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Thread: Swami Vivekananda- one great spiritual giant of India

  1. #1
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Lambretta's Avatar
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    Swami Vivekananda- one great spiritual giant of India

    Browsing thru the threads of this secn., I'm surprised tat so far there has been none abt Swami Vivekananda, possibly the greatest epitome of spiritual and cultural guidance India has ever seen. He expounded the religious and cultural aspects of India to the West at a time when the contact between them & us was very little, and all tat they knew abt India until then was wat had projected us in a negative light.
    It was he who had revived the dormant glory and understanding of Hinduism and Indian culture (esp. the Vedanta philosophy), more to the West than to Indians, depsite his short life. He was looked upon as the guiding light not just for religion/spirituality but also for value-based and character-building education and even for the empowerment of women (without having them break down their idealistic image) in our country.
    Born on 12th January 1863, in the Datta family of Calcutta and originally named Narendranath, he got a good education and cultural training under them, alongside embracing the agnostic philosophies of the Western mind along with the worship of science.
    At the same time, vehement in his desire for spiritual perfection and to know the truth about God, he questioned people of holy reputation of the time, asking them if they had seen God. In 1882, he found such a person in Sri Ramakrishna, who became his master, allayed his doubts and gave him God vision. Thus the next four and a half years- until the mahasamadhi of Sri Ramakrishna- were marked b turbulence and turmoil, the direct result of the perfect Master transforming the perfect disciple into a sage, thus christening him as Vivekananda, ie., one who has 'Viveka', the power to discriminate between the good & bad/right & wrong, with authority to teach and reform.
    After Sri Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda renounced the world and with the help of his young co-disciples, founded a Math (monastery) in his guru's name at Barangore (Calcutta) in 1886. Setting out on a piligrimage, he criss-crossed India as a wandering monk, finally arriving at Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian soil, during December 1892. There, while meditating on the last piece of Indian rock at sea, he thought of India, its glorious history and its current degeneration, alongwith ways of regenration. And the mission of his life was quickly revealed to him. His mounting compassion for India's people quickly drove him to seek their material help from the West.
    Accepting an opportunity to represent Hinduism at Chicago's Parliament of Religions, Vivekananda set sail for America on 31st May 1893. Brushing aside all suspicion and contradiction from local sceptics as well as religious racists, apart from avoiding the illusion of materialism in the Western way of life, enthralled his audience beyond doubt and created history at the World Parliament of Religions in Sepetmber the same year, not only succeeding in expounding the greatness of India's philosophy/culture but also winning instant followers in America and a ready forum for his spiritual teaching.
    For three years he spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America and England and then returned to India via Colombo in January 1897.
    Exhorting his nation to spiritual greatness, during the next five years, he wakened India to a new national consciousness. He had rightly proclaimed that India needs the Western science combined with our own philosophy to develop in the true sense. He formally established the Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur in 1899. He then visited the West again during 1899-1900
    He died on 4the July 1902, after a second, much shorter sojourn in the West, although he had shortly before prophesised that even in the future, long after him, an equally distinguished saint would arise, reviving once again, the declining glory and power of the spirit by which India would rise, higher than before!
    With Swami Vivekananda there could be no comparison with anyone. He was a class by himself, a radiant being who had descended from another world, from a higher spehere for a definite purpose.

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  3. #2
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    A Nice Article by Swami Vivekananda...............


    I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me.

    Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she

    filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it

    before me, and said this:

    "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It

    symbolizes Love."

    This was how I saw it:

    As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to

    remain there, it will always be there. However, if you

    attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it,

    it will spill through the first cracks it finds

    This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet

    love...they try to posses it, they

    demand, they expect... and just like the water spilling out

    of your hand, love

    will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you

    cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow

    them to be free beings.

    Give and don't expect.

    Advise, but don't order.

    Ask, but never demand.


    It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a

    lifetime to truly practice. It is the secret to true love. To

    truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations

    from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring."

    Passing thought...

    Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by

    the moments that take our breath away.....

    Life is beautiful!!!

    Live it !!!
    Heavenly ~ Newzealand

  4. #3
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Surya's Avatar
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    Just something I stumbled upon about the Great Saint!

    SWAMI 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. 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, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an irresistible appeal to the many types of 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 half a century.

    In America Vivekananda's 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 the rational and humanistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.

    In his own motherland Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness, To the Hindus he preached the ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service to man as the visible manifestation of the Godhead was the special form of worship he advocated for the Indians, devoted as they were to the rituals and myths of their ancient faith. Many political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda.

    The Swami's mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind, be 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 soulstirring language of poetry.

    The natural tendency of Vivekananda's mind, like that of his Master, Ramakrishna, was to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the Absolute. But another part of his personality bled at the sight of human suffering in East and West alike. It might appear that his mind seldom found a point of rest in its 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.

