It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to today’s Vimarsh talk on Swami Vivekananda and National Regeneration by Pravrajika Divyanandaprana. This talk is dedicated to the birth anniversary of Swamiji which fell on 12 January.

I would like to thank Pravrajika Divyanandapranaji for having agreed to deliver this lecture. She had spoken on Sister Nivedita and her ideas on nation, nationalism, nationhood, and education.

Pravrajika Divyanandaprana ji is a monastic member/nun of Sri Sarada Math, Daksineswar, and is presently posted at Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, New Delhi. She is the Editor of Samvit, the English journal of Sri Sarada Math. She was the Principal of Nivedita Vidyamandir, New Delhi from 2014 till 2019. She is a regular speaker at different institutes of national repute like the IITs, IIMs and other universities, as well as many international platforms.

We eagerly look forward to hearing her views on Swami Vivekananda and how he related to national regeneration.

India is rising and destined to take its place in the comity of nations. In order to do so, it has to undergo the process of rejuvenation of its masses. At the same time, our people have to be aware of the spiritual message of India. India is a plural society. We are bound by threads of culture which have diverse shades. Swamiji believed in the idea of harmony in diversity. For him, the notion of service came first. He had an abiding faith in the Vedantic value of “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” The power of spirituality needs to be harnessed for the rise of India. Swamiji said,"For our national welfare, India must gather up of its scattered spiritual forces. India must be a union of those whose hearts beat to the same spiritual tune."

He was convinced that everyone will have to work selflessly for all countrymen. He said,

“For the next fifty years, this alone shall be our keynote — this, our great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from our minds. This is the only god that is awake, our own race”

"Then only will India awake, when hundreds of large-hearted men and women, giving up all desires of enjoying the luxuries of life, will long and exert themselves to their utmost, for the wellbeing of the millions of their countrymen."

He had great faith in the young generation. He said,

“My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come to my workers. They will work out the whole problem, like lions.”

So you can see Swamiji’s concern was the upliftment of India, how to overcome hunger and ignorance.

It would be interesting to speculate on what Swamiji would have thought about modern India and whether it was on the right course to achieve its destiny.

We look forward to hearing the views of Divyanandapranaji.