Living mainly on bhiksha ( alms ), Vivekananda travelled on foot and railway tickets bought by his admirers whom he met during the travels.

Later Vivekananda travelled to Bangalore, where he became acquainted with K. Seshadri Iyer, the Dewan of the Mysore state, and stayed at the palace as a guest of the Maharaja of Mysore, Chamaraja Wodeyar.

Vivekananda had earlier inspired Jamsetji Tata to set up a research and educational institution when they had travelled together from Yokohama to Chicago on Vivekananda's first visit to the West in 1893.

Ramakrishna's most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda, travelled to the United States in the 1890s where he formed the Vedanta Society.

Furthermore, although Atkinson may have travelled to Chicago to visit the 1892-1893 World's Columbian Exposition, where the authentic Indian yogi Swami Vivekananda attracted enthusiastic audiences, he is only known to have taken up residence in Chicago around 1900 and to have passed the Illinois Bar Examination in 1903.

She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta, India ( present-day Kolkata ) in 1898.

She travelled a lot of places in India, including Kashmir, with Swami Vivekananda, Josephine Mcleod and Sara Bull and this helped her in connecting to Indian masses, Indian culture and its history.

In summer of 1898 Nivedita travelled to Amarnath with Swami Vivekananda.

Later in 1899 she travelled to America with Swami Vivekananda and stayed in Ridgely Manor.

After the death of his guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, extensively touring the Indian subcontinent and acquiring first-hand knowledge of conditions in India.

After an accidental meeting between Jamsetji N. Tata and Swami Vivekananda on a ship in 1893 where they discussed Tata's plan of bringing the steel industry to India, Tata wrote to Vivekananda five years later:

In India Vivekananda is regarded as a patriotic saint of modern India and his birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day.

Rabindranath Tagore's suggestion ( to Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland ) was – " If you want to know India, study Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Dutta in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival.

Vivekananda Temple on Vivekananda rock at Kanyakumari ( town ) | Kanyakumari, India

At Kanyakumari, Vivekananda had the " Vision of one India ", also commonly called " The Kanyakumari resolve of 1892 ".

Dr. Barrows, the president of the Parliament said, " India, the Mother of religions was represented by Swami Vivekananda, the Orange-monk who exercised the most wonderful influence over his auditors.

Vivekananda wrote several letters to India, giving advice and sending money to his followers and brother monks.

Vivekananda left for India on 16 December 1896 from England with his disciples, Captain and Mrs. Sevier, and J. J. Goodwin.

In the background of germinating nationalism in the British-ruled India, Vivekananda crystallised the nationalistic ideal.

More than any other single individual of that period Vivekananda had made his contribution to the new awakening of India.

The first governor general of independent India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, said " Vivekananda saved Hinduism, saved India.

" According to Subhas Chandra Bose, a major proponent of armed struggle for Indian independence, Vivekananda " is the maker of modern India "; for Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda's influence increased his " love for his country a thousandfold.

Swami Vivekananda statue near Gateway of India, Mumbai.

Many years after Vivekananda's death, Rabindranath Tagore told French Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland, " If you want to know India, study Vivekananda.

Vivekananda argued that the explanation of the Shiva-Linga as a phallic emblem was brought forward by the most thoughtless, and was forthcoming in India in her most degraded times, those of the downfall of Buddhism.

Swami Vivekananda was the chief architect who profoundly projected the rich culture of India to the west at the end of 19th century.

Youth Day in India is celebrated on 12 January on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda.

In 1984, the Government of India declared and decided to observe the Birthday of Swami Vivekananda ( 12 January, according to the English calendar ) as National Youth Day every year from 1985 onwards.

* Swami Vivekananda Centre for Technical Manpower Development

Vivekananda endorsed the project with enthusiasm, and Tata, with the aim of advancing the scientific capabilities of the country, constituted a Provisional Committee to prepare a plan for setting up of an Institute of research and higher education.

During this period, Vivekananda returned to Baranagar Math a few times, because of ill health and to arrange for monetary funds after Balaram Bose and Suresh Chandra Mitra, the disciples of Ramakrishna who sponsored the Math had died.

At Kanyakumari, the Swami meditated on the " last bit of Indian rock ", famously known later as the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, for three days.

With the aid of funds collected by his Madras disciples and Rajas of Mysore, Ramnad, Khetri, Dewans and other followers, Vivekananda left for Chicago on 31 May 1893 from Bombay assuming the name Vivekananda — the name suggested by the Maharaja of Khetri, Ajit Singh.

On learning that Vivekananda lacked credential to speak at the Chicago Parliament, Wright is quoted as having said, " To ask for your credentials is like asking the sun to state its right to shine in the heavens.

" Eventually in 1895, money sent by Vivekananda was used to start the periodical Brahmavadin, for the purpose of teaching the Vedanta.

On 1 May 1897 at Calcutta, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission — the organ for social service.

Vivekananda visited western Punjab with the mission of establishing harmony between the Arya Samaj which stood for reinterpreted Hinduism and the Sanatanaists who stood for orthodox Hinduism.

Vivekananda once again left for the West in June 1899 despite his declining health.

The Paris addresses are memorable for the scholarly penetration evinced by Vivekananda related to the worship of Linga and authenticity of the Gita.

On the day of his death he woke up very early in the morning, went to chapel and meditated for three hours, sang a song on Kali and then he whispered, " If there were another Vivekananda, then he would have understood what this Vivekananda has done!

This is remembered as the place where Swami Vivekananda stayed for nine days when he visited Chennai in 1897.

" Vivekananda drew the attention towards the prevalence of poverty in the country, and maintained that addressing such poverty was prerequisite for the national awakening.

* Swami Vivekananda said that there are many incompetent gurus, and that a true guru should understand the spirit of the scriptures, have a pure character and be free from sin, and should be selfless, without desire for money and fame.

As Swami Vivekananda said, " Would it be right for an old man to say that childhood is sin or youth is sin?

The new movements look up to Swami Vivekananda ; Rabindranath Tagore ; Ramana Maharshi ; Shri Aurobindo ( for his Integral Yoga ); Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ( founder of the modern Hare Krishna movement ); Swami Sivananda, Swami Rama Tirtha ; Narayana Guru, Jagadguru Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi, Paramhansa Yogananda ; Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.