A presentation on the life of great Indian Transcendentalist Swami Vivekananda!

3. INTRODUCTION
 Swami Vivekananda born as Narendranath Dutta was
an Indian Hindu monk and chief disciple of
Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
 He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian
philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western
world.
 Swami Vivekananda was a major force for revivalism of
Hinduism in India and contributed to the concept of
nationalism among youth of India in Colonial India.
 Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the
Ramakrishna Mission.

4. EARLY LIFE
 Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on 12th
January 1863 during the Makar Sankrant festival.
 His father was Vishwanath Dutta who was an attorney
at Calcutta High Court and mother was
Bhuvaneshwari Devi a devout housewife.
 He belonged to a traditional Bengali Kayastha family.
 Swami Vivekanda was spiritual from a very young age
and was fascinated by wandering ascetics.
 As a child he was very naughty and restless.
 His mother would often say, ‘ I prayed to Lord Shiva for
a son and he has sent one of his demons.’

6. EDUCATION
 Swami Vivekananda did his primary schooling from
IshwarChandra Vidyasagar School and secondary
schooling from Presidency College.
 Swamiji completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts
from the prestigious Scottish Church College in Kolkata.
 He was an avid reader and was interested in a wide range of
subjects like religion, science, philosophy, history, art and
literature.
 He was also interested in Hindu scriptures including the
Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayan,
the Mahabharat and the Puranas.

7. EDUCATION
 Vivekananda studied the works of eminent people like
David Hume, Charles Darwin, Immanuel Kant, J.S. Mill,
August Comte. He was fascinated by the evolutionism of
Herbert Spencer and corresponded with him and
translated his work ‘Education’ into Bengali.

8. SPIRITUAL APPRENTICESHIP
 Vivekananda’s first introduction to Ramakrishna
Paramhansa occurred during a literature class in Scottish
Church College.
 During the class of Professor William Hastie while
explainig the meaning of trance he urged his students to
visit Ramakrishna Paramhansa to understand the true
meaning of trance.

10. SPIRITUAL APPRENTICESHIP
 A meeting with Ramakrishna Paramhansa at
Dakshineshwar proved to be a turning point in his life.
 Initially Swami Vivekananda rejected Ramakrishna as
his teacher and rebelled against his ideas but he was
attracted by the personality of Ramakrishna and so
frequently visited him.
 Narendra tested Ramakrishna and Ramakrishna
answered all his questions and queries patiently.

11. SPIRITUAL APPRENTICESHIP
 Vivekananda had to go through financial crunch following
his father’s early death.
 He started visiting Ramakrishna more frequently.
 Swami Vivekananda finally accepted Ramakrishna as his
guru and renounced everything for realisation of GOD.
 During the last days of Ramakrishna when he experienced
Nirvikalpa Samadhi he appointed Swamiji as his successor.
 Ramakrishna Paramhansa died during the early hours of 16
August 1886 in Cossipore, Kolkata.

12. TRAVELS IN INDIA
 Swami Vivekananda toured the whole of India to explore it
and experience and learn from its diversity.
 Vivekananda’s first destination was the oldest city in the
world and also the spiritual capital of India Varanasi. He
met various ascetics and monks there from throughout
India.
 He later visited Ayodhya, Rishikesh, Agra, Lucknow,
Vrindavan and Hathras.
 He intiated Sharat Chandra Gupta into sannyasa order and
asked him to serve the country.
 Swami Vivekananda toured the Himalayas and interacted
with various sannyasins. Nainital, Almora, Srinagar,
Dehradun and Haridwar were blessed by Swamiji’s tour.

13. RAJPUTANA
 Swami Vivekananda toured erstwhile Rajputana and visited
places like Alwar, Jaipur, Ajmer and Mount Abu.
 In Rajasthan he studied Panini’s Ashtadhyayi with the help
of a sanskrit scholar.
 He visited Akbar’s palace and Dargah Sharif in Ajmer.
 At Mount Abu he met Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri, who
became his ardent devotee and supporter.

14. WEST INDIA
 Next on Swamiji’s map were Maharashtra and Gujarat.
 Swamiji’s stayed for a brief time at Ahmedabad, Wadhwan,
Dwarka and Porbander.
 At Kathiawar he heard of World Parliament of Religions
and was urged by his followers to attend it.
 He then visited Bombay, Pune, Mahabaleshwar and met
Bal Gangadhar Tilak during a train journey.
 In the course of his journey he learnt about and mastered
scriptures of various religions like Jainism, Islam and
Christianity.

15. SOUTH INDIA
 Swami Vivekananda was the guest of Maharaja of Mysore
State and visited various places like Thrissur, Ernakulam,
Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram.
 At Kanyakumari Swamiji meditated on the last bit of
Indian rock which later came to be known as Vivekananda
Rock Memorial.
 At Kanyakumari only Vivekananda had the vision of One
INDIA in which he urged the need to raise the masses.

17. PARLIAMENT OF WORLD
RELIGIONS
 At the parliament of world religions Swamiji gave a
thunderous speech and represented India and Hinduism.
 He started his speech with ‘Brothers and Sisters of America’
for which he got a standing ovation from the 7000 strong
crowd for about 2 minutes.
 By his speech at America he created a niche for INDIA on
the world stage.
 He was referred to as the ‘cyclonic monk’ and orator by
divine right.
 .

