VIVEKANANDAS FOUR YOGAS
1. Context
January 12 this year marks the 161st birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, observed as National Youth Day.
2. About Swami Vivekananda
- He was born on 12th January 1863 in a Bengali family in Calcutta and was originally named Narendranath Datta.
- In his honour, the Government of India in 1984 declared his birthday National Youth Day.
- From a young age, he nurtured an interest in Western philosophy, history, religion, spirituality and theology.
- He was well-read in many subjects and would meditate in front of the images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
- He met the religious leader Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who later became his Guru and he remained devoted to him until the latter died in 1886.
- In 1893, he took the name ‘Vivekananda’ after Maharaja Ajit Singh of the Khetri State requested him to do so, changing from ‘Sachidananda’ that he used before.
3. Vedantic Humanism
- There is only one Self in the universe. There is only one Existence. The entire universe is a manifestation of the absolute One.
- Religious acceptance was important and not tolerance because tolerance comes out of a superiority complex.
- The most desirable path for self-realisation was the selfless service of man. Each and every chore of your life should be done with divinity.
- External rituals of religion are of secondary importance but the spiritual essence of a religion should be preserved and accepted.
4. Divinity within ourselves
- Swami Vivekananda asserted that each soul is potentially divine. The goal of human beings should be to manifest this divinity within, which can be done by controlling nature, external and internal.
- “Infinite power is in the soul of man, whether he knows it or not. Its manifestation is only a question of being conscious of it. With the full consciousness of his infinite power and wisdom, the giant will rise to his feet.”
5. Swami Vivekananda talked about the four pathways of attaining moksha from worldly pleasure and attachment in his books, we look at them.
5.1 Karma Yoga
Emphasising the importance of work, he said that God can be attained through work. A lot of people fritter away a great amount of their energies because they are oblivious to the secret of work .Karma Yoga teaches how to employ to the maximum advantage all our energies in our work. Karma-Yoga teaches how to work for work’s sake, unattached to the results.
5.2 Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti Yoga teaches that love is a vital element of all human beings. It teaches how to love bereft of any ulterior motives.
All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying.
5.3 Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga opens up the psychological way to union with God. This Yoga teaches that in order to acquire knowledge, we’d have to use a method called concentration.
For Example, a chemist who works in her laboratory, concentrating all the powers of her mind, bringing them into one focus, and throwing them onto the elements; the elements stand analysed and thus her knowledge comes.
5.4 Jnana Yoga
Jnana Yoga is the path of knowledge. Weeding out the darkness of ignorance through the light of knowledge, it can bring the ‘fire’ and ‘light’ alive by burning all the impurities of the mind.
The mind does not give up its attachment to worldly pleasures unless it has tasted something greater and higher. Self-knowledge, according to jnana-yoga, is true liberation.
6. Faith in oneself
All knowledge, power, purity, and freedom are in oneself. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be. Not shy away from taking responsibility for their actions.
For Prelims & Mains
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For Prelims: Vedantic Humanism, Divinity within ourselves, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga, Ramakrishna Mission, and Vedanta: Voice of Freedom.
For Mains: Write about the major teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Do you think ideas of Swami Vivekananda are still relevant?
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Source: The Indian Express
