Swami Vivekananda: How a Hindu Monk enthralled the entire world

On July 4, 2020 (Saturday) we celebrate the 188th death anniversary of the famous Hindu Monk Swami Vivekananda.

He died on July 4, 1902, in his room at Belur Math while he was reportedly meditating. A rupture in the blood vessel of his brain was reported as a possible cause of death. His disciples say that he attained Mahāsamādhi (the act of consciously and intentionally leaving one's body at the moment of death) while meditating.

Vivekananda was born on Jan 12, 1863 in an affluent Bengali family, Narendra Natha Datta was a precocious child who was what we call nowadays, an all-rounder, excelling in music, studies and athletics.

His father Vishwanatha Datta was a well-known attorney. However, he took the spiritual route instead.

Vivekananda was the disciple of prominent saint Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna taught Swami Vivekananda that all living beings are manifestations of the Divine and hence service to mankind is ultimately service to God.

After the death of Guru Ramakrishna, Vivekananda began a tour of India and eventually studied the conditions prevalent in Colonial India.

Vivekananda began a tour of India and eventually studied the conditions prevalent in Colonial India.

He also established the Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Math in 1897.

He is well known for his iconic speech at Chicago on September 11, 1993. He delivered the historic speech in World's Parliament of Religion in Chicago.

Despite being nervous of addressing the large international gathering of seven thousand people, he bowed to Saraswati and began his speech by addressing all the gathered as “Sisters and brothers of America”.

He gave a detailed account Hinduism and Indian philosophies such as Vedanta and Yoga to the world in 1893 which mesmerised the crowd gathered to listen to him.  

Here are top 5 quotes from his Chicago speech:

1. "I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects." 

2. "Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true." 

3. "The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth." 

4. "I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

5. “I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.”