Swami Vivekananda : The Legend

Today is the 150th birth anniversary of India's greatest monk Swami
Vivekananda.He was a key figure in the introduction of Indian
philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world and was
credited with raising interfaith awareness,bringing Hinduism to
the status of a major world religion in the late 19th century.
He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India and
contributed to the notion of nationalism in colonial India. He was
the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna and the
founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech beginning with
"Sisters and Brothers of America,"through which he introduced
Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in
1893. SwamiVivekananda, known in his pre-monastic life as
Narendra Nath Datta,was born in an affluent family in Kolkata on
12 January 1863.His father, Vishwanath Datta, was a successful
attorney with interests in a wide range of subjects, and his mother,
Bhuvaneshwari Devi, was endowed with deep devotion,strong
character and other qualities. A precocious boy, Narendra excelled
in music,gymnastics and studies.By the time he graduated from
Calcutta University, he had acquired a vast knowledge of different
subjects, especially Western philosophy and history.Born with
a yogic temperament, he used to practise meditation even from his
boyhood, and was associated with Brahmo Movement for some time.


"As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God."

- Swami Vivekananda

Turning Point of Life:

At the threshold of youth Narendra had to pass through a period of
spiritual crisis when he was assailed by doubts about the existence
of God. It was at that time hefirst heard about Sri Ramakrishna from
one of his English professors at college.One day in November 1881,
Narendra went to meet Sri Ramakrishna who was staying at the Kali
Temple in Dakshineshwar. He straightaway asked the Master a question
which he had put to several others but had received no satisfactory
answer: “Sir, have you seen God?” Without a moment’s hesitation,
Sri Ramakrishna replied: “Yes, I have. I see Him as clearly as I see
you, only in a much intenser sense.”Apart from removing doubts from
the mind of Narendra, Sri Ramakrishna won him over through his pure,
unselfish love. Thus began a guru-disciple relationship which is quite
unique in the history of spiritual masters. Narendra now became a
frequent visitor to Dakshineshwar and, under the guidance of the
Master, made rapid strides on the spiritual path. At Dakshineshwar,
Narendra also met several young men who were devoted to Sri
Ramakrishna, and they all became close friends.Narendra's meeting
with Ramakrishna in November 1881 proved to be a turning point
 in Narendra's life.


"All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything."

- Swami Vivekananda

Beginnings of a Monastic Brotherhood:

Sri Ramakrishna instilled in these young men the spirit of renunciatio
and brotherly love for one another. One day he distributed ochre
robes among them and sent them out to beg food. In this way he
himself laid the foundation for a new monastic order. He gave specific i
nstructions to Narendra about the formation of the new monastic
Order.In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave
up his mortal body.After the Master’s passing, fifteen of his young
disciples(one more joined them later) began to live together in a
dilapidated building at Baranagar in North Kolkata. Under the
leadership of Narendra, they formed a new monastic brotherhood,
and in 1887 they took the formal vows of sannyasa, thereby assuming
new names.Narendra now became Swami Vivekananda (although
this name was actually assumed much later.)After establishing the
new monastic order,Vivekananda heard the inner call for a greater
mission in his life. While most of the followers of Sri Ramakrishna
thought of him in relation to their own personal lives, Vivekananda
thought of the Master in relation to India and the rest of the world.
 As the prophet of the present age, what was Sri Ramakrishna’s
message to the modern world and to India in particular?
 This question and the awareness of his own inherent powers
urged Swamiji to go out alone into the wide world.So in the middle
of 1890, after receiving the blessings of Sri Sarada Devi, the divine
consort of Sri Ramakrishna, known to the world as Holy
Mother, who was then staying in Kolkata, Swamiji left Baranagar
Math and embarked on a long journey of exploration and discovery
of India.



"If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished."

- Swami Vivekananda

Discovery of India:

