• Swami Vivekananda

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• 2. Swami Vivekananda Born 12 January 1863 Kolkata, West Bengal, India Died 4 July 1902 Belur Math near Kolkata
• 3. Birth and early life Narendranath Dutta was born in Shimla Pally, Kolkata, West Bengal, India on January 12, 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 organised an amateur theatrical company and a gymnasium and took lessons in fencing, wrestling, rowing and other sports.
• 4. 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.
• 5. Questions started to arise in young Narendra's mind about God and the presence of God. 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 realise 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.
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• 7. 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 see God, just as I see you here, only in a much intenser 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.
• 8. 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.
  
• 9. 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.
• 10. Soon, Ramakrishna's end came in the form of throat cancer 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 Baranagore. They took alms to satisfy their hunger and their other needs were taken care of by Ramakrishna's richer householder disciples.
  
• 11. Sri Ramakrishna passed away in 1886, leaving the responsibilities of his disciples on Narendra. Under the leadership of Narendra, a few disciples renounced everything in order to live God-centered lives and to carry on the work of their Master. Narendra became Swami Vivekananda. After traveling all over India, following his vision at Kanyakumari, he decided to come to America in 1893. He represented the ancient Hindu religion in the Parliament of Religions. The very first talk of Swami Vivekananda made him known to the whole world.
• 12. Wanderings in India Soon, the young monk of Baranagore wanted to live the life of a wandering monk 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 Vividishananda (in Sanskrit, Vividisha means "the desire to know" and Ananda means "bliss"), Satchidananda, etc.,
• 13. It is said that he was given the name Vivekananda by Maharaja of Khetri for his discernment of things, good and bad. During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed on 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 realised the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all.
  
• 14. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 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.
  
• 15. 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 Chennai, Bhaskara Sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad and Maharajas of Mysore and Khetri, Vivekananda set out on his journey to the USA.
• 16. The invite of the conference was actually given to Bhaskara Sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad to attend the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago. But he decided and encouraged Swami Vivekananda was the right person to participate and represent the views of Hinduism in the Parliament of World Religions.
• 17. In the West Vivekananda was received well at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he delivered a series of lectures. He also 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.
• 18. Within a few years of the Parliament, he had started Vedantic centres in New York City 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. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.
• 19. Back in India Admirers and devotees of Vivekananda gave him an enthusiastic reception 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.
• 20. However, he had to bear great criticism from other orthodox Hindus for having travelled in -- what they perceived to be -- the impure West. His contemporaries also questioned his motives, wondering whether the fame and glory of his Hindu evangelism compromised his original monastic vows. His enthusiasm for America and Britain, 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.
  
• 21. When he was in America, he had to go through several difficulties, like renting a place, collecting money, cooking his own food, and talking to people who had no idea or had wrong ideas about India and Indian philosophy and culture. In New York, he was not charging people for his classes and he decided not go to the lecture bureaus. To pay the rent, he used to arrange public lectures on week-ends. I was moved when I read about the difficulties and adversities he had to go through to deliver his message.
• 22. In Texas, someone started shooting around him in order to check whether he was truly identifying himself with the Immortal Self and whether he was free from the fear of death. The rest of his life he dedicated to helping humanity; inspiring people into spiritual path by giving lectures and guidance, training disciples for monastic lives, founding the great Institution - the Ramakrishna Mission.
• 23. Since then, the Mission has inspired and continues to inspire people in their spiritual quest and has constantly engaged in humanitarian activities helping millions of people. Swami Vivekananda wore out his robust body in the service of humanity.
• 24. Death On July 4, 1902 at Belur Math near Kolkata, he taught Vedanta philosophy to some pupils in the morning. He had a walk with Swami Premananda, a brother-disciple and gave him instructions concerning the future of the Ramakrishna Math. The same day, Vivekananda left his mortal body at the young age of 39.
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• 26. The significance of Swami Vivekananda’s message Why is Swami Vivekananda’s message is appropriate for the new millennium? What is the significance of his message? Why a message given a hundred years ago becomes useful for the new millennium? Let us try to find answers from his life and teachings.
• 27. First, the significance of his message. I think, the most significant contribution of Swami Vivekananda is that he made religion as a scientific search to realize the divinity within. Also, this inner search is grounded in humanity. Combining these two, we can say that he made religion a “humanistic science of the Self.” I would say, a “MetaScience”. From the following points it will be clear how Swami Vivekananda tried to make religion a scientific search within and from that perspective he delivered the message which is appropriate for the new millennium.
• 28. Realizing the Divinity within is essential Religion should not contradict reason Religion is the Science of the Self Experiments and Experiences The Four Methods to Realize the Divinity Within
• 29. Karma Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through unselfish actions. Bhakti Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through love of God Raja Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through self control, and Jnana Yoga : A way to realize one’s own divinity through knowledge obtained by reasoning and analysis.
• 30. Works His books (compiled from lectures given around the world) on the four Yogas (Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga) 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.
• 31. He used humor for his teachings and was also an excellent cook. His language is very free flowing. 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.
• 32. Quotes "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."
• 33. "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."
• 34. "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." " So long as even a single dog in my country is without food, my whole religion will be to feed it."
• 35. "This is the gist of all worship - to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Siva (God) in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Siva, and if he sees Siva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Siva in him, without thinking of his caste, creed, or race, or anything, with him Siva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples."
• 36. "Aye , who ever saw money make the man? It is man that always make money. The whole world has been made by the energy of man, by the power of enthusiasm, by the power of faith." "It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us."
• 37. "All power is within you, you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak... You can do anything and everything, without even the guidance of any one. All power is there. Stand up and express the divinity with you... Arise, awake, sleep no more. With each of you there is the power to remove all wants and all miseries. Believe in this, that power will be manifested."
• 38. ""Allow me to call you; brethren, by that sweet name - heirs of immortal bliss - yea,.... Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth - sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is standing libel on human nature."
• 39. "On this basic - being right and doing right the whole world can unite." "We put our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark." "He alone lives who lives for others. The rest are more dead than alive."
• 40. “A man may believe in all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred books ever written, he may baptize himself in all the rivers of the earth; still, if he has no perception of God, I would class him with the rankest atheist.” “And a man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor performed any ceremony, but if he feels God within himself and thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will.”
  
