A message of love, compassion and the spiritual unity of humankind from one of India’s visionary teachers Vivekananda’s message gives us hope for the future. His love for humanity gave him the mandate for his message, and his innate purity gave him an irresistible power that nobody could match. The same love that was born as Buddha, the Compassionate One, once again assumed human form as Vivekananda. —from the Introduction At the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, a young Hindu monk caused a sensation. At the utterance of his simple opening words—“Sisters and Brothers of America”—the audience broke into spontaneous applause for Swami Vivekananda. What followed was a stunning speech about the validity and unity of all religions. In just a little over a century, Vivekananda’s message has spread throughout the world. In this book for spiritual seekers of all faiths and backgrounds, and for all who yearn for solutions to the ideological conflicts that threaten our world, Swami Adiswarananda presents a selection of Vivekananda’s most profound and inspiring lectures and an intimate glimpse of his life through newspaper reports from the time, personal reminiscences from disciples and others close to him, and impressions of his life and message from world leaders. A chapter by Swami Nikhilananda, founder of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, offers a fascinating view of Vivekananda’s spiritual mission to America—a mission that brought the ideals of spiritual freedom and spiritual democracy to the forefront of Western religious thought.

From the Wolfson History Prize–winning author of The Man on Devil’s Island, the definitive biography of Vivekananda, the Indian monk who shaped the intellectual and spiritual history of both East and West. Few thinkers have had so enduring an impact on both Eastern and Western life as Swami Vivekananda, the Indian monk who inspired the likes of Freud, Gandhi, and Tagore. Blending science, religion, and politics, Vivekananda introduced Westerners to yoga and the universalist school of Hinduism called Vedanta. His teachings fostered a more tolerant form of mainstream spirituality in Europe and North America and forever changed the Western relationship to meditation and spirituality. Guru to the World traces Vivekananda’s transformation from son of a Calcutta-based attorney into saffron-robed ascetic. At the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he fascinated audiences with teachings from Hinduism, Western esoteric spirituality, physics, and the sciences of the mind, in the process advocating a more inclusive conception of religion and expounding the evils of colonialism. Vivekananda won many disciples, most prominently the Irish activist Margaret Noble, who disseminated his ideas in the face of much disdain for the wisdom of a “subject race.” At home, he challenged the notion that religion was antithetical to nationalist goals, arguing that Hinduism was intimately connected with Indian identity. Ruth Harris offers an arresting biography, showing how Vivekananda’s thought spawned a global anticolonial movement and became a touchstone of Hindu nationalist politics a century after his death. The iconic monk emerges as a counterargument to Orientalist critiques, which interpret East-West interactions as primarily instances of Western borrowing. As Vivekananda demonstrates, we must not underestimate Eastern agency in the global circulation of ideas.

Swami Vivekananda, a great spiritual luminary, a thinker, and a patriot-prophet of our times, had many deep and insightful ideas on education. As time rolls by, his far-reaching vision of education is influencing an increasing number of thoughtful people the world over. Recognizing this contribution of his, UNESCO has identified Swami Vivekananda as one of the eminent educationists of the world. This book published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, is a compilation of the great Swami’s ideas on education. It is our earnest hope that this book will serve as a handbook for students, teachers, parents and educationists, and inspire them to imbibe and impart real education in our society.

Find inspiration and wisdom in these inspiring talks by Sarah Ellen Waldo and Swami Vivekananda. Featuring a range of topics from spirituality and the human condition to personal growth and empowerment, Inspired Talks is a must-read for anyone seeking to expand their horizons and deepen their understanding of the world. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.