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The Journey from Fear to Love
Vivekananda’s Relevance in Contemporary Society
Speakers
In 1893, Swami Vivekananda travelled to Chicago to attend the Parliament of World Religions. There, amidst representatives of the various religions of the world, Vivekananda—who grew up in an affluent Bengali household in Calcutta, studied to be a lawyer, only to give it up to become a wandering monk—spoke of Universal Religion—‘a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize the divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be created in aiding humanity to realize its own true divine nature’. Although a devout Hindu, he had always been someone who felt a deep sense of belonging to the plural heritage of the Indian sub-continent. Through his learnings and travels he sought to galvanize society on the basis of love.
Comprising three insightful essays, Vivekananda and Our Times situates the Swami in today’s world. Rajni Bakshi’s endeavour—which began a century after the Chicago address, when the country was reeling from the shock of the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign and the consequent demolition of the Babri Masjid—attempts to seek a space for reflection and shows us, through Vivekananda’s ideologies, the need to reconcile with the ‘other’ in a ‘shared quest for freedom from fear’.
A conversation between the author Rajni Bakshi and Govind Krishnan V will by followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
Presented by:
Speakers
Rajni Bakshi
Rajni Bakshi is a journalist, author, speaker and the founder of the YouTube channel, Ahimsa Conversations. Her books include Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi (1998) and Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom: For a Market Culture Beyond Greed and Fear (2009), among others. Born in Delhi, she is currently based in Mumbai.
Govind Krishnan V
Govind Krishnan V is the author of Vivekananda: The Philosopher of Freedom. He is a long-form journalist based in Bangalore. In 2014, he received the Red Ink Award for Human Rights reporting. He was shortlisted for the Einstein Fellowship in 2018. He also received the Agha Shahid Ali Award for poetry instituted by Poetry Chain magazine. He has worked for Fountain Ink, The Sunday Guardian and The New Indian Express. His work has also appeared in several publications like The Print, Frontline, The Wire, Scroll.in, Firstpost, Deccan Chronicle and The News Minute.
