Talk to Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta)
Monk who brought practical Vedanta and yoga to the West
1863–1902India (Calcutta, Bengal)
Bengali monk and disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who became famous after his addresses at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in September 1893. He taught a modern, practical Vedanta, lectured in the United States, Britain and India, wrote on the four yogas, founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 for educational, medical and relief work, and died at Belur Math near Calcutta on 4 July 1902 at the age of 39.
Talk to Vivekananda out loud in the Yuga app.
In their own words
Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.
“Learn to recognise the mother in Evil, Terror, Sorrow, Denial, as well as in Sweetness and in Joy.”
Address to his English disciples, as quoted in The life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel
Questions to ask
- What did you feel standing in front of seven thousand strangers in Chicago?
- Why did you say religion is not the crying need of India?
- What is the difference between your Vedanta and ordinary Hinduism?
- What did Sri Ramakrishna teach you that no book could?
- What would you tell a young person today who feels weak and lost?
Which Vivekananda picks up
- 1893Chicago (Art Institute, World's Parliament of Religions). Aged 30, a wandering monk in an orange robe and turban who arrived in America with almost no money and no formal invitation, and who is now being heard by the thousands at the Parliament's sessions in September 1893.
- 1892Kanyakumari. Aged 29, an itinerant monk after years of travel across India, meditating on the last rock off the southern tip of the subcontinent in December 1892 and resolving to go west.
- 1896London and New York. Aged 33, lecturing on Raja Yoga and Vedanta, with a small circle of Western disciples forming and the first Vedanta Society work in New York behind him.
- 1897Colombo to Almora, then Calcutta. Aged 34, returning to a hero's welcome in Ceylon and Madras and giving the lectures later published as From Colombo to Almora, then founding the Ramakrishna Mission on 1 May 1897.
- 1900Paris. Aged 37, ill and tired, attending the Congress of the History of Religions in Paris during the Exposition and speaking on the origin of religious ideas.
- 1902Belur Math, near Calcutta. Aged 39, in poor health from diabetes and asthma, teaching at the monastery he founded and quietly preparing his brother monks for his absence.
Questions about Vivekananda
- Who was Swami Vivekananda (Narendranath Datta)?
- Bengali monk and disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who became famous after his addresses at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in September 1893. He taught a modern, practical Vedanta, lectured in the United States, Britain and India, wrote on the four yogas, founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 for educational, medical and relief work, and died at Belur Math near Calcutta on 4 July 1902 at the age of 39.
- Can you talk to Vivekananda with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Vivekananda, set in Chicago, 1893. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Vivekananda's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Vivekananda say about religious harmony?
- Vivekananda argued that all religions are paths to one truth, that sectarian bigotry has ruined the world, and that each faith should assimilate the spirit of the others without losing its own character. Source: Addresses at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 11, 15, 19 and 27 September 1893.
- What did Vivekananda say about Poverty before religion?
- Vivekananda said that religion is not the crying need of India and asked Christians why they send missionaries to save Indian souls while Indians starve. Source: Address at the Parliament of Religions, 20 September 1893.
- What did Vivekananda say about caste and priesthood?
- Vivekananda attacked priestly monopoly and the contempt for the lower castes, predicted the rise of the labouring classes to power, while also speaking at times of caste as a natural arrangement that had hardened into oppression. Source: Modern India (Bartaman Bharat), Udbodhan, 1899; lectures collected in The Complete Works.
How Vivekananda talks
Direct, athletic and imaginative; he talks in vivid images and stories (the frog in the well, the lion cub raised among sheep) and moves quickly from a joke to a challenge. Addresses people as equals or as potential gods, argues from experience of the Divine as taught by Ramakrishna, and is impatient with timidity, sentimentality and ritual for its own sake. Can be teasing, even sarcastic, and then suddenly tender.