Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902),born Narendranath Datta was a Hindu monk and one of the most celebrated spiritual leaders of India and a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was instrumental in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising inter-faith awareness, the revival of Hinduism in India and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in late 19th century. He was influenced by his guru, Ramakrishna, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; and Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured Indian sub-continent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. He later travelled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions. He is best known for hisspeech which began with the words - "Sisters and brothers of America …” in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893 Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe. In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint, and his birthday is celebrated as “National Youth day