Swami Vivekananda: the Global Template for Eclecticism

Abstract

This dissertation shall not even try attempting to fathom the depth of a gargantuan
personality like Swami Vivekananda, who, by the dint of sheer mettle rocked the
globe as he spoke and the world listened in speechless wonder-marveling at this
‘Orange-monk who exercised the most wonderful influence over his auditors.’-the
“Cyclonic monk from India". Swamiji’s religious beliefs have so often been
reiterated that one almost feel them ensconced in what Heidegger existentially calls
one’s quintessential ‘dasein’. What I aim at doing today is to try and point out how
a great deal of Swamiji’s philosophical beliefs could have so very much in common
with the ontological musings of great minds across space and time. Since time is fast
running out I shall zero in only on a certain facet of Swamiji’s ponderings-his ideas
about the correlation of the body and the soul and afterlife and reincarnation.