Swami Vivekananda Birthday 8-1-2018

Swami Vivekananda Birth Anniversary on 08-01-2018

Celebration in Colombo

Song - Arise Awake - in Tamil
Ezhumin-vizhimin

Photo Album

Swami Vivekananda in Colombo Jan 1897.

Swami Vivekananda  12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902, born Narendranath Datta  was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.

Who was Swami Vivekananda

On October 5th 1893 Free Press (USA) -  Our Visitor from India

Is he a Buddhist? Is he a Mohammedan? What is his mission? Such are the questions that are heard on all sides about Mr. Vive­kananda who speaks here Saturday evening. Following is something from a Chicago source that bears on this question:

Vivekananda is a representative from In­dia to the World's Parliament of Religions. He, more than any other of the eminent scholars, has attracted universal attention, first, by his unique attire in Mandarin color; second, by his magnetic presence; and last, but not least, by his brilliant oratory and wonderful exposition of Hindu philosophy.

Vivekananda is not a Brahmin, is not a Buddhist, is not a Parsee, is not a Moham­medan. He may be said to represent the best in all of these. He speaks for universal truth or the unification of all truth. At all times his appearance at the Memorial Art Palace has been attended by the greatest enthusi­asm. Indeed, his stay in Chicago has been a continual ovation. He is a scholar among scholars, yet simple in his life and earnest in conquering all limitations of the flesh, all propensities born of the sense world.

The "Chicago source" hit the nail right on the head when it said, among other things, that Swamiji repre­sented the best in all these religions. This only goes to show how deep an impression Swamiji carved into his Chicago audience.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was Narayana and Swami Vivekananda was nara in the ‘Nara Narayana’ pair. They just visited the earth to uplift the humanity and rejuvenate Hinduism.

Gist of Vedanta in Two Words

 Vedanta and Swami Vivekananda point to divinity in us in two levels. At the empirical level, the Will is our divinity. It is our power to decide what to do and be responsible for what we do, that puts us apart from inert things. At the absolute level, the Consciousness is our divinity.

To Arise is to claim ourselves as people with a will. To Awake is to claim ourselves as pure Consciousness. 

About Swami Vivekananda

Swami Atulananda reminiscences: 1899 - 1900 period 

The first non-Indian monk of the Ramakrishna Order, from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Swamiji was so simple in his behaviour, so like one of the crowd that he did not impress me so much when I first saw him. There was nothing about his ways that would mark him as the lion of New York society as so often he had been. Simple in dress and behaviour he was just like one of us. He did not put himself aside on a pedestal as is so often the case with lionised personages. He walked about the room, sat on the floor, laughed, joked, chatted—nothing formal. Of course I had noticed his magnificent, brilliant eyes, his beautiful features and majestic bearing, for these were parts of him that no circumstances could hide. But when I saw him for a few minutes standing on a platform surrounded by others, it flashed into my mind:

"What a giant, what strength, what manliness, what a personality! Every one near him looks so insignificant compared with him/' It came to me almost as a shock, it seemed to startle me. What was it that gave Swamiji this distinction ?Was it his height? No, there were gentlemen there taller than he was. Was it his build? No, there were near him some very fine specimens of American manhood. It seemed to be more in the expression of the face than anything else.Was it his purity? What was it? I could not analyse it. I remembered what had been said of Lord Buddha,—"a lion amongst men' I felt that Swamiji had unlimited power, that he could move heaven and earth if he willed it. This was my strongest and lasting impression of him.

"I was listening to Vivekananda this morning an hour. I believe him to be the reincarnation of some great spirit, perhaps Buddha, perhaps Christ. He is so simple, so pure, so unselfish..... His discourses this morning was most uplifting, his mere presence is that."

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox  (A celebrated journalist & poetess of Chicago, America).