Swami Vivekananda

Ramakrishna’s chief disciple; systematized the four yogas and flagged Gita 2.3 as pivotal.

Overview

Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna‘s foremost disciple, said the goal of human life is to manifest the divinity within us. He is cited in Ep 1 at three critical moments.

The four yogas. Vivekananda’s framing of the Gita’s paths of practice: jnana-yoga (knowledge), bhakti yoga (devotion), karma-yoga (action), and raja yoga (meditation). These four organize the Gita’s teaching.

Gita 2.3 as crucial. Swami Sarvapriyananda cites Vivekananda as giving tremendous importance to verse 2.3 — “Arise, shake off faint-heartedness, O scorcher of foes.” Vivekananda’s claim: unless you make up your mind to take action and change, nothing and no one — no Krishna, Christ, Buddha, no scripture — can help.

New religion, old religion. “The old religion said: he who does not believe in God is an atheist. The new religion says: he who does not believe in himself is an atheist.” Arjuna’s collapse is loss of faith in himself.

Naren and Ramakrishna. As Narendranath, he came to Ramakrishna asking “Have you seen God?” — the Indian archetype of religion as realization.

Related concepts and entities

• Disciple of ramakrishna
• Framed the four-yoga scheme: jnana-yoga, bhakti yoga, karma-yoga, raja yoga
• Reading of 02-03 as pivotal

In the Gita

• 02-03 — he flags this as one of the most important verses in the whole Gita.

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [00:29]: The goal of human life is to manifest the divinity within us.
• Ep. 1 [17:06]: Four yogas — jnana, bhakti, karma, raja — the broad themes of the Gita.
• Ep. 1 [57:37]: Vivekananda takes 2.3 as one of the most important verses in the Gita.
• Ep. 1 [58:42]: Old religion — belief in God; new religion — belief in oneself.