Swami biography

It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! In the list of biographies of Swami Vivekananda published by us, we have one which extensively narrates his life, and also one which presents him very briefly.

The present book stands midway between these extremes. From the US, Vivekananda began an increasing correspondence with his brother disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He exhorted his fellow sannyasins to throw themselves into social service, helping the poorest to gain an education. This dynamism was a new strand to Indian spirituality — and a break from the older tradition of retreating from the world.

Vivekananda wanted his mission to help the world both materially and spiritually. In , he returned to India to a rapturous welcome. News of his success in the West was greeted with joy and pride in India. Vivekananda was now a well-known figure. Vivekananda was a clarion call for India to make progress. Kick out the priests who are always against progress, because they would never mend, their hearts would never become big.

They are the offspring of centuries of superstition and tyranny. Root out priest-craft first. Come, be men! Come out of your narrow holes and have a look abroad. See how nations are on the march! Do you love man? Do you love your country? Then come, let us struggle for higher and better things; look not back, no, not even if you see the dearest and nearest cry.

Look not back, but forward! Vivekananda created an emerging sense of national pride and national fervour; he was an influential figure in the Indian Renaissance of the late Nineteenth Century. The death of one of his close friends aged 16 in a car accident made Richard think seriously about the meaning of life. In , Richard enrolled in Miami Dade College , [ 18 ] where, in search of spiritual experience, he resorted to books on religion and philosophy.

In the summer of , after the end of his first year in college, Richard attended a rock festival on Randalls Island that included performances by Jimi Hendrix and other famous musicians and bands of the time. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Richard travelled to Europe with his childhood friend Gary Liss. During his travels, Richard read books on Eastern spirituality and the Bible that he had brought from America.

They saw the Catholic monks meditating in the catacombs of the monastery, among the skeletons of their predecessors and heard from one of them of the frailty of the material body. In Athens , Richard and Gary first made their living by donating blood, and then, together with a Swiss violinist and French guitarist, playing music and collecting alms on the street.

One morning, while meditating and praying on top of a rock, Richard heard an inner voice that urged him to go to India. Having met two hippies in Athens who were also Eastward bound, [ 29 ] Richard joined them in going to India by the then-popular among the hippie route through Turkey , Iran , Afghanistan , and Pakistan. They arrived in Tehran during Ramadan.

As Richard had developed an interest in Islam, he parted with his friends and stayed for a few days in Mashhad , an important place of pilgrimage for Shia Muslims. Upon arrival in Afghanistan, Richard spent a few days in Herat , where a poor family sheltered him. In India, Richard arrived in December Watching cows freely walking around in Delhi , he felt an aversion to meat and became a vegetarian.

Richard also met Swami Satchidananda — a known disciple of Swami Sivananda. The last day of the conference was held in Vigyan Bhavana — the largest concert hall in New Delhi. In January , Richard went to the Himalayas in search of a guru. In his s interview to Larry D. Shinn , Radhanath Swami recounted that he found a secluded spot on the banks of the Ganges and chanted " Hare Krishna " and other mantras for eight to ten hours a day.

Unable to find a guru in the Himalayas, Richard continued to wander in India. After parting with the Hare Krishna devotees, Richard continued his wanderings in India, travelling "from ashram to ashram and guru to guru". A few months later, Prabhupada came to Vrindavan with a group of American students. In the spring of , the Indian government refused to extend Richard's visa, forcing him to return to America.

For the next six years, Radhanath never left New Vrindaban, contributing to developing the community. In cold winters, the community members carried out without heating and hot water. In the first half of the s, Radhanath lectured at several universities in Ohio and Pennsylvania , and conducted courses on vegetarian cooking. Succeeding to Kirtanananda Swami, Radhanath Swami has been instrumental in the guidance of the Radha Gopinath Temple since , [ 50 ] which "expanded beyond anyone's wildest dreams" [ 51 ] and is particularly renowned for its "empowered preaching and teaching".

To address the importance of emotional and spiritual care, the temple is known for developing Grihastha Counseling. This counselling has the "primary purpose to foster trust among devotees"; the program arranges a formal counselling system where experienced devotees help foster the spiritual development of new devotees. The temple also leads a trip to Govardhan Farm, a tropical fruit and bamboo nursery in the Caribbean, advocating for "spiritually healthy" recreation.

The program offers a "different menu every day and simple protein-rich food [ Emerging from the Radha Gopinath Temple congregation, the Bhaktivedanta Hospital has become a flagship center for holistic health and spiritual care in Mumbai. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and by the inspiration of Radhanath Swami, it essentially functions as a "not-for-profit" institution with the motto of "Serving in Devotion".

