Anna Hazare On Swami Vivekananda ~ Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Anna Hazare (Marathi: अण्णा हजारे) or Kisan Baburao Hazare (Marathi: किसन बाबूराव हजारे) (born. 15 June 1937) is an Indian social activist and an anti-corruption movement leader. In 2011 he began an indefinite hunger strike to exert pressure on the Indian government to enact a stringent anti-corruption law.

Our this article's topic is Anna Hazare's comments and views on Swami Vivekananda.

In 1964

Anna Hazare
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1964 Anna Hazare was very much frustrated with his life. He even thought of committing suicide. At that time he found few books on Swami Vivekananda in a Delhi railway station bookstall. Those books highly influenced Hazare and started transforming his life.

Hazare recalled the evnt. He told—^[Source]

I picked up two or three books on him. After reading them, I was inspired and motivated. I realised that the greatest happiness, the biggest success and the tallest achievement is in the service of the needy and the nation, and started working in that direction.

Inspiration from Swami Vivekananda

In December 2011, Anna Hazare told in an interview—

In the beginning, I got inspiration from Swami Vivekananda to give my life for the service of the nation and samaaj. What I learnt from Vivekananda is that everyone has got this life to do seva. Many people sitting in air-conditioned rooms need sleeping pills to sleep. Where is the anand (happiness)? It is from Vivekananda's books that I learnt that sahi anand, sthai anand, (the correct and stable happiness) comes from within you. Until you don't make others happy, you will not get sthai anand, only superficial happiness that has sadness hidden inside it. Sthai anand is from within and from seva. So I decided to spend all my life serving the nation.

Anna Hazare came as a guest in the television show The Kapil Sharma Show. There he told that once he (Anna) thought to commit suicide, and then he found a book of Swami Vivekananda, and that changed his life. You can see the video portion here.

Haath ke liye kaam, pait ke liye roti

While describing his ideas and demands, Hazare told—^[Source]

We don't want donation or money from outside or exploitation for development but an ideal use of natural resources. Like take the rainwater, we saved rainwater through underground water table recharging. Gandhiji said if villages have livelihood, people won't go to towns. Vivekanand also said that it's no use preaching to someone who is hungry. Haath ke liye kaam, pait ke liye roti (work for the hands and food for the stomach). If this happens, then all development will follow.