Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda was the first monk to bring Hinduism to the western world, when he attended the World Parliament of Religions, in Chicago, 1893. The reaction he caused is the stuff legends are made of. Prior to becoming a monk, the Swami was an atheist with a western education in Kolkata. This is reflected in his writings, where he has tackled most questions that western-educated minds are likely to raise. It is also the reason that most scientific-minded people are able to connect with the monk's incisive intellect through his famous writings.
Even a century after he delivered his fiery speeches, readers are shaken by his thoughts and the depth to which he has been able to explain the Hindu legacy to a western mind.
Swami Vivekananda offers a unique window to Hinduism in that he has written one of the most intelligible summaries of Hinduism in modern times in English in a logical and scientific manner. In his writings, we traverse the length and breadth of Hinduism and understand our culture, faith and perhaps, the philosophy of those we follow. For, different masters in different times have shown different paths, each of which is like a pearl in the necklace of Hinduism. To fully appreciate Hinduism, we need to appreciate all the different paths and the masters who created them. The swami's works are a step in this direction, as he takes us from Karma Yoga (the path of action) to Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion). We hope that we can take home an understanding and appreciation of paths that are not our own, while understanding our own paths better. The spirit behind all of his writings is to encourage a questioning mind - Vivekananda himself encourages you to challenge all assumptions and its fine for you to conclude that he wasn't right.
As many people have their own paths and masters, we hope some will be inspired to explain their paths and contribute a page to their master. A master is best honored by his own devotee, and we would be happy to put expressions of such honor on this site. You are also encouraged to start a study group to study the philosophy of a great teacher.
Join us in the Vivekananda Study Group to dive into his spellbinding writings. To see what we discuss in our study group, check the Vivekananda Study Group Blog. We also go deeper into specific yogas (Karma, Raja and Gyaan) through Rhythms of Yoga, a unique discussion-cum-exercise introductory approach to yoga following classic texts (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Bhagvad Gita) in conjunction with Swami Vivekananda's writings.
Some thought-provoking writings of Swami Vivekananda:
Practical Vedanta
The Women of India
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