Swami Vivekananda

For other uses, see Swami Vivekananda (disambiguation).

Swami Vivekananda Bengali: [ʃami bibekanɒnɖo], Shāmi Bibekānondo; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (Bengali: [nɔrend̪ro nat̪ʰ d̪ɔt̪t̪o]), was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. ^[4][5] He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world^[6][7] and is credited with raising interfaithawareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.^[8] He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.^[9]Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.^[7]He is perhaps best known for his speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of America ...,"^[10] in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Swami Vivekananda