Swami Vivekananda
The real name of Swami Vivekananda was Narendra Nath Dutta. His parents were Vishwanath Dutta and Bhuwaneshwari Devi. Narendra was born in Calcutta on 12th January 1863. As the other children of his age Narendra was very energetic and naughty. Since his boyhood he possessed a distinctive leadership quality and curiosity which grew with him as he grown himself. He had never ending thirst for knowledge. Narendra was very good at meditating and such a great was his concentration that nothing can disturb his concentration with a result he developed a very sharp memory with quick learning ability.
From the childhood Narendra was always ready to help the poor and the needy; his heart was filled with the ideals of sacrifice and repudiation from very early age. Narendra’s mother was dear to him as his life, he regarded his father too. His mother use to tell him the stories from Ramayana before he use to go to sleep. Narendra was very fond of these story telling sessions.
At a very early age he came to the conclusion that the caste and creed have no significant meaning. Narendra never reluctant to help the needy and he didn’t know what the fear is. As soon as Narendra renders some devotional song his face use to glow with joy. In the year 1880 he finished his schooling and joined college by this time his quest for knowledge also increased. He developed a distinct query about the existence of god. But nobody was able to satisfy him through their logic. He even visited the Brahmo Samaj but failed to get any satisfactory reply. Somebody told him about a priest of Dakshineshwar “Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa” and assured him that he would get his all queries solved by the priest.
Narendra went to meet Ramakrishna one day. On meeting him Narendra asked the priest whether he has seen God. The Priest laughingly answered that I have seen God and I can show God to you also. Narendra did not take the priest seriously. After a month he visited again to the priest and after that a good relation of disciple and master established. The master taught him yoga and Advaita vad. Meanwhile Narendra took many tests of the teacher before becoming the disciple. Narendra was the favorite disciple of Ramakrishna who was great follower of Goddess Kali. At the time of his death Ramakrishna gave all his divine powers to Narendra.
After the passing of Sri Ramakrishna all the disciples decided to become the monks and including Narendra they established a math in the Baranagar area. But the monks cant be bonded to any place for long, Narendra started his journey in India and decorated with many names, he visited many places and made number of disciples. He reached south India and meditated on the rocks of Kanyakumari to ascertain the course to be followed by him. Meanwhile he was offered to attend the conference of the world religions in America and he was rechristened with the name of Swami Vivekananda here only.
Swamiji started his journey in the year 1893 and what happened in the conference that was a history. After the conference Swamiji established number of Vedic and yogic learning centers in America and Europe. He returned to India in the year 1897. Meanwhile he established the Ramakrishna Math. Due to the tireless work and strain the health of Swamiji began to decline. In the year 1902, 4th July Swamiji left us for heavenly abode.
