Impact of Swami Vivekananda's Voyage to the West

[Guest guest]

>Bal Ram Singh <bsingh

>bsingh

>CC: ssengupta

>Impact of Swami Vivekananda's Voyage to the West

>Sat, 05 Jul 2003 18:18:52 -0400

>

>Dear Colleagues from Media,

>

>As you might recall from my last press release, we had a two-day conference

>on the Impact of Swami Vivekananda's Voyage to the West on June 28-29, 2003

>at the Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The

>Conference was very well attended even as the speakers went through deep

>and thoughtful analysis of Swami Vivekananda's visit to USA and other

>Western countries.

>

>Attached please find a brief description of issues discussed during the

>conference.

>

>Regards,

>

>Bal Ram Singh

>

>____

>Impact of Swami Vivekananda's Voyage to the West Debated at a Conference

>

>Swami Vivekananda became a torchbearer of Indian spiritual traditions

>during and after his visit to Chicago in 1893 at the World Parliament of

>Religions. His message continues to resonate in India and rest of the world

>for its sharpness, forthrightness, and above all its universality to

>humanity. For these reasons an International Conference on "Impact of Swami

>Vivekananda's Voyage to the West" was organized by the Center for Indic

>Studies at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for the first time to

>gather scholars from academia, research institutions and the Ramakrishna

>movement on June 28 & 29, 2003.

>

>Several issues ranging from mystical co-incidents to Swami Vivekananda's

>relevance to modern science and society come to the fore during the two-day

>conference, which was attended by over 80 scholars and academics. Professor

>Sukalyan Sengupta, the Coordinator of the Conference explained in his

>opening remarks that this conference was unique in that it provided a

>platform for academic scholars who have researched about Swami Vivekananda

>and the Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society movement, monks and nuns of the

>Ramakrishna order, intellectuals who have been inspired by Swamiji, and

>students to freely exchange ideas and learn from each other. He then

>pointed out 'approximately half-rule' of Swami Vivekananda's life.

>According to this very knacky insight, Professor Sengupta pointed out that

>of the 40 years of Swami's life (1863-1902), he had 20 years of spiritual

>life (after he met Sri Ramakrishna in 1881), 10 years of public lectures

>(after 1893 World Parliament of Religions), 5 years of spiritual training

>(between 1881 and 1886 when Sri Ramakrishna passed away), and 2-1/2 years

>of his stay in US during his first historical visit.

>

>The inaugural address, "Rediscovering Vivekananda in the East and the

>West", was delivered by Swami Tyagananda of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society

>of Boston. He eloquently sketched out how this process of rediscovery

>could be divided into three channels: literature, work and reflection.

>Swami Tyagananda pointed out how biographies of Swami Vivekananda were

>either too adulatory and India-centric or aimed solely to make him seem

>more human. Unfortunately, these two camps seldom communicate with each

>other. The time is surely ripe for an unbiased biography to analyze Swami

>Vivekananda's position in a much-changed world. Swami Tyagananda also

>outlined how numerous organizations have been inspired by Swami

>Vivekananda's message and carry out philanthropic work/social service.

>Finally, he enunciated how rediscovering Swami Vivekananda depends much on

>our personal outlook.

>

>The Conference was organized on three themes. The keynote speech on the

>first theme, "Western Approach Toward Indian Spiritual Traditions After

>Swami Vivekananda", was delivered by Prof. Carl Jackson, Dept. of History,

>University of Texas at El Paso. Titled "Turning East: American Interest

>in the Asian Religions since the 1890s", he elaborated how there was some

>interest in Asian religions in the US since the 18th century but it

>exploded after Swami Vivekananda's address at the Parliament of Religions

>in Chicago in 1893. Pravrajika Gayatriprana of the Vedanta Society of

>Southern California, Hollywood, CA, in her speech on "Swami Vivekananda's

>Contribution to the New Age" outlined how the New Age movement began and

>blossomed and more importantly, how Swami Vivekananda provided unique

>insight and philosophical underpinnings to the major players of this

>movement.

