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Today(i.e 12th Jan) is Swamiji's birthday.Let us celebrate on our own way of one of the greatest son of India.It has been rightly said if u want to know INDIA then u must know Swamiji.
Let me explian some think which know abt him here My dear friends and Well wishers please take a time of 10 mins from ur day i know ur time is most precious but just go through this blog i hope u do it
Born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, Swami Vivekananda was the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He was a marvellous blend of all excellences. Eager to know if God is true and perceptible, he was guided to Sri Ramakrishna who assured him from personal realization that God is the only Reality and can be communed with. Questioning the Master at every step and accepting nothing without rigorous proof, he was able to be in tune with the Infinite. After the Master's passing away he took upon himself the great mission of propagating the truth of Oneness, the universality of being, the harmony of religions, and the glory of the Atman. He put India on the spiritual map of the world by his famous addresses at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. He made Vedanta popular in the West, and in India he established the twin organizations, the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, to train those who had renounced the world in search of God and to integrate the activities of individuals who chose to serve fellow men and women unselfishly. His brilliant speeches and writings onstitute a rich legacy for all who care for the higher values of life.
Here is on of the speech given by him which had profound effect on the West.
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honour of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
