Sudeep Ghosh: The Swami, the Selfie, the Self!

By Sudeep Ghosh, ToK Coordinator and faculty in the English department at The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad (India)

As we celebrate the National Youth Day on 12 January to mark the 157^th birth anniversary of the radical thinker, poet-philosopher and youth icon, Swami Vivekananda, let us try to understand the plot structure of two narratives – the ‘selfie-narrative’ and the ‘self-narrative’.

‘The Song of the Sannyasin’:

Sing high that note, Sannyasin bold! Say–

“Om Tat Sat, Om!”

Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,

Of shining gold, or darker, baser ore;

Love, hate–good, bad–and all the dual throng,

Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free;

For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind;

Then off with them, Sannyasin bold! Say–

“Om Tat Sat, Om!”

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