Vivekananda was very tolerant, says Catholic priest's new book

A book penned by an Indian-origin Catholic priest based in Rome, a critical study of the philosophical anthropology of Swami Vivekananda, was released here Saturday at the close of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of the sage.

Aimed at fostering "religious harmony", "Man Without Frontiers: The Ultimate Concern of Swami Vivekananda" is authored by Father Maria Arokiam Kanaga, the Salesian general councillor for South Asia, who lives in Rome.

Derived from Kanaga's doctoral thesis on Vivekananda's teachings, the treatise attempts to place his teachings and philosophy in the context of modern issues.

In a statement read during the launch of the book, the priest said: "Among the several modern thinkers... Indian thinkers... I found that Swami was the most open to Christianity... the most friendly and tolerant."

"He envisaged a human being beyond religion and cultures... unfortunately today in India a kind of divisive religious fundamentalism is spreading which could even be citing the great Swamiji as the forerunner for their exclusivist philosophies, while he himself envisaged humankind without frontiers," he said. The 532-page book is published by InKdia Publications, Kolkata.