who is swamivivekananda &what is ramakrishna mission?
153175
Swami Vivekananda is considered one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of the Vedanta philosophy and is considered by millions of Indians as well as non-indians as a Messenger of God (like Buddha, Jesus etc) . He was the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and was the founder of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered by many as an icon for his fearless courage, his positive exhortations to the youth, his broad outlook to social problems, and countless lectures and discourses on Vedanta philosophy.\n\nThe Ramakrishna Mission is an association founded by Sri Ramakrishna's chief disciple and religious leader, Swami Vivekananda on May 1, 1897. The Mission carries on missionary and philanthropic work in conjunction with householders (Grihastha) disciples.\n\nThe Ramakrishna Mission acquired a legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity it is closely related to the Ramakrishna Math. The Trustees of the Math are simultaneously the members of the Governing Body. The administrative work of the Mission is mostly in the hands of the monks of Math. The Mission has its own separate funds, for which it keeps detailed accounts, audited annually by chartered accountants. The Math and the Mission both have their Headquarters at Belur Math.
164560
Travel and Preach people and teach them thae values to stick themself to.\n\nLove, humanity, extend a helping hand, doing a favour without expecting one back... You can find one of the persons these days is Shri Satya Sai Baba ..\nhttp://www.srisathyasai.org.in/\n\nAsoka  (an Indian Ruler , once upon a time) was on path of preaching Bhuddism after he saw devastation.
608859
Really complex, but interesting\n\nAyyavazhi அய்யாவழி (Tamil: "path of the father"), officially a Tamil monistic religion that originated in South India in the mid-19th century. The 'zhi' (ழி) in the word, 'Ayyavazhi', is a retroflex, ri.\n\nAyyavazhi functions autonomously. But since it was not recognised as a separate religion it was officially considered as an offshoot of Hinduism. Though it has not received official recognition, it has evolved into a distinctive religious phenomenon, making its presence felt in India's southern districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. As one of the fastest growing religions of southern India, its rapid growth had been noted in the Christian missionary reports of the mid-19th century.\n\nAyyavazhi focuses on Ayya Vaikundar; according to Akilattirattu Ammanai, the holy book of the religion, he was the Manu avatar of Trimurthi. The ideas and philosophy of the religion is based on the teachings of Ayya Vaikundar and the religious texts Akilattirattu Ammanai and Arul Nool.
965969
Whitefield, George (1714-1770), British evangelist and organizer of the Calvinistic Methodists.\n\nWhitefield was born in Gloucester, England, and educated at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. During his undergraduate days Whitefield met John and Charles Wesley and joined the Holy Club, the members of which were known as methodists. In 1736 Whitefield was ordained deacon in the Church of England and two years later followed the Wesley brothers to Savannah, Georgia, as a missionary. Shortly thereafter, Whitefield returned to England and was ordained a priest. Because of his unconventional manner of preaching and conducting services, many Church of England pulpits were closed to him; he therefore began to preach in the open air and attracted vast crowds by his eloquence. In 1739 he returned to America and participated with the American Congregational clergyman Jonathan Edwards in inaugurating the revival movement that later became known as the Great Awakening.\n\nIn 1741 Whitefield went to England to preach, extending his evangelical work to Scotland and Wales. Largely because of differences concerning the question of predestination, Whitefield broke with John Wesley about 1741, although the two men maintained their friendship. After this rupture Whitefield was recognized as leader of the Calvinistic Methodists.\n\nBetween 1744 and 1748, Whitefield again toured the American colonies, drawing enthusiastic crowds. On his return to England in 1748, he became chaplain to the British religious leader Selina Hastings, countess of Huntington, who aided him materially in his evangelical pursuits and enabled him to speak before members of the British nobility. After 1751 Whitefield preached extensively throughout Great Britain and Ireland and in America. He also found time to compile a hymnbook, which appeared in 1753. While in America, again on one of his preaching circuits, he died in 1770.\n\nThe extraordinary influence Whitefield exercised during his lifetime was attributable chiefly to his oratorical skill; he is said to have preached more than 18,000 sermons. His collected writings were published posthumously (7 volumes, 1771-1772).
567110
A worthy proposal !\nIt has been incorporated by some of the most respected Christian innovators of the 20th century.\n\n1) Henry LeSault, A Catholic Priest who also became a Sannyasin\n2) John Main\n3) Monchanin\n\nAre some of the exemples of what you describe.\n\nHenri LeSault has the richest Hindu Christic experience. His Christian roots and the connection with Christ has been totally enriched by the depth of Hinduism and the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
988784
Spirituality is our understanding of the fact that 'I am God'. Everyone is God but yet we keep searching for him all across, its an inward journey, an exploration and an expression.\n\nI think SRCM has done a great work to keep spirituality alive in this world which is so full  of bogus gurus and fraud religious leaders.
