Swami Vivekananda was born on the 12th January, 1863, in Calcutta. From childhood he demonstrated his intelligence in various ways. He was as much interested in physical culture as in intellectual pursuits. He not only showed his talent in literature and music, but also in riding, swimming and wrestling. He also studied Indian scriptures and got acquainted with western ideas. Initially he was a rationalist and a sceptic. In 1881 he happened to meet Ramkrishna Paramhamsa, which proved to be a turning point in his life. At the beginning he had doubts about Ramkrishna's teachings, but later on he surrendered to him and accepted him as his friend, philosopher and guide.

In 1886 after the death of Ramkrishna, he took over the work of his master. To get acquainted with the social and economic conditions of the people, he toured extensively all over India. He discovered that though India had a rich spiritual and cultural heritage, yet it had not been able to remove poverty, weakness and social evils. He thought that to root out these evils, India needs a spiritual evolution and also a spiritual leader.
At that very time he came to know that a Parliament of Religion was going to be held in Chicago. He decided to go there to participate in the meeting. What happened there is now history. This conference enabled Vivekananda to assume the spiritual leadership of India. In the west also he toured extensively to learn about their customs. After returning to India he founded the Ramkrishna Ashram in Belur near Calcutta, and started his work of social reforms and service. In 1899 he went to the West for the second time, and with his depth of knowledge and the power of oratory impressed the western world. Margaret Elizabeth Noble, became his most faithful disciple, who later on came to be known as Sister Nivedita. She helped him in every possible way and undertook the responsibility of educating girls and women.

Vivekananda's philosophy arises out of the awareness of the social, religious and economic conditions of the Indian masses. He had realized that some of the social conditions were due to the orthodoxy and superstitions prevalent in the society. He felt that this was due to the loss of faith in spiritualism and hence he aimed at a spiritual awakening of the people. His philosophy was mainly influenced by the ancient Hindu philosophy, specially by the Upanishads and Vedanta. To a great extent Vivekananda can be termed as a Vedantist. His basic belief in the unity of everything, that is, in the monistic nature of reality is derived from the Vedanta. His doctrine of Maya is also derived from the same source. He often made a distinction between an empirical point of view and a transcendental point of view. He tried to solve the apparent contractions in his view with reference to Vedanta. It is true that he often emphasized the need of re-interpreting Vedanta according to the change of time and attempted to do that. But it is a fact that some of the ideas of his philosophy were derived from the ancient Hindu philosophy, specially Vedanta. The Gita also influenced him greatly and its emphasis on "selfless work" was a source of constant inspiration to Vivekananda. But the most profound influence on him was from his master Sri Ramkrishna, who brought about a spiritual transformation in the personality of Vivekananda and his mental make-up.

It is very difficult to reduce the teachings of a social reformer and a religious teacher in to the technical mould of academic philosophy. Because a preacher or a religious teacher does not merely seek to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the people, but he appeals to feelings and so he does not bother about observing the rules of logic. Moreover, he was basically interested in the practical affairs of life and so did not have the time or inclination to care for discrepancies arising in the theoretical side. In the emotional approach of the religious teacher, all discrepancies disappear.

Yet we may attempt to find some metaphysical aspect in his philosophy. Vivekananda's philosophy is idealistic. Metaphysical Idealism states that reality is spiritual in character. Vivekananda is also an idealist because he believed that the ultimate reality is essentially spiritual in character. He believed in the supremacy of certain ideals and said that continuous and persistent effort should be made for the attainment of those values. His ideal is a living ideal, capable of inspiring and attracting people.

Vivekananda's idealism is monistic. An idealistic philosophy, which is strictly monistic, becomes abstract and asserts that reality is indeterminate. Vivekananda very often described reality like an abstract monist. But at many places he offered a monotheistic description and emphatically asserted some attributes of God. Hence it is rather difficult to characterize him either as a monist or as monotheist. This confusion naturally perplexes a student of academic, but it did not present any problem to Vivekananda. He did not perceive any opposition between the two and thought that Monism and Monotheism actually refer to different attitudes of the mind, but difference in dispositions does not affect truth as such. Therefore Vivekananda freely moved between Monism and Monotheism.

