Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta in 1863, was a significant reformer who shaped modern India through his advocacy for universal religion and religious tolerance. He gained international recognition after his impactful speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, promoting the unity of all religions and the ideals of 'renunciation and service.' Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, focusing on spiritual and humanitarian efforts in education, healthcare, and social welfare.

1. The Reformer who helped to
construct Modern India for the
future.
Swami
Vivekananda

2. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA-THE REFORMER WHO
HELPED CONSTRUCT MODERN INDIA.
Details:
Author:Ishan Bhavsar
Standard and Division:VIIIth E
•Roll Number 1
•Topic-Social Reformer

3. THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND
• Vivekananda was born as “Narendranath Datta” in Calcutta
(now Kolkata) in the Bengal Province of India on 12
January,1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival.
• He lived on 3,Gourmohan Mukherjee Street in Kolkata which
was the then capital of British India.
• He belonged to a traditional family and was one of nine
siblings.His father, Vishwanath Datta,was an attorney at
the Calcutta High Court.
• Durgacharan Datta, Narendra's grandfather was
a Sanskrit and Persian scholar who left his family and became
a monk at age twenty-five.
• His mother, Bhubaneswari Devi, was a devout housewife. The
progressive, rational attitude of Narendra's father and the
religious temperament of his mother helped shape his thinking
and personality.
3, Gourmohan Mukherjee
Street, birthplace of
Vivekananda, now converted
into a museum and cultural
centre

4. *EDUCATION*
•Narendranath was interested in spirituality from a young age and used to meditate before the
images of deities such as Shiva, Rama, Sita, and Mahavir Hanuman.
•He was fascinated by wandering ascetics and monks.
•Naren was naughty and restless as a child, and his parents often had difficulty controlling him.
His mother said, "I prayed to Shiva for a son and he has sent me one of his ghosts".
• In 1871, at the age of eight, Narendranath enrolled at Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar's Metropolitan Institution, where he went to school until his family moved
to Raipur in 1877. In 1879, after his family's return to Calcutta, he was the only
student to receive first-division marks in the Presidency College entrance examination.
• He was an avid reader in a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, religion,
history, social science, art and literature.He was also interested in Hindu scriptures,
including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana,
the Mahabharata and the Puranas.

5. •Narendra was trained in Indian classical music and
regularly participated in physical exercise, sports
and organised activities.
• Narendra studied Western logic, Western
philosophy and European history at the General
Assembly's Institution(now known as the Scottish
Church College). In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts
examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1884.
• Narendra studied the works of David
Hume, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb
Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Georg W. F. Hegel, Arthur
Schopenhauer, Auguste Comte, John Stuart
Mill and Charles Darwin.
•He became fascinated with
the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and
corresponded with him, translating Spencer's
book Education (1861) in Bengali .
•While studying Western philosophers, he also
learned Sanskrit scriptures and Bengali literature.
The Presidency
College,Kolkata.

6. REFORMS BROUGHT BY SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
•Vivekananda considered Hinduism to be the mother of all religions. He established through historical sequence.
•He showed that Vedic religion had influenced Buddhism which again was instrumental in influencing Christianity
He told that all the religions of the world have the same value and importance. In the Parliament of Religions he told—
” …. 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 ….
Upon the banner of every religion soon
be written … ‘Help and not fight’,
‘Assimilation and not Destruction’,
‘Harmony, and peace and not Dissension.”
Thus, through his universal religion, Vivekananda preached the unity of God.
• He told that though the paths are different for different religions but the goal is same.
He attached great importance to the unity of all religions and their fusion into one universal religion.

7. ADVAITA VEDANTISM
•Swami Vivekananda was a great lover of Vedantic
philosophy.
• He believed in monoism. He had firm faith on one God. His
motto, as reflected earlier, was to establish a link among
different religions.
•He had told that as water of different rivers mingle in the sea,
similarly every religion finds itself at the feet of God.
•He did not see any difference between a Veda or Koran or
Bible. Temple, Mosque and Church were equal for him
•He preferred to meditate at any place without any inhibition
in his mind.
•By his personal example he preached monism or Avaita
Vedantism. By that he showed his toleration towards every
religion.
•He spoke the message of Vedanta regarding the world unity
and to believe shapeless God.
The symbol of
Advaita Vedantism.

