Swami Vivekanand

Sawan Presents Swami Vivekananda from Biographis of Great Personalities. Swami Vivekananda, whose birth name was Narendranath Datta, was a Hindu monk and philosopher from India. He was a leading student of Ramakrishna, a 19th-century Indian saint. Influenced by Western esotericism, he was instrumental in bringing the Indian darsanas (teachings, practises) of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with fostering interfaith understanding and elevating Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late nineteenth century. He played a significant role in India’s current Hindu reform movements and contributed to the notion of nationalism in colonial India. Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. He is arguably most remembered for his 1893 address at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, which started with the words “Sisters and brothers of America…” and introduced Hinduism.