Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Biography

Swami Vivekananda was the chief disciple of the saint Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He founded Ramakrishna Mission and introduced the Hindu philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga in Western World. He is best known for his inspiring speech starting with “Sisters and Brothers of America” at the Parliament of World’s Religions at Chicago in 1893.

He was born on 12^th January 1863 in Shimla Pally at Kolkata, West Bengal. His birth name was Narendranath Dutta. His parents are Vishwanath Dutta and Bhuvaneshwari. He showed inclination towards spirituality and God realization from his childhood days. He was a versatile scholar and learned all the Vedas and Upanishads together with other subjects like philosophy, religion, history, arts, literature and social sciences. He studied at Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar and joined Presidency College at Calcutta. He passed Bachelor of Arts in 1884.

When he was studying at General Assembly Institution, he was introduced to Sri Ramakrishna. His meeting with Ramakrishna in 1881 was a turning point in his life. He could not accept him as his guru in his beginning. After few years he accepted him whole heartedly. He took good care of Ramakrishna when he suffered from throat cancer and stayed with him during his last days. He formed his first monastery at Baranagar.

He travelled to many parts of India and world and gave his lectures on religion and philosophy. He founded Ramakrishna Math on 1^st May 1897. This was a socio-religious movement to help the masses. His ideals are based on Karma Yoga. He founded two monasteries, one at Belur near Kolkata and the other at Mayavati on the Himalayas. He taught that each soul is potentially divine and the goal of mankind is to manifest this divinity by controlling one’s external and internal nature.

He spent his days at Advaita Mashrama at Mayavati and at Belur. Thousands of visitors came to visit him including Maharaja of Gwalior and Lokamanya Tilak. When his health was failing him, he undertook pilgrimages to Bodhgaya and Varanasi. He suffered from asthma and diabetes and died on 4^th July 1902 at an age of 39. He left a body of his philosophical works. He remained single throughout his life and preached his disciples to be unselfish and holy and encouraged the practice of Brahmacharya. 

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Updated: November 23, 2017