Swami Vivekananda, or Narendranath Datta, or simply Naren, as he
was called in his pre-monastic days, was born to Vishwanath Datta and
Bhuvaneswari Devi in Calcutta on Monday, 12 January 1863. The Datta
family was reach, respectable, and renowned for charity, learning, and a
strong spirit of independence. Narandranath's grandfather, Durgacharan
Datta, was well-versed in Persian and Sanskrit and was skilled in law.
But after the birth of his son Vishwanath, he renounced the world and
become a monk. He was then only twenty-five years of age.Vishwanath Datta was an attorney-at-law in the Calcutta High Court. He was proficient in English and Persian, and took great delight in reciting to his family the poems of the Persian poet Hafiz. He also enjoyed the study of the Bible and of the Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit. Though charitable to an extravagant degree and sympathetic towards the poor, Vishwanath was rationalistic and progressive in outlook in matters religious and social, owing perhaps to the influence of western culture. Bhuvaneswari Devi was an accomplished lady with a regal bearing. She was deeply religious. Before the birth of Narendranath, though she had four daughters, she yearned for a son and asked one of her relatives at Varanasi to make religious offerings to Viresvara(Vireswara) Siva. It is said that she dreamt later that Siva promised to be born as her son. Narendranath was born some time afterwards.
In his early childhood, Narendranath was rather restless and given to much fun and frolic. But at the same time, he had a great attraction for spiritual matters and would play at worshipping or meditating on the images of Rama-Sita, Siva etc. The stories of Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which his mother told him, left an indelible impression on his mind. Traits such as courage, sympathy for the poor, and attraction towards wandering monks appeared spontaneously in him. Even in childhood, Narendranath demanded convincing arguments for every proposition. With these qualities of head and heart, he grew into a vigorous youth.
At the feet of Sri Ramakrishna:
As a youth, Narendranath's leonine beauty was matched by his courage. He has the build of an athlete, a resonant voice, and a brilliant intellect. He distinguished himself in athletics, philosophy, music and among his colleagues was the undisputed leader. At college, he studied and absorbed western thought,and this implanted a spirit of critical inquiry in his mind. His inborn tendency towards spirituality and his respect for ancient religious traditions and beliefs, on the one side, and his argumentative nature, coupled with his sharp intellect, on the other, were now at war with each other. In this predicament, he tried find comfort in the Brahmo Samaj, the popular socio-religious movement of the time. The Brahmo Samaj believed in a formless God, deprecated the worship of idols, and addressed itself to various forms of social reform. Narendranath also met prominent religious leaders, but could not get a convincing answer from them to his questions about the existence of God. This only accentuated his spiritual restlessness.
At this critical juncture, he remembered the words of his Professors, William Hastie, who had mentioned that a saint lived at Dakshineswar, just outside Kolkata, who experienced the ecstasy described by Words-worth in his poem, The Excursion. His cousin Ramchandra Datta also induced him to visit the saint. Thus came about, in 1981, the historic meeting of these two great souls, the prophet of modern India and the carrier of his message. Narendranath asked: "Sir, have you seen God?" Sri Ramakrishna answered his question in the affirmative: "Yes, I have seen Him just as I see you here, only more intensely." At last, here was one who could assure him from his experience that God existed. His doubt was dispelled. The disciple's training had begun.
In 1984, when Narendranath's father passed away, his family suffered many troubles and privations. At the suggestion of his Master, He tried to pray to Mother Kali at Dakshineswar for the alleviation of the family's distress but he could pray only for knowledge and devotion. Gradually Narendranath surrendered himself to the Master and Sri Ramkrishna with infinite patience, calmed the rebellious spirit of his young disciple and led him forth from doubt to certinity and from anguish to spiritual bliss. By this time, Ramkrishna became ill and was diagnosed to be a cancer in throat. In 1985, Ramkrishna was moved to Shyampukur and later in Cossipore. Sri Ramakrishna instilled in these young men the spirit of renunciation and brotherly love for one another. One day he distributed ochre robes among them and sent them out to beg food. In this way he himself laid the foundation for a new monastic order. He gave specific instructions to Narendra about the formation of the new monastic Order. In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave up his mortal body. After the Master's passing, fifteen of his young disciples (one more joined them later) began to live together in a dilapidated building at Baranagar in North Kolkata. Under the leadership of Narendra, they formed a new monastic brotherhood, and in 1887 they took the formal vows of sannyasa, thereby assuming new names. Narendra now became Swami Vivekananda (although this name was actually assumed much later.)
