Swami Vivekanand biography (1863-1902), the pioneer of the Indian Renaissance, was born in 1863 in the house of Vishwanath Dutt, a famous lawyer of Kolkata. His mother’s name was Bhuvaneshwari Devi and she used to call him “Veereshwar” with love. At the time of Swami Vivekananda’s naming ceremony, he was named Narendra Nath Dutt. Born in a Bengali family, Narendranath had spiritual inclinations since childhood. Sharp-minded Narendra never bowed down to the taunts of fellow children and teachers. The religious and spiritual environment of the family imbibed the values of religion and spirituality in the mind of young Narendra since childhood.
EDUCATION
After his primary education, he was admitted to the Metropolitan Institute of Kolkata. Along with studies, he was also very interested in sports, learning music, and reading. Narendra’s memory power was amazing. Once Narendra read a path, he would memorize it in one go. He memorized the entire Sanskrit grammar and chapters of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Initially, Swami Vivekananda did not want to learn English because he believed that it was the language of those people who had occupied his motherland. But after some time, he not only learned English but also mastered it. He had the quality of leadership since childhood. He did not accept something just because it was said but also tried to test its logic.
The thought of becoming a sanyasi was also going on in his mind since childhood. When Narendra fell ill at the age of 14, his father Vishwanath Dutt called him to Raipur in Madhya Pradesh. It was in Raipur that Narendra understood the various aspects of life. Narendra’s inner consciousness developed by contemplating the surrounding hills and Ganesh forests. After living in Raipur for 2 years, he went back to Kolkata. At the age of 18, he joined Presidency College in Kolkata. During his college days, his desire for knowledge increased. Questions like the truth of the world and the search for truth started making him a rebel. He was not comfortable with the supreme supreme and rituals.
MEETING WITH SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA MAHAN HANS
He started getting restless in solving the mysteries of the honorable streams of God. During this time, in 1881, he met Swami Ramakrishna Mahan Hans. Ramakrishna Paramhansa was the priest of Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata. After Bhind, Narendra’s life changed revolutionarily. Initially, he also doubted the words of Mahan Hans. But after confusion and opposition, Vivekananda made Mahan Hans his guru and guide.
SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA MAHAN HAN’S DEATH
After the death of Mahan Hans in 1886, Vivekananda’s life and work took a new turn. Before giving up his life, Mahan Hans declared Vivekananda as the head of all his disciples. Vivekananda took the name of Sanyasi and founded the Brahmanagar Math and started practicing his spiritual practices here. Following the Indian monastic tradition, Vivekananda traveled to different parts of the Indian subcontinent for many years. As a sannyasi, he wore saffron clothes and traveled the entire country on foot carrying a staff and a water pot. The whole of India became his home and all Indians became his brothers and sisters.
The 1883 Dharm Sansad held in Chicago, America proved to be a turning point in Vivekanand’s life. With the financial support of Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri in Rajasthan, Swami Vivekanand joined the Dharm Sansad of Chicago. Here he represented Sanatan Dharma on behalf of India. The excellent speech given by Swami Vivekanand in the Dharm Sansad on 11 September 1893 increased India’s prestige in the world. He stayed in America for about 4 years and delivered lectures in Paris, and London, America. He also traveled to Germany, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Everywhere he preached the message of Vedanta. Everywhere he made a group of devoted disciples.
Also read :- Satyajit Ray’s Biography (1921–1992)
RAMAKRISHNA MISSION IN BELUR
After 4 years of intense preaching, Vivekanand returned to India. Swami Vivekanand established the Ramakrishna Mission in Belur, Kolkata in 1897. Through this, he ensured the ideas of Ramakrishna Mahan Hans as well as the ideas of Vedanta Gyan. Vivekanand called helping the poor and the miserable the greatest religion. Vivekananda told his companions and disciples that if you want to serve God, you should serve the poor and the needy. Vivekananda believed that God resides within the poor and the disadvantaged.
SWAMI VIVEKANAND’S THOUGHTS
The most profound influence on Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts is that of ancient Indian philosophy, especially Vedanta philosophy. Apart from this, the influence of many philosophies is visible in his philosophy. His protest against superstition and orthodox acts is the influence of Brahmo Samaj. Apart from this, the things written in the Gita also have a great influence on Vivekananda. Apart from all this, the most profound influence on Swami Vivekananda’s life and thoughts was his guru Swami Ramakrishna Mahan Hans. Swami Ramakrishna Mahan Hans initiated Swami Vivekananda into spiritual discipline and contemplation.
In the sense of philosophy, Vivekananda’s philosophy can be called the philosophy of spiritualism. Vivekananda believes that truth is priceless. Vivekananda believed that it is impossible to live without having faith in God. Vivekananda said that we can’t accept the existence of the world and the soul and deny the existence of God.
Swami Vivekananda said that the identity of a universal religion is that it should always be open to everyone. Swami Vivekananda said that the second condition of a universal religion is that it should satisfy and gratify the institutions of different religions. Swami Vivekananda says that just as world brotherhood is possible, similarly universal religion is also real.
LINES OF SWAMI VIVEKANAND
Get up, wake up, move ahead, and don’t stop till you reach your destination. These lines of Swami Vivekananda, the bearer of the strong tradition of the Indian Renaissance, express his social thoughts and ideas. Vivekananda did not take social change superficially but appealed for complete social construction in his way and worked throughout his life to make it a reality.
