Philosophy

Swami Vivekananda

1863 to 1902, Calcutta, India

Practical Vedanta - each soul potentially divine, the harmony of religions, service as worship, and strength as the message.

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Lessons

The Divinity of the Soul

Vivekananda’s central claim of practical Vedanta : that each soul is not a fallen sinner to be rescued but a divinity to be unfolded - ‘each soul is potentially divine,’ and religion is the manifesting…

The Harmony of Religions

Vivekananda’s message to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions: that the many faiths are not rivals but different paths to one goal, and that the true ideal is not grudging tolerance but positive acceptan…

The Four Yogas: Four Paths, One Goal

Vivekananda’s map of the spiritual life: four disciplines - karma (work), bhakti (love), raja (meditation), and jnana (knowledge) - suited to four temperaments, all leading to the one goal of freedom, because reli…

Service as Worship

Vivekananda’s turning of Advaita toward the poor: because the same divinity dwells in every being, serving the suffering is literally worshipping God - daridra-narayana , God in the poor - and this conviction foun…

Strength Is Life, Weakness Is Death

Vivekananda’s gospel of fearlessness: that weakness is the root of all sin and misery, that the one word bursting from the Upanishads is fearlessness , and that true religion is ‘man-making’ - it shoul…

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