Guest lecture on Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda – An alternate view by Prof. Varadesh Hiregange, Director, Gandhian and Peace Studies, Manipal University

Prof. Varadesh Hiregange started his lecture by cross linking the disciplines of Tourism and Philosophy with the example of Western people visiting our Country for the Indian spiritual tradition. He elaborated the symbolic significance of Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary and the National Youth Day. After the introduction, Prof. Varadesh mentioned a few Indian philosophers like Shankara and Madhavacharya and opened the basic concept of Philosophy in simple words. He explained the origin of the word Philosophy from the two Greek words Philos (love) and Sophie (wisdom). Philosophy deals with the fundamental issues of life and it explains the ultimate purpose of our existence. Also he gave an idea about the differences between Asian Philosophy and Western Philosophy with the former being mystical and the latter being rather rational. Later, Prof. Varadesh tried to make the students familiarize with Swami Vivekananda and his ideologies. It became easy to grasp the alternate view of Swami’s Philosophy when Prof. expressed him as an unconventional Swamiji with the example cited from one of the poems written by Swami Vivekananda, “To the 4th of July” and one of the essays written on Paris, in which he had mentioned the beauty of nature and love. Prof. Varadesh Hiregange also highlighted the essence of Philosophy in Swami Vivekananda’s perspective, which is purely Vedanta- the conclusion of Veda. He elaborated the concept of Vedanta by saying that the whole world consists of cosmic consciousness and there’s no differences between the cosmic consciousness and the individual consciousness. He also explained the fourfold path which comprises of Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga and Bhakta Yoga, through which one can experience the Vedanta. In the next phase of his lecture, Prof. Varadesh also covered the topics such as the major life events and quotes of Swami Vivekananda and his speech in parliament of religions, Chicago (1983), service towards the downtrodden, Egalitarianism etc. Towards the end, Prof. Hiregange suggested a book on historical review of Swami Vivekananda and another book of Swami’s major works for the students and he clarified the doubts asked by them. The function was concluded with Ms. Shalini Pallikila of Msc. HTM First year proposing the vote of thanks. P Valsaraj, Coordinator of DAHS and other faculty members were present.