Icon with a Mission: Swami Vivekananda

Jan 13, 2005, 12.00am IST
Pranav Khullar.

Moorless in cyberspace and shackled by technologies like multimedia messaging, the youth today are sorely in need of an icon they can look up to. In fact, this is a good time to revive the memory of modern India's most popular youth icon: Vivekananda.


Vivekananda exhorted the young to "arise" and "awake", to reject all doctrines and dogmas that were based on superstition and prejudice. Instead, he encouraged youngsters to mine the wisdom of ancient philosophy and tradition. In spite of his fondness for drawing on ancient thought to aid modern living, he was hugely popular, especially among the young and impressionable.


"Jiva is Shiva", he would often say, encapsulating all Vedantic thought in that simple precept that conveyed the importance of treating all humans as equals. Sanyas, for him, was a mere calling. He did not allow it to become an ivory-tower pursuit for himself and his band of brothers. The roadmap to Narayana was through "Daridra Narayana", or service to the poor and the needy. Nirvana was not an escape route to personal salvation; it was a goal to be achieved through collective social uplift.


Brought up in the intellectual climate of late 19th century Calcutta, and touched by the simplicity of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Vivekananda focused on social uplift — he was deeply perturbed by the terrible poverty of rural India. His dynamism and motivation woke up the youth from a self-induced slumber. Vivekananda advocated body- building and exercise to help boost one's morale and strength. He said: "It would be better to play football than read the Gita..." and the statement was a powerful metaphor for the way he wanted the youth of his time to evolve — fearless, strong and independent in the right sense. It was a call to action, to karma, rather than passivity and inaction.


Vivekananda saw the world as a gymnasium where one learns to become strong and fearless. He dared to attempt to revamp all that was rotting in Indian society, and to enrich and learn from all that was noble. He was a man with a mission, and he was the first to present Vedantic thought in the most simple terms possible. Romain Rolland said of him: "...his words are like great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven...".


Vivekananda's days as a wandering monk shaped his social vision as he came into contact with ground realities in a diverse India. This was to inspire Mahatma Gandhi later to go on a Bharat Darshan to acquaint himself with the 'real' India. "Give me 100 energetic young men and I shall transform India", Vivekananda would say and this led to the founding of the Ramakrishna Order of monks, young men committed to bring about common good.


Vivekananda's message to the West was that we in India were in possession of an enduring and altruistic philosophical legacy that was crucial to keep humans connected not only with one another but also with their environment. He highlighted the unique and redeeming features of Indian culture, but he was also aware that India was slipping in basic socio-economic issues. That's why he felt the need to inspire the young to stir them to act.

Rabindranath Tagore once told a group: "If you want to know India, read Vivekananda". He could well have said to the youth of today: "It is time to read Vivekananda again". Maybe some of his enthusiasm and vigour to bring about a transformation — in the way we relate to one another, think and act — will motivate those among us who need just that little bit of inspiration to start ticking right.

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Swami Vivekananda: The Manager Monk

Jan 12, 2004, 12.21am IST

Anshul Chaturvedi.

In an age when 30-something CEOs and VPs no longer surprise us and paradigms are busted each day, holding one's own at the workplace is a challenge in itself. One hundred and forty-one years after Swami Vivekananda was born, we need to evoke his vision and focus on the fact that life at the workplace can be much simpler and more fulfilling.

The Swami may not have been a student of management theory but the fundamental truths that he taught are invaluable in today's globalised workplace, where employees are often resentful of the relative success of others.

Talk of cultivating a spiritual approach at the time of annual increments might give rise to cynicism among some, but it is in tune with Vivekananda's thoughts: "We find ourselves in the position for which we are fit... if one has some capacity above another, the world will find it out too... He who grumbles at the little thing that has fallen to his lot to do, will grumble at everything. Always grumbling, he will lead a miserable life... But that man who does his duty as he goes, putting his shoulder to the wheel, higher and higher duties will fall to his share".

Wondering what the top bosses do with the astronomical sums they take home may be good for office chit-chat but it isn't of much help in getting to where they are. Vivekananda's analysis of how the hierarchy works can help us to assess our progress without regrets: "No man can long occupy satisfactorily a position for which he is not fit. By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger; and improving our strength in this manner we may even reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honoured duties in life and in society".

If we take a random look at those doing the "most coveted duties' — whether it is a Narayana Murthy or Amitabh Bachchan — we will find that they are people who did well the duty that was nearest to them at any given point of time; that is all that we need to do.

Equally, there is little sense in being aggrieved when one feels that some-one else has been elevated to a role beyond his competence. Even for the highest offices, the rule that ‘no man can long occupy satisfactorily a position for which he is not fit' has held true repeatedly; it is not difficult to find instances of former prime ministers who have faded into obscurity. If a person is not equipped to handle a role and make a mark at the job, it does not take long for that to be obvious.

An organisational weakness is that issues are often soft-pedal-led when personal equations come into play. But Vivekananda advises us to put aside such hesitations where professional issues are concerned: "All combined efforts in India sink under the weight of one iniquity — we have not developed strict business principles". Business is business, and no friendship should be used to subvert this.

"Let the world say what it chooses, I shall tread the path of duty... Otherwise, if one has to attend day and night to what this man says or that man writes, no great work is achieved in this world," said the Swami.

His profound thoughts continue to inspire thousands even a century after his demise, though he lived for barely four decades. Stephen Covey might be the current must-read but Vivekananda could well lay claim to being the original proponent of the character ethic.

(Today is Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary)

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