a deeply religious mother,Narendranath that was
his original name got a
good education and cultural training under them. An innate desire for
spiritual perfection brought him into contact with Sri Ramakrishna in the
early part of 1882. The next four and half years - until the Mahasamadhi
of Sri Ramakrishna -were marked by turbulence and turmoil, the direct
result of the perfect master chiselling and shaping the perfect disciple,
bur ending in total submission of the latter at the feet of the former. As
per the specific direction of his guru, Narendra along with the other
young men who were his co-disciples, took the monastic vows and founded a
monastery in his guru's name at Baranagore (calcutta) in 1886.
Setting out on pilgrimage, mostly as a wandering monk, he finally arrived
at Kanyakumari , the southern most tip of the Indian soil, some time
during 1892. There while meditating on the rock inside the sea, the
mission of his life was revealed to him. Then, things moved quickly.
Setting sail for America on the 31st May 1893 he created
history at the world parliament religions held at Chicago during September
of the same year. After whirlwind tours in America and England, he
triumphantly returned to India via Colombo on the 15th January
1897. During the next five years he literally shook the Indian Nation to
its foundations, electrifying it to dynamic self-expression, through his
speeches and writings as also conversations. These have been compiled and
published in eight volumes , now well known as the Complete Works of Swami
Vivekananda. They contain, as he himself once remarked, enough messages
for millennia. He formally established the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 and
consecrated the newly built Belur Math, The Head Quarters of the
Ramakrishna Monastery, in 1899. He visited the west again during
1899-1900. He shuffled off the mortal coil on the 4th of July 1902. His was a multifaceted personality - a
prophet, a patriot, a monk, a yogi, a social reformer , an educationist,
an artist. A poet and a humanist -all rolled into one. His dynamic life
and message gave a new direction to the resurgent India. His work is being
continued even today by the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission,
the twin organizations that he established with the motto: ˜atmano
mokÿ˜rthaÕ jagadvit˜ya ca,
`For the sake of self -realization and the good of mankind.' The Math is unique in that it has charted new avenues in Indian
monasticism. The mission is an ideal service organization embodying the
teachings of practical
Vedanta.