The document discusses several great Indian men and their praise of Swami Vivekananda. It summarizes their views: 1) Tagore said to understand India, one must study Vivekananda, who was always positive. 2) Aurobindo perceived Vivekananda's influence still working powerfully in India's soul. 3) Tilak compared Vivekananda to Adi Shankaracharya for speaking and acting to preserve Hinduism and spread it worldwide. 4) The document highlights the high regard several leaders had for Swami Vivekananda and his influence on India.

1. Great Indians on
Swami Vivekananda

2. Just as only an athlete understands another
athlete, so also, only great men truly
understand other great men.
Let us have a look at what some of the great
men of India have had to say of
Swami Vivekananda

3. Rabindranath Tagore
If you want to know
India, study
Vivekananda. In him
everything is positive
and nothing negative.

4. Sri Aurobindo
We perceive Vivekananda’s
influence still working
gigantically, we know not well
how, we know not well where, in
something that is not yet formed,
something leonine, grand,
intuitive, upheaving that has
entered the soul of India and we
say, ‘Behold, Vivekananda still
lives in the soul of his Mother and
in the souls of her children.’

5. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Twelve centuries ago Sankaracharya
was the only great personality, who
not only spoke of the purity of our
religion, not only uttered in words
that this religion was our strength
and wealth, not only said that it was
our sacred duty to preach this
religion in the length and breadth of
the world—but also brought all this
into action. Swami Vivekananda is a
person of that stature—who
appeared towards the last half of the
19th century.

6. Mahatma Gandhi
I have gone through
Vivekananda’s works
very thoroughly, and
after having gone through
them, the love that I had
for my country became a
thousand-fold.

7. Jawaharlal Nehru
Rooted in the past and full of pride in
India’s prestige, Viveka-nanda was
yet modern in his approach to life’s
problems and was a kind of bridge
between the past of India and her
present. . . He was a fine figure of a
man, imposing, full of poise and
dignity, sure of himself and his
mission, and at the same time full of
a dynamic and fiery energy and a
passion to push India forward

8. Swamiji was a full-blooded
masculine personality —and a Netaji Subhas
fighter to the core of his Chandra Bose
being. I can go on for hours
and yet fail to do the slightest
justice to that great man. He
was so great, so profound, so
complex. If he had been
alive, I would have been at his
feet.

9. Vinoba Bhave
Vivekananda not only made us
conscious of our strength, he also
pointed out our defects and
drawbacks. . He taught us: ‘The same
Soul resides in each and all. If you
are convinced of this, it is your duty
to treat all as brothers and serve
mankind.’ . . . The word ‘Daridra-
narayana’ (God manifested in the
hungry, destitute millions) was
coined by Vivekananda and
popularized by Gandhiji.

10. C. Rajagopalachari
Swami Vivekananda saved
Hinduism and saved India. But
for him we would have lost our
religion and would not have
gained our freedom. We
therefore owe everything to
Swami Vivekananda. May his
faith, his courage and his
wisdom ever inspire us so that
we may keep safe the treasure
we have received from him.

11. R.C. Majumdar
Though an ascetic,
Vivekananda was a patriot
of patriots. The thought of
restoring the pristine glory
of India by resuscitating
among her people the
spiritual vitality which was
dormant, but not dead, was
always the uppermost
thought in his mind. . .

12. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
If there is any call which
Vivekananda made to us, it is to
rely on our own spiritual resources.
. . Man has inexhaustible spiritual
resources. His spirit is supreme,
man is unique. . . . He told us: ‘Do
not be led away by the appearances.
Deep down there is a providential
will, there is a purpose in this
universe. You must try to co-
operate with that purpose and try to
achieve it.

13. Before closing this presentation, let us
recall that every year 12th January, Swami
Vivekananda’s birthday (according to English
calendar), is celebrated as the National Youth
Day all over the country. In 1985, while
declaring this, the Government of India
affirmed ‘the philosophy of Swamiji and the
ideal for which he lived could be a great
source of inspiration for the Indian youth.’

14. Are the youth listening? Listening to
Swamiji’s eternal call reverberating through
more than hundred years? He said:
‘My faith is in younger generation, the modern
generation. They will work out the whole
problem like lions. . .’

15. ‘Arise, awake and
stop not till the goal
is reached!’