Vivekananda Kendra is a Hindu spiritual organisation based on the principles preached by Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...

. It was founded 7 January 1972 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 by Shri Ekanathji Ranade

Eknath Ranade

Eknathji Ramkrishna Ranade was an Indian freedom fighter, a revolutionary. He had completed his M.A. from Nagpur University and an L.L.B. from Sagar University. Eknathji was greatly influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda...

. Its current president is P. Parameswaran

P. Parameswaran

P. Parameshwaran is a renowned Hindutva thinker in Kerala, an orator and a social philosopher. He is the director of Bharatiya Vichara Kendra and the president of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari. He is also one of the founder members of International Forum for India's Heritage...

.
The organisation is most influential in North-East India. It has over 200 full-time dedicated workers and 205 branch centres spread over the 18 States of India. The workers are of three categories:

• Jeevanavrati or life worker, the young men and women who join Kendra for life
• Sevavrati , who joins Kendra for specific period of time
• Vanaprasthi , who join Kendra after their retirement
• Karyakarta , Local workers who does the Nations work without leaving their mundane life

To mould dedicated workers, the Kendra adopts a methodology unique to it by organising 'Yoga varga' (class), 'Bal-samskar varga', 'Swadhyaya varga' and training camps.