Hindu

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa who electrified the Parliament of World's Religions in Chicago in 1893 and became the first great teacher to bring Vedanta and Yoga philosophy to the West as a living, relevant spiritual science. His vision of a spiritually active humanity — combining inner realization with service to the poor — continues to inspire millions.

Born Narendra Nath Datta in 1863 into an educated Bengali family, Vivekananda was a brilliant, restless young man with Western philosophical training when he met Ramakrishna and was gradually transformed by his master's power into a realized monk. After Ramakrishna's death in 1886, he wandered across India as an unknown mendicant, witnessing the poverty and spiritual dislocation of his country, and began to formulate a vision of how India's ancient spiritual heritage could address both its own renewal and the materialism of the modern world. His address to the Parliament of World's Religions in Chicago in September 1893 — beginning 'Sisters and Brothers of America' — received a standing ovation and made him an international figure overnight. He went on to lecture extensively across America and Europe, founded the Vedanta Society in New York, returned to India as a national hero, and established the Ramakrishna Math and Mission as an organization combining monastic spiritual practice with active service to the sick and poor. He died at forty, reportedly predicting his own early death, having compressed the work of several lifetimes into a decade of public activity.