208921
Paramahansa Yogananda founded it.  \nYogananda's life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, was published in 1946 and expanded by him in subsequent editions. A perennial best seller, the book has been in continuous publication since it first appeared and has been translated into 18 languages. It is widely regarded as a modern spiritual classic.\n\nIn 1920, Yogananda was invited to serve as India's delegate to an international congress of religious leaders convening in Boston. His address to the congress, on "The Science of Religion," was enthusiastically received. That same year he founded Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India's ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation.\n\nFor the next several years, he lectured and taught on the East coast and in 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. The following year, he established in Los Angeles an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his growing work.\n\nThere is a course you can take to learn his meditation techniques.  It's a very accepting group.  I once belonged, when I was interested in learning more about that form of yoga and meditation.
597780
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1913) \nNobel Prize for Literature \n\nPopularly known as Gurudev, India's most famous writer and poet was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his work Geetanjali, a collection of poems, in 1913. Tagore was also involved in teaching. In 1901 he founded the famous Santiniketan which later came to be known as Vishwabharati University. \n\nDID YOU KNOW? \nRabindranath Tagore is also the author of India's National Anthem.
34771
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (November 7, 1888-November 21, 1970) was an Indian physicist. He was born in Tiruchirapalli, in Tamil Nadu. At an early age Raman moved to the city of Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He completed his BA and MA in Physics and English from Presidency College, Madras. He joined the Indian Civil Services as an Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta (now Kolkata).\nRaman was a professor of Physics at the Calcutta University for the next fifteen years. It was here that his work on optics got recognized.\n\nRaman won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him. Raman spectroscopy is named after him for it uses this effect. It was the first time that an Indian scholar who studied wholly in India received the Nobel Prize.\n\nIn 1934, Raman became director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In 1949, he established the Raman Research Institute.\n\nHe was knighted in 1929 and awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954.\n\nCV Raman is the uncle of Nobel Prize Physics winner Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
603101
Go here, plenty to read on them...\nhttp://www.rickross.com/groups/krishna.html
244254
:}\nSufis is the established mystic movement within Islam.\nlittle is in print regarding the bektashi movement.\nBaba Samit was a Shia Sufi tariqa that gained widespread following in medieval Azerbaijan and Turkey. It is believed to be a branch of Bektashi (Bektaşiyye) tariqat. Baba Samit, according to a legend was the son of Hajji Bektashi Veli, the founder of the movement. from a short article on wikipedia\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Samit\n\nsorry there wasn't more
169028
You mean Sai Baba? If so, he is a real person. I'm not entirely sure how to describe him. He is a sort of religious leader, except he isnt confined to one particular religion. His teachings are mainly about peace and love for all. He says that he isnt God, or an incarnation, but he is able to perform certain things that would be viewed as "miracles" for some.
622833
Mother Teresa – Biography\nMother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje*, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.\n\nOn October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.\n\nToday the order comprises Active and Contemplative branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. In 1963 both the Contemplative branch of the Sisters and the Active branch of the Brothers was founded. In 1979 the Contemplative branch of the Brothers was added, and in 1984 the Priest branch was established.\n\nThe Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They provide effective help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees. The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers.\n\nThe Missionaries of Charity throughout the world are aided and assisted by Co-Workers who became an official International Association on March 29, 1969. By the 1990s there were over one million Co-Workers in more than 40 countries. Along with the Co-Workers, the lay Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa's spirit and charism in their families.\n\nMother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.\n\nFrom Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997 \n\nThis autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
650357
Mother Teresa, whose original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was born on August 26, 1910 in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. She always wrote her birthday as the 27th of August because that was the day of her baptism, which was always more important to her than her birth. For her work with the poor around the world she received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.\n\nIn 1928 she joined a religious order and took the name Teresa. The order immediately sent her to India. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta, and in 1948 the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city's poor people. She became an Indian citizen that same year. In 1950, she founded a religious order in Calcutta called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy and operates hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and the dying poor. It now has branches in 50 Indian cities and 30 other countries.
167227
Ramanujacharya (1017-1137) emphasized devotion to Lord Vishnu in Vaikunth as Lakshmi-Narayan. His doctrine known as vishishth-advait (special non-dual), encompassed the best of both advait and dvait thoughts. The mature devotee acquires divine qualities and is thus in-tune with God, and then offers devotion to God who is distinct, supreme, and eternally possesses a form. His school is also called the Shri Vaishnav sampraday (sect).
55176
A personal spiritual teacher.\nA teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.\nA trusted counselor and adviser; a mentor.\nA recognized leader in a field: the guru of high finance.\nAn acknowledged and influential advocate, as of a movement or idea: “In a culture that worships slimness, he was the Guru of Lean” (Erica Abeel).
804211
I was going to say the exact same.  Ghandi!  Fantastic leader, interesting journey and a lot of things to find to research him.  \nAlso Nelson Mandala, he's still alive today.  Not sure if that's criteria or not...\nAlso, Albert Einstein!  He's lead an interesting life to say the least, and theres plenty of ways you could write an essay on him\nGood luck!