Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902) or Narendranath Datta was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introducing the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and also in raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He worked for the revival of Hinduism in India, and also contributed to the concept of nationalism in India. He is best known for his speech which starts, "Sisters and brothers of America ...,"where he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.

He was born into an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta and was …show more content…
After the death of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent and acquired initial knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. He then travelled to the United States and also represented India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions. Vivekananda conducted several public and private lectures and classes of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and Europe.

The book To the Youth of India is a collection of some of the stirring and inspiring lectures that Swami Vivekananda delivered to vast audiences in India and Sri Lanka after his rise to fame as the patriot-saint of Modern India. It presents a representative selection of the great Swami's message to the young sons and daughters of India. He said he has faith in his country and especially in the youth. With an immense amount of feeling and enthusiasm in the blood, will come heroes who will march from one corner of the earth to the other, preaching and teaching the eternal spiritual truths of our forefathers. And this is the great work before the youth. Each one of them has a glorious future if they dare believe him. The …show more content…
He said that we must go out, we must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy. There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, of awakened and vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought. He claimed that according to the vedas the young, the strong, the healthy and of sharp intellect will reach the Lord and this is the time to decide their future and for this they need to work as this is the time for the freshest, the untouched, and unsmelled flowers alone to be laid at the feet of the Lord, and such he will receive it. So he gave them a message to rouse themselves as life is actually too short and for this there is a far greater work which is the sacrifice of themselves for the benefit of the race and the welfare of humanity. I will tell you in plain language that you work best when you work for others. “Arise! Awake! And Stop not till the goal is reached ’’this was the thunderous message from Upanishads spoken in equally thunderous voice by Swami