Swami Vivekananda: Relevance of contributions.

Swami Vivekananda is described by various persons in various different ways for his versatile works and contributions to the society. A lot is read about his life and his ideologies but his contribution to the world and culture is still not talked about which it should have been for its role in reforming the world and the way it looks towards different religions and other beliefs. According to Swamiji different religions and science had a unique relation between themselves. He said that science and religion are not contradictory, but are complementary to each other. He was the man who took Hindu religion to different parts of the world and preached new ways of discovering it. His famous speech in Chicago on September 11, 1893 was one of those ways in which he wanted the world to see and belief the ideologies of Hindu religion. Like this he also tried to bridge the gap between eastern and western culture which is thought to be his another great contribution. He did it by taking India and its culture to the western world in the form of an idiom which would be easily acceptable over there. He showed that, in spite of her poverty and backwardness, India had a great contribution to make to world with its rich culture and heritage. On other hand he interpreted the emergence of learning western science and technology among Indians. Thus he brought the cultures together and interpreted the need of developing both spiritually and technically.

Swamiji also tried to inculcate true moral and ethics among man. Moral is generally based on fear, fear of police, fear of public ridicule, fear of god and so on but according to him moral should be based on truth, truth of a soul, truth of a life and ethics should follow the course of moral. So Swamiji gave new theory of ethics and new principle of morality based on the intrinsic purity and oneness of the soul. He also spoke about the ‘potential divinity of a soul’ which shows the way to the ennobling concept of man. Thus enriching man in every possible way.

Through science and technology man has reached great heights. With innovations and modern methods of communication the world has now become a global village. But the degradation of human societies has also taken a pace with all advancements. Immorality, violence, crime, wars may be some of the examples of such acts. But Vivekananda’s concept of potential divinity of the soul tries to prevent this degradation by divinizing human relationships and making life meaningful and worth living. Thus Swamiji has laid the foundation for ‘spiritual humanism’, which is manifesting itself through several neo-humanistic movements and the current interest in meditation.

So in the current society the relevance of Swamiji increases manifold with every passing day. He may be seen as a source of inspiration or a ray of light in the in the dark world of irregularities and immoralities, guiding man through his path in reaching the goal he is destined to.