Swami Vivekananda's School
The school that launched Hindu renaissance - Vivekananda's reading of Vedanta as both universal philosophy and basis for Hindu action produced the template every subsequent Hindu revivalist movement has worked with, consciously or not.
During the British Raj, this great land of Sanatana Dharma threw contemporary interpreters of the Sanatana tradition, some of the greatest names being Swami Vivekananda, Shri Aurobindo and Swami Dayananda. Swami Vivekananda reaffirmed the spiritual tradition of Bharatvarsha and gave us a call for action. With the grace and will of his Guru, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa he gave the call for Hindu Renaissance by invoking all its spiritual core and traditional foundations.
He focused on bringing back Yoga and meditation to the centre of Hindu life. He sought inspiration in his own tradition and the ancient scriptures of Bharatvarsha, focusing on Hatha Yoga most of all. He did a Purva Paksha of monotheistic theologies but also sought how parts of them could be readjusted to Indic spirituality. Seeing the vision of Advaita in everyone and everything he gave the principle of service of the poor and the needy to reaffirm Hindu unity and protect it against external attacks. He was preparing Hindus for a cultural response to the colonial policies that we were suffering from under the British Raj and were likely to suffer from even after independence.
His vision was that of a Rishi and his fears seemed correct when India became independent as the colonial policies and institutions were continued almost as they did under the Raj. He could see that two cultures were forming in India, one that guided our culture and the other that guided our policy and institutions and he was preparing Hindus for a cultural response to a culture-hostile policy.
