Swami Vivekananda -12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902 Born as Narendra Nath Datta, in an affluent family in Kolkata in 1863, Swami Vivekananda excelled in music, gymnastics and studies. He became the chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic- saint Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, from whom he learnt that all living beings were an embodiment of the divine self; therefore, service to God could be rendered by service to humankind.
In December 1886, Narendranath took formal monastic vows and adopted the name “Swami Vivekananda. In 1888, Narendra left the monastery as a Parivrâjaka— the Hindu religious life of a wandering monk, “without fixed abode, without ties, independent and strangers wherever they go”
Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the prevailing in British India. He later travelled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions. Swami Vivekananda’s speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in September 1893 made him famous as a ‘Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world’. His philosophy attracted youth across the world. Swami Vivekananda spent over three years spreading Vedanta as lived and taught by his mentor Sri Ramakrishna. At he World’s Parliament of Religions, he not only spoke at length about religious tolerance but also about promoted liberal sentiments among people. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe.
On 1 May 1897 in Calcutta, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission for social service. Its ideals are based on Karma Yoga, and its governing body consists of the trustees of the Ramakrishna Math (which conducts religious work). Both Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have their headquarters at Belur Math
Swami Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint, and his birthday on January 12 is celebrated as National Youth Day every year since 1985. Some of Swami Vivekanana’s inspirational quotes. 
1. 3 GOLDEN RULES from Swami Vivekananda
Who is helping you, don’t forget them.
Who is loving you, don’t hate them.
Who is believing you, don’t cheat them.
2. Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison.
3. Talk to yourself at least once in a day. Otherwise you may miss a meeting with an EXCELLENT person in this world…
4. Relationships are more important than life, but it is important for those relationships to have life in them…
5. Like me or hate me, both are in my favour, if you like me, I am in your heart, if you hate me, I am in your mind.
6. By the study of different religions we find that in essence they are one.
7. Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.
8. Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you and out of that will come great work.
9. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
10. You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
11. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
12. All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
13. When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.
14. Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.
15, Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
16. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong
17. In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart
18.Talk to yourself once in a day, otherwise you may miss meeting an intelligent person in this world.
19. Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison.
20. Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish. Have infinite patience, and success is yours
21. The upliftment of the women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.
22. The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free
23. “I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true”
24. “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair.”
25. The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.
26. “The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.”
So let us arise, let us grow from the inside out, with Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts. As Swami-ji has said, ‘None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.’
भले ही तुम्हारा सूर्य बादलों से ढक जाए, आकाश उदास दिखाई दे, फिर भी धैर्य धरो कुछ हे वीर हृदय, तुम्हारी विजय अवश्यम्भावी है। – स्वामी विवेकानन्द
By India Post, Government of India – [1] [2], GODL-India, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75179246
By India Post, Government of India – [1], GODL-India, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75178662