Among other things, he said that “he bore great respect for late Swami Vivekananda. He was requested to give a speech and he spoke in Hindi. Subsequently, on 30 January 1921, Mahatma Gandhi attended the birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda at Belur Math. 1 This was probably sometime in early 1902. He was very moved by the site but was disappointed to know that Swamiji was in Calcutta then, and was very ill and unable to receive visitors. In his Autobiography, Gandhi notes that, in his enthusiasm, he almost walked all the way to Belur Math. Gandhiji, in fact, tried to meet him when he was visiting Calcutta for his first Congress Session held in that city in 1901. Swami Vivekananda’s impact on the Indian national movement has been recorded by the nationalists themselves.
He even exerted great spiritual influence on Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950), who later became Sri Aurobindo. But what about others? Be it leaders like Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), who adopted a non-violent stand or revolutionary leaders like Hemchandra Ghosh (1888-1980) all could draw equal inspiration from Vivekananda’s capacious patriotism.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s debt to Vivekananda is relatively well-known.
This essay is only a modest attempt to present briefly his influence on some of our freedom fighters. It is impossible to fully assess the extent of his impact on the course of national or even world events, as the influence of such personalities like him are deep and all-pervasive, but also subtle and silent. Swami Vivekananda’s true place in Indian history, his contribution in the making of modern India has not been duly assessed by Indian historians.
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