Swami Vivekananda. 2004.

Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902) was an Indian thinker, religious reformer, disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who supported the unification of East and West on the basis of a single core of the world’s spiritual foundations.

The beginnings of Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy are in the teaching of the Vedas about the unity of Brahman (the Absolute) and Atman (the higher “I” of man). God is an infinite Principle, Absolute and Impersonal. Every person is a personification of God, all people are equal as an embodiment of the Divine Principle. Swami Vivekananda expands Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings about the oneness of all religions. As a reformer, Swami Vivekananda advocated the liberation of the peoples of India and all of humanity from poverty and illiteracy based on turning to the spiritual and religious experience of transforming a person’s consciousness. Swami Vivekananda is a preacher and founder of “courageous Hinduism”, a philosophy of action and service to people.

“Until even one dog in my country has no food, feeding it is my religion,” said Swami Vivekananda. Different practices and trainings are only the “rudiments of religion”, but true faith is in unconditional selfless bhakti (love) to God and selfless service to people. For Swami Vivekananda, art, science and religion are different ways of achieving the same truth about the divine destiny of a person.

Swami Vivekananda’s impact on the spiritual development of the world is great. He became the first Indian to come to America in 1893 as a member of the World Congress of Religions to proclaim the message from the East about the unity of all forms of religion. Swami Vivekananda makes trips to the USA, England, China, Japan, speaks with the propaganda of Vedanta, sets the task of uniting the minds of the West and the East. In 1898, he founded the religious reform movement “Mission of Ramakrishna”. The center aimed to teach the basics of spirituality and implement the Great Harmony of all faiths. And from this center, even today, the ideas of unity, goodness, peace and harmony around the world spread in circles.

Swami Vivekananda: “And, maybe, it takes me a thousand more times to come to this earth and suffer, but I will come until people realize that they are one with God. I will be born again and again, I will suffer and suffer a thousand times more, but I will serve and worship the One God who fills the entire universe.”