Brahman, Ji?va and Jagat in the Philosophy of Vivekananda

Abstract

Vivekananda is considered as one of the most influential spiritual thinker of India and also a famous disciple of Ramakrishna. The philosophy of Vivekananda mainly depends upon the system of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. But Vedanta preached by Vivekananda may be termed as Neo-Vedanta. Vivekananda, being a neo-vedantin philosopher believes in a monistic philosophy and thus for him Ultimate Reality is one without second. Vivekananda believes that truth lies only in strength and for him, the monistic philosophy is preaching that strength. Thus he strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the Vedantic Oneness of existence. Now the query is if the reality is only one then whether the world or jagat and the individual self or ji?va are totally unreal? How much reality imposes on ji?va and jagat in the philosophy of Vivekananda, and is it exactly like S?am?kara’s philosophy or different from it is the matter of query. Thus in this paper an attempt is made to study the status of the ji?va and jagat in relation to the Ultimate Reality Brahman.