Swami Vivekananda/Definition

Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Bengali]] family of Calcutta on January 12, 1863. Swami's parents influenced his thinking&mdash;the father by his rational mind and the mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed inclination towards spirituality and God realization. As a guru, Ramakrishna taught him Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) and that all religions are true, and service to man was the most effective worship of God. After the death of his Guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and getting first-hand knowledge of India's condition. He later sailed to Chicago and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga in America, England and a few other countries in Europe. He also established the Vedanta societies in America and England.