18. PARLIAMENT OF WORLD
RELIGIONS
 American media printed that it was very foolish of them to
send Christian missionaries to such a learned nation.
 The World Parliament of Religions was the diplomatic as
well as spiritual victory for India and it raised standard and
position of INDIA among world citizens

20. LECTURES IN THE US AND
ENGLAND
 Swami Vivekananda spent two years giving lectures in
the US. He established the VEDANTA SOCIETY in
New York.
 In England he met Margareth Elizabeth Noble an Irish
woman who became his disciple and later came to be
known as Sister Nivedita.
 Vivekananda also met Max Muller and Paul Deussen
who were noted Indologists.
 Swami Vivekananda was offered academic chairs at
Harvard as well as Columbia Universtiy but he
declined both the offers since his duties would conflict
with his commitment as a monk.

21. LECTURES IN THE US AND
ENGLAND
 Vivekananda attracted followers and admirers in the U.S.
and Europe, including Josephine MacLeod, William
James, Josiah Royce, Robert G. Ingersoll, Nikola Tesla, Lord
Kelvin, Harriet Monroe,Sarah Bernhardt, Emma Calvé
and Hermann Ludwig He initiated several followers : Marie
Louise became Swami Abhayananda, and Leon Landsberg
became Swami Kripanandaso that they could continue the
work of the mission of the Vedanta Society.

22. LECTURES IN THE US AND
ENGLAND
 Swamiji translated The Imitataion Of Christ and published
it in Brahmavadin in 1889.
 Swamiji left for India in 1896 and on the way to India
visited France and Naples in Italy.
 He was followed by Sister Nivedita to India and she devoted
her whole life to educate Indian women and fight for
India’s Independence.

23. BACK IN INDIA
 Swami Vivekananda returned to India and on 1st
May,1897 established Ramkrishna Mission in Kolkata.
 The ideals of the mission are based on Karma Yoga and
the its governing body consists of trustees of the
Ramakrishna Math.
 The headquarters of the Mission is situated at Belur
Math.
 Vivekananda inspired Jamsetji Kanga to found an
research and education centre .
 Tata established Research Institute of Science and
asked Vivekananda to head it but he declined humbly
owing to his spiritual interests.

24. FINAL YEARS
 Swami Vivekananda gave lectures concerning worship of
lingam and authenticity of the Bhagavad Gita in Paris.
 He then visited Brittany, Istanbul, Athens, Vienna and
Egypt.
 Swamiji then retreated to Belur Math where he coordinated
the works of Ramkrishna Mission.
 He had to restrict his activities due to deteriorating health
and did pilgrimages to Bodhgaya and Varanasi.

25. DEATH
 Swami Vivekananda left this materialistic world for
heavenly abode on 4th July 1902.
 He attained Mahasamadhi on this day.
 He was cremated on a sandalwood funeral pyre on the
banks of Ganga in Belur, opposite where his guru
Ramakrishna was cremated 16 years earlier.

26. TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHY
 Vivekananda believed that a country's future depends on its people,
and his teachings focused on human development. He wanted "to set
in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep
of even the poorest and the meanest". Vivekananda believed that the
essence of Hinduism was best expressed in the Vedanta philosophy,
based on Adi Shankara’s interpretation.
 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 mental discipline, 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.

27. TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHY
 "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of
it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles,
nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just
leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that
is way great spiritual giants are produced".

28. INFLUENCE AND LEGACY
 Vivekananda revitalised Hinduism within and outside
India, and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic
reception of yoga, transcendental meditation and other
forms of Indian spiritual self-improvement in the West.
 Sri Aurobindo regarded Vivekananda as the one who
awakened India spiritually. Mahatma Gandhi counted him
among the few Hindu reformers "who have maintained this
Hindu religion in a state of splendor by cutting down the
dead wood of tradition".

29. INFLUENCE AND LEGACY
 The first governor-general of independent
India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, said "Vivekananda
saved Hinduism, saved India". According to Subhas
Chandra Bose, a proponent of armed struggle for Indian
independence, Vivekananda was "the maker of modern
India";for Gandhi, Vivekananda's influence increased
Gandhi's "love for his country a thousandfold".
Vivekananda influenced India's independence
movementhis writings inspired freedom fighters such
as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Aurobindo Ghose, Bal
Gangadhar Tilakand Bagha Jatin and intellectuals such
as Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Romain
Rolland.

31. INFLUENCE AND LEGACY
 Many years after Vivekananda's death Rabindranath
Tagore told French Nobel laureate Romain Rolland, "If you
want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything
is positive and nothing negative". Rolland wrote, "His
words are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven,
stirring rhythms like the march of Händel 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

32. INFLUENCE AND LEGACY
 Swami Vivekananda inspired Jamsetji Tata to establish IISc
which is one of the premier science research institute in
India.
 Scientist Nikola Tesla was influenced by the Vedic
teachings of Swamiji.
 National Youth Day is observed in India on 12th January in
memory of Swamiji’s speech at the parliament of world
religions.

34. INFLUENCE AND LEGACY
 The 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was
celebrate with great gusto in India as well as abroad.
 Bengali director Utpal Sinha made a film The Light- Swami
Vivekananda as a tribute to him.
 PM of India Narendra Modi regards Swami Vivekananda as
his guru and constant source of inspiration.
 Swami Vivekananda’s teachings continue to inspire people
and instill in them a new vigour. Swami Vivekananda has
become immortal in world history as his message has
spread far and wide.

35. THANKS FOR WATCHING PATIENTLY.