SWAMI VIVEKANAND
Swami Vivekananda was born in 1883 in a Kshatriya family in Calcutta.His real name was Narendra Nath Dutta .His father shri vishnu Nath Dutta was an advocate at culcutta high court .The atmosphere in his family was religious .Hence, from early childhood he was initiated into religious ceremonies with the result that he developed a keen intelligence .When he was five years of age ,he was sent to a school. There he studied history and literature as well as Indian philosophical traditions and after becoming well served in these studies he studied in details the western literature and philosophy also . From early childhood Narendra Nath developed a sound and handsome physique and being endowed with a keen and penetrating intellect and pleasing art of conversation , he gained popularly very soon .Once his head master heasty said about him thus -I have not met such an intelligent gifted and scholarly student even in german Universities ". One day Shri Heasty introduced him to shri Ram Krishna Paramahansa . Swami Rama Krishna had a profound impact upon Narendra Nath .Narendra Nath remained in close contact with swami Ramakrishna Paramhans for more than six years and after satisfying Swamiji with his erudite scholarship and intense devotion to spiritual values , he got initiated into the saintly order and came to be known as Swami Vivekananda .In 1896 Rama Krishna Paramhans died .Swami Vivekananda established Ram Krishna Mission in the sacred memory of his guru and preached throughout his life in Asia ,Europe England and America the teaching of Vedant as delivered by his guru Paramahans . He also proved by his untiring effort for establishing branches of Rama krishna Mission throughout the world , that by his organizational abilities and far sight he could translate into practice the teaching of ancient Vedantic philosophy as interpreted and preached by his guru .
Swami Vivekananda's philosophy of life is very glorifying and inspiring to humanity . He was of the view that human life was a constant struggle where in only the victorious were able to exist and live, the vanquished decayed and died out. Hence ,each individual should prepare himself fully for this struggle and face all the challenges bodly and confidently . Vivekananda felt great sorry at the miserable condition of the Indian masses in his times. In anguish he uttered thus "We are poor and weak today.We do any work by the fear of others .We speak in fear ,even we think in fear . It appeares as if we are born in a land of enemies and not of friends and fellow brothers .This object condition is due to our cutting of our lives from Vedantic philosophy". He has said that a coward ,sad and indifferent person can do nothing in his life . Only the brave can uplift the world . Hence , Swami Vivekananda exhorted his countrymen to become brave , courageous ,fearless and dynamic . He gave the clarian call to his countrymen thus -" Be a hero , always say ,'I have no fear .'Tell this to every body - Have no fear.' To him fear is sin , fear is unrightousness , fear is wrong life".
Indian nationalism and spiritualism were the basic foundations of the whole existence of Swami Vivekananda . Hence , the basis of his philosophy of education was also the philosophy of Vedant and Upanishads. He believed that each living being had a soul . To recognize and identify this soul is true religion . Swamiji has emphasized that all knowledge whether worldly or spiritual lies embeded in the human mind . It lies latent and dormant covered witrh a veil of darkness and ignorance . It is after this , that the light of knowledge shines out dazzlingly . One says that i am teaching ,another says ,he is learning from another . As a matter of fact no body teaches any other .All learning is self -learning . The external teacher only guides , suggests , points out and helps . All the rest is done by the student himself . The teacher only motivates and encourages the students to find out the hidden treasure of knowledge that lies dormant within him.
Swami Vivekananda called the education of his times as merely negative and told people "You regard that man to be educated who obtain some degrees , has passed out of some examinations , is able to deliver fluent lectures . But this is not real education . Real education is that which prepares a man for struggle of existence .It prepares a man for social service , develops his charecter and finally imbues him with the spirit and courage of a lion .Any other education is worse than useless ."He condemned the education of his times as wicked , useless and artificial because it promoted only bookish learning and rote memory .Hence , he has emphasized that we want an education which develops charecter , mental powers , intelligence and inculates self confidence and self reliance in the individuals.
In Swami Vivekananda's philosophy of education are involved the essential characteristic of idealism ,Naturalism ,Pragmatism. Like Naturalists, Swamiji emphasizes that real education is possible only through nature and natural propensities .Like Idealists,Swamiji insists that the chief aim of education is to develop to the full the moral and spiritual nature of child , the essence of which is already present in him .Like pragmatists he lays great stress on the western education of technology , commerce , industry and science to achieve material prosperity .The fact is that Swamijis educational philosophy is a harmonious synthesis of the ancient Indian ideals and modern western beliefs. Hence whereas on one hand he emphasize the spiritual development of the child , on the other hand he wants to prepare him for meterial advancement and prospirity also. Much in the same way whereas like a great saint Swamiji on one hand preaches the gospal of international brotherhood , on the other hand he advocates to develop intense nationalism and national strength by ceaseless devotion and work by its citizens.
