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Sunil Khilnani explores the life and work of Swami Vivekananda, a social and religious reformer who became India’s first global guru, credited with introducing yoga to the west.

Vivekananda was a restless, baby-faced monk from Calcutta. And his image – arms defiantly folded, soft features hardened by a Napoleonic gaze – can be found all over that city today – on t-shirts, murals, posters and sculptures. It’s a ubiquity that is testament to both his contemporary influence – and to the way his essential message has been transformed.

In his lifetime, Vivekananda was a reformer who insisted that Hinduism’s moral force rested on its capacity to meet society’s practical needs. In order to meet those needs Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Mission, which had no precedent among Indian religious institutions, and continues all across the country as a dispenser of education, health and social welfare.

But despite his practical, critical, universalist thinking, Vivekananda has today become one of Hindu nationalism’s leading spiritual lights.

Featuring Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.

Producer: Martin Williams
Executive Producer: Martin Smith