We often wonder what would be the relevance of the message of a monk today, who was born 150 years ago, lived the life of a mendicant and left for his heavenly abode at a very young age of 39 years.
Let us examine some important traits of Swami Vivekananda’s personality.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was born at a time when India was ruled by British. He saw the oppression of his countrymen from close quarters when he travelled throughout the length and breadth of India. Sitting on the rock at Kanyakumari, he meditated on not any god or goddess, but his beloved motherland for three days and three nights continuously. Thereafter he declared that India will again rise to her zenith far overshadowing all her previous accomplishments. Swamiji enthused his followers to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of his motherland. By doing so, he said, they will easily attain ‘Nirvana’. His messages were vibrant with utmost patriotism. Swamiji poured his heart out for the poor by saying, “I call him a traitor who, having being educated, nursed in luxury by the heart’s blood of the downtrodden millions of toiling poor, never even takes a thought for them”. He further declared,” They only live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive”. It is no wonder that his books were regular companions of our freedom fighters, and the British government, at one point of time, had banned them altogether. Rabindra Nath Tagore said, “If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative”. Mahatma Gandhi said, “I have gone through his [Vivekananda’s] works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold.” According to Swamiji’s western disciples, whenever he used to utter those five letters I N D I A, it created such a shock in their body and mind which could not be explained by any language. Today, amongst us there are many people who have come out of their puny self-interest and started thinking for the society and the country at large. They have certainly found a meaning of their lives.
Swamiji was a scholar and a great exponent of scriptures. Throughout his entire life, he propounded the message of Upanishads. He used to say that the primary teaching of the Upanishads is “Abhi”, that is, “Be fearless”. Katha Upanishad was closest to his heart and Nachiketa was his hero. He wanted the youth to attain immense self-confidence and be fearless like Nachiketa. A person commits crime when he gets overpowered by his weaknesses – at physical or psychological level. Swamiji said, “Have faith that you are all, born to do great things”. He wanted the youth to have that much of faith by which they can uproot the mountains and drink up the ocean. Today if we look around, we will find that the key of each success story is limitless self-confidence and willingness to fight the odds.
Another aspect of Swamiji’s personality was his universal brotherhood. Speaking at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, he said, “As the different streams mingle their water in the sea, different paths which men take, various though they appear, all lead to the same god…. Upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, ‘Help and not Fight’, ‘Assimilation and not Destruction’ ”. Today the world realizes that to bring peace, there is no other ideology more proper than this.
Swami Vivekananda, who was said to have the intellect of Shankaracharya and heart of Buddha looks into our eyes and makes us realize that his messages are much more relevant today than ever before.

As a tribute to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th Birth Anniversary on 12th Jan, 2013.