Great Indians on

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• Great Indians on
• Swami Vivekananda

A VSC IIT Madras Presentation
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• Just as only an athlete understands another
  athlete, so also, only great men truly understand
  other great men.  
• Let us have a look at what some of the great men
  of India have had to say of Swami Vivekananda

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Rabindranath Tagore

• v If you want to know India, study Vivekananda.
  In him everything is positive and nothing
  negative.

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Sri Aurobindo

• v We perceive Vivekanandas influence still
  working gigantically, we know not well how, we
  know not well where, in something that is not yet
  formed, something leonine, grand, intuitive,
  upheaving that has entered the soul of India and
  we say, Behold, Vivekananda still lives in the
  soul of his Mother and in the souls of her
  children.

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Bal Gangadhar Tilak

• v Twelve centuries ago Sankaracharya was the
  only great personality, who not only spoke of the
  purity of our religion, not only uttered in words
  that this religion was our strength and wealth,
  not only said that it was our sacred duty to
  preach this religion in the length and breadth of
  the worldbut also brought all this into action.
  Swami Vivekananda is a person of that staturewho
  appeared towards the last half of the 19th
  century.

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Mahatma Gandhi

• v I have gone through Vivekanandas works very
  thoroughly, and after having gone through them,
  the love that I had for my country became a
  thousand-fold.

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Jawaharlal Nehru

• v Rooted in the past and full of pride in
  Indias prestige, Viveka-nanda was yet modern in
  his approach to lifes problems and was a kind of
  bridge between the past of India and her present.
  . . He was a fine figure of a man, imposing, full
  of poise and dignity, sure of himself and his
  mission, and at the same time full of a dynamic
  and fiery energy and a passion to push India
  forward

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Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

• v Swamiji was a full-blooded masculine
  personality and a fighter to the core of his
  being. I can go on for hours and yet fail to do
  the slightest justice to that great man. He was
  so great, so profound, so complex. If he had
  been alive, I would have been at his feet.

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Vinoba Bhave

• v Vivekananda not only made us conscious of our
  strength, he also pointed out our defects and
  drawbacks. . He taught us The same Soul resides
  in each and all. If you are convinced of this, it
  is your duty to treat all as brothers and serve
  mankind. . . . The word Daridra-narayana (God
  manifested in the hungry, destitute millions) was
  coined by Vivekananda and popularized by Gandhiji.

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C. Rajagopalachari

• v Swami Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved
  India. But for him we would have lost our
  religion and would not have gained our freedom.
  We therefore owe everything to Swami Vivekananda.
  May his faith, his courage and his wisdom ever
  inspire us so that we may keep safe the treasure
  we have received from him.

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R.C. Majumdar

• v Though an ascetic, Vivekananda was a patriot of
  patriots. The thought of restoring the pristine
  glory of India by resuscitating among her people
  the spiritual vitality which was dormant, but not
  dead, was always the uppermost thought in his
  mind. . .

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Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

• v If there is any call which Vivekananda made to
  us, it is to rely on our own spiritual resources.
  . . Man has inexhaustible spiritual resources.
  His spirit is supreme, man is unique. . . . He
  told us Do not be led away by the appearances.
  Deep down there is a providential will, there is
  a purpose in this universe. You must try to
  co-operate with that purpose and try to achieve
  it.

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• Before closing this presentation, let us recall
  that every year 12th January, Swami Vivekanandas
  birthday (according to English calendar), is
  celebrated as the National Youth Day all over the
  country. In 1985, while declaring this, the
  Government of India affirmed the philosophy of
  Swamiji and the ideal for which he lived could be
  a great source of inspiration for the Indian
  youth.

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Are the youth listening? Listening to Swamijis
eternal call reverberating through more than
hundred years? He said

• My faith is in younger generation, the modern
  generation. They will work out the whole problem
  like lions. . .

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• Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is
  reached!

Thank You