Has anyone read the works of Swami Vivekananda ?

10 responses total.

who?

Did he write in English?  I read a few good books by Vikram Seth, who writes
better English than I do, studied in California and in China.

Have you read "From Heaven Lake", a travelogue written by Vikram Seth?

Yes, it was wonderful.  It reminded me slightly of my travels through E.
Europe in the seventies, but seemed much more strenuous.  I also read his long
poem Golden Gate, which is how I learned about him - actually, I read a few
stanzas of it translated into Russian in a translator's journal and then got
the English original from the library.  Seth is worth rereading.

Was he a social reformer? I have heard of him...but can't seem to place him.
Surprised to see he is a conference subject. Educate me please.

Yeah ! Kind of social worker. But his magnum opus was the conference of
religions an Chicago (I forget the year) where he was supposed to have
delivered some dynamic kind of speech....starting with "Brothers and sisters
of America....". Thereafter, he established an organisation called the
Ramkrishna Mission, which currently does quite a bit of social work.

We have an Honorary Swami Vivekananda Drive here in Chicago (the downtown
block in front of the Art Institute), and since I got here I've been wondering
who he is.

Uhhm....who is he?

Swami Vivekananda was an Indian philosopher from the 1940's. The 
connection between him and Chicago is that he represented Hinduism in an 
international all-religion conference held in Chicago.

Ah.  Thank you.  

Swamiji was a modern hero who taught the world what hinduism represents.
He was a prolific thinker and a genius par excellence. His books are a 
must read especially his complete works which is a set of twelve books. Any
queries on him can be kindly forwarded to me. Jai Hind.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss