Does Swami Vivekananda require an introduction? If not an introduction, but it is important to lay bare his acts of benevolence, great work for the upliftment of mankind and his propagation of Hinduism. If you wish to know more about this legendary person, then you can browse through our pages and study speeches on Swami Vivekananda. You would find short speech on Swami Vivekananda as well as long speech on Swami Vivekananda, which are easy to understand and carry a comprehensive view of things so as to give you an enriching experience. So, have a happy reading!
Dear Friends – Warm Greeting to all of you!
Thank you for gathering today in the speech giving ceremony. I, Ayushman Khanna – your host, have prepared a speech on the life of Swami Vivekananda. Hope you all will enjoy listening to me as much as I will in speaking about this great personality. Those who already know about him can also give their contributions to my speech and share valuable information, but those who don’t know much about him will be able to gain a good insight about his life and pursuits.
Swami Vivekananda, ladies and gentlemen, was born on January 12 in the year 1863 and died in the year 1902. He was a great follower of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. At the time of his birth, he was christened as Narendranath Datta and laid down the foundation of Ramakrishna Mission. He was the one behind bringing Hindu philosophies, such as Vedanta and Yoga, to the forefront of America and Europe. He worked towards according Hinduism a status of world religion towards the end of the 19th century. He is considered a principal force in the rebirth of Hinduism in contemporary India. He is possibly best considered for his inspirational speech on “Sisters and Brothers of America”. It is only after this that he was able to introduce Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions at Chicago in the year 1893.
I am sure that you would be curious in knowing about his childhood too. Well, he was born in Calcutta at Shimla Pally. Initially, his name was Narendranath Datta. He hailed from a humble background where his father was an attorney in the high court of Calcutta. His mother’s name was Bhuvaneshwari Devi. When Narendranath grew up, he imbibed the traits of both his father and mother. From his father he imbibed rational thinking and from his mother, it was religious temperament and greatly the power of self-control. At the time when he was young, Narendra became an expert in meditation and could enter into a Samadhi state quite easily. Once he observed a light after falling asleep. He also saw a vision of Buddha when he meditated. Right from his early days, he had a keen interest in the wandering monks and ascetics. He also loved playing games and doing mischief.
However, he also displayed great leadership qualities. The name of his childhood companion was Kamal Reddy. When he was young, he came in touch with Brahmo Samaj and eventually met Sri Ramakrishna. It was Sri Ramakrishna who took charge of him and after his death; it was Narendranath who left his house. He changed his name to ogivami Vivekananda and started living in Boranagar Monastery along with his other disciple friends. Later on, he began his tour across India and wandered from one place to the other till the time he reached Trivandum and finally at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There, he addressed a speech and brought worldwide acclaim to Hinduism.
He was a great soul who worked for the upliftment of mankind and nation at large.
Thank You!
Good Morning Students – How you all are doing?
Hope everyone is enjoying the classes on spirituality and meditation as much as the teachers are enjoying in delivering it. Besides giving you practical classes on meditation, it is also important to share with you information about the great spiritual guru called Swami Vivekananda.
Born in Calcutta in the Datta family, Swami Vivekananda adopted the agnostic philosophy, which prevailed in the West along with the development on Science. At the same time, there was a strong urge in him to unravel the mystery around God and he also raised doubts about the holy reputation of certain people asking them if anyone has ever seen or talked to God.
While he was struggling with this dilemma, he happened to come across Sri Ramakrishna, who later on became his guru and helped him in finding answers to his questions, endowed him with the vision of God and transformed him into a prophet or what you may call a sage with the power to teach. Swami Vivekananda’s personality was so inspiring that he became a well-known figure not in India, but abroad, namely America during the end of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.
Who had known that this personality would rise to fame in such a short span of time? This anonymous monk from India grew to fame at the Parliament of Religion organized in Chicago in the year 1893. There he stood for Hinduism and articulated his thoughts on both eastern and western culture, including his deep understanding of spirituality. His well-articulated thoughts, sympathy for the mankind and multi-faceted personality left an irresistible charm on Americans who got the opportunity to hear him speak. People who saw or even heard him continued to applaud him till the time they lived.
He went to America with a mission to spread knowledge about our great Indian spiritual culture, particularly from the Vedantic source. He also tried to feed the religious consciousness of the people there with the help of humanistic and rational teachings from the Vedanta philosophy. In America, he represented India as its spiritual ambassador and earnestly asked people to develop mutual understanding between India and the West in order that the two worlds can come together forming a union of both religion and science.
On our motherland, Swami Vivekananda, is looked up as a great saint of contemporary India and as someone who rekindled national consciousness that lay dormant. He taught Hindus to believe in a religion which gives strength to people and unites them. Service to mankind is seen as an evident manifestation of Godhead and is a special form of prayer he asked Indian people to adopt instead of rituals and believing in age-old myths. In fact, various Indian political leaders have openly accepted their indebtedness to Swami Vivekananda.
