Describe the social and political thoughts of swami

Vivekananda .
INTRODUCTION
Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk, and disciple of the famous Indian mystic Ramakrishna
Paramhamsa. Vivekananda played a key role in the introduction of Indian yoga and Vedanta philosophy
in the West. He made a strong impression at the inaugural World Parliament of Religions in Chicago,
1893 – giving a powerful speech on the underlying unity of world religions. He taught a philosophy of
traditional meditation and also selfless service (karma yoga). He advocated emancipation for Indian
women and an end to the worst excess of the caste system. He is considered an important figurehead of
India’s growing self-confidence and later nationalist leaders often said they were inspired by his
teachings and personality.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Swami Vivekananda was born Narendra Nath Datta on 12th January 1863 in an educated and well-to-do
family in Calcutta. He studied the Western thought which ingrained in him the quality of critical enquiry
and analysis. His inborn spiritual characteristics and his rational outlook were at tussle. He turned
towards the Brahmo Samaj which rejected idol worship and formulated the formless worship of God. His
meeting with Swami Ramakrishna in the year 1881 was the turning point in his life. He accepted Swami
Ramakrishna as his friend, philosopher and guide. In all most all the fields of social or national life he
propounded his unique visions to help the ignorant mass of this country. His preaching regarding
nationalism, universal humanism, education, socialism, equality greatly impressed the contemporary
leaders and freedom fighters. He was a Hindu spiritual leader and reformer in India who attempted to
combine Indian spirituality with Western material progress, maintaining that the two supplemented and
complemented one another.
INFLUENCES:
The philosophy of Vivekananda is born out of his strong awareness of the social, religious and economic
conditions of Indian masses. He realized that the orthodoxy, superstitions, loss of faith in spiritual values
etc., are the reasons for at least some of the social evils. The Hindu philosophy, especially, Vedanta
which made him known as a Vedantist and the Buddhist philosophy made a great impact upon
Vivekananda. Along with these Indian influences, he also carried, on his thought, the influence of
Christianity. There were certain other influences too. For some time he was under the influence of
Brahmo Samaj. It also seems that he was also influenced by the personality of Dayananda Saraswati. The
Gita was also a source of constant inspiration to Vivekananda. But it must be admitted that the
profoundest influence was that of his master Swami Ramakrisha Paramahamsa. It is right to say that
swami Ramakrishna revealed him the spiritual path, unravelled and opened his soul, flooded the
spiritual consciousness into his soul and removed the ignorance which obstructed and covered the wave
and tide of the unbounded spirit within Vivekananda. David Hume, Kant, Hegel, Comte, J.S. Mill, Charles
Darwin and became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer.
SOCIO-RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL IDEAS
Vedanta Religion and Socialism
To him religion is a key note of social and national life. This religion was the vedic religion. Vivekananda
was a world spokesperson for Vedanta. Swami Vivekananda’s vision of Vedanta is his lasting legacy to
contemporary spiritual thought. Swami Vivekananda's ideas on nation-building in India come down to us
through his concepts of 'Practical Vedanta' and 'Man-Making'. The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in
themselves first. To him, the goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and
internal. He popularized yoga as the practical aspect of Vedanta. it elevates religion into spiritualism and
at that stage all faiths, all scriptures, and idolatry appear to be different faces of the same truth. Swamiji
felt that Indians are essentially bound by religious ties and only a spiritual elevation of religion could
unite them beyond faiths, caste, community and sub-national and ethnic identities. Then and only then
all Indians will be permeated by a common bond of nationalism. By the Neo-Vedantism of Swami
Vivekananda is meant the new Vedanta as distinguished from the old traditional Vedanta developed by
Shankaracharya. Swamiji was an ardent supporter of Vedantic socialism. No doubt, Vivekananda took
pride in the country’s inheritance from the past, but he was not an obscurantist revivalist with
undiscriminating admiration for all that had come down from the past. To him, India meant the people
and the people meant the masses. Removal of poverty, eradication of illiteracy, restoration of human
dignity, freedom from fear, availability of spiritual and secular knowledge felt that Indians are essentially
bound by religious ties and only a spiritual elevation of religion could unite them beyond faiths, caste,
community and sub-national and ethnic identities. Then and only then all Indians will be permeated by a
common bond of nationalism. By the Neo-Vedantism of Swami Vivekananda is meant the new Vedanta
as distinguished from the old traditional Vedanta developed by Shankaracharya. Swamiji was an ardent
supporter of Vedantic socialism. No doubt, Vivekananda took pride in the country’s inheritance from the
past, but he was not an obscurantist revivalist with undiscriminating admiration for all that had come
down from the past. To him, India meant the people and the people meant the masses. Removal of
poverty, eradication of illiteracy, restoration of human dignity, freedom from fear, availability of spiritual
and secular knowledge.

