Swami Vivekananda was an Indian Hindu monk. He was 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. He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of Indian nationalism as a tool to fight against the British empire in colonial India. Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his speech which began with the words - "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893. 

Childhood

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendra NathDatta born in 1863, was a Hindu monk known for his role in the spiritual enlightenment of the Indian masses. As an influential spiritual leader, he is also credited for bringing the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world. As a child Narendra excelled in music, gymnastic and studies. By the time he had graduated from the Scottish Church College (Calcutta University), in West Benegal, he had acquired a vast knowledge of western philosophy and history. Never afraid to speak his mind, Narendra was a natural leader. He had a passion for education and rational discourse, and loved to help people. As a student of philosophy, questions of God became forefront in his mind. Was there a God? If so, what was He like? What relationship is there between man and God? These questions had lingered from an early age, when he first began questioning the validity of superstitious customs and discrimination based on class and religion. Doubts regarding the existence of God lead him to BrahmoSamaj, an important religious movement of the time. It was during this time when Narendra came in contact with the priest Sri Ramakrishna Pramahans of Dakshineswar. Questioning the priest on whether he had seen God, the great devotee replied "Yes, I have seen God, just as I see you here, only in a more clear sense." Astounded by the words of the priest, and the honesty in his voice, Narendra set out to test the priest’s authenticity. One day Narendra hid a single rupee under his pillow. When Sri Ramakrishna entered the room and stretched himself on the cot, he immediately jumped up as if bitten by a scorpion. When he shook the mattress, the rupee coin fell out and the culprit was discovered. However the reaction was enough for Narendra to accept Sri Ramakrishna as his guru. 

Career

Five years of training took place on the topic of philosophy and non-dualism.He practiced that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self. As a result of this facet, he established that service to God could be rendered by service to mankind. The unfortunate death of Sri Ramakrishna in 1886 appointed Narendra as his successor, and he set upon a journey across India to share his knowledge. During his travels he acquired the name Swami Vivekananda. He stayed at king's palaces, as well as at the huts of the poor, and observed the imbalance of society in the name of caste. Upon reaching the south most point of the Indian Subcontinent on December 24, 1892, he meditated on a lone rock for three days. This rock is still a popular memorial and a major tourist destination. In 1893, Vivekananda went to America and was invited to attend the Conference of World Religions in Chicago. A man of eloquent rhetoric, he quickly began to win the hearts of his American audience. He spoke with spontaneous ease on history, sociology, philosophy and religion with a new cultural perspective. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes across the United States, England and Europe, distributing of the tenets of Hindu philosophy. For his noble service, in India Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint and his birthday is celebrated as the National Youth Day. 

Teaching and Philosophy

Vivekananda propagated that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Nevertheless, following Ramakrishna, and in contrast to Advaita Vedanta, Vivekananda believed that the Absolute is both immanent and transcendent.[note 6] According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism". Vivekananda summarised the Vedanta as follows, giving it a modern and Universalistic interpretation: Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details. Nationalism was a prominent theme in Vivekananda's thought. He believed that a country's future depends on its people, and his teachings focused on human development.[169] He wanted "to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest". Vivekananda linked morality with control of the mind, seeing truth, purity and unselfishness as traits which strengthened it. He advised his followers to be holy, unselfish and to have shraddhā (faith). Vivekananda supported brahmacharya, believing it the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence. He emphasised that success was an outcome of focused thought and action; in his lectures on Raja Yoga he said, "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is the way great spiritual giants are produced". 

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Arise,awake and donot stop until the goal is reached. 

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. 

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. 

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. 

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. 

The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong. 

External nature is only internal nature writ large. 

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true. 

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything. 

If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better. 

📜Conclusion:-

Never Forever, Give Up..!!!