Swami Vivekananda advocated Neo-Vedanta. It came into being when new ideas were submerged in Vedanta.
Neo-Vedanta revolves around the question, “How to achieve salvation?”
whereas “Vedanta” says God is the ultimate reality of truth and emphasises the superiority of God.
Swami Vivekananda wanted to find a new path of progress for Hinduism as they were not adequately happy with the reform movements simply because of the Western methods.
The Himalayas are the ultimate way of achieving liberation by following the path of rejection. To follow the path of service to society and to create a social awakening in people’s minds about the reawakening of new thoughts.
To follow the Vedanta as preached by his teacher, Sri Ramakrishna Prabhansha, known as the son of the soil, is to try to rebirth an ancient tradition that is the Indian wisdom of bhakti tradition amid growing westernization.
He was highly influenced by his teacher and established the Ramakrishna Mission after his name with the objective of serving humanity.
Ramakrishna was a great spiritualist who advised people to follow selfless devotion and argued for the service of man to God.
He asked for his disciples’ pure lives, free of passion and hatred, and condemned that no one is good. He had a strong faith that all religions are not contradictory, but that there are more faces to one never-ending faith and religion.
Swami Vivekananda suggests that Indian people look at Narayan, an Indian god in the form of a poor background, and that the poor are dying of starvation.
He stood for the selfless service of people, endless efforts to find the truth, and the reawakening disparity of India.
Three important principles of the selfless devotion of Swami Vivekananda:
- The idea of oneness between God and man, the solidarity of the universe,
- Neo-Vedanta’s study did not stand for a life of rejection but for selfless action in the service of humanity. Hence, the service of man should be considered the service of God.
- It promotes the principle of one soul and believes that different religious faiths have different paths to reach the goal of liberation.
Therefore, Vivekananda stood for service, sacrifice, and freedom. He did not want the Neo-Vedanta to remain active, but for the awakening of the masses. So, he wanted young Indians to dedicate themselves to the cause of retention in India.