Swami Vivekananda
Indian Hindu monk, philosopher and spiritual reformer (Narendranath Datta, 1863–1902), born in Calcutta into a well-off Bengali family, trained in law, Western philosophy and English literature before becoming a devoted disciple of the Bengali mystic Ramakrishna, whose direct teaching and spiritual radiance transformed him from a sceptical, intellectually restless young man into one of the great propagators of Hindu Vedanta worldwide. After his master's death in 1886, Vivekananda spent several years as a wandering mendicant monk across India, becoming intimately familiar with the extreme poverty and social and religious diversity of the subcontinent, an experience that reinforced his conviction that selfless service to the poor (seva) was as spiritually valid as traditional contemplative meditation. His decisive international breakthrough came in 1893 at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where his opening address — beginning with the greeting 'Sisters and brothers of America', met with a spontaneous standing ovation — presented Hinduism, for the first time before a mass Western audience, not as pagan idolatry but as a sophisticated, universalist spiritual tradition, grounded in the Vedantic doctrine that all religions are valid, complementary paths to a single ultimate truth, and that divinity is inherent in the very nature of every human being. This success launched him on a lecture tour through America and Europe in which he systematically expounded a philosophically rigorous yet Western-accessible version of Vedanta, founding the Vedanta Society in New York and laying the foundations for the lasting spread of Hindu thought in the West. Returning to India, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, a monastic and humanitarian organisation dedicated simultaneously to spiritual practice and practical social service — education, healthcare, disaster relief — a synthesis of contemplative spirituality and active social engagement that constitutes his most original and lasting philosophical contribution, and which exerted decisive influence on the subsequent development of Indian cultural nationalism and on the global reception of Hindu philosophy in the twentieth century.
5 works
- Bhakti Yoga
- Jnana Yoga (Vedanta Philosophy Lectures)
- Karma Yoga
- Lectures from Colombo to Almora
- Raja Yoga