In the process of social reform, Vivekananda said. I request mankind to accept that they do not destroy anything. Destructive reformers cannot do any favor to the world. Do not destroy anything and turn it into dust, build it. If you can, help, if you cannot, then stand quietly with your hands raised and keep watching how far the matter goes.
It is clear from his thoughts that Swami Vivekananda was not a destroyer but was in favor of reform. And this is what makes him great among the social reformers of his time. Swami Vivekananda had deep faith in the basic power of India, spirituality.
His spirituality is the realization of the complete and omnipresent soul, which is why his social reform is not superficial but is based on the grounds of spirituality. He believed that spiritual reform is necessary first and without it, no other reform can be done.
He considered this to be a priceless reform. He considered social reform to be very important but he believed that social reform should not be just a show and should not be incomplete. He believed that only when the reform is complete, it will be meaningful and will have a long-term effect.
At that time in the 19th century, whatever was going on in West Bengal, like the caste system, women’s rights, keeping women inside the house, not getting them educated, he not only explained all this to the people but also worked on it. He opened an institution there and then the rest of the people would take that institution forward, he built schools for children, and he explained to the people about the education of women.
He blamed the lack of willpower of the people for the misery and condition of Indian society. He used to say that till the people themselves do not come forward to solve their problems, no improvement will happen. Nothing will happen by just shouting.
Vivekananda used to emphasize a lot on the fact that a social reformer should have deep sympathy towards the society, only then he will be able to experience the pain of crores of people drowned in poverty and ignorance. Swami Vivekananda used to say that till the youth of this country give up their happiness and comfort for the poor and pain-stricken people of their country, only then India will be able to rise again.
This is the biggest thing. Swami Vivekananda had said that to improve society, we will have to end casteism. He said that casteism is not birth-based but karma-based. Swami Vivekananda said that social change does not happen from the outside but from the inside. To bring it, it is necessary to strengthen the society from inside and not from the outside. He believed that class division is the reason for the differences in Indian society.
Swami Vivekananda said that the reason for the destruction of Indian society is that the entire knowledge, intelligence, and power of the country has been kept in the hands of a handful of people on the strength of the government and dam. To change this situation, he considered it necessary to spread education among the common people which should be both moral and intellectual. Apart from this, he also considered it necessary to organize the deprived section of society and prepare them for their salvation.
Swami Vivekananda considered a change in thinking necessary before any social change. He linked world social change with self-change. Swami Vivekananda wanted to bring about a comprehensive change by accelerating the pace of social change. He considered the role of body, mind and soul to be important in this. But he trusted the soul the most and this is what makes him different from others. According to Swami Vivekananda, change in one class or community will not bring about complete change in India. This change will remain incomplete until everyone works in this direction. That is why he tried to awaken young women, the poor, workers, farmers, everyone.
SWAMI VIVEKANAND’S SPEECH IN CHICAGO
In 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave a famous speech in Chicago, and after that speech, Vivekananda and he became each other’s ancestors. The message given by Swami Vivekananda in this speech was the message of brotherhood and fraternity. In that speech, he said, Brothers and sisters of America, my heart is filled with immense joy by your full and enthusiastic welcome here. I thank you on behalf of the world’s most ancient saint tradition.
I thank you on behalf of the mother of all religions and express my gratitude to you on behalf of millions of Hindus of all castes and sects. I also thank those devotees who said from this platform that the idea of tolerance has spread from the countries of the Far East.
I am proud that I belong to a religion that has taught the world the lesson of tolerance and universal acceptance. We do not even believe in universal tolerance but accept all the religions of the world as truth.
I am proud that I belong to a country that has given shelter to the persecuted people of all countries and religions of this earth. It warms my heart to tell you that we have preserved in our hearts the sacred memories of the Israelites whose holy places were destroyed and reduced to ruins by the Roman invaders and who then took refuge in South India.
I am proud to belong to a religion that has sheltered and is still nurturing the great Zoroastrians. Brothers, I want to listen to your lines of mourning which I have memorized and repeated since my childhood and which are repeated every day by millions of people. Just as rivers originating from different sources ultimately merge into the ocean, similarly man chooses different paths according to his will. They may appear straight or crooked but ultimately all lead to God.
The present conference, which is one of the most sacred gatherings ever held, is proof of this principle stated in the Gita. Whoever has come to me, I reach him however he may be. Whatever path people choose, they ultimately reach me. Disconnections, fanaticism, and the dogmatism of its terrible progeny have long held the earth in their grip. They have filled the earth with violence.
God knows how many times this earth has turned red with blood. God knows how many civilizations you will suppress and how many countries you have wiped out. If these terrible demons were not there, human society would have been much more advanced today. But now their time is over. I have full hope that today the call of this conference will destroy all religious beliefs, all kinds of conflicts, and ill-will among all humans, whether it is with a sword or a pen.
Also read :- Mahatma Gandhi biography (1869–1948)
SWAMI VIVEKANAND’S DEATH
However, Vivekananda’s health was continuously deteriorating due to excessive hard work. In December 1898, he visited America and Europe for religious conferences. After returning to India from there, he died on 4 July 1902 in Belur’s Ramakrishna Math. At the age of 39, he spread spirituality all over the world. Swami Vivekananda is the shining sun of India’s spiritual sky. Whose thoughts and work are illuminating human society even today.