8. THE FAMOUS SPEECH GIVEN IN AMERICA
• The Parliament of the World's Religions opened on 11 September
1893 at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the World's Columbian
Exposition.On this day, Vivekananda gave a brief speech representing
India and Hinduism.
• He was initially nervous, bowed to Saraswati (the Hindu goddess of
learning) and began his speech with "Sisters and brothers of
America!". At these words, Vivekananda received a two-minute
standing ovation from the crowd of seven thousand.
• According to Sailendra Nath Dhar, when silence was restored he began
his address, greeting the youngest of the nations on behalf of "the most
ancient order of monks in the world, the Vedic order of sannyasins, a
religion which has taught the world both tolerance, of and universal
acceptance".
• The New York Critique wrote, "He is an orator by divine right, and his
strong, intelligent face in its picturesque setting of yellow and orange
was hardly less interesting than those earnest words, and the rich,
rhythmical utterance he gave them".
Swami Vivekananda
in Chicago on the
stage.

9. •Vivekananda quoted two illustrative passages from the "Shiva mahimna stotram": "As the
different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so,
O Lord, the different paths which men take, through different tendencies, various though they
appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee!" and "Whosoever comes to Me, through
whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths that in the end lead to
Me.“
• According to Sailendra Nath Dhar, "it was only a short speech, but it voiced the spirit of the
Parliament.
•Vivekananda's speeches at the Parliament had the common theme of universality, emphasising
religious tolerance. He soon became known as a "handsome oriental" and made a huge
impression as an orator.
•He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of
nationalism in colonialIndia. Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the
Ramakrishna Mission. ... In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint, and his
birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day.

10. THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION
•The Ramakrishna Math was founded by Swami
Vivekananda in on 1 May,1897.
•The aims and ideals of the Mission are purely spiritual and
humanitarian and has no connection with
politics.Vivekananda proclaimed "Renunciation and service"
as the twofold national ideals of modern India and the
work of the mission strives to practice and preach these.
•It was founded at the Baranagar Math in Kolkata
The principal workers of the mission are the monks. The
mission's activities cover the following areas:
Education, Health care, Cultural activities, Rural uplift,
Tribal welfare, Youth movement etc.
1) The mission has its own hospitals, charitable
dispensaries, maternity clinics, tuberculosis clinics, and
mobile dispensaries. It also maintains training centres
for nurses. Orphanages and homes for the elderly are
included in the mission's field of activities, along with
rural and tribal welfare work.
Designed and explained by Swami
Vivekananda in his own words: The wavy
waters in the picture are symbolic of
Karma; the lotus, of Bhakti; and the rising-
sun, of Jnana. The encircling serpent is
indicative of Yoga and the awakened
Kundalini Shakti, while the swan in the
picture stands for Paramatman (Supreme
Self).

11. •The mission has established many renowned educational
institutions in India, having its own university, colleges,
vocational training centres, high schools and primary schools,
teacher-training institutes, as well as schools for the visually
handicapped.It has also been involved in disaster
relief operations during famine, epidemic, fire, flood,
earthquake, cyclone and communal disturbances.
•Ramakrishna ashrama’s religious activities
include satsang and arati. Satsang includes communal
prayers, songs, rituals, discourses, reading and meditation.
Arati involves the ceremonial waving of lights before the
images of a deity of holy person and is performed twice in
a day.
•Ramakrishna ashramas observes major Hindu festivals,
including Maha Shivarathri, Rama Navami, Krishna Ashtami
and Durga Puja. They also give special place to the
birthdays of Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Swami
Vivekananda and other monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. 1
January is celebrated as Kalpataru Day.
Durga Puja Celebrations at
Ramakrishna Math
Relief Camp organized by
Ramakrishna Mission.

12. WE CONCLUDE THAT SWAMI
VIVEKANANDA WAS A
REFORMER WHO
REVOLUTIONIZED HINDUISM
AND BROUGHT IT IN THE
LIGHT OF THE WORLD.HIS
IDEAS AND THOGHTS ARE
IMMORTAL AND WILL LAST
TILL THE WORLD ENDS.
The Baranagar Math at Kolkata.

13. Copyright © 2020 Ishan Ketan Bhavsar
Mumbai, India
email :
bhavsarishan2@gmail.com