    In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten were devoted to public activities-and those, too, in the midst of acute physical suffering-he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu philosophy. In addition, he delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired letters in his own hand to his many friends and disciples, composed numerous poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the many seekers, who came to him for instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna Order of monks, which is the most outstanding religious organization of modern India. It is devoted to the propagation of the Hindu spiritual culture not only in the Swami's native land, but also in America and in other parts of the world.

    Swami Vivekananda once spoke of himself as a "condensed India." His life and teachings are of inestimable value to the West for an understanding of the mind of Asia. William James, the Harvard philosopher, called the Swami the "paragon of Vedantists." Max Muller and Paul Deussen, the famous Orientalists of the nineteenth century, held him in genuine respect and affection. "His words," writes Romain Rolland, "are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of books, at thirty years' distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in burning words they issued from the lips of the hero!''
    Back after a while...

  5. #4
    Senior Member Regular Hubber NVK Ashraf's Avatar
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    You are correct Surya. Vivekananda, the prophet of modern India, is of course one of great inspiring personalities our land has produced. If you are aware he lived only for 39 years! Fortunantely we have his complete works in 9 volumes through which we are able to get an idea of the kind of subjects he was interested in.

    He along with Valluvar (V & V) are my inspirers in theology and literature. Vivekananda's and Valluvar's rational mind and straight forward approach to day to day matters have attracted my attention. You may visit my site for insight into their teachings and efforts made to spread their wisdom.

    http://www.geocities.com/nvkashraf/
    Cling to the One Who clings to nothing

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    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Lambretta's Avatar
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    Surya, Ashraf, tks for ur contribution!
    Incidentally, u'll be aware tat its Swamiji's B'day & Nat'l Youth Day here on the 12th of this month......we're organising a youth rally around the centre of Vizag.
    And now,

    Sayings by Swami Vivekananda

    On True Education:

    -Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.

    -We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.

    -To me, the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collecting of facts. If I had to do my education over again, and had any voice in the matter, I would not study facts at all. I would develop the power of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I could collect facts at will.

    -Bring light to the poor; and bring more light to the rich, for they require it more than the poor. Bring light to the ignorant, and more light to the educated, for the vanities of the education of our time are tremendous.

    -Well, you consider a man as educated if only he can pass some examinations and deliver good lectures! The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out the strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion- is it worth the name?? Real education is that which enables one to stand on one's own legs. The education that you receive now in schools and colleges is only making you a race of dyspeptics; you are working like machines merely, and living a jell-fish existence!

    More sayings on various issues by the great saint to follow

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    Senior Member Regular Hubber Eelavar's Avatar
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    He is certainly of the man who enlighted West..

    Swami Vivekananda teached Vedic science to Nikola Tesla, the greatest inventor !

    Nikola Tesla used many vedic term to describe physic mecanic...

    Swami Vivekananda is certainly one of the most important man of the last centuries...

    His teachings enlighted the world..

    Tribute to this great saint .
    Admire God through your life.

    The creator is the creation himself..

    http://vedamu.org/Mathematics/vedicmathematics.asp

  8. #7
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Lambretta's Avatar
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    Tks Mr. Eelavar!
    Incidentally, u'd be aware tat today happens to be his birthday & also National Youth Day.....we organised a youth rally around the centre of the city here (Vizag) in the morning.
    While ur no doubt right tat his teachings enlightened the world (inc. the West) I must admit tat the present day society (even Indian) is woefully ignorant of the very essence of his teachings!
    If only ppl. decided to follow even one of his ideas whole-heartedly, they'd know the true meaning of spirituality & culture, rather than merely practice it in a routine, almost mechanical way in the form of elaborate rituals, visiting piligrimages etc......! Not tat I'm against those but they, as Swamiji says, form only the periphery of religion......the real core is in following w/ ur heart!

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    Senior Member Seasoned Hubber Sandeep's Avatar
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    Swami Vivekananda on Kerala

    'I have wandered into a lunatic asylum!' Swami Vivekananda reputedly exclaimed after touring Kerala.

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    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Lambretta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sandeep
    Swami Vivekananda on Kerala

    'I have wandered into a lunatic asylum!' Swami Vivekananda reputedly exclaimed after touring Kerala.
    Ayyo da!!!

  11. #10
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Surya's Avatar
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    Sandeep,
    Why? I'm sure there's a reason behind it!

    I must admit tat the present day society (even Indian) is woefully ignorant of the very essence of his teachings!
    Athuthaan nammaloda subhavam. Vellaikaaran-e othundaalum, namme namma kalatharathe pathi othukkamaatom, yenna namma ellam secular!
    Back after a while...

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