Swami Vivekananda ( Shmi Bibeknondo (helpinfo); pronounced: IPA: [ami bibekanono]) (12 January [3] 18634 July 1902),

born Narendra Nath Datta (IPA: [n en o na o]), was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedantaand Yoga to the western [4] world and was credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major [5] 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 Born into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family of Calcutta, Swami Vivekananda showed an inclination towards spirituality and God realisation. His guru, Ramakrishna, taught him Advaita Vedanta (nondualism); 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, extensively touring the Indian subcontinent and acquiring first-hand knowledge of conditions in India. He later travelled to the United States and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in America, England and Europe. He established the Vedanta societies in America and England. In America Vivekananda became India's spiritual ambassador. His mission there was the interpretation of India's spiritual culture and heritage. He also tried to enrich the religious consciousness of Americans through the teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In India Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint of modern India and his birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Dutta in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival. He belonged to a traditional Bengali Kayastha (a caste of Hindus) family. There was precedence of ascetics in his familyNarendra's grandfather Durga Charan [10] Datta renounced the world and became a monk at the age of twenty five. Narendra's father Vishwanath [11] Datta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court. Vishwanath Datta had a liberal, progressive outlook on [12] [nb 1] social and religious matters. Narendra's mother, Bhuvaneswari Devi , was a pious woman. Before the birth of Narendra, she yearned for a son and asked a relative at Varanasi to make religious offerings [14] to the god Shiva. According to traditional accounts, Bhuvaneswari Devi had a dream in which Shiva [15] said that he would be born as her son. Bhuvaneswari Devi accepted the child as a boon from Shiva [14] and named him Vireswara, meaning "powerful god" in Bengali. The rational approach of his father and the religious temperament of his mother helped shape young Narendra's thinking and [16][17] [17] personality. He learnt the power of self-control from his mother. In later life, Narendra often quoted a saying of his mother, "Remain pure all your life; guard your own honour and never transgress the honour of others Narendra had interest and a wide range of scholarship in philosophy, religion, history, the social sciences, [21] arts, literature, and other subjects. He evinced interest in the Hindu scriptures such as the Vedas, theUpanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. He trained [22] in Indian classical music under two Ustads (maestro), Beni Gupta and Ahamad Khan. He regularly [2 participated in physical exercise, sports, and organisational activities.

With Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna, guru of Vivekananda.

"The magic touch of the Master that day immediately brought a wonderful change over my mind. I was astounded to find that really there was nothing in the universe but God! ... everything I saw appeared to be Brahman. ... I realized that I must have had a glimpse of the Advaita state. Then it struck me that the words of the scriptures were not false. Thenceforth I could not deny the conclusions of theAdvaita philosophy."[40]

Narendra's meeting with Ramakrishna in November 1881 proved to be a turning point in Narendra's [41] life. Narendra said about this first meeting that "Ramakrishna looked just like an ordinary man, with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language and I thought 'Can this man be a great teacher?'. I crept near to him and asked him the question which I had been asking others all my life: 'Do you believe in God, Sir?' 'Yes', he replied. 'Can you prove it, Sir?' 'Yes'. 'How?' 'Because I see Him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.' That impressed me at once. [...] I began to go to that man, day after day, and I actually saw that religion [41][42] could be given. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life." Though Narendra did not accept Ramakrishna as his guru initially and revolted against his ideas, he was [43] attracted by his personality and visited him frequently. He initially looked upon Ramakrishna's ecstasies [16] [44] and visions as, "mere figments of imagination", "mere hallucinations". As a member of Brahmo [45] Samaj, he revolted against idol worship and polytheism, and Ramakrishna's worship of Kali. He even rejected the Advaitist Vedantism of identity with absolute as blasphemy and madness and often made fun [44] of the concept. Though at first Narendra could not accept Ramakrishna and his visions, he did not neglect him. Instead, he tested Ramakrishna, who faced all of Narendra's arguments and examinations with patience"Try to see the truth from all angles" was his reply. During the course of five years of his training under Ramakrishna, Narendra was increasingly ready to renounce everything for the sake of realising God. In time, Narendra accepted Ramakrishna as his guru and completely surrendered as [43] disciple.

