Swami Vivekananda's Chronological Biography

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Swami Vivekananda Chronology

1863
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
12 January	Swami Vivekananda was born Narendranath Datta at 6:33 am, just after sunrise, at 3 Gourmohan Mukherjee street, Shimla Pally, Kolkata, parent: father Vishwanath Datta, mother: Bhuvaneswari Datta. The day was Hindu festival Makarasamkranti	Image source: Wikimedia Commons	Banhatti p. xiii

1871
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Young Narendranath was enrolled at the Metropolitan Institution of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar	-	Banhatti p. xiii

1877
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Narendranath studied at Metropolitan Institution till 1877, then the Datta family moved to Raipur, Madhya Pradesh	-	Banhatti p. xiii

1879
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Datta family came back to Calcutta, Narendranath joined his old school (Metropolitan Institution), passed Entrance examination, entered Presidency College for higher studies. At Presidency College he was irregular.	-	Banhatti p. xiii

1881
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Narendranath passed the Fine Arts examination	-	Banhatti p. xiii
November	Narendranath met Ramakrishna for the first time at the house of Surendranath Mitra. Narendranath sang few devotional songs, Ramakrishna very much liked young Narendra and invited him to come to Dakshineswar.

1882
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
End of 1881/Beginning of 1882	Narendranath went to Dakshineswar with two friends and met Ramakrishna. This meeting proved to be a turning point in his life.	Images source: Wikimedia Commons	-	-

1884
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Passed Bachelor of Arts Examination from Scottish Church College	-	-
November	Death of Vishwanath Datta, Narendranath's father.	-	-

1885
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
??	Ramakrishna's throat cancer and he was shifted to Calcutta and later to Cossipore.	-	-

1886
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
16 August	At night, death of Ramakrishna	Image source: Wikimedia Commons
19 October	First Ramakrishna Math was founded in a half-ruined house at Baranagar near the river Ganges	-	-
24 December	Took resolution with eight other disciples of Ramakrishna to become Sanyasi in Aantpur.	-	-

1887
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	Sanyasa at Baranagar Math, took the monastic name "Vividishananda"	-	-
??	Compiled a Bengali song anthology named Sangeet Kalpataru with Vaishnav Charan Basak	-	-

1888
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	Left Baranagore Math, started journey as a Wandering Monk, sole possessions were a kamandalu (water pot), staff and his two favourite books: Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ	-	-

1889
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
December	Reached Vaidyanath, from there he went to Kashi.	-	-

1890
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	From Kashi, went to Ghazipur. Reached Kashipur on 22 January. There he met Pavhari Baba, a Hatha Yoga practitioner. Narendranath was suffering from Lumbago at that time. He wished to become a disciple of Pavhari Baba, the night before the initiation, he saw Ramakrishna in his dream, looking at him in a melancholic face. He understood, no one else other than Ramakrishna could be his Master in his life. He cancelled his plan of initiation.	-	-
First half	Death of Balaram Bose and Suresh Chandra Mitra, Narendranath returned to Calcutta.	-	-
July	Left Baranagore monastery with a resolve of not returning there again. Journey to Bhagalpur, Vaidyanath, Almora, Rishikesh .		Badrinath p. 94

1891
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	Set out for Delhi	-	-
February	Arrived at Alwar, stayed for seven weeks	-	-
??	Jaipur, Ajmer and Mount Abu. At Mt. Abu, he met Ajit Singh of Khetri.	-	-

1892
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
Last week of July	Arrived in Bombay and stayed for several weeks.	-	-
24–26 December	Meditated on a rock at Kanyakumari, Kanyakumari resolve	-	-
??	Travelled to Pune, stayed as a house guest of Bal Gangadhar Tilak	-	-
??	Travelled to Kolhapur	-	-
Second fortnight October to 27 October	Stayed in Belgaum	-	-

1893
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
13 February	First public lecture, Secunderabad, South India	-	-
31 May	Started his journey to the West from Bombay	-	-
25 July	Landed at Vancouver, Canada	-	-
30 July	Reached Chicago at 10:30 PM	-	-
August	Joining Parliament of Worlds' Religions became uncertain. Went to Boston to cut off expenditure.	-	-
9 September	Back to Chicago, lost all money, spent the night in a goods train.	-	-
10 September	Tried to beg some money in the streets of Chicago.	-	-
11–27 September	First lecture at the Parliament of the World's Religions, started his lecture with "Sisters and brothers of America", got 2 minutes' standing ovation.	Image source: Wikimedia Commons	-
15 September	Second lecture at the Parliament, told the story of a frog in the well.	-	-
19 September	Third lecture at the Parliament.	-	-
20 September	Fourth lecture at the Parliament.	-	-
25 September	Fifth lecture at the Parliament.	-	-
26 September	Final lecture at the last session of the Parliament.	-	-

