How Vivekananda continues to Inspire!

5 Minute Quick Read. 

["I only tell you this, that whoever reads this letter will imbibe my spirit! "
                                                                                                      - Swami Vivekananda" ]

Vivekananda is an inspiring personality. 

He enthralled the audience that listened to him at Chicago in 1893. He inspired hundreds after his return and these lectures are outlined in “Lectures from Colombo to Almora”. His contemporaries like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and even Industrialist Jamshetji Tata expressed how he was influential. Mahatma Gandhi in Feb, 1921 at Belur, even said that, 

 I ask you, young men, not to go away empty-handed without imbibing something  of the spirit of the place where Swami Vivekananda lived and died”. 

His inspiration continues even to this date. I have at least half-dozen close friends who were inspired by his words, writings and are living their life as Monks or are serving full time, the poor and needy. They are walking the path shown by him. There are enumerable examples of how he continues to inspire. For instance, a famous story about Anna Hazare, social activist goes, that he was about to commit suicide and then read the works of Swamiji. It inspired him to pick up rural development and continues to inspire to serve India. 

I am always amused by the inspirational power of Swamiji’s words and writings. One can understand the influence on his contemporaries due to direct contact, but how come he continues to inspire people even today? 

Recently I came across a behavioral study about the inspiring power of words. Researchers used Poetry as a channel for inspiration. A group wrote Poetry and tested for their level of inspiration. Another group read this poetry and commented on various parameters. Total 36, 020 data points were collected.  

Researchers concluded that inspired writers were able to inspire average readers. Readers found poems as more sublime, insightful when writers were more inspired. Surprisingly efforts put into writing or originality of writing weren’t having any effect on the reader. And the only connection between reader and writers were poem!  

This kind of explains how Vivekananda continues to inspire. He was highly inspired person. He spoke about his Guru Sri Ramkrishna as, 

 ” My teacher, my master, my hero, my ideal, my God in life “. 

He mentioned at one point, 

“It is true I believe Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to have been inspired. But then I am myself inspired also. And you are inspired. And your disciples will be; and theirs after them; and so on, to the end of time! “   

What he wrote was from the deep truth he experienced. His expressions were just an outcome of his inner pure, inspired state of being. And hence his writings are more than the words, they are medium, the vehicle that continues to inspire and will continue to inspire us. 

References: 

Image Source: https://istore.chennaimath.org/product/letters-of-swami-vivekananda/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_and_legacy_of_Swami_Vivekananda  

https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspp0000094  

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/is-inspiration-contagious/  

https://advaitaashrama.org/cw/content.php  Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Importance of re-writing speeches

Speech re-writing is very important condition for successful speech.

Toastmasters Competent communicator manual also emphasizes the drafting of the speech.


Andrew Dlugun ,a famous toast-master also emphasized this point in his multiple blog posts on speech writing.

Inspiring and motivating speaker , A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who won the hearts of millions of Indians by his visionary speeches had following comments in his recent publication Turning Points.  This also underlines the importance of draft versions of one's final speech. (Emphasis added)

... Preparation for the speech normally began well in advance. We would generate a theme, then would seek information from multiple departments and also try and get the international picture on the subject.  We would send a questionnaire to experts. Then we would collate the information. The speech would go into numerous drafts. It was not unusual for there to be ten or more drafts. The R-Day speech in 2004 ,for instance, had its theme on smiles on billion faces and went through ten drafts. The focus was on values. On 14th August 2005, the theme was energy independence. The speech went through fifteen drafts. One of the highest number of drafts was, of course, for my speech to the European Parliament on 25 April 2007. This went through thirty-one drafts.

No wonder that Kalam's speeches enjoys not only popularity but also coveted place in the heart of Indians. This really makes one to think on the efforts that we are investing in our own speeches.

Reference:
 1) Image : Wikimedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AbdulKalam.JPG
 2) Quotes : Turning Points, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam , 2012, Harper Collins, page 45, 

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