhelmed by the reception he received on his return to India. In India, he delivered a series of lectures, and this set of lectures known as "Lectures from Colombo to Almora" is considered to have uplifted the morale of the then downtrodden Indian society. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission. This institution is now one of the largest monastic orders of Hindu society in India. However, there is also evidence that he bore great criticism from other orthodox Hindus for having traveled in the impure West. His contemporaries also questioned his motives, wondering whether the fame and glory of his Hindu evangelism compromised his orginal monastic vows. His enthusiasm for America and Britian, and his spiritual devotion to his motherland, caused significant tension in his last years. He once again toured the west from January 1899 to December 1900.

He was 39 when he passed away in Mahasamadhi on July 4, 1902 at Belur Math near Kolkata.

Vivekananda was a renowned thinker in his own right. One of his most important contributions was to demonstrate how Advaitin thinking is not merely philosophically far-reaching, but how it also has social, even political, consequences. One important lesson he claimed to receive from Ramakrishna was that "Jiva is Shiva " (each individual is divinity itself). This became his Mantra, and he coined the concept of daridra narayana seva - the service of God in and through (poor) human beings. If there truly is the unity of Brahman underlying all phenomena, then on what basis do we regard ourselves as better or worse, or even as better-off or worse-off, than others? - This was the question he posed to himself. Ultimately, he concluded that these distinctions fade into nothingness in the light of the oneness that the devotee experiences in Moksha. What arises then is compassion for those "individuals" who remain unaware of this oneness and a determination to help them.

Swami Vivekananda belonged to that branch of Vedanta that held that no-one can be truly free until all of us are. Even the desire for personal salvation has to be given up, and only tireless work for the salvation of others is the true mark of the enlightened person. He founded Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission on the principle of Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya cha (आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च) (for one's own salvation and for the welfare of the World).

However, Vivekananda also pleaded for a strict separation between religion and government ("church and state"). Although social customs had been formed in the past with religious sanction, it was not now the business of religion to interfere with matters such as marriage, inheritance and so on. The ideal society would be a mixture of Brahmin knowledge, Kshatriya culture, Vaisya efficiency and the egalitarian Shudra ethos. Domination by any one led to different sorts of lopsided societies. Vivekananda did not feel that religion, nor, any force for that matter, should be used forcefully to bring about an ideal society, since this was something that would evolve naturally by individualistic change when the conditions were right.

The turban that Vivekananda used to wear is generally believed to be suggested by Maharaja of Khetri. But some followers of Ayyavazhi claim that Vivekananda visited the Swamithope Pathi during his visit to Kanyakumari in December 1892 and believe that he was impressed by the principles behind rituals of this monistic faith, such as wearing a head gear during worship in temple, worshipping in front of mirror etc., and started wearing a turban then on. Some also suggest that Vivekananda received some spiritual instructions from the disciples of Ayya Vaikundar. ^[1] There is no mention of this in Vivekananda's biographies or works. It is also said that while he was a child, he was impresssed by the turban of the horse cab driver, who used to ferry his father on his daily work. Subsequently when he renounced the world and took to sanyasa, he started using one himself.

Though it may not be obvious but Swami Vivekananda inspired India's (whom he loved so dearly) freedom struggle movement. His writings inspired a whole generation of freedom fighters in Bengal in particular and India at large. Most prominent were Subhas Chandra Bose, Aurobindo and countless others.

His books (compiled from lectures given around the world) on the four are very influential and still seen as fundamental texts for anyone interested in the Hindu practice of Yoga. His letters are of great literary and spiritual value. He was also a very good singer and a poet. He had composed many songs including his favorite "Kali the Mother". He used humor for his teachings and was also an excellent cook. His language is very free flowing and much of the charms of his original English letters have been destroyed by copybookish translation into Bengali. His own Bengali writings stand testimony to the fact that he believed that words - spoken or written should be for making things easier to understand rather than show off the speaker or writer's knowledge.

Many years after his death, Rabindranath Tagore (a prominent member of the Brahmo Samaj) had said: If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative. Incidentally, in the earlier years Tagore did not have much respect for Swami Vivekananda for his idol-worshipping.

On the other hand, Swamiji was not particularly impressed by Tagore, though he had been interacting with Tagore's father Maharshi Debendra Nath. Swamiji was a very good singer and used to sing lots of Bhajans, including about twelve written and composed by Tagore.

Another contemporary Sri Aurobindo, actually considered Swamiji as his mentor. While in Alipore Jail, Sri Aurobindo used to be visited by Swami Vivekananda in his meditation. Swamiji guided Sri Aurobindo's yoga.

Mahatma Gandhi who strived for a lot of reform in Hinduism himself, said: Swami Vivekananda's writings need no introduction from anybody. They make their own irresistible appeal.

Abroad, he has had some interactions with Max Mueller and Romain Rolland. The latter also wrote a book in 1930 entitled Vie de Vivekananda (Life of Vivekananda).

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details."

"The one theme of the Vedanta philosophy is the search after unity. The Hindu mind does not care for the particular; it is always after the general, nay, the universal. "what is it that by knowing which everything else is to be known." That is the one search."

"Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege."

"It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body -- to cast it off like a disused garment. But I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God."

"Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best."