Swami Vivekananda was a most favourite disciple of the 19th Century mystic Sri Ram Krishna Paramhansa Dev, the founder of RamKrishna Math and Ram Krishna Mission. He was born on 12th January, 1863 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in a traditional Kayastha family of Bengal and was given the name Narendra Nath Dutta. His father Vishwanath Dutta was an Attorney of Calcutta High Court. He had a very liberal and progressive outlook in social and religious matters, His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi was very religious minded , pious and practiced austerities. When she was at Varanasi, she prayed to Lord Shiva to bestow her with a son. She thereafter had a dream wherein Shiva coming out of his meditation says he would himself come to her as her son. The thinking and personality of Narendranath were greatly influenced by his parents. Narendranath often quoted one saying of his mother-” Remain pure all your life, guard your own honour and never transgress the honour of others. Be very tranquil, but when necessary harden your heart”
He was adept in meditation and could enter the state of Samadhi. He had a great fascination during his childhood for the wandering monks and ascetics. He started his education at home and later joined the Metropolitan Institution in 1871 He passed the Entrance examination for Presidency College in 1879. He passed the examination of Bachelor of Arts in 1884.
Narendranath met Sri Ram Krishna in 1881 and that was a turning point in his life. After meeting Sri Ram Krishna, Narendranath said -” Ram Krishna looked just like an ordinary man with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language and I thought can this man be a great teacher” Narendranath as usual asked Sri Ram Krishna whether he believed in God. Sri Ram Krishna replied “yes” Narendranath asked him ” Can you prove it” He said “Yes” Narendranath asked “How” He said ” Because I see Him as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense” This impressed Narendranath very much. Although Narendranath had developed an attraction for Ram Krishana but initally he could not accept his as Guru. In due course of time Narendranath accepted Sri Ram Krishna as his Guru and supported him whole – heartedly
In 1885 Sri Ram Krishna suffered from throat cancer and he was shifted to Cossipore for treatment. Narendranath and his fellow disciples took care of him but he could not survive. Narendra realised that the service to humanity was the real worship of God. Before dying Sri Ram Krishna asked Narendra to take care of his brother disciples. On 16th August 1886 Sri Ram Krishna attained Mahasamadhi
Sri Ram Krishna taught Narendra, as a Guru, Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism). He preached that all religions are true and the service to mankind was the real worship of God. After the death of Sri Ram Krishna, Narendranath with other brother disciples formed a fellowship at the dilapidated building at Boranagar near the pious river Ganga, with the financial help of the householder disciple. This became the first building of Ram Krishna Math, the monastry of the disciples.
In 1888, Narendranath (Vivekananda) left the monastry and became a wandering monk without fixed abode and ties. He travelled the entire India , sometimes on foot, sometimes on other conveyance, from North to South, East to West almost all the cities and provinces of India to know the people and their plight. The Maharaja of Khetri in Rajasthan gave him the name “Vivekananda” Wherever Vivekananda visited he got ample love of the countrymen and they were very much influenced by his personality. At Kannyakumari, Vivekananda went to the last bit of the Indian rock for meditation and the rock now has a beautiful temple famously known as Vivekanada Rock Temple.
At Madurai. Vivekananda met Raja of Ramnad who suggested him to go to the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, America as a delegate of India. With the combined efforts of all his disciples, funds were arranged for his voyage to Chicago. On 11th September, 1893 the Parliament of World’s Religions opened at the Art Institute of Chicago. Vivekananda represented India and Hinduism. On the first day, Vivekanada gave his first brief address and began his speech with “Sisters and brothers of America” … This brought him standing ovation from the crowd of seven thousand , which lasted for two minutes. The Parliament ended on 27th September, 1893 and during this period Vivekananda spoke there several times. Swami Vivekananda exercised most wonderful influence over the audience and attracted widespread attention of the Press. The audience were spellbound to hear him and he created a magical influence over the people of America. He made several visits to America , England and several other western countries. He met an irish lady Miss Margaret Noble who was very much influenced by Swami Vivekananda and later became Sister Nivedita He also founded the Vedanta Society of New York
Owing to his hectic tours and lecture programmes, Swami Vivekanada suffered from asthama and diabetes. The condition of his health continued to deteriorate and Swami Vivekananda died on 4th July,1902 at ten minutes past nine P.M, while he was meditating, at the age of 39 years The disciples called it Mahasmadhi. He was cremated at the place which Swami Vivekanada had decided earlied at the Ram Krishna Math popularly known as Belur Math