Vivekananda Kendra is a Hindu spiritual structure established on the principles spread by Swami Vivekananda. It was founded on 7 January 1972 in Kanyakumari.The organisation is most influential in North-East India. It has over 200 full-time dedicated workers and 600 branch centres spread in more than 18 States of India. Nowadays The organisation conducts Yoga classes, seminars, and rural development activities worldwide.
Swami Vivekananda was born in Narendranath Datta 12 January 1863 and died in 4 July 1902 (aged 39). During his young age he was excessively desirous of reading about a wide range of fields of study. including philosophy, religion, history, social science, art and literature.Vivekananda was being a unique disciple of /Ramakrishna: an Indian mystic and yogi during the 19th-century,influenced by Islam and Christianity, including veneration toward the goddess Kali, Tantra and Vaishnava bhakti, and Advaita Vedanta/.
Swami Vivekananda was educated in Indian traditionalmusic,and regularly took part in physical exercise, sports and organised activities. He studied Western logic, Western philosophy and European history at the General Assembly's Institution (now known as the Scottish Church College).In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884. William Hastie (principal of General Assembly's Institution) wrote, "Narendra is really a genius. I have travelled far and wide but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German universities, among philosophical students' Some accounts have called Narendra a shrutidhara (a person with a prodigious memory).His notable disciples were Paramananda, Alasinga Perumal, Abhayananda, Sister Nivedita, Swami Sadananda.
The following quotes reflect his teaching:
"The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun when they are concentrated they illumine".
"Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached"
His notable disciples were Paramananda, Alasinga Perumal, Abhayananda, Sister Nivedita, Swami Sadananda.
"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details".
Swami Vivekananda books:
Swami Vivekananda: A Poetic Visionary
Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment
Swami Vivekananda: Messiah of Resurgent India
The Socio-Political Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda....