1.

Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda is the name of a world famous monk. He was
born as Narendra nath Dutta in Calcutta on 12 January, 1863. His
father Viswanath Dutta was a learned lawyer at the High Court of
Calcutta. Narendranath obtained his education irregularly. He at
first read in a Primary School with other children of suburban area.
For fear of the bad influence of the rough children, he was then
kept at home. Again he studied in the Metropolitan Institution,
founded by Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar. He was a good scholar, a
good actor, player and wrestler. He was very popular for his
knowledge in Sanskrit. Above all, he was a speaker of truth. He was
never known to tell a lie.
In 1877 he went to Raipur with his father. In Raipur there was no
school where Bengali was taught. So he was forced to stay at home.
He built up the habit of argument. He had self-confidence in it.
Then his father came back to Calcutta. Narendranath resumed his
study. After school examination, he studied at the Presidency
College, Calcutta. Then he went to the General Assembly
Institution, which was a Missionary College. He studied logic and
philosophy.
Young Narendranath came in contact with Keshab Chandra Sen,
Devendranath Tagore, the famous members of the Brahma
Samaja. He was disturbed in his mind by his own question "Who
can show me God?" Finally he met Sri Ramakrishna, a Priest in the
temple of the goddess Kali at Dakshineswar. The spiritual
influence of Sri Ramakrishna changed him. Soon after his father's
death, Narendra discontinued his college-study and looked for
jobs. Being disappointed to get any job, he again met Sri
Ramakrishna and accepted him as his spiritual master. He was
then called Swami Vivekananda.
After the death of Ramakrishna, as his disciple, Swami
Vivekananda started the Ramakrishna Order. He attended the
Parliament of Religions in Chicago on September, 1893. Of course
he had to face enormous difficulties in Chicago. Here were other
persons representing different religions. Often Vivekananda spoke
on Hinduism; he was greeted and sheered by all the audience
there. One of the newspapers n New York said that Swami
Vivekananda was the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions.
Swami Vivekananda was a patriot. He was worried for the poverty
in India. He also tried to remove poverty from this country. He
died on 4 June 1902 only at the age of thirty-nine. He was the
greatest spiritual figure in India.

2. Swami Vivekananda
Lives of great men all-remind us, we can make our lives
sublime, and departing leave behind us, Footprints on the
sands of time.
Swami Vivekananda represents the eternal youth of India.
India though possessing a hoary and ancient civilization is
not old and effete, as her detractors would hold but Swami
Vivekananda believed that she was young, ripe with
potentiality and strong at the beginning of the twentieth
century.
Swami Vivekananda belonged to the 19th century, yet his
message and his life are more relevant today than in the
past and perhaps, will be more relevant in future because
persons like Swami Vivekananda do not cease to exist
with their physical death.
Their influence and their thought, the work which they
initiate, go on gaining momentum as years pass by, and
ultimately, reach a fulfillment which these persons
envisaged.
Swami Vivekanand himself had said it may be that I shall
find it good to get outside my body to cast it off like a worn
out garment but I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire
men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one
with god.
The process of this inspiration is spreading all over the
world. We are at a critical period of our history. The world
is on the brink of total annihilation, and it is the message
of Swami Vivekanand which can save humanity from a
disastrous end.
Swami Vivekananda had foreseen such a disaster, and
had warned the western countries to shift their stance and
take to the eternal message of spirituality, harmony and
peace, as preached by him in the light of the teachings of
his great master, Shri Ramakrishana Paramhansa.

