Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta in 1863 and was known as Narendranath Dutta in his earlier days. He became one of the greatest intellectuals of his times. He had no faith in religion or God during his childhood. But when Narendranath came in close contact with Sri Ramakrishna, the great saint completely charged him with divine power. He inspired him to serve the suffering humanity. Afterwards Swamiji travelled the length and breadth of India on foot. He became a world figure in 1883, when he lectured at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago and captured the whole world. By his exposition on Hinduism he was able to remove the misconcepts that foreigners had regarding Hinduism. He was specially vocal against untouchability.

He preached that "jiva is Shiva" i.e. every being is a part of God & that is the central point of Hinduism. He stated that Indians should have muscles of iron and nerves of steel. "Awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached". In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission. Amongst his famous books are: Karmayoga, Rajayoga, Jnanayoga, Bhaktiyoga, Prachya-o-Prachatya, Paribrajaka, Bardaman-Bharat