SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Author : Tarashree Mulge

Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th January 1863 in Calcutta on the occasion of Makar Sankranti festival, in the traditional Kayastha Bengali family. Swami Vivekananda's childhood name was Narendranath Dutt (also known as Narendra or Narayan). He was one of the 9 children of his parents (father Vishwanath Dutt was an advocate in the Calcutta High Court and Mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi was a religious woman). He grew up in the most influential personality of the father's rational mind and mother's religious nature.

He was a spiritual man from childhood and used to meditate in front of the idols of Lord God (Lord Shiva, Hanuman etc). He was impressed by the rotating monks and monks of his time. He was very naughty in childhood and was out of control of his parents. He used to be called ghost by his mother, according to one of his statements, "I had prayed for a son from Lord Shiva and he sent me one of his ghosts." He was 1871 (when he was 8 years old) Chandra Vidyasagar metropolitan institution for study and admitted to Presidency College in 1879. He was very good in subjects such as social science, philosophy, history, religion, arts and literature. He studied Western logic, European history, Western philosophy, Sanskrit scriptures and Bengali literature.

He was a very religious person, interested in Hindu scriptures (Ved, Ramayana, Bhagvat Gita, Mahabharata, Upanishad, Purana etc.). He was also interested in Indian classical music, sports, physical exercise and other activities. He was told by William Hastai (Principal of the General Assembly) "Narendra is really a genius."

He was very excited about Hinduism and succeeded in creating new thinking in the middle of the people both in and outside the country about Hinduism. He succeeded in promoting meditation, yoga, and other Indian spiritual paths of self-improvement in the West. He was a nationalist ideal for the people of India. He attracted the attention of many Indian leaders through nationalist ideas. Sri Aurobindo praised him for the spiritual awakening of India. As a great Hindu reformer, who promoted Hinduism, Mahatma Gandhi also praised him.

Chakravarti Rajgopalachari (First Governor General of Independent India) said that Swami Vivekananda was the person who had saved Hindu religion and India. He was called "the creator of modern India" by Subhash Chandra Bose. Many of his freedom fighters were influenced by Indian freedom workers; Like- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Arvind Ghosh, Bagha Jatin, etc. inspired. Before his death on 4th July 1902, he practiced meditation for three hours in Belur Math.