Swami Vivekananda

01“Have you seen God?”

Narendranath was born in Kolkata on 12 January 1863, a Calcutta University student who read Western philosophy and sang beautifully. He put one question to every holy man he met: had they seen God? At Dakshineswar in 1881 Sri Ramakrishna answered that he had, as plainly as he saw Narendra, and could show him too. Five years of doubting and testing followed. After the master’s death in 1886 the young disciples took sannyasa, and Narendra wandered Bharat on foot for years. In December 1892 he sat for three days on the rock off Kanyakumari and decided to go to the West.

02Chicago, 11 September 1893

At the opening of the World’s Parliament of Religions he rose without a prepared text and began “Sisters and Brothers of America”, and the hall stood and applauded for two minutes. He spoke of a faith that had taught the world tolerance and acceptance and had sheltered the persecuted of every nation. American newspapers made him famous overnight. He taught Vedanta and Raja Yoga in America and England for nearly four years and returned to a hero’s welcome at Colombo and Madras in January 1897.

Place · Ancient shrine at the meeting of three seasKanyakumari Bhagavathy Amman TempleAt the southern tip of Bharat, where the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal meet, the Devi stands as a maiden still waiting for Shiva. Vivekananda meditated on the rock offshore in 1892.Read →

03The Mission and Belur

On 1 May 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission in Kolkata, joining monks to the service of the poor, the sick and the famine-struck as worship of Shiva in man. Belur Math, on the west bank of the Ganga, was consecrated in December 1898 as the home of the order. His lectures, the Lectures from Colombo to Almora above all, stirred a generation of nationalists. He died at Belur Math on 4 July 1902. India keeps his birthday, 12 January, as National Youth Day.