The Role of Swami Vivekananda in the Independent movement of India

* Rituraj Boruah *

*Yoga Instructor, Department of Yogic Science & Naturopathy

Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya, Nagaon, India

ritu.az0u@gmail.com

Abstract – “Swa atmam pradhanyam Asya ithi swatantrata” that means freedom is an important
ingredient to mankind perhaps as salt is to food. Freedom is necessary and unavoidable.

 Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached is a slogan popularized in the late
19th century by Karma Yogi Swami Vivekananda, who took inspiration in a sloka of Katha
Upanishad. Swami Vivekananda played a major role in the promotion and dissemination of
Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and the United States. Vivekananda was the chief figure of the
Indian Society Renaissance in modern India.

Swami played an important role in independence struggle of bonded individuals.

Each individual is bonded by his own concepts built up by ego. So, the true independence is to
liberate oneself from the clutches of the ignorance.

Every individual is also bonded to his actions due desires and get entangled more and
more by performing actions with desire. In relatively short span Swami moved with his physical
body, he managed to first free himself from the bondage and then provide an institution that
continues to inspire several seekers to achieve their own eternal freedom by establishing the
advaita ashrama. Having said that, Swami Vivekananda’s works influenced Mahatma Gandhi
and Subhas Chandra Bose. In that way Swami Vivekananda influence the national freedom
struggle as well.

Key word: Vision, Influencer as a Freedom fighter, Swami Vivekananda, Freedom Struggle,
Education.
 INTRODUCTION:

Swamiji indirectly influence in the free India movement. Actually, in his life time the
freedom movement was yet to begin. Swamiji said that, if India were to get freedom
immediately, there were too few proper men to protect it or realize its value. So Swamiji stressed
on man-making as the foremost necessity for national rebuilding. Within a few years after the
passing away of Swamiji the freedom movement began. Many historians have recognized his
indirect influence on this movement. In America, England, and India, Swamiji made people
aware of the condition of India under British rule with information and analysis. There is no
doubt that he awakened the whole of India from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, which was
under foreign control. Yet, no national leader realized that the first duty to be accomplished was
the making of men – selfless, fearless, courageous – following the ideal placed before us by
Swamiji. They did not understand that way independence could be achieved easily. So they
discovered different methods initially to achieve some degree of self-governance and later for
complete independence. He taught his countrymen to love the Motherland, to love her poor,
ignorant, oppressed children and to forget self and dedicate life for their uplift. He inspired many
national leaders and freedom fighters as a ‘voice without a form’.

As a Gyan yogi it is not his duty to fight for independence, it is the duty of a Karma yogi,
however in the absence of Karma yogi, if he has enough ground of Karma in some other means
he could do that, he had it to some extent. Swami Vivekananda A genius; a visionary; a writer; a
dreamer; a teacher and an inspiration for generations of Indians—this was Swami Vivekananda.
Born into a family of lawyers; Narendranath Dutta was an exceptionally intelligent child; a
natural leader among his playmates; who impressed his teachers with his scholarship. The
spirituality of his mentor Shri Ramakrishna and his own study of philosophy and logic
influenced Narendranath to join the monastic order. Vivekananda was the spokesperson for India
at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago where the magic of his words held his audience in
thrall. He also instilled among the Indian youth self-confidence and the hope of regeneration.
Devika Rangachari’s account of the life and times of Swami Vivekananda is both inspiring and
absorbing. It is the remarkable story of a spiritual leader who worked against overwhelming odds
to realize his vision of a free India.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The main objectives of the study are mentioned below

1. To study his vision of building a healthy and strong India for the sake of national unity
keeping in mind the Indian cultural traditions.
2. To study his played as an influencer in the freedom movement to every individual
freedom fighter.
3. Swamiji's works to create capable leaders to lead India even after its independence.

METHODOLOGY:

The present research is a historical and descriptive. It is based on secondary data. In

research researcher intended to collect the information from primary sources also. Besides, The
researches were conducted manually in PubMed, Google scholar, Shodhganga and other manual
data based like news journals, books, magazines, reports are also intended to refer for the present
research till January, 2023.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Dr Banerjee S.C (2017), “Swami Vivekananda -the Patriot” Swamiji’s model of

patriotism was humanism-centric divinity, with deep feeling for the poor and downtrodden of
India, required to be freed from British exploitation for its survival, particularly because India is
considered to be the vanguard of spirituality. His love for the people however knew no
boundaries encompassing the globe.

