‘BELIEVE IN YOURSELF’: LIFE LESSONS FROM VIVEKANANDA

India has produced some of the world’s greatest religious leaders sages saintsphilosophers and spiritual thinkers. They were monks nuns and renunciatesnationalists and reformers. No one religion had a monopoly on them. They rangefrom Mahavira and Buddha who lived over 2500 years ago to medieval saints likeChishti Avvaiyar and Guru Nanak to more recent philosophers and religious iconssuch as Vivekananda Ramakrishna Saint Teresa and many others. The spiritual andphilosophical heritage they left behind is India’s gift to all Indians and the world.In the ‘Life Lessons’ series we publish the essential teachings of some of India’sbest-known spiritual teachers along with commentaries and biographical notes. Eachbook will be a handy companion to help the reader along the difficult pathways of life.Swami Vivekananda was a nineteenth-century philosopher monk and nationalist.Born Narendranath Datta into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family of Calcutta heshowed a strong inclination towards spirituality from a young age. Initially influencedby Brahmo Samaji ideas he later came into contact with Western esotericism. Hethen became a disciple of the acclaimed mystic Swami Ramakrishna who introducedhim to Advaita Vedanta. Vivekananda went on to become a proponent of Vedanta andYoga which he famously introduced to the world at the Parliament of the World’sReligions in Chicago in 1893.Vivekananda set up the monastic Ramakrishna Order after the death of his guru. Hethen left the monastery and led the life of a wandering ascetic travelling throughthe subcontinent filled with the desire to reconcile and assimilate modern scientificprocesses with ancient Hindu ideals. Also credited with raising interfaith awarenessSwami Vivekananda preached the philosophy of Neo-Vedanta—Advaita—which reconciledthe different paths to liberation. He revived Hinduism in India and contributed tonascent nationalistic thought. His view of patriotism was not parochial thus garneringhim universal respect and admiration.An accomplished orator writer and poet as well as a philosopher his teachingsremain just as relevant today as they were when he first thundered his message tohis countrymen and the world over a century ago.Edited by Nanditha Krishna ‘Believe in Yourself’ brings together Swami Vivekananda’score teachings.