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• 42. UNIVERSAL TEACHINGS SEE GOD IN ALL This is the gist of all worship - to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Siva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Siva, and if he sees Siva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Siva in him, without thinking of his cast, creed, or race, or anything, with him Siva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples.  
• 43. GOD IS WITHIN YOU It is impossible to find God outside of ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within ourselves. TRUST COMPLETELY IN GOD Stand up for God; let the world go.
• 44. PERSEVERE IN YOUR SEARCH FOR GOD   To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I will drink the ocean," says the persevering soul, "at my will mountains will crumble up." Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal. LOVE OF GOD IS ESSENTIAL   Giving up all other thoughts, with the whole mind day and night worship God. Thus being worshipped day and night, He reveals himself and makes His worshippers feel His presence
• 45. ‘ When there is conflict between the heart and the brain, let the heart be followed… It is the heart which takes one to the highest plane, which intellect can never reach; it goes beyond intellect can never rech; it goes beyond intellect and reaches to what is called inspiration. … Always cultivate the heart; through the heart the Lord sepaks and thought the intellect you yourself speak.’
• 46. According to yoga scriptures, the heart is one of the centres of spiritual consciousness, known as Anahata Chakra. It has twelve petals in bloom, similar to a lotus flower. The heart is the source of all humanistic feelings and impulses, such as love, service, compassion, etc. These are marked on each of the petals of the illustration. (Anahata Chakra)
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• 48. Introduction World parliament of religions Indian renaissance The math and the movement Twin ideals Spiritual legacy Impact on the national movement Swamiji’s call on the youth MESSAGE TO THE YOUTH
• 49. Three basic requisites Education Character and environment Dignity of labour Cultural standards Poverty and other major problems Self reliance, obedience, team work and synergy
• 50. Swamiji’s thoughts and sayings of inspiration Youth Rededication Glory of our motherland ARISE! AWAKE! AND STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED!
• 51. Societies should be molded upon truth and truth has not to adjust itself to society. Whatever you think do well on it. All your actions will be magnified transformed deified by the very power of the thought. Whatever you think, you will be, you think yourself weak, weak you will be. You think yourself strong, strong you will be. Vedanta and modern science both posses a self evolving cause, physical science is to findout facts, metaphysics is the thread to bind the flowers into a bouquet.
• 52. Do you love your country? Then come and struggle for higher and better things. My whole ambition in life is to set in motion a machinery which will bring noble ideas to the door of everybody. Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it. Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others.
• 53. "We are ever free if we would believe it, only have faith enough. You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute. Everything in time, space, and causation is bound. The soul is beyond all time, all space, all causation. That which is bound is nature, not the soul." Complete Works of - Swami Vivekananda,