In the end, I would just say that he was a great lover of mankind and his life experiences always inspired people and renewed the desire to attain a higher sense of being.
Thank You!
Respected Principal, Vice Principal, Teachers and My Dear Fellow Students – Good Morning to one and all!
I, Sakshi Mittal from standard – IX (C), am going to deliver a speech on Swami Vivekananda on the occasion of World Spirituality Day. Not many of us know much about Swami Vivekananda, who has been a great spiritual legend born in India. Even though he was an Indian by birth, his mission of life was not restricted to just national boundaries, but went far beyond that. He dedicated his life for the service of mankind which of course transcended national borders. He strove in his entire life to spread human brotherhood and peace on the spiritual groundwork of the Vedantic Union of existence. A sage from the highest order, Swami Vivekananda possessed an unmediated as well as intuitive experience of the actual, physical world. He used to receive his ideas from that unparalleled source of wisdom and time and again showcased them in the stunning garb of poetry.
It was the natural tendency of Shri Vivekananda and his disciples to rise above this world and immerse in the meditation of the absolute. However, having said that we cannot deny that there was another part to his personality which empathized with people from across the world after seeing their suffering and miserable condition. It may be perhaps that his mind was never at rest and remained in the state of oscillation between the meditation of God and service to the entire human race. In whatever way it was, his great obedience to the higher authority and service to mankind made him an endearing personality not only for the natives, but Americans in particular.
Besides, he was a part of one of the brilliant religious institutions of contemporary India and founded the Ramakrishna Order of Monks. It is dedicated to the proliferation of the Hindu spiritual values not only in India, but abroad as well, namely America. He once addressed himself as ‘condensed India’.
His teachings and life carry an inestimable value for the West because it provides them with a window to study the Asian mind. The philosopher from Harvard, i.e. William James addressed Swami Vivekananda as the “paragon of Vedantists”. Paul Deussen and Max Muller, the celebrated Orientalists from the 19th century, held him with great esteem and a sense of regard. According to Remain Rolland, “his words” are no less than the great lyrical composition, like you have Beethoven music or like the rousing rhythms of Handel choruses.
Thus, I would urge everyone to resuscitate the writings of Swami Vivekananda and pay tribute to him. His works are like precious gems lying ignored in the library, so bring them up and add luster to an otherwise dull life of yours by drawing inspiration from his works and life.
I would now request my fellow students to come on stage and share their thoughts on the same as it will of a great value to us.
Thank You!
Good Evening Ladies and Gentleman – I warmly welcome you all to the speech ceremony of today!
I, Abhimanyu Kashyap, your host for today would like to deliver a speech on the great spiritual leader of India, i.e. Swami Vivekananda. He is, needless to mention, the world’s famous sage. Born in the city of Calcutta in the year 1863, January 12, Swami Vivekananda in his early years was called as Narendranath Dutta. His father’s name was Viswanath Dutta, who was an educated lawyer in Calcutta’s High Court. Narendranath did not receive education on a regular basis, but rather erratically. However, he began his education with a Primary School with his other friends in the suburban region.
It was out of the fear of bad company of the rough children that Narendranath was not allowed to attend higher secondary school. But he was again sent to the Metropolitan Institution, the foundation of which was laid down by Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar. He had various shades to his personality, i.e. not only was he a fine actor, but a great scholar, wrestler and player. He commanded great knowledge in the Sanskrit Subject. Most importantly, he was a pursuer of truth and never did he tell a lie.
We all know that on our motherland great social reformers as well as freedom fighters took birth. They dedicated their whole lives for the service of mankind and Swami Vivekananda has been one of those true gems which India possessed. He laid down his whole life for the service of the nation and helped people to grow from their miserable existence. Other than doing philanthropic acts, he lived his life reading books from Science, Religion, History Philosophy, Art, Social Science, etc. Also, he greatly admired Hindu Literature like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads and Vedas, which helped in shaping his thinking to a great extent. He received training in Indian classical music. He passed the examination of Fine Arts and received a degree in Bachelor of Arts in the year 1884.
He always quoted Veda and Upanishads and imparted spiritual training to people which prevented India from plunging into a state of crisis or chaos. The crux of this message is “Truth is one: Sages call it by various names”.
The four main points of this axiom are:
The words that he wrote last time to his followers were:
“It may be that I shall find it good to get outside my body, to cast it off like a worn-out garment. But I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the whole world shall know that it is one with God.”
He lived for a short span of 39 years and amidst all his challenging physical conditions, he left for posterity his four volumes of classics, i.e. Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga and Karma Yoga – all these are brilliant treatises on Hindu philosophy. And with this I would like to end my speech.
Thank You!
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