Swami Vivekananda's childhood name was Narendra Nath Dutt. He was born on 12 January 1863 in Calcutta. Narendra was skilled in wrestling, boxing, running, horse racing and swimming. He was a lover of music and a master in playing the tabla. Swami Vivekananda was a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. In 1893, he participated in the Parliament of Religions to be held in Chicago, USA. Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in May 1897 and established the headquarters of the mission at Velur on 1 January 1899. The main points of their reform efforts are as follows -
(1.) Respect for all religions and emphasis on its necessity
Explaining religion, Vivekananda said- 'Religion is the development of the divinity inherent in man; Religion is neither in books nor in religious doctrines. It resides only in feeling. Man eats food everywhere, but there are many methods of preparing food in every country. Similarly, religion is the food of human soul and it also has many forms in different countries. He wrote in one of his letters, “The welfare of our native land lies in the union of its two religions, Hinduism and Islam, the religion that emerges from the union of the Vedantic mind and the Islamic body, that is the hope of India”.
(2.) Emphasis on world rather than retirement
Vivekananda did not agree with the traditional interpretation of Vedanta. Indian sages, turning away from worldly life, preached to interview Brahma through meditation-samadhi, but Vivekananda said that it is unfair to turn away from worldly life to interview Brahma. True worship of God is that we engage ourselves in the service of our fellow human beings. He described the poor and miserable human being as the form of God and used the word Daridranarayan for him. When the neighbor is hungry, then offering food in the temple is not a virtue, but a sin.
(3.) Priority to the service of mankind:
Swami Vivekananda described the service of mankind as the most important thing in his teachings. He was in favor of education, women's revival and economic progress. He criticized conservatism, superstition and illiteracy and said- 'As long as millions of people are hungry and ignorant, I consider every person a traitor who gets education at their own expense but he did not care at all that the monk I should have the aim of service towards mankind.
(4.) Emphasis on material progress:
Swami Vivekananda believed that it is necessary to remove the poverty of the country. He made it clear to the followers of Christianity that the spread of Christianity in India could not benefit as much as western industrial technical and economic knowledge could. It is said that once a young man went to him and asked Swamiji to explain the Gita to me. Swami ji said with a true heart that the real field of understanding the Gita is the football field, play for an hour and you will learn yourself.
(5.) Opposition to Untouchability:
Swamiji was strongly opposed to untouchability and did not believe in caste discrimination based on birth. He strongly criticized the sanyasis and brahmins who believed in superstition and untouchability. They held different views from the Theosophical Society, because the Theosophical Society was promoting superstitions and tantra-vidya.
(6.) Self-building through spirituality:
Swami Vivekananda did not believe in social reforms. He said that spirituality leads to self-creation through which social and economic progress of the country is possible. He wanted to make a man through spiritual progress and considered that as progress.
(7.) Emphasis on organized efforts:
Swami Vivekananda emphasized on organized efforts for public welfare and established Ramakrishna Mission for this work where different castes, classes and religions could meet for the help of the poor. He said that helping the poor would be a yagya in the path of God-realization. Vivekananda's biggest success was that he presented the ideal of social service to the ascetics instead of individualistic salvation.
(8.) Origin of Self-Respect in Indians:
Swami Vivekananda tried to end the inferiority complex of Hindus by discussing the spiritual achievements of Hindus in western countries. Swamiji's great contribution is to create a sense of self-confidence and self-respect among Indians.
(9.) Formation of Nationality
Swami Vivekananda contributed immensely in the building of nationalism. By establishing the superiority of Hindu religion and spiritualism, he created self-respect and patriotism among Hindus. He proved through the interpretations of Vedanta that everyone can see the light of God in himself.
In this way, the grand edifice of Indian nationalism could be erected on the stream of cultural consciousness that Swami Vivekananda had flowed in the country. He said that cultural victory over the world can be achieved by the power of spirituality, but as long as India is bound by the shackles of slavery, it cannot play this important role. He believed that India's political independence is essential for the salvation of world humanity. He awakened the feeling of political independence among Indians. Rabindranath Tagore has written- 'If anyone wants to understand India, he should read Vivekananda.' The dream whose poet was Vivekananda, Gandhi and Nehru became its engineers.
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