Mangaluru: While asking students to understand Swami Vivekananda through his writings, Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda said here on Tuesday that Swami Vivekananda gave a rational foundation to spirituality.

Speaking here at a function to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Swami’s Chicago address, Mr. Ravikanthe Gowda said that students of engineering and other fields will have a better understanding of scientific concepts by going through his works. “If you have to understand Swami Vivekananda, you have to read his philosophy and imbibe it. If you go deep into it, you will have a clear understanding of fluid mechanics,” he said.

Quoting verses from Kuvempu, Mr. Ravikanthe Gowda said that Swami Vivekananda saw God in the common man and in the poor. He believed serving the poor was the way to serve God. Swami Vivekananda discarded practices that were against the poor and [he] was for acceptance of different eating habits.

Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy was assimilation of ideals prescribed in all religions. He did not restrict dharma to just worshipping God. He removed barriers of purity separating God and his worshipper. “Rather than just showing respect to Vivekananda by offering flowers to his portraits, students should follow his ideals in their lives,” he said. Swami Vivekananda was a monk who worked for society that cares for the well being of the poor, he added.

President of Ramakrishna Mutt, Mangaluru, Swami Jitakamananda and the former MLC Ganesh Karnik also spoke.

Students from different colleges in the city participated in the programme. Following the inauguration programme, students attended a session on “Swami Vivekananda – the youth icon” conducted by Director of Manas Centre for Training and Development Centre K. Raghothama Rao. This was followed by a session on “Foundation of human excellence” by corporate trainer from Kochi Vijay Menon and on “Vishw Vijeeta Vivekananda” by motivational speaker from Puttur, Srikrishna Upadhyaya