Author: Makarand Paranjape
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 311
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143032542
Description
On 11 September 1893, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) made his first public appearance on the world stage as a last-minute, uninvited participant at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There he proclaimed his message of tolerance and universal acceptance in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects. Speaking against sectarianism and bigotry, this young speaker in flaming robes sounded the death-knell of all fanaticism.
In his brief life of less than forty years, Swami Vivekananda wrote four outstanding treatises on Hindu philosophy: Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga. He also taught, lectured and travelled tirelessly. After his death, his message spread all over India and in many parts of the world through the various activities, efforts and services of the Ramakrishna Mission and Math, the monastic order that he had founded in the name of his guru.
The Penguin Swami Vivekananda Reader is the first major compilation of Vivekananda’s selected works aimed at a general audience. It includes speeches, essays, letters, poems, conversations and excerpts from his books on subjects that have contemporary relevance: celebration of the Indian spirit, karma, spirituality, reincarnation, realization of the Absolute. Swami Vivekananda’s writings do not merely inspire, but propel action. With a detailed biography and a scholarly introduction, the Reader provides a rare insight into one of India’s greatest minds.
REVIEW
Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
-Swami Vivekananda
Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
Addresses at the Parliament of Religions
From Karma Yoga
From Raja Yoga
From Bhakti Yoga
From Jnana Yoga
Reply to the Address of Welcome at Pamban
Real Worship
The India of the Future
Our God is the cooking Pot
The Distinction Between the Essentials and the Non-Essentials
The Mission of the Vedanta
Shall India Die?
My Plan of Campaign
From The Sages of India
The Future of India
Work and Its Secrets
Reincarnation
Translations from the Bengali
Poems
Selections from Letters
Notes from Lectures and Discourses
Saying and Utterances
Interviews
CONVERSATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY