Swami Vivekananda, known in his pre-monastic life as Narendra Nath Datta, was born in an affluent family in Kolkata on 12 January 1863. His father, Vishwanath Datta, was a successful attorney with interests in a wide range of subjects, and his mother, Bhuvaneshwari Devi, was endowed with deep devotion, strong character and other qualities. A precocious boy, Narendra excelled in music, gymnastics and studies. By the time he graduated from Calcutta University, he had acquired a vast knowledge of different subjects, especially Western philosophy and history. Born with a yogic temperament, he used to practise meditation even from his boyhood, and was associated with Brahmo Movement for some time.

With Sri RamakrishnaAt the threshold of youth Narendra had to pass through a period of spiritual crisis when he was assailed by doubts about the existence of God. It was at that time he first heard about Sri Ramakrishna from one of his English professors at college. One day in November 1881, Narendra went to meet Sri Ramakrishna who was staying at the Kali Temple in Dakshineshwar. He straightaway asked the Master a question which he had put to several others but had received no satisfactory answer: “Sir, have you seen God?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: “Yes, I have. I see Him as clearly as I see you, only in a much intenser sense.” Apart from removing doubts from the mind of Narendra, Sri Ramakrishna won him over through his pure, unselfish love. Thus began a guru-disciple relationship which is quite unique in the history of spiritual masters. Narendra now became a frequent visitor to Dakshineshwar and, under the guidance of the Master, made rapid strides on the spiritual path. At Dakshineshwar, Narendra also met several young men who were devoted to Sri Ramakrishna, and they all became close friends.

Difficult SituationsAfter a few years two events took place which caused Narendra considerable distress. One was the sudden death of his father in 1884. This left the family penniless, and Narendra had to bear the burden of supporting his mother, brothers and sisters. The second event was the illness of Sri Ramakrishna which was diagnosed to be cancer of the throat. In September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to a house at Shyampukur, and a few months later to a rented villa at Cossipore. In these two places the young disciples nursed the Master with devoted care. In spite of poverty at home and inability to find a job for himself, Narendra joined the group as its leader. Sri Ramakrishna instilled in these young men the spirit of renunciation and brotherly love for one another. One day he distributed ochre robes among them and sent them out to beg food. In this way he himself laid the foundation for a new monastic order. He gave specific instructions to Narendra about the formation of the new monastic Order. In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave up his mortal body.After the Master’s passing, fifteen of his young disciples (one more joined them later) began to live together in a dilapidated building at Baranagar in North Kolkata. Under the leadership of Narendra, they formed a new monastic brotherhood, and in 1887 they took the formal vows of sannyasa, thereby assuming new names. Narendra now became Swami Vivekananda (although this name was actually assumed much later.

Awareness of Life’s MissionAfter establishing the new monastic order, Vivekananda heard the inner call for a greater mission in his life. While most of the followers of Sri Ramakrishna thought of him in relation to their own personal lives, Vivekananda thought of the Master in relation to India and the rest of the world. As the prophet of the present age, what was Sri Ramakrishna’s message to the modern world and to India in particular? This question and the awareness of his own inherent powers urged Swamiji to go out alone into the wide world. So in the middle of 1890, after receiving the blessings of Sri Sarada Devi, the divine consort of Sri Ramakrishna, known to the world as Holy Mother, who was then staying in Kolkata, Swamiji left Baranagar Math and embarked on a long journey of exploration and discovery of India. His speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in September 1893 made him famous as an ‘orator by divine right’ and as a ‘Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world’. After the Parliament, Swamiji spent

nearly three and a half years spreading Vedanta as lived and taught by Sri Ramakrishna, mostly in the eastern parts of USA and also in London.

