Question

Swami Vivekananda‟s vision for the development of modern India

Answer 1

“Arise,awake and donot stop until the goal is reached.” Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda, known for his spiritual genius, is an inspiring personality who is widely known for introducing Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world. He is also famous as the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. He was born to Vishwanath Datta and Bhuvaneshwari Devi, in Kolkata on 12th January, 1863. Since his childhood, he was inclined towards spirituality. His Guru, Ramakrisna Deva taught him that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to mankind.

  During his travels all over India, Swami Vivekananda was deeply moved by the backwardness and the meagre conditions that the Indians lived in. He realized the immediate need to provide basic necessities to the people including food. In order to fight the backwardness, Swami ji realized how important it was to instill self-faith and belief in one’s capacity in the minds of those who have been downtrodden since ages. He decided to educate the masses, inspire them to improve their living conditions and to strengthen their moral sense through spiritual knowledge. Swami Vivekananda realized that in order to materialize his plans for the education of masses, upliftment of women and development of poor, he needed an efficient organization of dedicated people. Hence Ramakrishna Mission came into existence.  

He aimed to regain India’s freedom with the most powerful weapon of spirituality. He interpreted Hindu sculptures and Hindu way of life to the Western people and thus helped in building bridges between the East and the West.  He was India’s first great cultural ambassador to the West. He wanted our educational system to be refurbished so as to help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle of life. “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…’’ said  Vivekananda. He preached that mutual kindness and compassion between man and man was more important than that coming from a distant God.  He wanted to build a new society where every man enjoyed his freedom and individuality, his strength and his capacity to love and serve human beings. He believed that gist of all religions and worship is to be to be pure and to do good to others. He inspired people, through his own example to serve mankind with utmost love, respect and humility. It was his dream to implement, through practical measures, the universal Vedantic vision of human dignity.