Singh A. (2012), “Formative Influence of Swami Vivekananda on Subhash Chandra

Bose: A Biographical Study” attempt to know and study Swami Vivekananda’s influence on
Subhash Chandra Bose. Walking in the steps of Swami Vivekananda, Subhash Chandra Bose
built himself mentally wise and physically strong in order to live and die for the great cause
India’s Independence, setting great example of patriotism and sacrifice. His role as a freedom
fighter deserves to be recorded as ever inspiring and thrilling and this is undoubtedly the result of
the formative influence of Swami Vivekananda on him.

Rangachari D. (2011), “Swami Vivekananda: A Man with a Vision” Swami Vivekananda

was the man who revived Hinduism and gave it — and India - an important status in the world
scenario . This at a time when India was under British rule when years of political , economic
and social exploitation had eroded the confidence and self - respect of her people .

Tattwamayananda S. (2021), “In Defence of Swami Trigunatitananda” Swami

Trigunatita, who originally inspired the design of the first Hindu Temple in the West was a great
patriot-saint and spiritual leader with a global vision. He was sent to San Francisco by Swami
Vivekananda to teach and spread Vedanta, India’s message of the spiritual unity and oneness of
humanity. Swami Vivekananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission as an organization and
the source of inspiration for the leaders of India’s freedom struggle, and to focus exclusively on
spiritual, cultural and humanitarian activities.

Sivakumar K.S. (2021), “International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences” an

attempt is made in this paper to elucidate Swamiji’s vision on the important characteristic
features that lead to evolving holistic individuals, based on the import of the Upanishads, who
would be competent to undertake the task of building a new India.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S EARLY LIFE, FAMILY AND EDUCATION:

Swami Vivekananda’s original name was Narendranath. He was born in Shimla Pally,
Calcutta on 12th January, 1863 (Swamiji’s Jayanti i.e., birth anniversary is celebrated as the
‘International Youth Day’). His father Vishwanath Dutta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court.
Right from childhood, two aspects of his behavior could clearly be noticed. One was his devout
and compassionate nature and the other was his readiness to perform any act of courage. Since
his whole family was spiritually inclined, he received an appropriate religious upbringing. 5
Education of Swami Vivekananda. He was admitted to the school founded by Mr. Ishwarchandra
Vidyasagar in 1870. While in school he focused both on studies as well as body building. He had
great respect for his mother tongue. Later he learnt English owing to compulsion. Swami
Vivekananda stood first in his matriculate examination and added to the glory of his family and
school. Then he joined the Presidency College in Kolkata and completed his M.A. in Philosophy.
Narendranath had varied interests and a wide range of scholarship in philosophy, history, social
sciences, arts, literature, and other subjects. He evinced much interest in scriptural texts, Vedas,
the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas. He studied Indian and
Western philosophies but could not find peace of mind until he met Ramakrishna. He was,
however, not content just with spirituality. The question that constantly agitated him was the
degenerated condition of his motherland. After an all-India tour he found that “poverty, squalor,
loss of mental vigor and no hope for the future were prevalent everywhere. Ramakrishna
Mission, since its beginning, has grown into a very powerful center of numerous public
activities. These include organizing relief during floods, famines and epidemics, establishing
hospitals and running educational institutions (Sharma M.V.K.).

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AS AN INFLUENCER TO FREE INDIA MOVEMENT:

There were many other nationalist leaders who were influenced by Vivekananda. We also
see that his influence on different people had been varied and multi-dimensional it covered
social, political, as well as spiritual domains but in sum, was national in character, in as much as
it inspired them to live and die for India. His influence on some of our freedom fighters like
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), who adopted a non-violent stand or
revolutionary leaders like Hemchandra Ghosh (1888-1980) all could draw equal inspiration from
Vivekananda’s capacious patriotism. He even exerted great spiritual influence on Aurobindo
Ghose (1872-1950), who later became Sri Aurobindo.  He had the thought that ‘awake, arise and
not stop till the goal is reached’ bring all the freedom fighters to motivate to fight for free India
without tiring till the goal achieved. What Swamiji has given to the country and the society, is
beyond time and region, and is going to inspire and guide every generation. You must have
noticed that there is hardly any village, city or a person in India which does not feel connected
with Swamiji and is not motivated by him. Swamiji's inspiration also gave new vigor to the war
of independence. The long period of subjugation had disconnected India from the sense of its
strength of thousands of years. Swami Vivekananda reminded India of its strength, made it
realize, revived its mind and awakened the national consciousness. You will be surprised to
know that the people who were fighting the war for independence either through the path of
revolution or peace at that time were inspired by Swami Vivekanandaji (PM Modi, 2021).
 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S VISION

