Swami Vivekananda and Meaning of Life

Swami Vivekananda and Meaning of Life, with Consul General of India Shri N. Parthasarathi

Swami Vivekananda, who mesmerized the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in September 1893, was the first Cultural Ambassador of India. He was a visionary, philosopher, thinker, social reformer and a man of action far ahead of his time. In the USA, Swami Vivekananda pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science. By interpreting Religion as a universal experience of transcendent reality, he introduced the spiritual path in a practical and rational manner that could be understood as a “Science of Conscience.” He taught a philosophy and methodology that anybody could adopt into their way of life to achieve personal transformation and transcendence inwardly to establish a direct connection to the Divine.

‘If you want to know India, study Vivekananda’ was Rabindranath Tagore’s advice to Romain Rolland. Swami Vivekananda’s life and teachings are of inestimable value to the West for an understanding of the meaning of life.

Ambassador N. Parthasarathi is the Consul General of India in San Francisco since October 2011. A 30-year veteran of the Indian diplomatic corps, he has been Ambassador of India to the Republic of South Korea. While he was Ambassador to Senegal, he was also concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Mali, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Gambia and Cape Verde islands. He has also served as a diplomat throughout the world including in Belgium, Pakistan, United Kingdom and Syria.

His hobbies include writing, spirituality, mentoring youth, golf and bridge. He has published two books, The Reluctant Assassin, a fictional thriller, and The Legend of Princess of Ayodhya in Korea (this was translated into Korean and published as Silk Empress and recently into an illustrated book for children). Ambassador Parthasarathi, a Mechanical Engineer with an MBA, is married to Smt. Geeta Parthasarathi. They have two daughters.