Vivekananda Biography
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| Swami Vivekananda |
Swami
Vivekananda was born on 12th January, 1863 at Shimulia in Calcutta into an
upper-middle-class Kayastha family. His father was a well-known lawyer,
Biswanath Dutta and mother was Bhubaneswari Devi. Vivekananda’s nickname was
Bireshwar or Bile. His Original name was Narendranath Dutta. He was educated at
a Western-style university. There he was exposed to western philosophy,
Christianity and science. He graduated from Scottish Church College. He had
been moulded in the works of Kant, Comte, Darwin, Mill etc. Their works helped
Narendranath to develop a critical and analytical mind.
Narendranath
joined the Brahmo Samaj and dedicated himself to eliminate child
marriage and illiteracy. He was determined to spread education among women and
the lower castes. Later he became a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
Ramakrishna demonstrated the essential unity of all religions. Narendranath
became a sanyasin and was given the name ‘Swami Vivekananda.’ Sri
Ramakrishna died in 1886. Then Vivekananda promised to devote his life to the
propagation of his guru’s message. He travelled all over India, the Himalayan
forests and led an austere (severe and morally strict, having no pleasure or
comfort) life with a discipline of a recluse (a person who lives alone and
likes to avoid other people) for six long years. The experience he gathered
from travelling gave him poise and peace and made him acquainted with the soul
of India and the misery of the people and their sufferings.
Behind
the Vedanta movement in England and the United States, Vivekananda was an
active force. On September 11, 1893, Swami Vivekananda spoke about Hinduism in
the Parliament of Religions at Chicago. People of West stirred hearing his
lecture about religion. Indian spirit of universality and broadmindedness were
projected by him. Vivekananda’s speech hit the headlines of all the morning
dailies. The New York Herald told him as the greatest figure in the Parliament
of Religions. As the cultural ambassador of India, Vivekananda then started to
wander various parts of America and Europe. In America, Vivekananda founded
Vedanta societies.
In San
Francisco (USA), Vivekananda established a Vedanta institution. Thereafter he
went to England and addressed many societies there. He also visited Germany,
Switzerland and France. The western world was acquainted with the Hindu
religion. He also enabled to shed the sense of inferiority of Indian culture
vis-à-vis the western culture. In 1897, he returned to India with a small group
of western disciples. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math near
Calcutta in the same year.
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| Swami Vivekananda |
In the
modern age of India, Swami Vivekananda was the first person who proclaimed the
superiority of Hindu culture and civilization before the world. He also
proclaimed about the greatness of Indian heritage and the hope for the future.
He wrote various books on Hindu philosophy like Jnana-Yoga, Karma-Yoga,
Raja-Yoga etc.
Vivekananda
was not in favour of agitational politics. He tried his best to build up a
strong, brave and dynamic nation. He sought to rouse a spirit of heroism and
love of the people particularly the distressed, the deprived, the downtrodden
and the poor. In their service he saw service to God.
The
Ramakrishna Mission propagated about Indian culture all over the world. The
followers of Ramakrishna Mission admitted the utility of image worship. They
attached more importance to the spiritual aspect rather than the rituals of
worship. The weaknesses of Hindu religion and society were highlighted by
Vivekananda. He inspired the people to get rid of the same. Ramakrishna Mission
set up charitable institutions like hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages etc.
and rendered services during earthquakes, famines, floods, epidemics etc. A
number of educational institutions and public libraries are also run by them.
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| Swami Vivekananda |
Swami
Vivekananda died on 4th July, 1902 at Belur Math at an early age of 39. In
the last decade of the 19th century, Vivekananda was the most inspiring
figure of the country. He travelled across the country and spread the ideas of
Vedanta. He wanted to regenerate a fallen nation. His made a clarion call,
“Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. Indian spirituality was
attempted to be combined with Western material progress by Vivekananda.
Vivekananda lived only two years into 20th century. But he made relevant
to the century, the very highest ideals of the Vedantic religion.
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