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Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda
Introduction
Swami Vivekananda was born on the 12th January 1863 in a well-to-do family of Calcutta. His early life was not very eventful but his education, in a sense, was all-round. He studied literature and music and learnt horse-riding, swimming and wrestling. He had a good study of Indian scriptures as well as of Western thought. His initial mental framework was that of a rationalist.
In 1881, his meeting with Swami Ramakrishna proved a turning point in his life. In the beginning, he was sceptical about the teachings of Swami Ramakrishna, but later he surrendered and accepted Swami Ramakrishna as his guide and master. After the death of Ramakrishna in 1886, he undertook an extensive tour of India and came to know that in spite of its rich spiritual heritage and very strong cultural history, India was unable to root out its poverty and social evils. He strongly felt the need to bring about a social revolution, which required a very strong spiritual leadership.
At that very time he came to know that the parliament of religions was going to meet at Chicago. He went there and participated in it. And that very parliament of religions enabled Vivekananda to assume the spiritual leadership of the
