Swami Vivekananda’s role as the inspirer of spirituality across the world and the builder of bridges was honoured at an exhibition of his life and work at the United Nations.

“As the centuries pass, Vivekananda stands taller and taller, inspires people across the world, not only in India”, Swami Sarvarpriyananda, the resident minister of the New York Vedanta Society said at the inauguration of the exhibition.

“He built a bridge between the East and the West [when] he traveled to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 [and] the bridge is very strong, and very vibrant today”, he said.

India’s Consul General in New York, Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, said that Vivekananda’s message of oneness of humanity embedded in ancient Hindu wisdom has a particular relevance here at the UN.

The exhibition was organised by the Society for Enlightenment and Transformation (SEAT) a component of the UN Staff Recreation Council (UNSRC).

UNSRC President Peter Dawkins said that through the exhibition they want to highlight Vivekananda’s relevance to “the core values and purposes and mission of the United Nations”.

“We're hoping to raise awareness of the life of Vivekananda, what he brought to the West, in particular, his strong connection to New York and also, if not directly, but indirectly, to the United Nations”, he said.

Hindu Swyamsewak Sangh (HSS) produced the exhibits that the SEAT brought to the UN.

Ganesh Ramakrishnan, an outreach coordinator for the HSS, said “Swami Vivekananda is more relevant even in these times”

His “clarion call” for “seva, which is selfless service” resonates among youth, he said.

Sarvarpriyananda said that Vivekananda could be said to have “kick-started the Indian Freedom Movement” by “restoring to India an Indian sense of pride and sense of the modern Indian Nation”.

“Somebody called him the unconscious father of modern Indian nationalism”, he said.

Sarvarpriyananda said that Vivekananda promoted education and scientific thought.

The exhibition includes panels on his interactions with scientists like Nikola Tesla.

Vivekananda was the inspiration behind the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, Sarvarpriyananda said. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata founded the institute at the suggestion of Vivekananda who met him on a ship to the US, he recalled.

The tens of thousands of scientists and engineers in the US today are the products of the institute or of those that developed through it across India.