In July 1890, the Swami took leave of Sri Sarada Devi, the divine consort of Sri Ramakrishna, known to the world as Holy Mother, who was then staying in Kolkata. He also took leave of his brother monks, with the firm to resolve to cut himself free from all ties. Swamiji left Baranagar Math and embarked on a long journey of exploration and discovery of India. His wandering took him to various places of pilgrimage and historical interest in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Mysore, Kerala, Madras, and Hyderabad etc.During his travels all over India, Swami Vivekananda was deeply moved to see the appalling poverty and backwardness of the masses that caused his soul to burn in agony. While traveling in India, he came to know that World's Parliament of Religions to be held in Chicago in 1893.He felt an urgency that this conference would be the right stage to deliver his Mastar's message to the world. To provide help to the poor people of India, he had a realization that it is important to go to West. With this decision he journeyed to Rameswaram and Madurai. He then went on to Madras, where a group of young men, headed by Alasinga Perumal, were eagerly awaiting his arrival. To them, he revealed his intention of visiting America to attend the Parliament of Religious. His young disciples forthwith raised a subscription for his passage. But the Swami was not yet certain that it was the Divine Mother's will that he should go, and so he asked them to give away the money to the poor. At this juncture, the Swami had a symbolic dream in which Sri Ramakrishna walked out into the sea and beckoned him to follow. This dream, coupled with Sri Ma Sarada Devi's blessings, removed his skeptic and settled his mind to visit West.
His speeches at the World's Parliament of Religions held in September 1893. Parliament of the World's Religions opened on 11 September 1893 at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the World's Columbian Exposition. He went there as a representative of India and Hinduism. He was very nervous just before his speech, he bowed to Devi Saraswati (the Hindu goddess of knowledge,learning and wisdom). He then began his speech with, "Sisters and brothers of America!". To these words he got a standing ovation from a crowd of seven thousand, which lasted for two minutes. The parliament ended on 27 September 1893. All his speeches at the Parliament had the common theme of universality, and emphasised religious tolerance. After the Parliament, Swamiji spent nearly three and a half years spreading Vedanta as lived and taught by Sri Ramakrishna, mostly in the eastern parts of USA and also in London. During his first visit to the West, he travelled to England twice -- in 1895 and 1896. He gave many private lecturers there.
He returned to India in January 1897. In response to the enthusiastic welcome that he received everywhere, he delivered a series of lectures in different parts of India, which created a great stir all over the country. His speeches had influence on the contemporaneous and subsequent Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bipin Chandra Pal, Balgangadhar Tilak and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose etc. Soon after his return to Kolkata, he founded a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna Mission on 1 May 1897, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries. In early 1898 Swami Vivekananda acquired a big plot of land on the western bank of the Ganga at a place called Belur to have a permanent abode for the monastery and monastic order originally started at Baranagar, and got it registered as Ramakrishna Math after a couple of years. Here Swamiji established a new, universal pattern of monastic life which adapts ancient monastic ideals to the conditions of modern life, which gives equal importance to personal illumination and social service, and which is open to all men without any distinction of religion, race or caste.
Vivekananda left for the West for the second time in June 1899 despite his declining health. He was accompanied by Sister Nivedita and with some disciples. He returned to Belur Math in December 1900. His health condition was not so good. In spite of that he carried his normal life. All his actions during the last days were deliberate and significant. On July 4 1902, he meditated from 8 to 11 in the morning. After evening, he went to his room and he lay down quietly and after some time he took two deep breaths and passed into eternal rest. The time was probably 9.00pm.He was cremated on sandalwood funeral pyre on the bank of Ganga in Belur. On the other bank of the river, Ramakrishna had been cremated sixteen years before.