Awakening His CountrymenHe returned to India in January 1897. In response to the enthusiastic welcome that he received everywhere, he delivered a series of lectures in different parts of India, which created a great stir all over the country. Through these inspiring and profoundly significant lectures Swamiji attempted to do the following:

to rouse the religious consciousness of the people and create in them pride in their cultural heritage; to bring about unification of Hinduism by pointing out the common bases of its sects; to focus the attention of educated people on the plight of the downtrodden masses, and to expound his plan for their uplift by the application of the principles of Practical Vedanta.

Founding of Ramakrishna MissionSoon after his return to Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda accomplished another important task of his mission on earth. He founded on 1 May 1897 a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna

Mission, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries.

Belur MathIn early 1898 Swami Vivekananda acquired a big plot of land on the western bank of the Ganga at a place called Belur to have a permanent abode for the monastery and monastic Order originally started at Baranagar, and got it registered as Ramakrishna Math after a couple of years. Here Swamiji established a new, universal pattern of monastic life which adapts ancient monastic ideals to the conditions of modern life, which gives equal importance to personal illumination and social service, and which is open to all men without any distinction of religion, race or caste.

DisciplesIt may be mentioned here that in the West many people were influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s life and message. Some of them became his disciples or devoted friends. Among them the names of Margaret Noble (later known as Sister Nivedita), Captain and Mrs Sevier, Josephine McLeod and Sara Ole Bull, deserve special mention. Nivedita dedicated her life to educating girls in Kolkata. Swamiji had many Indian disciples also, some of whom joined Ramakrishna Math and became sannyasins.

Last DaysIn June 1899 he went to the West on a second visit. This time he spent most of his time in the West coast of USA. After delivering many lectures there, he returned to Belur Math in December 1900. The rest of his life was spent in India, inspiring and guiding people, both monastic and lay. Incessant work, especially giving lectures and inspiring people, told upon Swamiji’s health. His health deteriorated and the end came quietly on the night of 4 July 1902. Before his Mahasamadhi he had written to a Western follower: “It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn out garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the whole world shall know that it is one with God.”

His speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in September 1893 made him famous as an ‘orator by divine right’ and as a ‘Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world’. After the Parliament, Swamiji spent nearly three and a half years spreading Vedanta as lived and taught by Sri Ramakrishna, mostly in the eastern parts of USA and also in London.

Swami Vivekananda on Science and Education

**** Text of my talk on Swami Vivekananada's view on Science and Education ****

From time immemorial, the ultimate truth of nature is an enigma and a mystery to man. He took two broad routes to fathom it, one through probing of the external and second through inward journey. While the first path is taken by the western mind, the second path was chosen by the ancient sages of India knowing that the first path cannot lead to the truth unambiguously. This is what Swami Vivekananda spread in his message the world. 

Swami Vivekananda on Science

Swami Vivekananda had experienced the ancient truths through inward journey under the guidance of Sri Ramakrishna. Along with it he had the pulse of western scientific approach. Hence he felt the need for bridging the gaps between them. For this, he took a holistic approach and having envisioned the leads of the western science, he pronounced intuitively the truths related to the study of the external domains of physical, biological and chemical sciences.Before we understand Swamiji’s views on Physics, it is very important to understand the difference between classical science and intuitive science.

Classical science

Classical science follows reason, logic and instinct Scientists make observations of natural phenomena and then through

experiment try to simulate natural events under controlled conditions. Scientists will then gather the empirical evidence and will generate their hypothesis to explain the phenomenon.

Classical science has tremendous impact on man by improving the quality of life, unravel the mysteries of the universe and remove barriers of subjectivity and objectivity.

However, Swami Vivekananda cautions that, “Science stands on its own feet and in its own light and challenges comparison with any other sciences. There have been charlatans and magicians and cheats and more here than any other field. This is because that the more profitable the business, the greater the number of charlatans and cheats. But that is no reason why the business is not good”.

Intuitive Science

Intuition is distinctly different from instinct, logic, reason and intellect. It is the highest mental faculty dormant in man. It is above reason and is acquired by the life forms through repeated experiences and gained through transformation. It is voluntary and spontaneous and finds a solution for a given problem in a completely different place and situation.

