Swami Vivekananda- 150years

Swami Vivekananda
 (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta

• was the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
• ^] He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the "Western" world, mainly in America and Europe and is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the end of the 19th century CE.
•  Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India.
•  He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began: "Sisters and Brothers of America," through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Bengali kayastha family of Calcutta on 12 January 1863.

• Vivekananda's parents influenced his thinking—his father by his rationality and his mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed an inclination towards spirituality and God realization.
• His guru, Ramakrishna, taught him Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism); that all religions are true and that service to man was the most effective worship of God. After the death of his guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and acquiring first-hand knowledge of conditions in India.
• He later travelled to Chicago and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga in America, England and Europe.
•  He also established the Vedanta societies in America and England.

• Born	12 January 1863(1863-01-12) Monday Calcutta, India
  Died	4 July 1902(1902-07-04) (aged 39) Friday Belur Math near Calcutta, India
  Birth name	Narendranath Datta
  Founder of	Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
  Guru	Ramakrishna Paramahansa
  Philosophy	Vedanta
  Literary works	Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga
  Prominent Disciple(s)	Sister Nivedita, Swami Sadananda

Teachings and philosophy

Swami Vivekananda believed a country's future depends on its people, so he mainly stressed on man, "man-making is my mission", that's how he described his teaching.^[126]

 He wanted “to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.”

• ^] Swami Vivekananda believed that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in the Vedanta philosophy, based on the interpretation of Adi Shankara. He summarized the Vedanta's teachings as follows
• Each soul is potentially divine.^[
• The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal.
• Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free.
• This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.

According to Vivekananda, an important teaching he received from Ramakrishna was that

•  "Jiva is Shiva" (each individual is divinity itself).
•  He founded the Ramakrishna Math and Mission on the principle of आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च  (for one's own salvation and for the welfare of the world).

Vivekananda advised his followers

•  to be holy, unselfish and have shraddha (faith).
•  He encouraged the practice of Brahmacharya (Celibacy).
•  In one of the conversations with his childhood friend Priya Nath Sinha he attributes his physical and mental strengths, and eloquence to the practice of Brahmacharya.