The Philosophy of Vivekananda

Contents: Acknowledgements. List of contributors. Introduction. I. Religion, Society and Ethics: 1. Making of a new Sannyasin: outline of a historical approach/Bhagwan Josh. 2. Vivekananda: his religious vision and Indian society/Dharmendra Goel. 3. Swami Vivekananda and youth forces/Raghunath Ghosh. 4. Religion as the foundation of morality/Indu Sarin. 5. Realising perfection through self-abnegation/Veena Kapoor. 6. The religion is, the religions are/Pabitrakumar Roy. 7. Universalizing universal religion: reading in Vivekananda/Geeta Manakatala. II. Nature of man, creativity, language and art: 8. The nature of man according to Swami Vivekananda/Swami Brahmeshananda. 9. Self: appearance and reality/Asha Maudgil. 10. On symbol/Pankaj Srivastava. 11. A critique of Vivekananda\'s political idiom/Kuldip Dhiman. 12. Vivekananda\'s aesthetics/Rekha Jhanji. III. Indian philosophical systems: 13. Vivekananda on Buddha and Buddhism/Manjulika Ghosh. 14. Vivekananda -- an Advaitin/Godabarisha Mishra. 15. Vivekananda on Raja Yoga/Rekha Jhanji. 16. Sages of ages and ages/C.V. Babu. Select bibliography. Index.

"This volume brings together sixteen essays written by philosophers and social scientists on different aspects of Swami Vivekananda\'s thoughts. Well researched and lucid in their style, the essays cover Swamiji\'s views on religion, society, ethics, nature of man, creativity, language and art. They also seek to contextualise his ideas within the broader framework of Indian philosophical systems.

The essays reflect Vivekananda\'s emphasis on harmony between theoria and praxis. Since Swamiji saw no dichotomy between the sacred and the profane, his sources of philosophizing did not lie merely in religion and religious doctrines, or rituals and modes of worship, but extended to fields as diverse as aesthetics, sociology, ethics, musicology, psychology and science." (jacket)