Swami Vivekanand

Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Dutta in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival. His father was Viswanatha Dutta and his mother was Bhubaneshwari. According to traditional accounts, Bhuvaneswari Devi had a dream in which Shiva said that he would be born as her son. Bhuvaneswari Devi accepted the child as a boon from Shiva and named him Vireswara, meaning "powerful god" in Bengali. There was precedence of ascetics in his family—Narendra's grandfather Durga Charan Datta renounced the world and became a monk at the age of twenty five.
Narendra studied Sanskrit, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas etc. He learnt things very quickly. He had an aptitude for music. He had a good voice. He joined the school of Sri Eswar Chandra Vidya Sagar and completed primary education. He completed his secondary education, a course of three years, in one year, and passed with distinction. He joined the college in his 16th year and studied logic and philosophy. He was handsome and bold. He gained mastery over English language and proved to be an eloquent orator.
He was however not interested in worldly affairs. He was drawn towards spiritualism. He made his mind known to his parents and went to see Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa at Dakshineswar. On the request of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Narendranath sang some devotional songs. Swami Paramahansa went into trance listening to his songs.
Later he informed Narendranath that he wad able to see god in his trance. He added that if one prayed to God in all perfection, one could see god, Narendranath became a disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Parmahamsa. Later Narendranth’s father died and Narendranath was forced to take up a teacher’s job for some time to meet his family’s needs.
Swami Ramakrishna endowed Narendranath with all his spiritual powers and made him his heir. With this Narendranath assumed the name of Swami Vivekananda and a Sanyasi in true sense. He was adept in meditation and could enter the state of samadhi (a higher level of concentrated meditation). He would often visualise a light while falling asleep and had a vision of Gautama Buddha during his meditation. During his childhood, he was fascinated by the wandering ascetics and monks.
After the demise of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda started a mutt named after his Guru, at Belur. Swami Vivekananda implored the youth to develop the spirit of adventure. He travelled all over India and reached Kanya Kumari. There he swam the ocean, reached to rock nearby and meditated there. During his travel he found poverty all over India and was moved by the sufferings of the poor. He felt that serving mankind is serving God. He felt there was need for a tremendous effort in this direction. He loved the motherland and was a great patriot.
In 1893, Parliament of the world was convened at Chicago. With the financial assistance from Maharaja of Khetri, Vivekananda went to Chicago and addressed the audience on the greatness of Hindu religion. His address began with the words “My dear Sisters and Brothers of America”. This thrilled the audience, as this greeting contained the spirit of universal brotherhood. On return, he addressed meetings at London. One young lady by name Margaret became his disciple and later became Sister Nivedita to carry on his mission.
Swami Vivekananda said that the youth of the day were moving without any aim. There was no correct spiritual guidance. He felt that religion can lead a man on the moral and righteous path. He believed and propagated that all men of the world are one. Color, caste and creed had no meaning. He felt that there is a lot to be achieved. He advised the youth to move forward. His words were: “arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. Swami Vivekananda started many institutions under the Ramakrishna Mission to carry on his message of service. He passed away that at an early age on 4th of July, 1902.