Swami Vivekananda’s contributions to World Culture
Making an objective assessment of Swami Vivekananda’s contributions to world culture, the eminent British historian A L Basham
stated that “in centuries to come, he will be remembered as one of the
main moulders of the modern world…” Some of the main contributions that
Swamiji made to the modern world are mentioned below:
1. New Understanding of Religion: One of the most
significant contributions of Swami Vivekananda to the modern world is
his interpretation of religion as a universal experience of transcendent
Reality, common to all humanity. Swamiji met the challenge of modern
science by showing that religion is as scientific as science itself;
religion is the ‘science of consciousness’. As such, religion and
science are not contradictory to each other but are complementary.
This universal conception frees religion from the hold of superstitions,
dogmatism, priestcraft and intolerance, and makes religion the highest
and noblest pursuit – the pursuit of supreme Freedom, supreme Knowledge,
supreme Happiness.
2. New View of Man: Vivekananda’s concept of
‘potential divinity of the soul’ gives a new, ennobling concept of man.
The present age is the age of humanism which holds that man should be
the chief concern and centre of all activities and thinking. Through
science and technology man has attained great prosperity and power, and
modern methods of communication and travel have converted human society
into a ‘global village’. But the degradation of man has also been going
on apace, as witnessed by the enormous increase in broken homes,
immorality, violence, crime, etc. in modern society. Vivekananda’s
concept of potential divinity of the soul prevents this degradation,
divinizes human relationships, and makes life meaningful and worth
living. Swamiji has laid the foundation for ‘spiritual humanism’, which
is manifesting itself through several neo-humanistic movements and the
current interest in meditation, Zen etc all over the world.
3. New Principle of Morality and Ethics: The
prevalent morality, in both individual life and social life, is mostly
based on fear – fear of the police, fear of public ridicule, fear of
God’s punishment, fear of Karma, and so on. The current theories of
ethics also do not explain why a person should be moral and be good to
others. Vivekananda has given a new theory of ethics and new principle
of morality based on the intrinsic purity and oneness of the Atman. We
should be pure because purity is our real nature, our true divine Self
or Atman. Similarly, we should love and serve our neighbours because we
are all one in the Supreme Spirit known as Paramatman or Brahman.
4. Bridge between the East and the West: Another
great contribution of Swami Vivekananda was to build a bridge between
Indian culture and Western culture. He did it by interpreting Hindu
scriptures and philosophy and the Hindu way of life and institutions to
the Western people in an idiom which they could understand. He made the
Western people realize that they had to learn much from Indian
spirituality for their own well-being. He showed that, in spite of her
poverty and backwardness, India had a great contribution to make to
world culture. In this way he was instrumental in ending India’s
cultural isolation from the rest of the world. He was India’s first
great cultural ambassador to the West.
On the other hand, Swamiji’s interpretation of ancient Hindu scriptures,
philosophy, institutions, etc prepared the mind of Indians to accept
and apply in practical life two best elements of Western culture, namely
science and technology and humanism. Swamiji has taught Indians how to
master Western science and technology and at the same time develop
spiritually. Swamiji has also taught Indians how to adapt Western
humanism (especially the ideas of individual freedom, social equality
and justice and respect for women) to Indian ethos.
.jpg "Teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Teachings of Vivekananda,")
My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.
.jpg "Teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Teachings of Vivekananda,")
