SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

SWAMI   VIVEKANANDA.                                                                                                                          A VIDEO OF HIS LAWS.

                                                  

           

• Born: January 12, 1863, Kolkata, India

  Died: July 4, 1902, Belur Math, India

  Full name: Narendra Nath Datta

  Education: Scottish Church College, Calcutta (1884), University of Calcutta, Presidency College, Kolkata

  Books: My Master

  Parents: Bhuvaneswari Devi, Vishwanath Dat                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Vivekananda is a name known throughout India as one of the foremost Hindu figures of the 19th century. He is not nearly so well known in the United States, even though his influence here was also quite impressive. He was a devout follower of Ramakrishna and adhered to the principle that every person was capable of great potential, so long as they learn how to access it within themselves. Vivekananda was opposed to the traditional repression which the lower castes suffered on a daily basis, hoping instead to create a society where everyone had equal chances to make something of themselves. Unusually, he was also opposed to the doctrine of non-violence which is so often characteristic of Hindu religious leaders. According to Vivekananda, "the atman cannot be known by the weak."
  

  • Vivekananda visited on the occasion of the Parliament of World Religions which opened in Chicago on September 11, 1893, where he made quite an impression on many religious and social figures in America. He was there as the chief representative of Hinduism and, for many, this was their first serious contact with that faith. William James, for example, praised him highly in both The Varieties of Religious Experience and in Pragmatism

        A spiritual genius of commanding intellect and power, Vivekananda crammed immense labor and achievement into his short life, 1863-1902. Born in the Datta family of Calcutta, the youthful Vivekananda embraced the agnostic philosophies of the Western mind along with the worship of science.
  At the same time, vehement in his desire to know the truth about God, he questioned people of holy reputation, asking them if they had seen God. He found such a person in Sri Ramakrishna, who became his master, allayed his doubts, gave him God vision, and transformed him into sage and prophet with authority to teach.
  After Sri Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda renounced the world and criss-crossed India as a wandering monk. His mounting compassion for India's people drove him to seek their material help from the West. Accepting an opportunity to represent Hinduism at Chicago's Parliament of Religions in 1893, Vivekananda won instant celebrity in America and a ready forum for his spiritual teaching.
  For three years he spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America and England and then returned to India to found the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Exhorting his nation to spiritual greatness, he wakened India to a new national consciousness. He died July 4, 1902, after a second, much shorter sojourn in the West. His lectures and writings have been gathered into nine volumes.

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    The Vivekananda Vedanta Network is an online project sponsored by the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston. Our objective is to make Swami Vivekananda's ideas and insights easily accessible online. As part of this objective, we also provide information for understanding Vedanta as a field for deep study as well as a method of personal practice.
    The Vivekananda Vedanta Network offers
    

    Vivekananda Tour
    During his short life of less than 40 years, Swami Vivekananda travelled to many places in India and outside. Many of these places have now become sites of pilgrimage. All of the places he visited and stayed in are even today filled with his holy presence and inspiration. We plan to provide here as much information as possible, along with pictures old and new, for a virtual tour of the Vivekananda Sites. Wherever possible, we shall try to provide information useful for an actual pilgrimage to these sites as well. Bon voyage!
    	Biography
    A brief biography of Vivekananda: who he was, what he did, and why he is important to us today.
    	Readings
    Readings from Swami Vivekananda excerpted from the 9 volumes of his Complete Works. Some of his lectures and findings can be found in the archives. The entire contents of his Complete Works will soon become available on this website. Stay tuned! Most of Vivekananda's letters are available in his Complete Works. But some have been discovered only recently and are yet to be included in those volumes. We now have transcripts of two such as yet unpublished letters.