The more Narendra saw him, the more he saw an extraordinary holiness and a most uncommon sanity.Īs their relationship grew, Narendra was fired by the ideals of renunciation, the concept that the only important thing in life was to realize God.

On the one hand, Ramakrishna seemed to be a madman and a monomaniac, yet, the holy man radiated a holy atmosphere unlike anything he had experienced elsewhere. The holy man was in many ways from quite a different background than Narendra, yet Narendra was drawn to him. About this time, he met a holy man by the name of Sri Ramakrishna. Yet reason didn't satisfy the yearnings of his soul. Reason, he felt, was the surest guide in life. At college he mastered Western philosophy and logic and seriously questioned the orthodox beliefs of Hinduism. He had an early fascination for the wandering monks that are so common in India and would practice meditation for fun.Īs he grew older, Narendra excelled at his studies and amazed his teachers. 'I prayed to God for a son, but he sent me one of his demons,' she would sometimes say in frustration. Bright and full of energy, his mother found him extremely restless and hard to control. Or Narendra as he was called then, was born on January 12, 1863. But who was he? What was the magic in his message that made him so popular in America and his homeland of India? We shall only attempt a brief sketch here.

We like to put the spotlight on him since his message about self-effort, strength, and freedom of the soul is especially favored by the Western mind. To study the origin of the Vedanta movement in America is to study Swami Vivekananda and his travels across the US.

Life of swami vivekananda