In the early days, the doctors conducted medical camps in various areas in and around Maharashtra. These served the medically deprived and needy. Though closed in due to a labour dispute, it reopened in August under a different trust. The hospital also houses an Ayurveda, Yoga and Rehabilitation Center as well as an exclusive department on Spiritual Care.

Community services form one of the core pillars of the hospital, which it extensively pursues. It has medically-equipped mobile vans to attend to eye care, cancer and maternity issues in remote sections of society; [ 78 ] on the same lines, it also established the Hamrapur Community Healthcare Center in Wada Taluka, Maharashtra in association with Lions Club.

The annual Barsana Camp, in particular, has been highly successful in that the doctors perform free cataract surgeries annually and have even attracted doctors from far-off lands like the US and Britain. In addition, the Bhaktivedanta Hospice Center serves those who desire to spend their last days in the holy site of Vrindavan with good medical care.

Spread over 75 acres of pristine farmland at the foothills of the Sahyadri mountain in the Wada district of Maharashtra , Govardhan Ecovillage GEV is a "model farm community and retreat center highlighting the importance of spiritual ecology : the need for us [humans] to live in harmony with ourselves, nature and the sacred ". GEV's achievements in the area of integrated water conservation and protection were honored with the Skoch Platinum Award and Order-of-Merit.

On the request of his friend and godbrother Bhakti Tirtha Swami , who was on his deathbed, Radhanath Swami, although initially unwilling, agreed to share his story and wrote his memoir " The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami ". Along the way, he met many people, who would share their wisdom with him, encouraging him on his search for the truth.

He met many teachers and practitioners of spirituality and learned from them, such as the 14th Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa , to name a few. The book chronicles his spiritual quest. Like many a spiritual autobiography, the external events and details turn out to be the setting for the author's inner quest. His journey is humbling, learning to be poor, a series of tests that push the author toward living by faith alone.

Like any pilgrim, he does not see all of this along the way, but in retrospect sees how he was being quietly, insistently drawn toward God all the time. The book launch of the Gujarati edition was held in November , and was attended by the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in , he became the Prime Minister of India. Radhanath Swami's lectures have also been thematically published in the form of books, which includes those based on his quotations, such as Nectar Drops and Nectar Stream, [ ] and those based on his lectures and teachings such as Evolve, [ ] Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, [ ] The Wisdom Tree, [ ] and The Real You.

Born into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family in Calcutta , Vivekananda was inclined from a young age towards religion and spirituality. At the age of 18 he met Ramakrishna, later becoming a devoted follower and sannyasin renunciate. After the death of Ramakrishna , Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent as a wandering monk and acquired first-hand knowledge of the often terrible living conditions of Indian people in then British India.

In he traveled to the United States where he participated in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Here he delivered a famous speech beginning with the words: "Sisters and brothers of America One American newspaper described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament". After the great success of the Parliament, Vivekananda delivered hundreds of lectures across the United States , England , and Europe , disseminating the core tenets of Hindu philosophy.

In India, he founded the Ramakrishna Math , which provides spiritual training for monastics and householders, and the Ramakrishna Mission , which provides charity, social work and education. Vivekananda is widely regarded as one of the greatest figures of modern India. He was one of the most influential philosophers and social reformers of his time, and the most successful missionary of Vedanta to the Western world.

He was a major force in contemporary Hindu reform movements and in the development of nationalism in colonial India. His birthday is celebrated in India as National Youth Day. Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta name shortened to Narendra or Naren [ 18 ] in a Bengali Kayastha family [ 19 ] [ 20 ] in his ancestral home at 3 Gourmohan Mukherjee Street in Calcutta, [ 21 ] the capital of British India, on 12 January during the Makar Sankranti festival.

His mother said, "I prayed to Shiva for a son and he has sent me one of his demons". In , at the age of eight, Narendranath enrolled at Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Metropolitan Institution , where he went to school until his family moved to Raipur in Narendra was trained in Indian classical music , [ 33 ] and regularly participated in physical exercise, sports and organised activities.

William Hastie the principal of Christian College, Calcutta, from where Narendra graduated wrote of him: "Narendra is really a genius. I have travelled far and wide but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German universities, among philosophical students. He is bound to make his mark in life".

It was in this cultic milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism. Not satisfied with his knowledge of philosophy, Narendra came to "the question which marked the real beginning of his intellectual quest for God. Instead of answering his question, Tagore said, "My boy, you have the Yogi ' s eyes. Narendra first met Ramakrishna in When Narendra's father died in , Ramakrishna became his primary spiritual focus.