Social Reforms
Swami Vivekananda was a great social reformer. As a social reformer, he preached elimination of all
exploitation. He has done many social activities to change the social problems. He felt that the three
problems are the resistance of our progress: education, poverty and castism. Swami is considered as the
messiah of downtrodden. Swamiji was the first leader in modern India to speak for the poor and the
downtrodden masses. He travelled extensively within the country to understand their problem. He
firmly believed that the main cause of Indians’ downfall was the neglect exploitation of the poor.
According to Vivekananda religion is that will be equally philosophic, equally emotional, equally mystic
and equally conductive to action. Religion is a social institution; worship is a social activity and faith a
social force. Swamiji changed the focus of religion fromGod to Man on rather, to God in man. His master
Sri Ramkrishna had taught him that service to man was service to God. Swamiji made this principle the
basis of his social service programme. He taught that the best form of worship was to see God in the
poor, the downtrodden, the sick and the ignorant and to serve them. He was the first Indian
represented India and Hinduism in the world parliament. Swamiji enhanced Indian prestige in the world
through his speeches at the world parliament of Religion held in Chicago in 1893 and his subsequent
work in America and England. Swamiji showed the universal relevance and significance of Indians
ancient philosophy and spiritual culture in solving many of the problems associated with modern living.
He enabled thousands of people in the west to appreciate Indian philosophy and culture. He believed
that socio economic change can be brought about through education. He wanted both moral and
secular education to be imparted to the common man of this country. On 1 May 1897 at Calcutta,
Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission—the organ for social service. The ideals of the
Ramakrishna Mission are based on Karma Yoga. Swamiji laid the foundation for harmony amongst
religions and also harmony between religion and science. He always said with his Guru, Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa, that, “religion is not for empty stomachs.”
Vivekananda on Nationalism
Swami Vivekananda was a true nationalist in heart and spirit. He believed that there is one all
dominating principle manifesting itself in the life of each nation. He said, “in each nation, as in music,
there is a main note, a central theme, upon which all others turn. Each nation has a theme, everything
else is secondary India’s theme is religion. Social reform and everything else are secondary. Vivekananda
felt that Indian nationalism had to be built on the stable foundation of the post historical heritage. In the
past, the creativity of India expressed itself mainly and dominantly in the sphere of religion. Religion in
India has been a creative force of integration and stability. When the political authority had become
loose and weak in India, it imparted event to that a force of rehabilitation. Hence, he declared that the
national life should be organized on the basis of the religions idea. As supporter of this idea, he revived
the eternal things of the Vedas and Upanishads to strengthen nation’s growth and faith in its
individuality. Though growth of Nationalism is attributed to the Western influence but Swami
Vivekananda’s nationalism is deeply rooted in Indian spirituality and morality. He contributed immensely
to the concept of nationalism in colonial India and played a special role in steering India into the 20th
Century. Swami Vivekananda’s nationalism is associated with spiritualism. He linked India’s regeneration
to her age-old tradition of spiritual goal. He said, “Each nation has a destiny to fulfil, each nation has a
message to deliver, each nation has a mission to accomplish. Therefore we must have to understand the
mission of our own race, the destiny it has to fulfil, the place it has to occupy in the march of nations,
the role which it has to contribute to the harmony of races”. His nationalism is based on Humanism and
Universalism, the two cardinal features of Indian spiritual culture. He taught people to get rid first of self
inflicted bondages and resultant miseries. Vivekananda was an ardent patriot and he had tremendous
love for the country. He was the embodiment of emotional patriotism. A nation is composed of
individuals. Hence Vivekananda stressed that noble virtues like manliness, a sense of human dignity and
honor should be cultivated by all individuals. These individualistic qualities had to be supplemented with
a positive sense of love for the neighbor. Without deep sense of selfless service it was mere prattle to
talk about national cohesion and fraternity
Vivekananda was a keen student of History. Analyzing the historical facts available he comes to the
conclusion that four fundamental social forces are ruling society in succession: Knowledge, military
power, wealth and physical labour. These forces are in the hand of four classes, Brahmin, Kshatriya,
Vaisya and Sudra. He point out the importance of each of the varna in social history and maintained that
each will rule one after the other. After analysing the merits and defects of the three different kinds of
rules Vivekananda prophesied that Sudra rule is bound to come in the near future: nobody can resist it.
