71 Facts About Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna.

Vivekananda was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.

Vivekananda was so impactful at the Parliament that an American newspaper described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament".

Vivekananda later found his guru, Ramakrishna, and became a monk.

In India, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees, and the Ramakrishna Mission, to provide charity, social work and education.

Vivekananda was a major force in contemporary Hindu reform movements, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.

Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint, and his birthday in India is celebrated as National Youth Day.

Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta in a Bengali family in his ancestral home at 3 Gourmohan Mukherjee Street in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival.

Vivekananda belonged to a traditional family and was one of nine siblings.

Vivekananda's father, Vishwanath Datta, was an attorney at the Calcutta High Court.

Vivekananda's mother said, "I prayed to Shiva for a son and he has sent me one of his demons".

Vivekananda was an avid reader in a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, religion, history, social science, art and literature.

Vivekananda became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and corresponded with him, translating Herbert Spencer's book Education into Bengali.

The professor was not satisfied with this explanation, but Vivekananda quoted and interpreted verses from the text, leaving the professor dumbfounded about his feat of memory.

The librarian refused to believe him, until cross-examination about the contents convinced him that Vivekananda was indeed being truthful.

Sen strived to "an accessible, non-renunciatory, everyman type of spirituality", introducing "lay systems of spiritual practice" which can be regarded as an influence to the teachings Vivekananda later popularised in the west.

Vivekananda initially saw Ramakrishna's ecstasies and visions as "mere figments of imagination" and "hallucinations".

Vivekananda even rejected the Advaita Vedanta of "identity with the absolute" as blasphemy and madness, and often ridiculed the idea.

Vivekananda unsuccessfully tried to find work and questioned God's existence, but found solace in Ramakrishna and his visits to Dakshineswar increased.

Vivekananda was taught that service to men was the most effective worship of God.

Vivekananda developed sympathy for the suffering and poverty of the people, and resolved to uplift the nation.

Vivekananda started his journey to the West on 31 May 1893 and visited several cities in Japan, China and Canada en route to the United States, reaching Chicago on 30 July 1893, where the "Parliament of Religions" took place in September 1893.

Vivekananda wanted to join, but was disappointed to learn that no one without credentials from a bona fide organisation would be accepted as a delegate.

Vivekananda contacted Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard University, who invited him to speak at Harvard.

Vivekananda wrote of the professor, "He urged upon me the necessity of going to the Parliament of Religions, which he thought would give an introduction to the nation".

On this day, Vivekananda gave a brief speech representing India and Hinduism.

At these words, Vivekananda received a two-minute standing ovation from the crowd of seven thousand.

Vivekananda attracted widespread attention in the press, which called him the "cyclonic monk from India".

Vivekananda spoke several more times "at receptions, the scientific section, and private homes" on topics related to Hinduism, Buddhism and harmony among religions until the parliament ended on 27 September 1893.

Vivekananda soon became known as a "handsome oriental" and made a huge impression as an orator.

Vivekananda's popularity opened up new views for expanding on "life and religion to thousands".

Vivekananda spent nearly two years lecturing in the eastern and central United States, primarily in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York.

Vivekananda founded the Vedanta Society of New York in 1894.

Vivekananda ended his lecture tours and began giving free, private classes in Vedanta and yoga.

Vivekananda was offered academic positions in two American universities ; he declined both, since his duties would conflict with his commitment as a monk.

Vivekananda's success led to a change in mission, namely the establishment of Vedanta centres in the West.

Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought.

Vivekananda attracted followers and admirers in the US and Europe, including Josephine MacLeod, Betty Leggett, Lady Sandwich, William James, Josiah Royce, Robert G Ingersoll, Lord Kelvin, Harriet Monroe, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Sarah Bernhardt, Nikola Tesla, Emma Calve and Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz.

Vivekananda regularly corresponded with his followers and brother monks, offering advice and financial support.

In 1895, Vivekananda founded the periodical Brahmavadin to teach the Vedanta.

Vivekananda left for India on 16 December 1896 from England with his disciples Captain and Mrs Sevier and JJ Goodwin.

Vivekananda was later followed to India by Sister Nivedita, who devoted the rest of her life to the education of Indian women and India's independence.

The ship from Europe arrived in Colombo, British Ceylon on 15 January 1897, and Vivekananda received a warm welcome.

Vivekananda travelled from Colombo to Pamban, Rameswaram, Ramnad, Madurai, Kumbakonam and Madras, delivering lectures.

On 1 May 1897 in Calcutta, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission for social service.

Vivekananda earlier inspired Jamsetji Tata to set up a research and educational institution when they travelled together from Yokohama to Chicago on Vivekananda's first visit to the West in 1893.

Tata now asked him to head his Research Institute of Science; Vivekananda declined the offer, citing a conflict with his "spiritual interests".

Vivekananda visited Punjab, attempting to mediate an ideological conflict between Arya Samaj and sanatan.

Vivekananda consolidated the work of the math and trained disciples for several months.

Vivekananda then went to Paris for the Congress of Religions in 1900.

On 4 July 1902, Vivekananda awoke early, went to the monastery at Belur Math and meditated for three hours.

Vivekananda's disciples believed that the rupture was due to his brahmarandhra being pierced when he attained mahasamadhi.

Vivekananda fulfilled his prophecy that he would not live forty years.

Vivekananda was cremated on a sandalwood funeral pyre on the bank of the Ganga in Belur, opposite where Ramakrishna was cremated sixteen years earlier.

Vivekananda propagated the idea that "the divine, the absolute, exists within all human beings regardless of social status", and that "seeing the divine as the essence of others will promote love and social harmony".

Via his affiliations with Keshub Chandra Sen's Nava Vidhan, the Freemasonry lodge, the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, and Sen's Band of Hope, Vivekananda became acquainted with Western esotericism.

Vivekananda propagated that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta philosophy.

Nevertheless, following Ramakrishna, and in contrast to Advaita Vedanta, Vivekananda believed that the Absolute is both immanent and transcendent.

In line with Advaita Vedanta texts like Drg-Drsya-Viveka and Vedantasara, Vivekananda saw samadhi as a means to attain liberation.

Vivekananda popularized the notion of involution, a term which Vivekananda probably took from western Theosophists, notably Helena Blavatsky, in addition to Darwin's notion of evolution, and possibly referring to the Samkhya term satkarya.

Vivekananda linked morality with control of the mind, seeing truth, purity and unselfishness as traits which strengthened it.

Vivekananda advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and to have shraddha.

Vivekananda supported brahmacharya, believing it the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence.

Vivekananda adapted traditional Hindu ideas and religiosity to suit the needs and understandings of his Western audiences, who were especially attracted by and familiar with Western esoteric traditions and movements like Transcendentalism and New thought.

Vivekananda believed that a country's future depends on its people, and his teachings focused on human development.

Vivekananda wanted "to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest".

Vivekananda was one of the main representatives of Neo-Vedanta, a modern interpretation of selected aspects of Hinduism in line with western esoteric traditions, especially Transcendentalism, New Thought and Theosophy.

Vivekananda's reinterpretation was, and is, very successful, creating a new understanding and appreciation of Hinduism within and outside India, and was the principal reason for the enthusiastic reception of yoga, Transcendental Meditation and other forms of Indian spiritual self-improvement in the West.

Vivekananda espoused the idea that all sects within Hinduism are different paths to the same goal.

Vivekananda drew attention to the extent of poverty in the country, and maintained that addressing such poverty was a prerequisite for national awakening.

The 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated in India and abroad.