It is an inherent means of knowledge gathering and often leads to what science can achieve and sometimes even beyond that.Swamiji’s views on instinct, reason and intuition is clear when he said, “Reason is the vehicle one rides to reach a certain point beyond which one cannot move. Intuition goes beyond reason but reason with unbiased mind is the only guide to reach there. Instinct is like ice, reason is like water and intuition is the subtlest form like vapor and each one follows the other”. 

Swami Vivekananda’s views on Physics

On theory of relativity – Though the theory of gravitation had been established during the 19th century, it could not resolve the inter-relatedness and inter-dependence of 4 major parameters i.e. space, time, matter and energy. At this juncture Swami Vivekananda endowed with Vedantic knowledge proclaimed that it can be deduced that the 4 are not only inter-related but also that energy and matter are interchangeable in the space and time domains. However, there was no mathematical formulation available at that time. In fact, he had written to Tesla to formulate a necessary theory related to energy and matter and their inter-convertibility.Tesla was very much impressed to hear from Swami Vivekananda his explanation of the Sankhya cosmology and the theory of cycles believed by the Hindus. He was struck by the resemblance between Sankhya theory of matter and energy and modern physics.Swami Vivekananda had said: “We have matter and force. The matter, we do not know how, disappears into force and

force into matter. Therefore there is something which is neither force nor matter, as these two may not disappear into each other. This is what we call the universal mind.”

The mathematical proof of this principle came only 10 years later when Einstein published his paper of relativity and formulated E=mc2 and mentioned that matter is just potential energy.A corollary to the theory of relativity is the existence of Ether. In Feb 1895 Swamiji wrote an article on Ether which appeared in the New York Medical Times. He wrote, “We are forced to find that Ether cannot explain space because we cannot but think of ether as in space. And therefore, if there is anything which will explain this space, it must be something that comprehends in its infinite being and the infinite space itself.” Hence he was the first to reject the Ether theory long before Einstein did so in 1920.

On theory of Unity – Once Swamiji had said in the then Madras: “One atom of the universe cannot move without dragging the whole world with it”. Again in London he had said, “One man contains the whole universe. One particle of matter has all the energy of the universe at the back”. He has also said that each mind is connected with every other mind and wherever it is located, it is in actual communication with the whole world!

These intuitive scientific proclamations are hard to be experimented to prove or disprove. But with the advent of Quantum physics, many gaps have been bridged. The famous Nobel winning Soeren Prell theory implies that at a deep and fundamental level the separate parts of the world are connected in an intimate and immediate way as any change in one immediately and unmitigated causes changes in the other.

More than a century after Swami Vivekananda’s short but extraordinary life, his intuitive words on science have left distinct mark on the pages of world’s history of science and his words are even more relevant today than ever before.

Swami Vivekananda on Biological Sciences

On Darwin’s theory of evolution – Darwin established that all species of life descended over time from a common ancestor and proposes the scientific theory that this matching pattern of evolution resulted from a process what he called natural selection or survival of the fittest.However, Swami Vivekananda did not agree with it in the light of his own profound intuitive knowledge on the subject. Swamiji asserted that he whole of this universe is present in the cosmic fine universe. He said, “Certainly it is true that man cannot be simply an evolution. Every evolution presupposes an involution. This involution and evolution is on throughout the whole of nature.”

This is in tune with new developments in the field of biology. Eminent Nobel Prize winning cell biologist Christian de Duve and Brian Goodwin’s research shows that Darwin’s theory works for small aspects of evolution and there is no significant support for gradual evolution of hereditary mutations adding up to large scale aspects of evolution.

Swamiji profound knowledge on science shows us that the basis for good scientific knowledge among the masses is proper education. Hence we shall see what Swami Vivekananda’s ideas about education were.