1894
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January–February	Lectures at Detroit	-	Banhatti, p. xiv
March–May	Lectures at Boston, Chicago, New York etc	-	Banhatti, p. xiv
16 May	Gave lecture at Harvard University	-	-
June	Lectures at Chicago	-	Banhatti, p. xiv
July-August	Joined Green Acre Religious Conference	-	Banhatti, p. xiv
September–October	Baltimore, Washington	-	Banhatti, p. xiv
November	Founded Vedanta Society of New York	-	-
December	Lectures classed at Brooklyn	-	Banhatti, p. xiv

1895
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	Began classes in New York	-	-
4-18 June	Stayed at Camp Percy, New Hampshire.	-	-
July	Sailed for Europe.	-	-
August-September	Stayed in Paris	-	-
October-November	Lectures in London, first meeting with Sister Nivedita	-	-
December	Returned to the United States, started lectures and classes. J. J. Goodwin, a professional stenographer joined him. These lectures were published in his book Karma Yoga	-	-

1896
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
22-25 March	Gave lecture at Harvard University, offered Eastern Philosophy chair.	-	-
15 April	Returned to London.	Image source: Wikimedia Commons	-
May-July	He went again to England.	-	-
May-July	Classes in London.	-	-
28 May	Met Friedrich Max Müller in Oxford	-	-
August-September	In the Europe for six weeks.	-	-
October-November	Began classes in London.	-	-
30 December	Left Naples for India.	-	-

1897
15 January	Reached Colombo	-	-
26 Jan	Arrived at Pamban, India, received warm welcome.	-	-
27 Jan	Lecture "Real worship" in Rameshwaram temple.	-	-
6-14 Feb	Stayed in Madras (Chennai)	-	-
19 Feb	Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta, India.	-	-
7 March	Celebrated birth anniversary of Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar	-	-
1 May	Founded the Ramakrishna Mission in house of Balaram Bose.	-	-

1898
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January	Returned to Calcutta	-	-
May	Began North India pilgrimage with Western devotees	-	-
2 August	Amarnath, Kashmir	-	-
9 December	First monastery at Belur Math inaugurated.	-	-

1899
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
20 June	Swami Vivekananda sailed for second visit to the West.	-	-
31 July	Reached London	-	-
28 August	Arrived in New York City	-	-
August-November	Stayed at Ridgely Manor, New York, founded "Shanti Ashrama" (peace retreat) at California.	-	-

1900
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
22 February	Arrived in San Francisco.	-	-
14 April	Founded Vedanta Society in San Francisco.	-	-
26 July	Left for Europe.	-	-
3 August	Attended the Congress of Religions, in Paris.	-	-
7 September	Gave lecture at Congress of History of Religions at Exposition.	-	-
24 October	Began tour of Vienna, Constantinople, Greece and Cairo.	-	-
26 November	Left for India.	-	-
9 December	Arrived at Belur Math.	-	-

1901
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
3 January	Vivekananda visited Mayavati, Almora	-	Banhatti p. xv
24 January	Returned to Belur Math	-	Banhatti p. xv
March-May	Pilgrimage in East Bengal and Assam	-	-
18 October	Organised Durga Puja in Belur Math.	-	-
December	Indian National Congress meeting at Calcutta. Meeting with Tilak and other leaders	-	Banhatti p. xv

1902
Date/Month	Event	Image	Source
January-February	Visited Bodh Gaya and Varanasi	-	-
March	Returned to Belur Math	-	-
4 July	Vivekananda sat for meditation at Belur Math, and passed away at ten minutes past nine p.m. at the age of 39 years.	-	-

Sources

We have studied the following books to prepare this chronology—

• Badrinath, Chaturvedi (1 January 2006). Swami Vivekananda, the Living Vedanta. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-14-306209-7
• Banhatti, Gopal Shrinivas (1 January 1995). Life And Philosophy Of Swami Vivekananda. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-7156-291-6
• Chattopadhyaya, Rajagopal (1 January 1999). Swami Vivekananda in India: A Corrective Biography. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-1586-5
• Paranjape, Makarand (13 December 2004). Penguin Swami Vivekananda Reader. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-81-8475-890-0. 

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This page was last updated on: 20 May 2014, 9:32 pm IST (UTC+5:30 hours)
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