Swami Vivekananda

About Swami Vivekananda:

• Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was a Hindu monk and one of the most celebrated spiritual leaders of India.
• He was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and a world spokesperson for Vedanta.
• He was hailed as a Dhyana Siddha, a meditation expert, by his guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
• He attempted to combine Indian spirituality with Western material progress, maintaining that the two supplemented and complemented one another. 
• He believed that the path to self-purification is through helping others. He encouraged people to engage in selfless service and to work towards the betterment of society.
• Through his teachings on the four Yogas, the harmony of religions, divinity of the soul, and serving humanity as God, Vivekananda gave spiritual aspirants paths to that realization.
• Vivekananda represented Hinduism at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions convened during the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
• After his first visit to the West, Swami Vivekananda went back to India and founded the Ramakrishna Order at Belur outside of Kolkata in 1897.

Ramakrishna Order:

• The Ramakrishna Order, with headquarters in Kolkata, is one of the largest and most respected religious orders in India today.
• The Order was inspired by the great Bengali saint, Sri Ramakrishna.
• Shortly before his death in 1886, Ramakrishna encouraged his young disciples to formally renounce the world by giving them the ochre cloth of renunciation.
• He entrusted the care of these young men to his foremost disciple, Swami Vivekananda, who later, in 1897, founded the Ramakrishna Order.
• The Ramakrishna Order was formed along two parallel lines: The Ramakrishna Math, which is primarily dedicated to spiritual development, and the Ramakrishna Mission, which is dedicated to social service.