Swami Vivekananda: In Search of Education towards Man-Making and Character-Building

India has been the cradle of human civilization and the birthplace of great prophets. Swami Vivekananda is universally acclaimed as one of the modern prophets of India. He was not only a spiritual leader or a pioneer in social reforms, but an outstanding philosopher as well as an educationist. Swami Vivekananda believed in the Vedanta philosophy which says that the ultimate goal of human life is to attain ‘Unity with the Creator’. According to him, ‘God resides in every human heart’. Viewed in this sense, the best worship of God is service to mankind. According to Swami Vivekananda, ‘Education means, a process by which character is formed, strength of mind is reinforced, and human intellect is sharpened, as a result of which, one can stand on one’s own feet’. Swami Vivekananda always believed that the development of a good personality in every human being is essential in the case of nation building. That is why, Swami Vivekananda emphasised man-making education by which we can make ourselves a good citizen for our national development. According to Swami Vivekananda, ‘Man-making means a harmonious development of the body, mind and soul’. Swami Vivekananda also emphasised the importance of man-making education for human as well as national development. According to him, man-making education is inherent in character development as well as vocational development. Character-building was also fundamental in Vivekananda’s perception of education, as against career-orientation, which occupies centre-stage in today’s education. This paper purports to expound and analyse the ‘man-making’ and ‘character-making’ education in the vision of Swami Vivekananda. The relevance of his ‘man-making’ and ‘character-making’ education in the 21st, century is also pointed out.