1. Narendra Nath Datta (monastic name: Swami Vivekananda) was born in Calcutta, India, on January 12,1863. At the age of 18, Narendra was an undergraduate student at the General Assembly’s Institution (Scottish Church College). He heard from his philosophy professor, Prof. Haste, that the saint Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar could lose all external consciousness in deep meditation as a result of his purity and concentration of mind. Narendra was an agnostic at that time, and joined the “Brahmo Samaj” (a progressive organization dedicated to reforming many restrictive Hindu customs) under the leadership of Devendranath Tagore (father of the Nobel Prize-winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore).

2. According to Swami Saradananda (author of Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master), Narendra met Sri Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881, at a devotee’s house, and sang a devotional song for him. Sri Ramakrishna was very much impressed with Narendra, and invited him for a visit at Dakshineswar. In the subsequent five years, Narendra was spiritually enlightened by Sri Ramakrishna. Before passing away in 1886, Sri Ramakrishna repeated a mantra to Narendra to “SERVE MANKIND AS GOD.” Narendra, along with fifteen other brother disciples, took the monastic vow to become monks in order to serve greater humanity. The monks started their journey traveling all over India. In 1893, the King of Khetri [a monarchial state in Rajasthan, India], became a disciple of Narendra and gave his guru the name SWAMI VIVEKANANDA. SWAMI is the title of a monk of the Vedanta philosophy, VIVEK means discrimination, and ANANDA means bliss. The name VIVEKANANDA thus means:- He who has attained the ‘bliss of spiritual discrimination’.

3. In 1893, Swami Vivekananda attended the Parliament of Religions, a large public event held in Chicago to commemorate the four hundred year anniversary of the discovery of AMERICA [in 1492] by Christopher Columbus. At the opening session of the Parliament of Religions, on September 11th, 1893, Swami Vivekananda proclaimed thusly:

I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth … ¹ At the final session of the Parliament of Religions on September 27th, 1893, Swami Vivekananda spoke further on religious tolerance and universality:

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance:

• Help and not fight
• Assimilation and not Destruction
• Harmony and Peace and not Dissension

Swami Vivekananda became famous in the Western world after attending the Parliament of Religions. He was invited to give lectures all over U.S.A, as well as in Europe. On the first of May, 1897, Swami Vivekananda established the “Ramakrishna Order of Monks" at BELUR, a few km outside of Calcutta, India.

Its MISSION was: To preach the truths which Sri Ramakrishna preached and demonstrated in his own life. It will help others to put these truths into practice in their own lives, for their temporal, mental and spiritual advancement. It will train men to teach such knowledge or sciences as are conducive to the material and spiritual welfare of the masses. It will establish centers for monastic training and social work in different parts of India. It will also send trained members of the order to countries outside India, to bring a better relation and a closer understanding between them.Its aims will be purely spiritual and humanitarium, therefore it will have no connection with politics.

The Ramakrishna Order has at present established its monasteries and social service centers—including hospitals, colleges, schools of agriculture, libraries and publishing houses— in various regions of India. The RKM has also established centers all over the world for the study and practice of Vedanta philosophy and Ramakrishna’s teachings, with over dozen in the USA, as well as one center in Toronto, Canada.

Swami Vivekananda passed away at BELUR on July 4th,1902. Swami Vivekananda’s message:
“First realize that you are one with Brahman[The Absolute; the supreme reality of the Vedanta philosophy] – ‘aham Brahmasmi’[I am Brahman]-and then realize that the whole Universe is verily the same Brahman-‘Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma’

---

¹The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Volume 1. Ed. Swami Vandananda. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1977.