AgoraAn open square of thought

Swami Vivekananda

1863–1902

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

The divine is in every person, so serving others is serving God – and all religions are paths to the same truth.

Placement

South Asian & Tibetan Philosophy · South Asia · Religion, Ethics

Monk who presented Vedanta to the West at Chicago in 1893: a “practical Vedanta” of service, and the harmony of all religions.

Key ideas

  • Practical Vedanta
  • Harmony of religions
  • Raja yoga

Open in the star map

Influence

Influenced by 2

  • Patanjali

    influenced by

    Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga (1896) translated and commented on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, presenting it as an experimental science of the mind. Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga (1896); E. De Michelis, A History of Modern Yoga (2004)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Patanjali › c. 325–400

  • Adi Shankara

    influenced by

    Vivekananda placed Shankara’s Advaita at the summit of Hinduism and turned it into a ‘practical Vedanta’ of service to others (lectures in London, 1896). Swami Vivekananda, Practical Vedanta (lectures, London 1896); A. Rambachan, The Limits of Scripture (1994)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Adi Shankara › c. 700–750 · conventionally dated 788–820

Influenced 1

  • Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

    influenced

    Radhakrishnan recalled how students passed round Vivekananda’s speeches and letters, stirring pride in Indian culture; he carried on Vivekananda’s presentation of Vedanta as a universal religion. R. N. Minor, Radhakrishnan: A Religious Biography (1987); IEP “Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan”

    Evidence: AI draft

    Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan › 1888–1975

Criticism

Criticized by 1

  • William James

    criticised by

    In Pragmatism (1907) James quoted Vivekananda, “the paragon of Vedantist missionaries”, as the voice of absolute monism – emotionally reassuring, but rejected for his pluralism; the Varieties (1902) cite his Raja Yoga on mystical states. W. James, Pragmatism (1907), Lecture IV “The One and the Many”; The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), Lectures XVI–XVII

    Evidence: AI draft

    William James › 1842–1910

Works

  • 1896Raja Yoga

    New York lectures with a translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra: yoga as a science of the mind open to everyone.

Position

Vivekananda presented Hinduism to the West as a universal, rational religion with Advaita Vedanta at its summit. All religions, he taught following Ramakrishna, are paths to the same truth; the soul is divine, and the task of life is to manifest that divinity. His “practical Vedanta” turned non-dualism into an ethic of service: to serve the poor is to worship God. He described four yogas – of work, devotion, knowledge and meditation – and in Raja Yoga read Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra as a science of the mind, shaping modern yoga. Scholars debate how far he reshaped the tradition and set a spiritual East against a material West; Hindu nationalists later claimed him.

Life & context

Narendranath Datta was born in 1863 in Calcutta and studied Western philosophy there. In 1881 he met the mystic Ramakrishna, became his disciple and, after his master’s death, took monastic vows as Swami Vivekananda. Having wandered across India, he spoke at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893 and taught in America and England. In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission. He died in 1902.

Further main works

  • Addresses at the Parliament of Religions (1893)
  • Karma Yoga (1896)

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made

Open in the star map