Swami Vivekananda

India has given birth to a variety of saints. Swami Vivekananda was also a saint, but with a major difference. He was the first religious leader in India to work towards the upliftment of the country and its people. Born in Kolkata, on January 12, 1863 to Vishwanath Datta and Devi Bhuvaneswari, young Narenranath was extremely devoted to god and he excelled in music, gymnastics and studies too. Narendras power of concentration was remarkable. Ever since childhood, Narendra had great admiration for monks. His meeting with Sri Ramakrishna in November 1881 proved to be a turning point in his life. Sri Ramakrishna carefully guided Narendra and taught him that God lives in every living creature. So, by serving them, one can serve God. Narendranath travelled throughout the length and breadth of India, mostly on foot. He observed that his country possessed a priceless spiritual heritage, but had failed to reap the benefit of it. The weak points were poverty, caste, neglect of the masses and a faulty system of education. Narendranath Datta had by this time been transformed into Swami Vivekananda, and he had understood his lifes mission. At about the same time that Vivekananda completed his tour of India, he was asked to represent Hinduism at the Worlds Parliament of Religions, to be held that year (1893) in Chicago. His speech created a sensation and made him famous as the Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world. Soon after his return to Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda accomplished another important task of his mission on earth. He founded on1 May 1897, a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna Mission, to help the suffering masses through educational, cultural, medical and relief work. He felt that education plays an important role in removing the evils in society. The idea of education would be to produce an integrated person. Training the mind should be a students highest priority, and not simply the accumulation, the memorizing and the repeating of facts.

On 4 July 1902, at the age of 39 years, he meditated and left his body. But, his name and his teachings live in the hearts and minds of masses even today. Let us be all follow his lessons. Know the truth and practice the truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached.