Swami Vivekananda

Born Narendranath Datta in 1863, he met the mystic Ramakrishna at 18 and became his chief disciple, eventually taking vows as a renunciate. After Ramakrishna's death, he wandered the Indian subcontinent as a monk, witnessing the brutal conditions of the masses under British rule and searching for ways to ease their suffering - but lacking capital. His 1893 trip to Chicago changed that: his landmark address on religious tolerance and Hindu thought made him famous, and he spent the next years lecturing across the United States, Britain, and Europe, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga while founding the Vedanta Societies of New York and San Francisco. Back in India, he established the Ramakrishna Math for monastic training and the Ramakrishna Mission for social services and education. He died in 1902 at 39; his birthday is now National Youth Day in India.