Swami Vivekananda was born in Shimla Pally in Calcutta on 12 January 1863. He was named Narendranath Datta. His fatherVishwanath Datta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court. His mother was Bhuvaneshwari Devi.Narendra left Bombay for Chicago on 31 May 1893 with the name "Vivekananda", as suggested by Ajit Singh of Khetri, which means "the bliss of discerning wisdom," from Sanskrit viveka and ānanda.He was one of the most influential philosophers and social reformers in his contemporary India and the most successful and influential missionaries of Vedanta to the Western world. In last one century, hundreds of scholarly books have been written on Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda represented India at the Parliament of Religion . This was the first World's Parliament of Religions and it was held from 11 to 27 September 1893. Delegates from all over the world joined this Parliament.In 2012 a three-day world conference was organized to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Vivekananda.
