NATIONAL YOUTH DAY January, 2018

Swami Vivekananda  (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath  Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.  He was a key

figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to

the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing 

Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.

Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.

He is perhaps best known for his speech which began,

"Sisters and brothers ofAmerica ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the 

Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Born into an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined

towards spirituality. He was influenced by his guru, Ramakrishna, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to mankind. After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe. In India, Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint and his birthday is celebrated there as National Youth Day.