Swami Vivekananda - Frank Parlato Jr.
http://www.vivekananda.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda
http://www.vivekananda.org/
http://www.belurmath.org/swamivivekananda.htm
http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm
http://www.swami-vivekanand.com/
Biography Vivekananda in America Tributes Teachings
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center
New York
January 5, 1953
Source:
http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm
http://www.vivekananda.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda
http://www.vivekananda.org/
http://www.belurmath.org/swamivivekananda.htm
http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm
http://www.swami-vivekanand.com/
BIOGRAPHY |
Biography Vivekananda in America Tributes Teachings
Parliament Addresses Books
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
[1863-1902]
[1863-1902]
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.
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, 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
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!''
NIKHILANANDARamakrishna-Vivekananda Center
New York
January 5, 1953
Source:
http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm