Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta on January 12, 1863, in Kolkata, West Bengal. Since he was a little boy, he had a marked interest in philosophy and spirituality. This is what eventually led him to becoming a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Following his guru’s death, Vivekananda embraced monastic life and travelled extensively across India, which is what equipped him with a first-person perspective of the country’s ground social and economic realities. His pursuit of spreading the good word was tireless, landing him with international recognition after his historic address at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893. He later founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which to this day continues to serve society through initiatives which mirrored his own carefully curated philosophies. At the time of his passing in 1902, Swami Vivekananda was all of 39. He however, continues to live on through his timeless perspective.
