Swami Vivekananda S Ved Ntic Cosmopolitanism

"Swami Vivekananda, the nineteenth-century Hindu monk who introduced Vedåanta to the West, is undoubtedly one of modern India's most influential philosophers. Unfortunately, his philosophy has too often been interpreted through reductive hermeneutic lenses. Typically, scholars have viewed him either as a modern-day exponent of âSaçnkara's Advaita Vedåanta or as a "Neo-Vedåantin" influenced more by Western ideas than indigenous Indian traditions. In Swami Vivekananda's Vedåantic Cosmopolitanism, Swami Medhananda rejects both of these prevailing approaches to offer a new interpretation of Vivekananda's philosophy, highlighting its originality, contemporary relevance, and cross-cultural significance. Vivekananda, the book argues, is best understood as a cosmopolitan Vedåantin who developed novel philosophical positions through creative dialectical engagement with both Indian and Western thinkers. Inspired by his guru Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda reconceived Advaita Vedåanta as a nonsectarian, life-affirming philosophy that provides an ontological basis for religious cosmopolitanism and a spiritual ethics of social service. He defended the scientific credentials of religion while criticizing the climate of scientism beginning to develop in the late nineteenth century. He was also one of the first philosophers to defend the evidential value of supersensuous perception on the basis of general epistemic principles. Finally, he adopted innovative cosmopolitan approaches to long-standing philosophical problems. Bringing him into dialogue with a galaxy of contemporary philosophers, Medhananda demonstrates the sophistication and enduring value of Vivekananda's views on the limits of reason, the dynamics of religious faith, and the hard problem of consciousness"--

"Swami Vivekananda, the nineteenth-century Hindu monk who introduced Vedānta to the West, is undoubtedly one of modern India's most influential philosophers. Unfortunately, his philosophy has too often been interpreted through reductive hermeneutic lenses. Typically, scholars have viewed him either as a modern-day exponent of Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta or as a "Neo-Vedāntin" influenced more by Western ideas than indigenous Indian traditions. In Swami Vivekananda's Vedāntic Cosmopolitanism, Swami Medhananda rejects both of these prevailing approaches to offer a new interpretation of Vivekananda's philosophy, highlighting its originality, contemporary relevance, and cross-cultural significance. Vivekananda, the book argues, is best understood as a cosmopolitan Vedāntin who developed novel philosophical positions through creative dialectical engagement with both Indian and Western thinkers. Inspired by his guru Sri Ramakrishna, Vivekananda reconceived Advaita Vedānta as a nonsectarian, life-affirming philosophy that provides an ontological basis for religious cosmopolitanism and a spiritual ethics of social service. He defended the scientific credentials of religion while criticizing the climate of scientism beginning to develop in the late nineteenth century. He was also one of the first philosophers to defend the evidential value of supersensuous perception on the basis of general epistemic principles. Finally, he adopted innovative cosmopolitan approaches to long-standing philosophical problems. Bringing him into dialogue with a galaxy of contemporary philosophers, Medhananda demonstrates the sophistication and enduring value of Vivekananda's views on the limits of reason, the dynamics of religious faith, and the hard problem of consciousness"--

You Don T Simply Read A Man Like Vivekananda. In Reading Him, You Meet Him. And If You Don T Meet Him And Feel Him Contemporaneously, You Can Understand Little Of The Meaning Of What He Is Saying. In The Course Of A Short Life Of Thirty-Nine Years, Swami Vivekananda Came To Be Regarded As The Patriot Saint Of Modern India. Despite All That Has Been Written About His Life And His Epoch-Making Address At The Parliament Of Religions In Chicago, 1893, Swami Vivekananda Remains A Paradox: Much Is Known About Him, But Very Little Is Understood About The Man And His Relevance To Our Own Troubled Times. In Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta, Chaturvedi Badrinath Looks Behind The Iconic Façade, Seeking To Liberate Vivekananda From The Confines Of The Worship Room. He Examines The Various Facets Of A Man Who Was As Much At Ease With Philosophical Discourse As He Was With Cooking; Whose Childlike Love For Ice Cream Went Hand In Hand With His Stature As A Prophet. The Author Also Throws Light On The Various Relationships That Shaped Swamiji S Philosophy Of Vedanta And Formed The Core Of His Teaching With His Spiritual Guru Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, His Mother Bhubaneswari Devi, And His Many Followers In The West, Mostly Women, Who Became Central To His Life And Work. Well Researched And Brimming With A Wealth Of Detail, Swami Vivekananda: The Living Vedanta Offers An Unforgettable Insight Into The Life And Times Of This Renaissance Figure A One Who Was The Very Embodiment Of The Vedanta That He Preached.

Present work is to explore the creative essence of human freedom and peace from intercultural perspective. Importance of thid publication lies in the ecaluation of the global ideas and outlook of Swami Vivekananda the World thinker done by distinguished scholars in India and abroad from scientific, philosophical, aesthetic, religious, sociological, ethical and many other multidimensional states of human existence in harmony. The First part of the book is to explian the impact of Swamij's Global Vision in guiding the humanistic changes of society. The Second part deals with the Cultivation of comprehensive system of thought in organising global philosophy. The Third part examines Swamiji's global idea with the expression of universality in an intercultural form. The Fourth part is a concluding evaluation of intercultural relation and understanding in a harmonious process of advancing the spirit of 'Unity in Plurality' with a prospect of developing global freedom and peace.

In this third installment of his comprehensive history of "India's religion" and reappraisal of Hindu identity, Professor Jyotirmaya Sharma offers an engaging portrait of Swami Vivekananda and his relationship with his guru, the legendary Ramakrishna. Sharma's work focuses on Vivekananda's reinterpretation and formulation of diverse Indian spiritual and mystical traditions and practices as "Hinduism" and how it served to create, distort, and justify a national self-image. The author examines questions of caste and the primacy of the West in Vivekananda's vision, as well as the systematic marginalization of alternate religions and heterodox beliefs. In doing so, Professor Sharma provides readers with an incisive entryway into nineteenth- and twentieth-century Indian history and the rise of Hindutva, the Hindu nationalist movement. Sharma's illuminating narrative is an excellent reexamination of one of India's most controversial religious figures and a fascinating study of the symbiosis of Indian history, religion, politics, and national identity. It is an essential story for anyone interested in the evolution of one of the world's great religions and its role in shaping contemporary India.

Bringing together fourteen papers, this book gives new depth to our understanding of the aims and achievements of Swami Vivekananda. It invites us to relate him to movements and individuals outside his native Bengal; it shows how modernizing trends in Indian society wrestled with traditional features of Hinduism such as caste; and it links his religious and social ideals to thinkers and theologians in the West. The book firmly distances Swami Vivekananda from chauvinist or communal misinterpretations of his work.