Usually philosophy does not treat Reality and God as the same being. But for Vivekananda they are not distinct concepts. He combined Abstract Monism and Theism in his philosophy. He was a Pantheist, yet he believed in a Personal God. Consequently, we find two lines of thought continuing side by side in Vivekananda's philosophy. One line resembles Advaita Vedanta and the other seems to indicate Bhakti - cult. He thought that the two lines of thought were not really two, but they were just two ways of looking at the Reality.

Like Advaita Vedantist Vivekananda said that reality is Absolute Brahman. He emphasized the monistic character of the reality and said that reality is a perfect unity, which notion was arrived at by a process of abstraction to its maximum limit.

Brahman, according to Vivekananda, is beyond space, time and causation, and as such it is changeless. It does not mean that Brahman remains the same all the time. What is meant is that the question of time is irrelevant to it. According to Vivekananda all these confusions regarding the concept of Absolute arise because of our ways of apprehending God. Actually God is neither inside nature nor outside nature, but God, nature, soul and universe are all convertible terms. In his Complete Works III, Vivekananda asserted, "you never see two things! It is your metaphorical words that have deluded you."

That is why the Absolute has been described as indeterminate. We cannot attribute characters to the Absolute. Attributing characters to the Absolute implies "Knowing the Absolute" which is a contradiction in terms. For Vivekananda the Absolute is unknowable, it does not admit even internal divisions. But still attempts have been made to give some descriptions of the Absolute. Like Sankaracharya, Vivekananda also believed that Brahman could be described as Sat - Cit - Ananda. The concept of Sat (existence) and Cit (consciousness) are similar to the concept of Sat and Cit of Advaita Vedanta. Ananda is bliss according to Advaita Vedanta. Vivekananda expanded the concept by making 'love' the essential core of bliss.

This reference to love indicates the other aspect of Vivekananda's philosophy of God, that is, its monotheistic aspect. He said that the Absolute or the impersonal Brahman is regarded as the creator, ruler and the destroyer of the world and as its cause. Thus along with the impersonal nature of the Absolute emerged a belief in a personal God, who was viewed as supremely good and loving.

Vivekananda believed that the religious aspirations of man demand some satisfaction and that demand can be met only by a personal God. In Sankaracharya's Advaita Vedanta also the concept of God has been given a place, but Sankara thought that the concept of God emerged due to ignorance and Maya and as such the personal God has no reality from the real point of view; that is, God has only "Vyavaharika satta" and not "paramarthik satta." But according to Vivekananda Absolute and God are not two entities and God is not a creation of Maya. These distinctions arise due to our misconception and limited ways of apprehension. The person, who has true knowledge, realizes that these distinctions are irrelevant. Reality is Absolute, and viewed from the religious aspect it is God. He is supremely real and also is the object of our devotion. Vivekananda emphasized the all - pervasive nature of God. He is present everywhere and in everything. Regarding God he said, "Through His control the sky expands, through His control the air breathes, through His control the sun shines, and through His control all live. He is the Reality in nature. He is the soul of your soul" (The complete works - Swami Vivekananda).

Vivekananda had a very deep faith on God. He thought that it was not possible to live without a faith on God. God has to be presupposed as the essential ground of both soul and the world. Vivekananda thought that it was not necessary to give any proof for God's existence. He thought that it is possible to have a direct realization of God. His master Ramkrishna had a direct realization of God. Hence he thought that arguments, proofs or demonstrations are not at all necessary to establish God's existence. His existence can be felt in intuition.

But Vivekananda never said that rational proofs or demonstrations have no value. They are needed because everyone cannot have a direct realization of God. Besides that, the revelations of a few sages have to be communicated to others. Rational proofs can interpret these truths and communicate them to the common people. But he laid greatest reliance on the intuitional proof of God's existence. He thought that rational proofs are not needed by a person who can have direct vision of God.

He believed in the basic unity of all religions. Truth is God for him and he thought that all religions struggled to reach that ideal and that goal may be said to be the ideal of universal religion. Another characteristic of universal religion is that it must be acceptable to all minds. This kind of view amply demonstrates the liberal outlook and deep knowledge of Swami Vivekananda. In short we can conclude that he was not only a religious teacher, but was also a great social reformer as well as a philosopher.

Courtesy by : Dr Jyotsna Bhattacharjee, the Sentinel