Vivekananda, born on January 12, 1863, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and passing away on July 4, 1902, near Calcutta, was a Hindu spiritual leader and reformer in India. He endeavored to unite Indian spirituality with Western material progress, asserting that the two aspects enhanced and supported each other. According to him, the Absolute was an individual’s own higher self, and he believed that working for the betterment of humanity was the most noble pursuit.
Coming from an upper-middle-class family of the Kayastha (scribes) caste in Bengal, Vivekananda received education at a Western-style university, where he encountered Western philosophy, Christianity, and science. Social reform played a significant role in his ideology, leading him to become a member of the Brahmo Samaj (Society of Brahma). This society was committed to eradicating practices like child marriage and illiteracy while striving to promote education among women and the lower castes. Eventually, he emerged as the most prominent disciple of Ramakrishna, who illustrated the fundamental unity underlying all religions.
SOURCE- vedantasociety
Emphasizing the universal and humanistic aspects of the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, Vivekananda consistently advocated for a belief in service over dogma. His aim was to invigorate Hindu thought, steering it away from predominant pacifism and presenting Hindu spirituality to the Western audience. Vivekananda played a pivotal role in promoting Vedanta philosophy, one of the six schools of Indian philosophy, in both the United States and England. In 1893, he made a significant appearance in Chicago as a representative of Hinduism at the World’s Parliament of Religions, where his compelling presence captivated the assembly. A newspaper account even hailed him as “an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament.” Subsequently, he delivered lectures across the United States and England, attracting converts to the Vedanta movement.
Upon returning to India in 1897 alongside a small group of Western disciples, Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Mission at the Belur Math monastery on the Ganges River, near Calcutta (now Kolkata). His guiding principles were self-perfection and service, which remained central to the mission’s ethos. Vivekananda skillfully adapted and modernized the loftiest ideals of the Vedantic religion, making them relevant to the 20th century. Although his life spanned only the initial two years of that century, his indelible mark was left on both the East and West.
Swami Vivekananda and His 1893 Speech
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) is most renowned in the United States for his groundbreaking address at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. In this speech, he introduced Hinduism to America and passionately advocated for religious tolerance and an end to fanaticism. Born as Narendranath Dutta, he served as the chief disciple of the 19th-century mystic Ramakrishna and went on to establish the Ramakrishna Mission. Swami Vivekananda is recognized as a pivotal figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the West. He is credited with elevating the status of Hinduism to that of a global religion.
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome that you have given us. 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.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation that has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn that I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor 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. Vivekananda, born on January 12, 1863, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and passing away on July 4, 1902, near Calcutta, was a Hindu spiritual leader and reformer in India. He endeavored to unite Indian spirituality with Western material progress, asserting that the two aspects enhanced and supported each other. According to him, the Absolute was an individual’s own higher self, and he believed that working for the betterment of humanity was the most noble pursuit.
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor 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.The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.” Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor 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.