Swamiji’s vision, teachings and personality have different dimensions, both at the
individual level as well as at the societal/national level. For instance, one may understand
Swamiji as a great Jagat-guru, a world teacher-par-excellence of the Vedanta/Upanishads, whose
message of salvation is of world-wide import and makes no distinction of country, nation and
religion to work for the nation’s upliftment. Swamiji’s vision covers the entire gamut of human
existence. It is common knowledge that the quality of a nation depends upon the quality of its
inhabitants lies in regeneration of the individuals of the nation. His main vision was Developing
Faith in Oneself, Providing Education for all, Women Empowerment, Upliftment of the masses,
and evolving well-balanced Indian Society. Swamiji redefining important factors that influence
the quality of human life, both at the individual level and at the societal/national level. Further,
we are able to understand Swamiji’s plan for the regeneration of a new India through evolving
holistic individuals based on the import of the Upanishads. Here, we perceive Swamiji as a
practical Vedantin as well as a visionary-par-excellence.  Swami Vivekananda was not a
politician. His aim was to regain India’s freedom with the most powerful weapon of spirituality.
The weapon that he took India out of her isolation of centuries and brought her into the
mainstream of international life and thought. The beneficent results of this great work are
becoming more and more visible as decades roll by. He was, no doubt, a spiritual and intellectual
genius of rare order. More than a century ago, called upon his countrymen, especially the youth,
to give their best for India’s spiritual and national renaissance.
In the words of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Vivekananda “was one of the greatest founders
of the national modern movement of India and a great number of people who took more or less
an active part in the movement at a later date drew their inspiration from Swami Vivekananda.
Directly or indirectly, he has powerfully influenced the India and today. His vision of India was
to have a new society inspired by the vision of dignity of man, his freedom and individuality, his
strength and his capacity to love and serve human beings- through egalitarian society free from
notions of high or low.
 CONCLUSION
We are able to understand Swamiji’s vision of redefining the quality of human life and
evolving holistic individuals, based on the Upanishads, at the individual and societal/national
level, for the regeneration of a new India. We are given to perceive Swamiji as a practical
Vedantin and as a visionary par excellence. Swami Vivekananda served as one of the most
inspiring intellectual fervors behind the Indian freedom struggle. He was looked up to as a source
of motivation by great leaders such as Aurobindo Ghose, Hemchandra Ghosh, Mahatma Gandhi,
and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Swami Vivekananda was one of India’s greatest spiritual
leaders and a revered figure in India's history and culture. Swami Vivekananda strived to
inculcate national consciousness among the people. His message was universal and was based on
rationality and righteousness. It was a message that appealed to the people of all classes, castes
and creeds. In fact, Swami Vivekananda's birthday on 12 th January is celebrated as ‘National
Youth Day’ every year. On this day, his memorable call to "Work, work, work" is remembered.
Swami Vivekananda thought deeply about education and what it meant for the Indian society. He
conceived education as the primary means of rebuilding Indian society. For him, education
meant secular learning that built character and instilled human values in students. His ideals were
based on value based education. Thus, in today's world, especially with the grave pandemic
situation the education system should move beyond information provision to adequately
emphasize on building core values. Swami Vivekananda is considered as one of India's earliest
cultural ambassadors. Swamiji's famous speech on 11th September 1893 at the World Parliament
of Religions in Chicago was a shining moment in Indian cultural history. He left a legacy in the
area of creation of an individual and a nation. He himself was much more than being just an
individual, rather he represents the ethos of the Indian nation. There are many facets to his
personality that need to see the light of the day. Swamiji's inspiration also gave new vigor to the
war of independence. The long period of subjugation had disconnected India from the sense of
its strength of thousands of years. Swami Vivekananda reminded India of its strength, made it
realize, revived its mind and awakened the national consciousness. These incantations coming
out from the great freedom fighters of Bharat justify that for them or for that matter Bharat as a
whole, this freedom was not just physical but mental and spiritual. And Bharatiya tradition filled
with guru-shishyarelations time and again reiterates this ideal of spiritual
rejuvenation. Swamiji gave these ideals and freedom leaders incorporated them in their lives and
the freedom movement and lived them till the very end (Parniya Mishra, 2023).
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