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   Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu   
   monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the   
   Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta   
   and Yoga to the Western    
   world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism   
   to the status of a major world religion. Vivekananda became a popular figure   
   after the 1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he began his famous   
   speech with the words,   
    "Sisters and brothers of America...," before introducing Hinduism to   
   Americans. He was so impactful at the Parliament that an American newspaper   
   described him as “an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest   
   figure at the Parliament”.    
   After great success at the Parliament, in the subsequent years, Vivekananda   
   delivered hundreds of lectures across the United States, England and Europe,   
   disseminating the core tenets of Hindu philosophy, and founded the Vedanta   
   Society of New York and    
   the Vedanta Society of San Francisco (now Vedanta Society of Northern   
   California), both of which became the foundations for Vedanta Societies in the   
   West.   
      
   Born into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family in Calcutta, Vivekananda was   
   inclined from a young age towards religion and spirituality. He later found   
   his guru, Ramakrishna, and became a monk. After the death of Ramakrishna,   
   Vivekananda extensively    
   toured the Indian subcontinent, acquiring first-hand knowledge of the living   
   conditions of Indian people in then British India. Moved by their plight, he   
   resolved to help his countrymen, and found a way to travel to the United   
   States where he was highly    
   successful. In India, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math, which provides   
   spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees, and the Ramakrishna   
   Mission, to provide charity, social work and education. Vivekananda was also a   
   major force in    
   contemporary Hindu reform movements, and contributed to the concept of   
   nationalism in colonial India.  He is regarded as a patriotic saint, and his   
   birthday in India is celebrated as National Youth Day.   
      
   Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta (name shortened to Narendra or   
   Naren)[18] in a Bengali family in his ancestral home at 3 Gourmohan Mukherjee   
   St. in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 Jan 1863 during the Makar   
   Sankranti festival. He    
   belonged to a traditional family and was one of nine siblings. His father,   
   Vishwanath Datta, was an attorney at the Calcutta High Court. Durgacharan   
   Datta, Narendra's grandfather was a Sanskrit and Persian scholar who left his   
   family and became a monk at    
   age 25. His mother, Bhubaneswari Devi, was a devout housewife. The   
   progressive, rational attitude of Narendra's father and the religious   
   temperament of his mother helped shape his thinking and personality.   
   Narendranath was interested in spirituality from    
   a young age and used to meditate before the images of deities such as Shiva,   
   Rama, Sita, and Mahavir Hanuman. He was fascinated by wandering ascetics and   
   monks. Narendra was mischievous and restless as a child, and his parents often   
   had difficulty    
   controlling him. His mother said, "I prayed to Shiva for a son and he has sent   
   me one of his demons".   
      
   In 1871, at the age of 8, Narendranath enrolled at Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's   
   Metropolitan Institution, where he went to school until his family moved to   
   Raipur in 1877. In 1879, after his family's return to Calcutta, he was the   
   only student to receive    
   first-division marks in the Presidency College entrance examination.  He was   
   an avid reader in a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, religion,   
   history, social science, art and literature. He was also interested in Hindu   
   scriptures, including    
   the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata   
   and the Puranas. Narendra was trained in Indian classical music, and regularly   
   participated in physical exercise, sports and organised activities. Narendra   
   studied Western logic,    
   Western philosophy and European history at the General Assembly's Institution   
   (now known as the Scottish Church College). In 1881, he passed the Fine Arts   
   examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884. Narendra studied   
   the works of David    
   Hume, Kant, Fichte, Spinoza, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Comte, John Stuart Mill and   
   Darwin. He became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and   
   corresponded with him, translating Herbert Spencer's book Education (1861)   
   into Bengali. While    
   studying Western philosophers, he also learned Sanskrit scriptures and Bengali   
   literature.   
      
   William Hastie (principal of Christian College, Calcutta; from where Narendra   
   graduated) wrote, "Narendra is really a genius. I have travelled far and wide   
   but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in   
   German universities,    
   among philosophical students. He is bound to make his mark in life".   
      
   Narendra was known for his prodigious memory and the ability at speed reading.   
   Several incidents have been given as examples. In a talk, he once quoted   
   verbatim, two or three pages from Pickwick Papers. Another incident that is   
   given is his argument with    
   a Swedish national where he gave reference to some details on Swedish history   
   that the Swede originally disagreed with but later conceded. In another   
   incident with Dr. Paul Deussen's at Kiel in Germany, Vivekananda was going   
   over some poetical work and    
   did not reply when the professor spoke to him. Later, he apologised to Dr.   
   Deussen explaining that he was too absorbed in reading and hence did not hear   
   him. The professor was not satisfied with this explanation, but Vivekananda   
   quoted and interpreted    
   verses from the text, leaving the professor dumbfounded about his feat of   
   memory. Once, he requested some books written by Sir John Lubbock from a   
   library and returned them the very next day, claiming that he had read them.   
   The librarian refused to    
   believe him, until cross-examination about the contents convinced him that   
   Vivekananda was indeed being truthful.   
      
   Some accounts have called Narendra a shrutidhara (a person with a prodigious   
   memory).   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda   
      
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