Include Bibliography and Index

Swami Vivekananda one of the greatest sons of modern India, not only gave a revolutionary turn to our struggle for freedom but also suggested the principles for the reconstruction of future independent India. A careful study of his ideas and activities reveal that he was far ahead of his times and was an iconoclast in every arena. He was an ascetic but guided by reason, a Hindu saint but stood for a new religion with Islamic body and Vedantic brain, a patriot to whom Mother India was the goddess, a masiha of the masses who sought to place people of the lower-rung at the helm of national affairs, a preacher of love who asked his followers to fight against all injustices and intolerance. Unfortunately, independent India did not give any importance to his ideas. On the contrary, he was dubbed a revivalist, a reactionary, a counter-revolutionary, a Hindu chauvinist and an opponent of Islam and Christianity. The conservative Hindus were against his religious ideas, the aristocracy and the upper-castes were against the social order envisaged by him and the bourgeois class which had got the political power in its own hand was deadly against his socialist economy. As a result, Swami Vivekananda mostly remained not much known to the common masses. The study seeks to present before the readers an unbiased account of Vivekananda's ideas, ideals and activities.