Swami Vivekanand is one of the greatest men who have

appeared in the world. After reading his life story, one feels
that he had the heart of a Buddha and the brain of a
Shankaracharya. Yet he never craved for any personal
name and fame. He always used to say that he was a
voice without form but, In his life, we see how he felt about
the downtrodden, the untouchables.
The poor, the miserable and the sole aim of his life was to
bring about a social order which will be based on equitable
distribution of the objects of enjoyment, a society without
prejudice for any one.
But Swami Vivekanand had said, Could mud be washed
with mud? Could blood be washed with blood? so he
based his whole message on the philosophy of the
existence of one reality, which is in every being.
Swami Vivekananda appeared in 1893, on the platform of
the parliament of religious conference held at Chicago, as
an unknown person, when he was less than thirty years of
age. And this I will do or die.
Then again he says, My faith is in the younger
generation, the modern generation, out of them will
become my workers they will work out the whole problem.
They will spread my message from centre to centre until
we cover the whole of India.
It will not be out of place here to give quotations from
some of the most eminent thinkers of the world, both past
and present, which have understood and appreciated
Vivekanandas influence in the sphere of thought and
action.
Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet and a Nobel laureate,
says; He gave us something which brings us, if I may use
the word, a certain pride in our inheritance. He did not
spare us.
He talked of our weaknesses and our failings too. So,
what Swamiji has written and said, is of interest, and must
interest us, and is likely to influence us for a long time to
come. He was no politician in the ordinary sense of the

word and yet he was one of great founders of the

national modern movement of India.

3. Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January, 1863 in Calcutta. His
family name was Narendranath Dutta. His father Vishwanath
Dutta was a learned man who was well- versed in English and
Persian. By profession, he was a successful Attorney-at-law in the
High Court of Calcutta.
His mother was a pious lady who influenced Naren since his
childhood in the formation of his character. She first taught Naren
English lesson, and then made him acquainted with Bengali
alphabets.
Naren studied in the Metropolitan Institution at Calcutta; and after
passing the Entrance Examination, he joined the General
Assembly's Institution founded by the Scottish General Missionary
Board (later renamed as Scottish Church College) in Calcutta, from
where he passed his B.A. examination, and went to study law. But
since his father died, his family's financial position did not allow
him to prosecute further study.
Naren was a good singer. Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
happened to hear Naren singing a devotional song. He asked the
young man to see him at Dakshineswar, where he was a priest at
the Kali temple.
From his childhood, Naren was eager to see God face to face. He
asked many religious stalwarts about his desire in the past, but
none could satisfy him. Now this God-man of Dakshineswar said to
Naren that as one can see him, he can also see God in the same real
form. Naren was not convinced with his words. He wanted the
saint to prove it to him. And in course of time, Naren had that
wonderful divine experience in his life. He became the most
important disciple of the saint. His Guru taught him that God lives
in every human being. So by serving mankind, one can serve God.
With this teaching, Naren, in his later life, established the
Ramakrishna Mission which is till this day engaged in rendering
voluntary social service to the poor and the distressed, irrespective
of caste, creed and religion.
Naren was later named as 'Swami Vivekananda', when he became a
monk. He went to America to participate in the Parliament of
World Religions held at Chicago in 1893. In his long lecture, Swami

Vivekananda explained to the world that God is One, and that the
different religions are like different rivers (or routes) to terminate
in the sea (the same destination).
Hence there should not be any dispute among the preachers of
different religions that they worship god in separate forms or with
different beliefs. The realization of the eternal truth of One God
can avoid hatred among the people. Swamiji's views were
acclaimed with great appreciation, and a number of American men
and women became his disciples, who later joined the
Ramakrishna Mission.
Swami Vivekananda taught us the essence of nationalism in his
bold writings. He wrote : "Our sacred motherland is the land of
religion and philosophy-the birthplace of spiritual giants-the land
of renunciation, where and where alone, from the most ancient to
the most modern times, there has been the highest ideal of life
open to man."
He also said, "Have faith that you are all, my brave lads, born to do
great things."
Swamiji's call to the nation is: "Arise, awake; wake up yourself, and
awaken others. Achieve the consummation of life before you pass
off. Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."
Swami Vivekananda passed away in 1902.
Swami Vivekananda (12 January 18634 July 1902), born Narendra
Nath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a key figure in the
introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western
world and was credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing
Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late 19th
century. He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India and
contributed to the notion of nationalism in colonial India. He was the
chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna and the founder of
the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps
best known for his inspiring speech beginning with "Sisters and Brothers
of America," through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of
the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.