Swami (Skt. svāmin, master; an honorific title for saṃnyāsins and others) Vivekananda was the monastic name of Narendranath Dutt (1863-1902), the first influential Hindu preacher in the West and founder of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, an organization combining the tradition of renouncement (saṃnyāsa) with a program of spiritual teaching abroad and charitable work in India. He upheld Advaita Vedānta, holding it to be n…