SWAMI VIVEKANANDA


SWAMI  VIVEKANANDA

Swami Vivekananda, known in his pre-monastic life as Narendra Nath Datta, was born in an affluent family in Kolkata on 12 January 1863. in November 1881, Narendra went to meet Sri Ramakrishna who was staying at the Kali Temple in Dakshineshwar. He became his disciple. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and a world spokesperson for Vedanta. His lectures, writings, letters, and poems are published as The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda represented Hinduism at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 his speech there is one of the most famous speeches in that century. Subsequently he was invited to speak all over America and Europe. He was a man with a great spiritual presence and tremendous intellect. Most of the Vedanta Societies which were founded in America and Europe 1930s can trace their origins directly to Vivekananda or his disciples. Swamiji founded the Ramakrishna Mission, a great organization of service. He helped establish the Ramakrishna Math. He was the foremost champion of Hinduism and taught Vedanta to all. He is the father of the Vedantic movement in America. He revived the confidence of the people of India and travelled across Bharat. One of India’s greatest leaders, Netaji said “Swamiji harmonized the East and the West, religion and science, past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen have gained unprecedented self-respect, self-reliance and self-assertion from his teachings.”