Born: 12 January 1863
Died: 04 July 1902
Shri Swami Vivekanand was born on 12 January 1863, during the Makar Sankranti festival in a Bengali family at his ancestral home. At that time Swami Vivekananda was called Narendranath Datta, (Narendra or Naren). He belonged to a standard family and was one of nine siblings. Narendranath’s father, Shri Vishwanath Datta, was a Barrister at the Supreme Court Calcutta, Narendra’s grandfather was a Sanskrit and Persian scholar who at age twenty-five left his family and become a monk. His mother, Bhubaneswari Devi, was a devout housewife. The sensible attitude of his father and the religious disposition of his mother helped shape his thoughts and personality.
From a young age, Narendranath was curious about spirituality and would meditate before the pictures of Shiva, Rama, Sita, and Mahavir Hanuman. He was fascinated by wandering ascetics and monks. Narendra was naughty and restless as a toddler, and his parents often had difficulty controlling him. Once his mother said, “I prayed to Lord Shiva for a son and he has sent me one among his demons”.
In 1871, at the age of eight, Vivekanand Ji went to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s Metropolitan Institution, where he studied till his family moved to Raipur in 1877. In 1879, after his family’s returned to Calcutta, he was the sole student to receive first-division marks within the Presidency College entrance exam. He was a fanatical reader during a wide selection of subjects, including philosophy, religion, history, science, art, and literature. He was also curious about Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and therefore the Puranas.
Narendranath was highly influenced by Ramakrishna (his guru), and from him, he learned many things including that “each living being were a personification of the divine self; therefore, service to God might be given by service to humankind”. After Ramakrishna’s death, his devotees stopped supporting his disciples, despite that Narendra along with his other brother monks took a vow at Antpur Village to live their lives as their Master and Narendra adopted the name “Swami Vivekananda”.
Swami Vivekananda explored the Indian subcontinent widely and acquired firsthand knowledge of existing British India. He later traveled to the US, in 1893 representing India at the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Vivekananda conducted many lectures both publicly and personally and classes, contributing principles of Hindu philosophy within the US, England, and Europe. In India,15 January 1897 on his return to India, a ship from Europe reached Colombo, British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Vivekananda received a warm welcome. In Colombo, he gave his first public speech within the East. From there, his journey to Calcutta was victorious. Vivekananda traveled from Colombo to Pamban, Rameswaram, Ramnad, Madras, and many other places, delivering lectures, folk and rajas gave him an enthusiastic reception. During his train travels, people often sat on the rails to force the train to prevent them in order that they could hear him. From there he continued his journey to Calcutta and Almora. These lectures were published from Colombo to Almora, as lectures demonstrate his nationalistic fervor and spiritual ideology.
In June 1899 despite his declining health, he went to the West for the second time along with Sister Nivedita and Swami Turiyananda. Following a quick stay in England, he visited the US. During the visit, he established Vedanta Societies in San Francisco and New York and founded a Shanti ashrama (which means peace retreat) in California. He then visited Paris for the Congress of Religions in 1900. In 1901, due to his declining health, Swami Vivekananda was unable to attend the Congress of Religions in Japan, he did pilgrimages to Bodhgaya and Varanasi. His deteriorating health restricted his activity. On 4 July 1902, Swami Vivekananda awoke early, visited the monastery, and there he meditated for 3 hours. He used to coach Shukla-Yajur-Veda, Sanskrit grammar, and the philosophy of yoga to pupils.
Swami Vivekananda visited his room at 7:00 pm, asking not to be disturbed; and died at 9:20 p.m. while meditating consistently with his followers, Swami Vivekananda obtained mahasamādhi; the rupture of a vessel in his brain was reported as a possible cause for his death. People believed that the rupture of his blood vessel was thanks to his brahmarandhra (an opening within the crown of his head) being pierced when he attained mahasamādhi.
Swami Vivekananda fulfilled his prediction that he wouldn’t live for forty years. He was cremated on a sandalwood pyre on the bank of the Ganga in Belur, opposite to the place where his master was cremated sixteen years earlier.
Swami Vivekananda is considered a patriotic saint, and his birthday is widely known as “National Youth Day”.