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Vivekananda: Life
Vivekananda, whose real name was Narendranath Datta, was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, and died near Calcutta on July 4, 1902. He was an Indian Hindu spiritual guru and reformer who claimed that Indian spirituality and Western worldly growth were complementary. His Absolute was a person’s higher self, and the highest goal was to work for humanity’s welfare. He received his education in Bengal in a Western-style university, where he learned about Western philosophy, Christianity, and science. He was born into a Kayastha caste upper-middle-class household. Vivekananda became interested in social change and became a member of the Brahmo Samaj (Society of Brahma), a society dedicated to abolishing child marriage and illiteracy and promoting education to women and the lower castes. He went on to become Ramakrishna’s most famous follower, demonstrating how all religions are inextricably linked.
By emphasizing the universal and humanistic side of the Vedas, Hinduism’s earliest sacred scriptures, and belief in service rather than dogma, Vivekananda aimed to breathe vitality into Hindu thinking, placing less emphasis on the prevalent pacifism and presenting Hindu spirituality to the West. He was the main force behind the Vedanta philosophy movement in the United States and England, one of the very first six schools in Indian philosophy. He was a speaker for Hinduism at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He fascinated the audience to the point where a newspaper story described him as “an orator by divine right and unquestionably the most outstanding figure at the Parliament.” He then travelled across the United States and England, converting many people to the Vedanta movement.
Vivekananda returned to India in 1897 with a small group of Western disciples and founded the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math, a Calcutta monastery on the Ganges River. The order continues to emphasize his goals of self-perfection and service. He adapted and modernized the Vedantic religion’s ultimate ideals for the twentieth century. While living only two years into the century, he left an indelible mark on East and West.
Teachings of Vivekanand
1) Being pure and being nice to others are the foundations of all worship. When a person sees Siva in the poor, the weak, and the sick, he truly worships Siva; however, his adoration is merely preliminary when he sees Siva in the image. Siva is happier with him than with someone who only sees Him in temples because he has served and helped one poor guy, recognizing Siva in him regardless of caste, creed, race, or anything else.
2) Outside of ourselves, it is impossible to locate God. All of the divinity that exists outside of us is contributed by our souls. We are the most important temple. Objectification is merely a sliver of what we perceive inside ourselves.
3) You must have immense perseverance and willpower to achieve. I shall swallow the ocean, the tenacious soul declares, and mountains will crumble at my command. Have that kind of energy, that kind of determination, and you’ll succeed.
4) Worship God with all of your minds, day and night, putting aside all other considerations. He manifests Himself and makes His followers feel His presence due to being worshipped at all hours, day and night.
5) I am confident that a substantial amount of the problems and miseries that we have now would have evaporated if faith in ourselves had been taught and practiced more widely.
6) How can the eternal spirit rest satisfied to live and die in small ruts? Come out in the br