Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and the father of modern Indian nationalism who is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.
Sister Nivedita was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was engaged to marry a Welsh youth, but he died soon after their engagement.
Hinduism is one of Sri Lanka's oldest religions, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. As of 2011, Hindus made up 12.6% of the Sri Lankan population. They are almost exclusively Tamils, except for small immigrant communities from India and Pakistan.
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, is a branch of the Ramakrishna Math, founded on 19 March 1899 at the behest of Vivekananda, by his disciples James Henry Sevier, and Charlotte Sevier. Today it publishes the original writings of Vivekananda. As an ashram dedicated to the study and practice of Advaita Vedanta, no images or idols are worshipped there, not even of Ramakrishna; and no images were kept in the premises according to the Ashram ideals set by Vivekananda.
Swarupananda was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the first president of the Advaita Ashrama, set up by Vivekananda in 1899 at Mayavati, near Champawat. The ashram is a branch of the religious monastic order, Ramakrishna Math, also set up by Vivekananda on the teachings of his guru Ramakrishna.
Raja Ajit Singh Bahadur was the ruler of the Shekhawat estate (thikana) of Khetri at Panchpana in Rajasthan between 1870 and 1901. He was born on 16 October 1861 at Alsisar. His father was Thakur Chattu Singh, a resident of Alsisar. Ajit Singh was later adopted to Khetri and after the death of Fateh Singh, he became the eighth king of Khetri in 1870. In 1876, he married Rani Champawatiji Sahiba and the couple had one son and two daughters. He died on 18 January 1901 due to an accident at the tomb of Akbar in Sikandra near Agra and was cremated at Mathura.
Josiah John Goodwin was a British stenographer and a disciple of Indian philosopher Swami Vivekananda. Goodwin is known for recording Vivekananda's speeches, and it is thought that without his efforts most of Vivekananda's works would have been lost.
Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk from India. His teachings and philosophy are a reinterpretation and synthesis of various strands of Hindu thought, most notably classical yoga and (Advaita) Vedanta, with western esotericism and Universalism. He blended religion with nationalism, and applied this reinterpretation to various aspect's of education, faith, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India. His influence extended also to the west, and he was instrumental in introducing Yoga to the west.
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) was an Indian Hindu monk and a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world. He was one of the most influential philosophers and social reformers in his contemporary India and the most successful and influential missionaries of Vedanta to the Western world. Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore's suggested to study the works of Vivekananda to understand India. He also told, in Vivekananda there was nothing negative, but everything positive.
Inspired Talks is a book compiled from a series of lectures of Swami Vivekananda. From mid-June to early August 1895, Vivekananda conducted a series of private lectures to a group of selected disciples at Thousand Island Park. A number of lectures were recorded by Sara Ellen Waldo and she then published those as a book.
Swami Vivekananda represented India and Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions (1893). India Celebrates National youth day on birth anniversary of the Great Swami. This was the first World's Parliament of Religions, and it was held from 11 to 27 September 1893. Delegates from all over the world joined this Parliament. In 2012 a three-day world conference was organized to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Vivekananda.
Sister Christine or Christina Greenstidel was a school teacher, and close friend and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. On 24 February 1894, Christine attended a lecture of Vivekananda in Detroit, United States which inspired her. She started communicating with Vivekananda through letters. Christine went to India in 1902 and began working as a school teacher and a social worker.
Ram Chandra Datta was a householder disciple of Ramakrishna and a writer. Datta was a relative of Indian monk and social reformer Swami Vivekananda. After completing his graduation, he took job of a Government employee and a chemist. He invented an antidote for blood dysentery from an extract of an indigenous medicinal plant and started promoting "modern science".
The Song of the Sannyasin is a poem of thirteen stanzas written by Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda composed the poem in July 1895 when he was delivering a series of lectures to a groups of selected disciples at the Thousand Island Park, New York. In the poem he defined the ideals of Sannyasa or monastic life.
"Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached." is a slogan popularized in the late 19th century by Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda, who took inspiration in a sloka of Katha Upanishad. It was his message to the world to get out of their hypnotized state of mind. This shloka is the basis of the title of the book The Razor's Edge and the 1946 film and the 1984 film, and also of various music albums in the west by bands like AC/DC, Dave Holland, etc.
Bartaman Bharat is a Bengali language essay written by Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda. The essay was first published in the March 1899 issue of Udbodhan, the only Bengali language magazine of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. The essay was published as a book in 1905, and later it was compiled into the fourth volume of The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.
"Religion not the crying need of India" was a lecture delivered by Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda on 20 September 1893 at the Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago. In the lecture, Vivekananda criticized Christian missionaries for ignoring the needs of starving people in India. He said that Indians did not need any religious education, as there was already a surfeit of religion in the East. Instead, Vivekananda pushed for humanitarian support for the hungry.
The relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda began in November 1881, when they met at the house of Surendra Nath Mitra. Ramakrishna asked Narendranath to sing. Impressed by his singing talent, he invited him to Dakshineswar. Narendra accepted the invitation, and the meeting proved to be a turning point in the life of Narendranath. Initially Narendra did not accept Ramakrishna as his master and found him to be a "mono maniac", but eventually he became one of the closest people in his life. Ramakrishna reportedly shaped the personality of Narendranath and prepared him to dedicate his life to serve humanity. After the death of Ramakrishna, Narendra and his other monastic disciples established their first monastery at Baranagar.
Ponnambalam Coomaraswamy was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer and member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon.
In 1888, Swami Vivekananda left the monastery as a Parivrâjaka— the Hindu religious life of a wandering monk, "without fixed abode, without ties, independent and strangers wherever they go". His sole possessions were a kamandalu, staff and his two favourite books: the Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ. Narendra travelled extensively in India for five years, visiting centres of learning and acquainting himself with diverse religious traditions and social patterns. He developed sympathy for the suffering and poverty of the people, and resolved to uplift the nation. Living primarily on bhiksha (alms), Swami Vivekananda travelled on foot and by railway. During his travels he met, and stayed with Indians from all religions and walks of life: scholars, dewans, rajas, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, paraiyars and government officials.
