How Swami Vivekananda won over the world?-1

How Swami Vivekananda won over the world?-1

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendra Nath Datta and was the chief disciple of the 19th-century saint Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Parliament of the World's Religions

Indians are known to recognize a man's genius only after the western world acknowledges it. Swami Vivekananda is a classical example of this and so is Rabindranath Tagore. So, when Swami Vivekananda won the western world with his genius with the famous talk, Indian also started recognizing him. It is about this talk that we will talk.

Parliament of the World's Religions, 1893

We are talking about a year that is more than 100 years back. At that time, India was under the British rule and the western world had not recognized the Indian genius in many fields. In fact, this came majorly from the lack of information. We also know that the world was not rich with too many information systems at that time.

What was his credentials?

Now that we know Swami Vivekananda, it's easier to note his genius. However, his contemporaries were also not unaware of it due to some of the characteristics that he possessed. He was a brilliant student and sports person at the same time.

School Time

In 1871 Narendra enrolled at Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Metropolitan Institution, where he studied until his family moved to Raipur in 1877. In 1879, after his family's return to Calcutta, he received first-division marks in the Presidency College entrance examination. That year, he was the only student at his college who received first-division marks. Narendra was an avid reader and was interested in a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, religion, history, social science, art and literature. He was also interested in Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Narendra was trained in Indian classical music, and regularly participated in physical exercise, sports and organised activities.

Not limited in world-view

Narendra studied Western logic, Western philosophy and European history at the General Assembly's Institution (now known as the Scottish Church College). In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884. Narendra studied the works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Georg W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Auguste Comte, John Stuart Mill and Charles Darwin. He became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and corresponded with him, translating Spencer's book Education (1861) into Bengali.

Indian scriptures

While studying Western philosophers, he also learned Sanskrit scriptures and Bengali literature. William Hastie (principal of General Assembly's Institution) wrote, "Narendra is really a genius. I have travelled far and wide but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German universities, among philosophical students". Some accounts have called Narendra a Srutidhara (a person with a prodigious memory).

Om Namah Shivay