At the same time he predicted that during the Sudra rule, there will be spread of general education but
the number of geniuses on talented people will be few. History shows that Sudras were condemned in
society in different periods. They were deprived of all opportunities to receive education. If a Sudra is
absorbed in a higher class he will be lost to his own community and may not feel any urge necessary
uplift of his own community
India is a country and Indian is a nation this feeling is national integration. Vivekananda feel that the
main characteristics of Indian culture are unity among diversity. Race, religion, language, Government -
all these together make a nation. In India race difficulties, linguistic difficulties, social difficulties, national
difficulties, all melt away before this unifying power of religion. Indian mind there is nothing higher than
religion, deals that is the key note of Indian life. Swami Vivekananda’s message of nationality and
universality is very much relevant in the present day world. All people without any distinction of caste,
religion, race, gender on nationality. Human society has to wait for centuries for the advent of a leader
of mankind like Swami Vivekananda.
Perception on Society and Social Institutions
Society is a divine institution. Vivekananda’s concept of society, though derived fromVedantik
philosophy, seeks to integrate both the spiritualistic and materialistic interpretations of both man and
society; it is both individualistic and socialistic. Believing in the divine nature of man, Vivekananda seeks
to establish a continuum between society, culture and civilization, like the wick, oil and the flame. This
approximates the integral view of both man and society. “Love, renunciation and unselfishness are the
three great manifestations of spirituality. In India love and sacrifice to be the basis of society. To him, in
the tradition of Indian philosophy there is an organic relationship between individual and the society
and therefore the good of either depends upon the other. The aggregate of many individual is called
samashti (the whole), and each individual is called Vyashti (a part). Human beings are vyashti and society
is samashti. It is an aggregate of numerous individuals whose self sacrifice is required for its welfare.
Collective happiness becomes his own happiness. Religion is the backbone of this structure. Dharma or
religion is the keynote of the social solidarity.
In Vivekananda’s view, “The Western man is born individualistic, while the Hindu is socialistic–entirely
socialistic.” The Hindu demands that the individual shall bow down to the needs of society, and that
those needs shall regulate his personal behavior. As a result of these two attitudes, the West has
granted freedom to society, so that society has grown and become dynamic, whereas the Hindu society
has become cramped in every way. Life differs in the East and the West, because the goals are different.
He asseverates, "Of the West, the goal is individual independence, the language money-making
education, the means politics; of India, the goal is Mukti, the language the Veda, the means
renunciation.” In India, the emphasis on spirituality, reinforced by renunciation, has produced a type of
culture that is different from that in the West. According to the Indian view, society is not a human
creation, but a divine institution. The Indian Monotheistic Doctrine of Creation holds that the universe of
souls and matter is a cosmos, not a chaos, and not only that, it is also an entirely teleological or a
purposive one. Like nature, society, too, is a perfect system. It is a full organic whole, a loving and a
living union. Its basis is religion, its purpose, spiritualism, and its instruments scriptural injunctions. He
asserts, "It is not a political organisation, not an economic unit and not a prudential concern at all.” His
concept of society is in consonance with the principles laid down in the Rig Vedic `Purusa-Sukta', In this
Sukta the whole of society has been conceived as a universal or social Man. Of Him, society is only a
reflex; and the various vocational groups are His different limbs. This social Man, or Purusa, is pictured
there as' thousand- headed, thousand-eyed, and thousand-legged', who spreads over all the earth and
rules over all living creatures. The four types of people are to be found in every society, though the
classification gradually became crystallized in Hindu society because of some varnas claiming exclusive
privilege and superiority over others. It should, however, be noted here that the varna classification was
made on the basis of the congenial vocational temperaments and aptitudes of the people, and not to
uphold the superiority or the privileges of some individuals because of their birth and heredity. To
Vivekananda, an ideal form of society is that where the highest truth can be held, practised and lived by
all.
karavada. This doctrine propounds the exclusion of the Sudras from the benefit of the Vedantic
knowledge. Samkara also adhered to this undemocratic dogma. But Vivekananda very strongly
championed the concept of spiritual equality. He bitterly criticised the existing social order in India
based upon inequality of privileges. To him, society is a stratified organisation. Man lives in groups and
performs his own function according to his capacity. To him society is a stratified organisation. Man lives
in groups and performs his own function according to his capacity. To him society is a stratified
organisation. Man lives in groups and performs his own function according to his capacity. To him
society is a stratified organisation. Man lives in groups and performs his own function according to his
capacity.

CONCLUSION
Swami Vivekananda is generally approached as a patriot-monk par excellence. He is simply credited with
revealing the soul of India to the Western world. He is mostly regarded as a spokesman of Hinduism. The
spiritual dimension of his personality seems to have obviously got the better of the social. It looks as
though the “Vivekananda” was drowned under the heavy weight of the “Swami”. A dominant theme of
Vivekananda’s speeches was the universality and harmony of the world religions. Swami Vivekananda
created a national consciousness amongst all Indians. Swamiji interpreted the significance of Indians
ancient culture in the modern world.