ABOUT SWAMI VIVEKANDAIS
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S inspiring
personality was well known both in India and in America during the last decade
of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. The unknown
monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the Parliament of Religions held in
Chicago in 1893, at which he represented Hinduism. His vast knowledge of
Eastern and Western culture as well as his deep spiritual insight, fervid
eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy, colourful personality,
and handsome figure made an irresistible appeal to the many types of Americans
who came in contact with him. People who saw or heard Vivekananda even once
still cherish his memory after a lapse of more than half a century.
In America Vivekananda's mission
was the interpretation of India's spiritual culture, especially in its Vedantic
setting. He also tried to enrich the religious consciousness of the Americans
through the rational and humanistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In
America he became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently for
better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a
healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.