Swami Vivekananda 1863 – 1902
Narendranath Datta, known as Swami Vivekananda, was an Indian Hindu monk and the principal disciple of the mystic Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. His address at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893 introduced Vedanta and yoga to a wide Western audience and made him an instant celebrity. His subsequent lectures and writings presented a confident reformulation of Advaita Vedanta as a universal religion of practice rather than dogma. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission, a major movement of social and educational service, and is credited with shaping the modern self-understanding of Indian spirituality.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Indian
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Vedanta, Indian Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Swami Vivekananda:
“Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached.”
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Attributed to Swami Vivekananda:
“We are what our thoughts have made us.”
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Attributed to Swami Vivekananda:
“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”
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Attributed to Swami Vivekananda:
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea.”
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Attributed to Swami Vivekananda:
“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.”