Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on
12th January 1863. His name was Narendranath Dutta and his father’s name was
Vishwanath Dutta was an educated man who was well-versed in English and
Persian. By profession, he was a successful Attorney-at-law in the high court
of Calcutta. His mother was a Pious lady who influenced Naren from his
childhood in the formation of his character. She first taught Naren English
lessons, and then made him acquainted with the Bengali alphabets.
Naren studied in the metropolitan
institution at Calcutta; And after passing the Entrance exam, he joined the
general assembly institution founded by the Scottish general missionary board
in Calcutta, from where he passed his B.A. examination and went to study law.
when his father died, his family’s financial condition did not allow him to
prosecute further to study. He was a good singer.
Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa happened to hear Naren singing a devotional song.
He asked the young man to see him at dakshineswar, where he was a priest at the
Kali temple. The Naren was very eager to see God face to face. He asked many
religious stalwarts about his desire in the past, but none could satisfy him.
He
became the most important disciple of the saint. His guru taught him that God
lives in every human being. So. By serving mankind,.one can serve God.
With this teaching, Naren, in his later
life, established the Ramakrishna mission which is to this day engaged in
rendering voluntary social service the poor and the distressed, irrespective of
caste, creed, and religion. Naren was later named as “Swami Vivekananda” when
he became a monk. He went to America to participate in the parliament of world
religions held in Chicago in 1893. In his long lecture, Swami Vivekananda
explained to the world that God is one and that the different religions are
like different rivers to terminate in the sea.
Hence there should not be any dispute
among the preachers of different religions that they worship God in separate
forms or with different beliefs. The realization of the eternal truth of one
god can avoid hatred among the people. Swamiji’s view was acclaimed with great
appreciation, and a number of American men and women became his disciples who
later joined the Ramakrishna Mission.
Swami Vivekananda taught us the essence of
nationalism in his bold writings. He wrote: “Our sacred motherland is the land
of religion and philosophy- the birthplace of the spiritual giants-the land of
renunciation, where and where alone, from the most ancient to the most modern
times, there has been the highest ideal of life open to man.”
He also said, “have faith that you are
all, my brave lads, born to do great things.”
He was an extraordinary boy with spiritual
thoughts. His education was irregular, but he completed his Bachelor of Arts
degree from Scottish Church College, Kolkata. His religious and monk life began
when he met Sri Ramakrishna and accepted him as his guru. He later led the
Vedanta movement and introduced the Indian philosophy of Hinduism to Western
countries. His Chicago speech at the World Religion Parliament on 11 September
1893, where he represented India, helped establish Hinduism as an important
world religion. He was a brilliant man with in-depth knowledge of Hindu
scriptures (Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, etc.). Karma Yoga,
Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Jnana Yoga are some of his significant and famous
works.
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