Mahatma Gandhi On Swami Vivekananda

Mahatma Gandhi On Swami Vivekananda:

Mahatma Gandhi came to Belur Math on 30 January 1921, to join Swami Vivekananda's birthday celebration. There he was requested to deliver a speech. Gandhi assented to the request and delivered a brief lecture. In the lecture he told-

• I have come here (Belur Math) to pay my homage and respect to the revered memory of Swami Vivekananda, whose birthday is being celebrated here today. I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold. 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.

The  comment shows the influence of Swami Vivekananda on Mahatma Gandhi.

Letter to S. Avinashilingam

Gandhi wrote in a letter written to S. Avinashilingam, dated 22 July 1941—

• Surely Swami Vivekananda's writing needs no introduction from any body. They make their own irresistible appeal.