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Through the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda we come to understand these teachings and message of Sri Ramakrishna. It was Swami Vivekananda who interpreted the life of his Guru and spread its unique relevance for the modern world. For life of Swami Vivekananda please visit: Swami Vivekananda

The essence of the teachings of Swami Vivekananda was Advaita Vedanta as revealed in the life of his Master, Sri Ramakrishna. The main points of his teachings are: 1) that each soul is potentially Divine, 2) the goal of human birth is to realize this Divinity within and manifest it for the welfare of the humanity, and 3) Essentially all religions lead to the same realization.

The important point to note is Swami Vivekananda's insistence on individual liberation as a priority over the efforts to 'do good to the world'. The idea is to strive for special state or plane of consciousness that would lead a person to realize his or her true nature. Achieving such exalted state of altered consciousness forms the basis for human actions. Every human act should have this aim in sight, even in 'service to humanity and renunciation of sense pleasures'. Thus, religion or spirituality for the Swami was an act of inching higher and higher on the steps of consciousness, from animal consciousness to human consciousness, and from human consciousness to Divine Consciousness.