Northern India
In 1888, Vivekananda's first destination was the city of Varanasi, where he met the learned Bengali writer, Bhudev Mukhopadhyay and the saint Trailanga Swami. He also met Babu Pramadadas Mitra, the [61] noted Sanskrit scholar, with whom he corresponded on the interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. After Varanasi he visited Ayodhya, Lucknow, Agra, Vrindavan, Hathras and Rishikesh. At Hathras, he met Sharat Chandra Gupta, a railway station master who later became one of his earliest disciples [62][63] as Sadananda. Between 1888 and 1890, he visited Vaidyanath and Allahabad. From Allahabad, he went on to Ghazipur, where he met Pavhari Baba, a Advaita Vedanta ascetic who spent most of his time [64] in meditation. During this period, Vivekananda returned to Baranagar Math a few times, because of ill health and to arrange for monetary funds after Balaram Bose and Suresh Chandra Mitra, the disciples of [63] Ramakrishna who sponsored the Math had died. [edit]The

Himalayas

In July 1890, accompanied by the fellow monk Swami Akhandananda (also a disciple of Ramakrishna), Vivekananda visited the Himalayas. This constituted the first phase of his journey that would encompass [63][65] the West. He visited Nainital, Almora, Srinagar and Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar. During these travels, he met Swami Brahmananda, Saradananda, Turiyananda, Akhandananda and Advaitananda. They stayed at Meerut for some days engaged in meditation, prayer and study of scriptures. At the end of [65][66] January 1891, the Swami left his fellows and journeyed to Delhi.

Southern India

Vivekananda Temple on Vivekananda rock at Kanyakumari, India

Later Vivekananda travelled to Bangalore, where he became acquainted with K. Seshadri Iyer, the Dewan of the Mysore state, and stayed at the palace as a guest of the Maharaja of Mysore, Chamaraja Wodeyar. Regarding the Swami's learning, Seshadri remarked on "a magnetic personality and a divine force which were destined to leave their mark on the history of his country." The Maharaja provided the Swami a letter of introduction to the Dewan of Cochin and got him a railway [72] ticket. From Bangalore, he visited Trichur, Kodungalloor, and Ernakulam. At Ernakulam, he met Chattampi [73] Swamikal, contemporary of Narayana Guru, in early December 1892. From Ernakulam, he travelled [74] to Trivandrum, Nagercoil and reached Kanyakumari on foot during the Christmas Eve of 1892. At Kanyakumari, the Swami meditated on the "last bit of Indian rock", famously known later as the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, for three days. At Kanyakumari, Vivekananda had the "Vision of one [75] India", also commonly called "The Kanyakumari resolve of 1892". He wrote,

"At Cape Camorin sitting in Mother Kumari's temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rockI hit upon a plan: We are so many sanyasis wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysicsit is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva use to say, 'An empty stomach is no good for religion?' We as a nation have lost our individuality and that is the cause of all mischief in India. We have to raise the [75][76] masses."

Death
On the day of his death he woke up very early in the morning, went to chapel and meditated for three hours, sang a song on Kali and then he whispered, "If there were another Vivekananda, then [128] he would have understood what this Vivekananda has done!" He taught Shukla-Yajur-Veda to [129] some pupils in the morning at Belur Math. He had a walk with Swami Premananda, a brotherdisciple, and gave him instructions on the future of the Ramakrishna Math. Vivekananda died at ten minutes past nine p.m. on 4 July 1902 while he [130] [131] was meditating. According to his disciples, this was Mahasamadhi. Afterward, his disciples recorded that they had noticed "a little blood" in his nostrils, about his mouth and in his [132] eyes. The doctors reported that it was due to the rupture of a blood-vessel in the brain, but they could not find the real cause of the death. According to his disciples, Brahmarandhra the aperture in the crown of the head must have been pierced when he attained Mahasamadhi. [129] Vivekananda had fulfilled his own prophecy of not living to be forty years old. He was cremated on sandalwood funeral pyre on the bank of Ganga in Belur. On the other bank of the [128 river, Ramakrishna had been cremated sixteen years before.