"The more advanced a society is in spirituality, the more is that society or nation civilized. No nation can be said to be civilized only because it has succeeded in increasing the comforts of material life by bringing into it's use lots of machinery and things of that sort. In this age, as on the one hand people have to be intensely practical, so on the other they have to acquire deep spiritual knowledge." (1) Swami Vivekananda was a keen observer of world affairs; his visionary statement carries an important message for the coming age. People in the third millennium face the difficult challenge of negotiating priorities between materialism and spirituality.

Knowledge of the physical world has pushed material civilization further and further towards its desired goal, namely, the control over nature-forces and its application for the development of human progress. Humanity must progress. This progress cannot be stopped. The question that remains is, in which direction has this progress been directed? The answer is that during the present time, human beings know many things about their world, including the truth of physical sciences and wonderful developments in modern technology. People are able to communicate with each other from one side of the globe to the other in no time. Amenities and amusements are available in abundance and these engage human minds in hundreds of ways. Sometimes people think that twenty-four hours in a day is not enough to accomplish everything! Other who become excluded from this busy whirlwind of life because of age, health problems or other reasons, feel depressed and frustrated. They do not know how to spend their time and worry about what the future will bring.

Experts giving suggestions for remedies to overcome human afflictions rarely produce any results, since people have to work their problems out for themselves. Knowledge of material science has not produced any definite understanding of what happens to us after death. Is not the knowledge of the existence of an afterlife and the question of God consciousness a vital question in human life? When the span of life ends for an individual, do others not feel seriously about this issue?

Inspired by the light of Vedanta, a great soul became involved in helping humanity in this age of materialism. Swami Vivekananda presented the immortal teachings of the Upanishads to the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago on September 11, 1893. Swami Vivekananda experienced the knowledge of God consciousness under the guidance of his teacher Sri Ramakrishna. The Swami realized that unless the science of God consciousness was taught to the world, the study of physical science would remain an imperfect body of knowledge. The facet of the human personality that is spirituality would remain hidden without the spiritual culture. It is only through the cultivation of the spiritual personality that human beings are able to overcome their afflictions.

A human being's many-faceted personality, outlook on life, approach to the world, a favorable environment, and good social conditions, create the fabric of cultural thought and ideas. The application of truths discovered by physical science is inadequate for the projection of love, joy, happiness and compassion. These are the pure functions of the soul's powers through the conscious self. Swami Vivekananda pointed out to the modem world that a person must choose what to give importance to, the human soul or machines. Machines are inert matter. They are not the conscious self, which is self-evident truth.

Swami Vivekananda reminds us that the human soul is divine. All progress must be directed in such a way that it will help us to manifest divinity, by controlling nature, external and internal. The truths of physical sciences must contribute to the unfoldment of the divinity of the human soul, and this is possible only when spiritual culture dominates human life. The special contribution that Swami Vivekananda has made, is demonstrating the relevance of the Vedantic truths such as the divinity of the human soul, solidarity of the universe, oneness of existence, unity of the Godhead, and the harmony of all religions, in the modern world.

"The infinite oneness of the soul is the eternal sanction of all morality, that you and I are not only brothers -every literature voicing man's struggle towards freedom has preached that for you - but that you and I are really one. This is the dictate of Indian Philosophy. This oneness is the rationale of all ethics and all spirituality." (2)

Swami Aparananda

1.     Swami Vivekanada, Complete Works VI, tenth edition p. 462-63

2.     Swami Vivekanada, Complete Works III - tenth edition p.189