This prompted Narendra, among others in the class, to visit Ramakrishna. They probably first met personally in November , [ note 1 ] though Narendra did not consider this their first meeting, and neither man mentioned this meeting later. Ram Chandra Datta accompanied him to Surendra Nath Mitra 's house where Ramakrishna had been invited to deliver a lecture.

Impressed by his talent, he asked Narendra to come to Dakshineshwar. Narendra went to Dakshineswar in late or early and met Ramakrishna. Narendra's father's sudden death in left the family bankrupt; creditors began demanding the repayment of loans, and relatives threatened to evict the family from their ancestral home. Once the son of a well-to-do family, Narendra became one of the poorest students in his college.

He questioned God's existence, [ 72 ] but found solace in Ramakrishna, and his visits to Dakshineswar increased. One day, Narendra asked Ramakrishna to pray to the goddess Kali for his family's financial welfare. Ramakrishna instead suggested he go to the temple himself and pray. Narendra went to the temple three times, but did not pray for any kind of worldly necessities.

He ultimately prayed for true knowledge and devotion from the goddess.

Swami biography

In , Ramakrishna developed throat cancer. He was transferred to Calcutta and then to a garden house in Cossipore. Narendra and Ramakrishna's other disciples took care of him during his last days, and Narendra's spiritual education continued. At Cossipore, he experienced Nirvikalpa samadhi. After Ramakrishna's death, support from devotees and admirers diminished.

Unpaid rent accumulated, forcing Narendra and the other disciples to look for a new place to live. It became the first building of the Ramakrishna Math , the monastery of the monastic order of Ramakrishna. We used to get up at am and become absorbed in japa and meditation. What a strong spirit of detachment we had in those days! We had no thought even as to whether the world existed or not.

Narendra collected and arranged most of the songs in this compilation, but unfavourable circumstances prevented its completion. In December , the mother of one of the monks, Baburam, invited Narendra and his brother monks to Antpur village. In Antpur, on the Christmas Eve of , the 23 year old Narendra and eight other disciples took formal monastic vows at the Radha Gobinda Jiu temple.

During his travels he met and stayed with Indians from all religions and walks of life: scholars, dewans , rajas , Hindus, Muslims, Christians, paraiyars low-caste workers and government officials. Bonney , [ 98 ] [ 99 ] the Congress sought to gather all the religions of the world, with the aim of showing "the substantial unity of many religions in the good deeds of the religious life.

Vivekananda wished to participate, but learned that only individuals with credentials from a bona fide organisation would be accepted as delegates. Parliament President John Henry Barrows said, "India, the Mother of religions was represented by Swami Vivekananda, the Orange-monk who exercised the most wonderful influence over his auditors".

The New York Critique wrote, "He is an orator by divine right, and his strong, intelligent face in its picturesque setting of yellow and orange was hardly less interesting than those earnest words, and the rich, rhythmical utterance he gave them". After hearing him we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation". Vivekananda's speeches at the Parliament had the common theme of universality, emphasising religious tolerance.

He is an honor to humanity. His popularity gave him an unprecedented opportunity to communicate his views on life and religion to great numbers of people. I do not come to convert you to a new belief. I want you to keep your own belief; I want to make the Methodist a better Methodist; the Presbyterian a better Presbyterian; the Unitarian a better Unitarian.

I want to teach you to live the truth, to reveal the light within your own soul. Vivekananda spent nearly two years lecturing in the eastern and central United States, primarily in Chicago , Detroit , Boston , and New York. He founded the Vedanta Society of New York in Beginning in June , he gave private lectures to a dozen of his disciples at Thousand Island Park, New York for two months.

Vivekananda travelled to the United Kingdom in and again in In Germany, he met Paul Deussen , another renowned Indologist. Vivekananda's success led to a change in mission, namely the establishment of Vedanta centres in the West. While in America, Vivekananda was given land to establish a retreat for Vedanta students, in the mountains to the southeast of San Jose, California.

He called it "Peace retreat", or Shanti Asrama. There is also a Vedanta Press in Hollywood which publishes books about Vedanta and English translations of Hindu scriptures and texts. From the West, Vivekananda revived his work in India. He regularly corresponded with his followers and brother monks, offering advice and financial support. His letters from this period reflect his campaign of social service, [ ] and were strongly worded.

Also, let them have oral lessons on geography and such other subjects. No good will come of sitting idle and having princely dishes, and saying "Ramakrishna, O Lord! Sevier and J. Vivekananda arrived in Colombo , British Ceylon now Sri Lanka on 15 January , [ ] and received a warm welcome. In Colombo, he gave his first public speech in the East.