World Thinkers On Swamiji

WORLD THINKERS ON SWAMIJI

www.uttishthata.org

The going forth of Vivekananda as the heroic soul destined to take the world between his two hands and change it was the first visible sign that India was awake…  He was a power if ever there was one, a very lion among men. We perceive his influence still working gigantically in something grand, intuitive, upheaving… - Sri Aurobindo.

Vivekananda said that there was the power of God in every man, that God wanted to have our service through the poor. This is what I call real gospel. This gospel showed the path of infinite freedom from man's tiny egocentric self beyond the limits of all selfishness. This was no sermon relating to a particular ritual, nor was it a narrow injunction to be imposed upon one's external life. Vivekananda's gospel marked the awakening of man in his fullness…If you want to know India , study Vivekananda. –Rabindranath Tagore

I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold. –Mahatma Gandhi

Where can you find a man like him? Study what he wrote, and learn from his teachings, for if you do, you will gain immense strength. Take advantage of the fountain of wisdom, of Spirit, and of fire that flowed through Vivekananda! - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

“Rooted in the past, full of pride in India’s prestige, Vivekananda was yet modern in his approach to life’s problems, and was a kind of bridge between the past of India and her present … he came as a tonic to the depressed and demoralized Hindu mind and gave it self-reliance and some roots in the past.” 

- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures. Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity, boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom, exuberant in his emotions... I can go on for hours and yet fail to do the slightest justice to that great man. He was so great, so profound, so complex. He was a Yogi of the highest spiritual level, in direct communion with the Truth, who consecrated his whole life to the moral and spiritual uplift of humanity. - Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose

“Swamiji harmonized the East and the West, religion and science, past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen have gained unprecedented self-respect, self-reliance and self-assertion from his teachings.” - Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose

"He was so great, so profound, so complex. A Yogi of the highest spiritual level in direct communion with the truth who had for the time being consecrated his whole life to the moral and spiritual uplift of his nation and of humanity, that is how I would describe him. If he had been alive, I would have been at his feet. - Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose

It is an undisputed fact that it was Swami Vivekananda who first held aloft the banner of Hinduism as a challenge against the material science of the West. It was Swami Vivekananda who first took on his shoulders this stupendous task of establishing the glory of Hinduism in different countries across the borders. And he, with his erudition, oratorical power, enthusiasm, and inner force, laid that work upon a solid foundation. Twelve centuries ago Shankara was the only great personality who not only spoke of the purity of our religion... but also brought all this into action. Swami Vivekananda is a person of that stature. –Bal Gangadhar Tilak

“Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved India. But for him, we would have lost our religion and would not have gained our freedom. We therefore owe everything to Swami Vivekananda.” - Sri Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

" I had the special privilege of being introduced to the writings, sayings, and life of Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Mission. That was when I was very small. In fact both my parents and specially my mother had very close connections with the Mission. And I can truly say that the words of Swami Vivekananda inspired the whole of my family, in our political work as well as in our daily lives." - Srimathi Indira Gandhi

What new India has to say, has come out from the mouth of Vivekananda. The direction, which New India was to take, was hinted clearly by Vivekananda. Vivekananda is the bridge on which Old and New India embrace each other. Vivekananda is that ocean in which go and merge all—religion and politics, nationalism and inter-nationalism, Upanishads and science. . . -

- Ramdhari Singh Dinkar

The cyclone, which arose from the centre of English language and European Intellectualism, and proceeded to swallow Hinduism, got subsided after hitting the Himalayan chest of Swami Vivekananda. It is a solemn duty of Hindu race that as long as it survives, it must keep the memory of Vivekananda with the same regard, as with which it remembers Vyasa and Valmiki.’

The paragon of all Unity systems is the Vedanta philosophy of India , and the paragon of Vedantist missionaries was the late Swami Vivekananda who visited our land some years ago. I have just been reading some of Vivekananda's address in England , which I had not seen. The man is simply a wonder for oratorical power...the Swami is an honor to humanity. –William James, Harvard professor, philosopher and author

Swami Vivekananda will be remembered as one of the most significant figures in the whole history of Indian religion, comparable in importance to such great teachers as Shankara and Ramanuja. Since the days of the Indian missionaries who traveled in Southeast Asia and China preaching Buddhism and Hinduism more than a thousand years earlier, he was the first Indian religious teacher to make such an impression outside India. – Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Indologist.

It is very difficult to evaluate his [Swami Vivekananda's] importance in the scale of world history. It is certainly far greater than any Western historian or most Indian historians would have suggested at the time of his death. The passing of the years and the many stupendous and unexpected events which have occurred since then suggest that in centuries to come he will be remembered as one of the main moulders of the modern world, especially as far as Asia is concerned, and as one of the most significant figures in the whole history of Indian religion. – Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Indologist.

www.uttishthata.org