>

>Rina Chakravarti of the University of Toronto, Canada, shared results of

>her extensive research on an area that was not known before, the fact that

>Swami Vivekananda was invited to an event similar to the Parliament of

>Religions in Canada in 1895 and Swamiji had accepted the invitation but

>then his invitation was rescinded at the behest of leaders of various

>Christian denominations. Peter Huff of the Centenary College of

>Louisiana, Shreveport, LA, shared his views on "Vivekananda's Contribution

>to Christology: A Christian Appreciation". Jay Lakhani of the Vivekananda

>Centre in London provided clear evidence of how swami Vivekananda's views

>regarding inter-religious dialogue were radical at that time in the sense

>that he exhorted people to move beyond mere acceptance of other religions

>to respect for all religions because they are all different ways to the

>same final goal. Swami Atmarupananda of Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely, NY,

>in his speech on "Swami Vivekananda's Quest for a New Foundation for World

>Thought"eloquently showed how civilization seemed to be unable to deal with

>the issues confronting Western society in the late nineteenth century and

>how Swami Vivekananda provided a new way of thought and action to overcome

>the challenges.

>

>The keynote of the second theme, "Applicability Of Swami Vivekananda's

>Message To The Contemporary World" was delivered by Prof. Hal French of

>University of South Carolina. His paper explored Swami Vivekananda's

>legacy of freedom in three spheres, 1) in the quality of his personal

>relationships, 2) in social service, and 3), in shared religion expression

>and its universal validity. Dr. Sitansu Chakravarti presented his

>thoughts on "How the World Expects to Benefit From Swami Vivekananda

>Today". Mrs. Manju Kumar of Delhi Public School, India, presented her

>paper on Swamiji's views on education and how they should be applied in

>contemporary education. Mr. Jay Lakhani spoke on Swamiji's approach in

>combining science and spirituality.

>

>The inaugural speech of day two titled "Swami Vivekananda and Today's

>World" was given by Swami Yogeshananda of the Vedanta Center of Atlanta.

>He postulated Swami Vivekananda's views on contemporary issues such as the

>environment, crime, family structure, etc. The keynote speech of the

>third theme "Swami Vivekananda's Interpretations Of Hinduism" was delivered

>by Prof. Anantnand Rambachan of St. Olaf College, MN. Titled "Hinduism,

>Hindutva and the contest for the Meaning of Hindu Identity", he pointed the

>differences of opinion between Swami Vivekananda and V. D. Savarkar

>regarding the very important question, "Who is a Hindu"? Prof. Makarand

>Paranjape of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in his speech

>"Representing Swami Vivekananda: Bhakti, History, and Ideology " pointed

>out the dilemma faced by scholars when they try to reconcile events in

>Swamiji's life as provided by his devotees and that questioned by

>historians/critics. Prof. Tenneti Rao, UMass Lowell, MA, in his lecture

>"Religious Harmony Based on Parabhakti" enunciated how different traditions

>converge in thoughts as related to higher level of bhakti. Prof. Jeffrey

>Long of Elizabethtown College, PA, spoke on how Swami Vivekananda played a

>critical role in incorporating tenets of Buddhism in the intellectual

>corpus of Hinduism.

>

>

>A Panel Discussion on "Swami Vivekananda: The Next 100 Years" explored how

>swami Vivekananda's life, his message, and the organization that he founded

>(Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Vedanta Societies) would continue to show a

>path to individuals toward inner peace and lead societies and nations

>toward greater harmony and understanding.

>

>

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>

>Bal Ram Singh, Ph.D.

>Director, Center for Indic Studies

>University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

>285 Old Westport Road

>Dartmouth, MA 02747

>

>Phone: 508-999-8588

>Fax: 508-999-8451

>Email: bsingh

>

>Internet address: http://www.umassd.edu/indic

 

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