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Swami Vivekananda (1863 - 1902)
Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Dutta on 12th January 1863 at Calcutta to Vishwanath Datta, an attorney at the Calcutta High Court and his wife Bhubaneswari Devi. His birth anniversary is celebrated in India as National Youth Day.
He was sent to a formal school at the age of eight and then to Presidency College in Calcutta.
He was a voracious reader and read a wide variety of subjects like history, social sciences, art, literature, western logic and philosophy, religion, Vedas, Upanishads, the Hindu epics, etc.
He was also interested in sports and took part in wrestling activities.
He was interested in spirituality from a tender age. He was a member of an offshoot of the Brahmo Samaj, the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj when he was in his twenties.
He met Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in 1881. Even though initially, Narendranath rebelled against Ramakrishna’s ideas and was even opposed to Advaita Vedanta, he, later on, accepted him as his Guru after being convinced of the philosophy.
Ramakrishna died in August 1886 and in December that year, Narendranath took his formal vows as an ascetic and became ‘Swami Vivekananda’.
In 1888, he started his life as a wandering monk taking with him only his kamandalu, staff and his two favourite books namely, the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ and ‘The Imitation of Christ’.
He spoke to people and urged them to dismantle the prevalent caste system. He also promoted industrialisation and science. He also advocated women’s empowerment and fought against superstitions. He encouraged people to take up free thinking and accept the spirit of equality.
He also spread the teaching of neo-Vedanta, which essentially reconciles Dvaita (dualism) and Advaita (monism).
He propagated the Hindu doctrine that each soul is divine and everyone should work towards manifesting that divine within oneself.
Swami Vivekananda is credited with spreading Hinduism in the west in a big way. He represented the Hindu religion at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago on 11th September 1893 and gave a brief speech.
The New York Herald newspaper reported, “Vivekananda is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation.”
He also gave free classes in Vedanta and Yoga. He also visited the UK and Europe in his voyage to the west.
He was offered academic positions in two top American universities, but declined both as they would have interfered with his life as a monk.
He founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 which subscribes to Vedanta and works for religious harmony and equality for all human beings. It is also actively engaged in social work.
He passed away on 4 July 1902, which is the day he attained mahasamadhi according to his disciples. He was 39.
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