Vivekananda As The Turning Point (The Rise of a New Spiritual Wave)

Unseen and in silence, Vivekananda ideas and teachings have been working to transform human lives everywhere. The thunderous message he delivered is echoing even today, 150 years since his advent. What was the uniqueness of his personality? What was the source of his powerful Ideas? How have his thoughts influenced humankind in modern times? And what is the direction shown by him for the future of humankind? This book deals with these questions and presents the story of THE RISE OF A NEW SPIRUTUAL WAVE initiated by Vivekananda and its impact on human society.

By far the , most important and typical representative of Hinduism was swami Vivekananda, who, in fact, was beyond question the most popular and influential man in the Parliament….. On all occasions he was received with greater enthusiasm than any other speaker, Christian or any other speaker, Christian or “Pagan”. The people thronged him wherever he went and hung with eagerness on his every world. Since the Parliament, he has been lecturing before large audiences in the principal cities of the United States and has received an ovation wherever he went… Never before has so authoritative a representative of genuine Hinduism-as opposed to the emasculated and Anglicized versions of it so common in these days-been accessible to American inquirers; and it is certain, beyond peradventure, that the American people at large will, when he is gone, look forward with eagerness to his return… America than India for sending him, and begs her to send many more like him.

The year 2013 is being celebrated as the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. With the support of the Central as well as the State Government, a number of programmers and projects have been initiated to spread Vivekananda message among the messes. Publishing of books related to vivekananda’s life and ideas to one of them. Under this head, it was decided to bring out a special Commemorative Volume, along with other new books on him as well as the reprinting of some of his existing popular titles. From the December of 2011 we started inviting competent writers from all over the world to contribute articles for this prestigious Volume. The response was immediate and impressive. We received a large number of writings focusing upon different aspects of viveknanda’s life, teachings, and personality. Out of these, a chosen few put together has assumed the form of the present book, Vivekananda as the Turning Point-The rise of a new spiritual Wave.

It makes us feel privileged in presenting this book to the readers. Today it is absolutely imperative for the country and the world to be informed about Vivekananda’s life-giving ideas and contributions. In the last hundred years or more, a great change has come about in the way human beings understand the world and each other. It has been a phenomenon of global dimensions, silently working on a subtle plane. If we track the source of this phenomenon, we shall be led to two names: Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.

As the title of the book suggests, Vivekananda is presented here as a “TURNING POINT” in the modern history. The “Prologue” to the book discusses what a “turning point “ and how it becomes applicable to Vivekananda. It also tells us about the content of the book. The book ends with an “epilogue” focusing upon the “task ahead of us” as envisaged by Vivekananda.

As stated before, we received a large number of articles from earnest writers. We express our heartfelt gratitude to all of them for their enthusiastic support. At the same time, we feel sad that it was not possible for us to include all the writings in this Volume. I is hoped that the writers whose articles we could not include will understand our predicament and sympathies. We would always need their loving support for similar future projects, and we are sure it will be there.

Revered Swami Atmasthananda, the present President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, was kind to give his “Benediction” to the book, We are sure his blessings will go a long way in making this book generate interest among the readers to know more about Swami Vivekananda. The Honourable President of India, Sri Pranab Mukherjee, was kind to send his “Message”, for which we are thankful to him. We are also thankful to the Respected Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, for his “Message”. His Wholehearted support has made this celebration a grand one.

We are indebted to Swami Shuddhidananda of Advaita Ashrama for carefully editing the book. We are also thankful to Dr. Ashok Banerji ( A professor in the Jones International University, US) Mrs. Anjana Gangopadhyay ( M.Tech, Kolkata University), and Brahmachari Yogadachaitanya ( Alok Maharaj) for proof-reading the manuscript and helping in the editing of the book, With their loving support and selfless labour we could duly bring out the book for its release in January 2013.

In the book we have followed the British English.

We sincerely hope that this work will instill interest among the readers to undertake further study of this phenomenon in more detail, the more we study Vivekananda, the better. In his works the world civilization can get the right direction in its march towards perfection.