Swami Vivekananda was a great leader and a monk whose teachings and ideas are inspiration to the generations. He is one of the perfect idols for the youth of a nation. His spiritual knowledge and the ambition about the future of country and its youth were very inspiring. His love for the humanity and his spiritual teachings has attracted people throughout the world. Swami Vivekananda’ had very strong perception about the youth, that how youth is very important in building nation strong and powerful.
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Swami Vivekananda childhood
Born on 12th January 1863 in a Bengali family, his father Vishwanath Datta was an Attorney at the Calcutta High Court, his mother Bhubaneswari devi was a housewife. Swami Vivekananda was interested in spirituality from a very young age, he used to sit and meditate in front of deities images. During his childhood, he was also associated with the Brahmo movement for some time.
Swami Vivekananda was very bright student, as a kid he had very sharp memory. It is said that he use to read a lot. Along with this, he had great interest in western philosophy and history.
Swami Vivekananda and Ramkrishna
His guru Ramakrishna influenced Swami Vivekananda a lot. He was attracted by his personality, pure attitude and the selfless love that he used to spread. Influenced by his thoughts, he started visiting him a lot and gained Vedic knowledge from him. Vivekananda also formed the Ramkrishna mission (RKM). The mission started as a spiritual organization and taught the Hindu Philosophy, along with religious and spiritual studies. The organization was also engaged in philanthropic work towards the society. He also formed the Ramakrishna Math, which is an administrative legal organization.
After his father’s death Vivekananda’s family witnessed financial crisis, due to which he started losing his interest in spirituality that was the time when his guru supported him mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Battling from cancer, Ramakrishna spent his last time with his favorite disciple Vivekananda, who selflessly served his master during his last breath. Later on when in 1886 his guru gave up his mortal body, he took the formal vows of sannyasa in 1887 and took over the responsibility to spread the wisdom across the borders.
Swami Vivekananda and youth
While in his nomadic journey to explore India, he got very upset to witness the backwardness and poverty of the society. He realizes that for the economic development of the society it is very important that people understand the new methods of living so that they can improve their local businesses like agriculture industry etc. Having a greater vision for the young nation, Swami Vivekananda understood that it is very important for science and spirituality to work together.
Swami Vivekananda teachings
Vivekananda used the platform of Ramakrishna Mission to share his guru’s teachings and his knowledge to awaken the society. By then he started giving speeches and messages to his audiences. While all this was going on Swami ji got an opportunity to attend the World Religious Parliament in Chicago, in 1893, to represent the Vedic culture. That was the turning point for his popularity and acceptance at the global level. The iconic speech at the congress, starting “sisters and brothers of America” made him one of the most famous personalities at that time.
After that, he spent nearly three and half years in USA and London spreading his Guru’s teachings. His efforts made a different perception of India and Hinduism in front of the western world. He was the man who made mankind realize that, individuals may be different from their color, religion and country but they should have same intentions about their living and development of their respective nations while countries helping out each other.
After returning to India in 1897, he educated people, taught them about the importance of mass and developed a sense of pride in them for their native cultural heritage.
Swami Vivekananda national youth day
Many great personalities are said to be inspired by his ideas like, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jamsetji Tata, Mahatma Gandhi, Nikola Tesla and many more. Each year his birth anniversary is celebrated as the national youth day in India.
Here is the beautiful perspective by Swami ji on science and spirituality;
“Science is the search For the Truth in the External World, and Spirituality is the Search for Truth in Internal World”