Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda introduced Vedanta and yoga to the West and reframed Hinduism for Indians themselves as a confident, universal faith. Born Narendranath Datta in Calcutta in 1863 into an affluent Bengali family, he was educated in Western philosophy and logic, joined the reformist Brahmo Samaj, and passed through a period of scepticism in which he asked people directly whether they had seen God. In 1881 he met Ramakrishna, an unlettered mystic and priest at the Dakshineswar Kali temple who answered that he had, and could show him. Vivekananda resisted him for years before accepting him as his master. Ramakrishna died in 1886, and his young disciples took monastic vows. His father's death left the family destitute, and he spent five years wandering India as a mendicant, which he later said taught him that the country's real problem was hunger and that religion could not be preached to empty stomachs. He travelled to the United States in 1893 and addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago on 11 September. His opening — sisters and brothers of America — reportedly brought a two-minute ovation, and his argument that all religions are paths to the same truth made him famous. He spent nearly four years lecturing in America and England, and founded the Vedanta Society in New York. He returned in 1897 and established the Ramakrishna Mission, which combined monastic practice with schools, hospitals and famine relief on the model of Christian missions, arguing that service to people is worship. He urged Indians towards physical strength, self-confidence and social reform, and attacked untouchability. He died at Belur Math in 1902, aged thirty-nine.
- Lived: 1863 CE – 1902 CE
- Nationality: Indian
- Roles: hindu_monk, reformer
