Swami Vivekanand: Life, Books, Nationalism
Date: 22 May, 2020
By : Dharmendra Yadav
By : Dharmendra Yadav
The Early life of Swami Vivekanand
Swami Vivekanand (Narendranath Datta, childhood name) was born on 12 January 1863. Since an early age, he was intelligent, studious and smart and very much attracted towards the Vedantic philosophy and philosophy of West. He regarded as great thinker; social reformer inspired many on the ideas like liberty and free-thinking. He was among the first Indian monk who introduced Indian philosophies of Vedanta and yoga to the western world. His speech on 11 September 1893 started with Brothers and sisters of America……….., is historically important and iconic delivered at Chicago convention of Parliament of Religion, Where he introduced the beauty of Hindu religion, tolerating and accommodative nature of it. He called Hinduism as a “Mother” of religions and ancient order of monks in the world.
Swami Vivekanand is an icon for Youth.
We believe in universal toleration and accept all religion is true and our nation has sheltered the persecuted and refugees of all nations…….. He contributed to the rise of Indian nation ism and revivalism of the Hindu religion. He used Nationalism as a weapon to fight against the oppressive rule of British. According to him they are playing against our holy culture and corroding the beauty of Hindu religion.
He possesses good knowledge of English and western philosophies of Western religion, especially of the Roman Empire. Swami Vivekananda had good knowledge on the works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, J. G. Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Hegel, Auguste Comte, J. S. Mill and Charles Darwin.
He possesses good knowledge of English and western philosophies of Western religion, especially of the Roman Empire. Swami Vivekananda had good knowledge on the works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, J. G. Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Hegel, Auguste Comte, J. S. Mill and Charles Darwin.
Swami Vivekanand: Books and its impact
Swami Vivekanand has written books like Raja yoga, karma yoga, Jnana yoga Lectures from Colombo to Almora, My Master, which talk full experience of his life in Hindu religion its beauty and uniqueness. Through his literary works, he influenced many politicians and reformers contemporary to him like Subhash Chandra Bose, Aurobindo Ghose, Karamchand Gandhi, Annie Besant, Romain Rolland, Narendra Modi and Anna Hazare.
He established Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission to teach the importance of spirituality in the life of Hindu and how they can contribute to the feeling of nationalism against the British. On the occasion of his birth government of India declared it as a ‘National Youth Day’ in the year 1984.
Swami Vivekanand on Nationalism
Swami Vivekanand played an important role in arousing India’s dormant national consciousness. His advent was a historical episode that he made the clarion call to “arise, awake and stop not till the goal is achieved” which has gone so far to unite the country. According to him the idea of nationalism not just lies in love for the country rather self-reliance and upliftment of masses. Through a nationalist, he kept an international outlook defined nationalism sense of unity and integrity; his idea went a long way towards awakening of masses.
He was a true nationalist from heart and spirit. He says there is central and dominating theme and principle in each of the nation for India, it’s a religion and everything else is secondary. His idea was based on nationalism based on religion. Spirituality or religion was not to be confused with rituals, social dogma and superstition. Throughout his life, he preaches the idea of universal toleration not social and religious imposition. National life should be organised on the principle of a religious idea as he focuses mainly on Vedas and Upanishads to strengthen the nation’s growth and faith in its individuality. According to him, India was not just a piece of political or geographical land but a sacred mother as a deity. He worked for the awakening of masses, development of their physical and moral strength and creating a feeling of consciousness and pride for their nation.
Hence, he was also called the great architect of modern nationalism in India. According to Dr Rao, Patriotism means love for the country and country means its masses. Only Vivekananda arrived at this road through religion.
He stressed that noble virtue like manliness, a sense of human dignity and honour should be cultivated by all individuals, this comes with a feeling of respect and love for the neighbour. His idea of spiritual nationalism contributed a good deal to the strengthening of the moral foundation of Bengal nationalism in theory and practice. Through his writings, he imparted among the nationalists a pride of in the past and gave cultural confidence to the people who had lost them self – esteem. He confidently said that westerners must learn from the rich culture and valuable heritage of India.
He stressed that noble virtue like manliness, a sense of human dignity and honour should be cultivated by all individuals, this comes with a feeling of respect and love for the neighbour. His idea of spiritual nationalism contributed a good deal to the strengthening of the moral foundation of Bengal nationalism in theory and practice. Through his writings, he imparted among the nationalists a pride of in the past and gave cultural confidence to the people who had lost them self – esteem. He confidently said that westerners must learn from the rich culture and valuable heritage of India.
Swami Vivekananda on Caste System
According to historians and scholars, Vivekananda fought against the caste system and also favoured the liberation of women from patriarchy etc. According to Swami Vivekananda caste was based on the capability of men or women which further leads to Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishyas and the Shudras and it’s mentioned in the Bhisma Parva and stories of Ajagarhas as a proof. He also mentioned that original caste system was very much flexible as propagated by parshuram and Bhisma; individuals can switch over to other professionals if they have quality and capability, but through the advent of British caste system got very rigid where there was no social mobility. He said caste was a social order and there is no connection with the religion, and our reformers have done a huge blunder connecting caste system in religious scripture and Vedas. Gautam Buddha and Raja Ram Mohan Roy failed because they claimed that caste gets sanctity by religion as an institution rather, he says it’s a social custom.
According to him, the caste structure changes itself by the time and situation. he says we can find Brahmin as a shoemaker, shopkeepers and also running a wine shop. Same in the case of Shudras they are becoming a priest in big temples and also running their own business at the same time, this proves that there was caste mobility in it. To remove casteism he says “Let us be a progressive as any nation that ever existed and at the same time, as faithful and conservative towards our tradition as Hindus alone know to be.”
He was very critical of superstition and blind ritualism which brings a corruption of morals in the society and will be dangerous to the Hindus, as a population. He asked to play football instead of going to the temple. He denounced all sorts of discrimination based on caste. Lastly, he emphasised one-day shudra rule will come where they will throw feudalism and aristocracy.
Swami Vivekananda: Death and His legacy
Swami Vivekananda’s mentor was Ramakrishna who was a prolific monk and had tremendous knowledge on Hindu philosophy. He impacted Vivekananda positively throughout his life in learning disciplinary life. He died on July 4, 1902, while performing meditation, he left with many disciples who continued his legacy and propagate teachings of him. He is respected across the political line all over India. He is also an icon for some of the political party and very much attracted towards the youth because of his staunch stand on Nationalism and respecting the motherland as a deity.