During his travels all over India, Swami Vivekananda was deeply moved
to see the appalling poverty and backwardness of the masses. He was
the first religious leader in India to understand and openly declare that
the real cause of India’s downfall was the neglect of the masses.The
 immediate need was to provide food and other bare necessities of
life to the hungry millions.For this they should be taught improved
methods of agriculture,village industries, etc.
It was in this context that Vivekananda grasped the crux of the
problem of poverty in India (which had escaped the attention
of social reformers of his days): owing to centuries of oppression,
the downtrodden masses had lost faith in their capacity to
improve their lot. It was first of all necessary to infuse into their
minds faith in themselves. For this they needed a life-giving,
inspiring message.Swamiji found this message in the principle
of the Atman, the doctrine of the potential divinity of the
soul, taught in Vedanta, the ancient system of religious philosophy
of India.
He saw that, in spite of poverty, the masses clung to religion, but
they had never been taught the life-giving, ennobling principles of
Vedanta and how to apply them in practical life.Thus the masses
needed two kinds of knowledge: secular knowledge to improve
their economic condition,and spiritual knowledge to infuse in them
faith in themselves and strengthen their moral sense. The next
question was, how to spread these two kinds of knowledge
among the masses? Through education – this was the answer that
Swamiji found.One thing became clear to Swamiji: to carry out his
 plans for the spread of educationand for the uplift of the poor masses,
and also of women, an efficient organization of dedicated people was
needed.As he said later on, he wanted “to set in motion a machinery
which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and
the meanest.” It was to serve as this ‘machinery’ that Swamiji founded
the Ramakrishna Mission a few years later.


"If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better."

- Swami Vivekananda



World’s Parliament of Religions , 1893:

It was when these ideas were taking shape in his mind in the course of
his wanderings that Swami Vivekananda heard about the World’s
Parliament of Religions to be held in Chicago in 1893. His friends
and admirers in India wanted him to attend the Parliament. He too felt
that the Parliament would provide the right forum to present his
Master’s message to the world, and so he decided to go to America.
Another reason which prompted Swamiji to go to America was to
seek financial help for his project of uplifting the masses.
Swamiji, however, wanted to have an inner certitude and divine call
regarding his mission. Both of these he got while he sat in deep
meditation on the rock-island at Kanyakumari. With the funds partly
collected by his Chennai disciples and partly provided by the
 Raja of  Khetri,Swami Vivekananda left for America from Mumbai
on 31 May 1893.
His speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in September
1893 made him famous as an ‘orator by divine right’ and as a ‘
Messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world’. After the
Parliament, Swamiji spent nearly three and a half years spreading
Vedanta as lived and taught by Sri Ramakrishna, mostly in the eastern
parts of USA and also in London.



"Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth."

- Swami Vivekananda

Back to India and Ramakrishna Mission:

He returned to India in January 1897. In response to the enthusiastic welcome that he received everywhere,
he delivered a series of lectures in different parts of India, which created a great stir all over the
country. Through these inspiring and profoundly significant lectures Swamiji attempted to do the following:

i)   to rouse the religious consciousness of the people and create in them pride in their cultural heritage;
ii)  to bring about unification of Hinduism by pointing out the common bases of its sects;
iii)  to focus the attention of educated people on the plight of the downtrodden masses, and to expound his
      plan for their uplift by the application of the principles of Practical Vedanta.

Soon after his return to Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda accomplished another important task of his mission on
earth. He founded on 1 May 1897 a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna Mission, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries.
In early 1898 Swami Vivekananda acquired a big plot of land on the western bank of the Ganga at a place called Belur to have a permanent abode for the monastery and monastic Order originally started at Baranagar, and got it registered as Ramakrishna Math after a couple of years. Here Swamiji established a new, universal pattern of monastic life which adapts ancient monastic ideals to the conditions of modern life, which gives equal importance to personal illumination and social service, and which is open to all men without any distinction of religion, race or caste.It may be mentioned here that in the West many people were influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s life and message. Some of them became his disciples or devoted friends. Among them the names of Margaret Noble (later known as Sister Nivedita), Captain and Mrs Sevier, Josephine McLeod and Sara Ole Bull, deserve special mention.
Nivedita dedicated her life to educating girls in Kolkata. Swamiji had many Indian disciples also, some of whom joined Ramakrishna Math and became sannyasins.


"Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth."

- Swami Vivekananda

Death:

On 4 July 1902, the day of his death, Vivekananda woke up very early in the morning, went to chapel and meditated for three hours. He taught Shukla-Yajur-Veda, Sanskrit grammar, and yoga philosophy to pupils in the morning at Belur Math.He discussed with colleagues a plan to start a Vedic college in the Ramakrishna Math, and carried out usual conversation. At seven p.m. he went into his room and asked not to be disturbed.Vivekananda died at ten minutes past nine p.m. while he was meditating.According to his disciples, Vivekananda attained Mahasamadhi.
Rupture of blood vessels in the brain was reported as a possible cause of the death.His disciples believed that rupture was on account of Brahmarandhra —the aperture in the crown of the head —being pierced when he attained Mahasamadhi. Vivekananda had fulfilled his own prophecy of not living to be forty years old.He was cremated on sandalwood funeral pyre on the bank of Ganga in Belur. On the other bank of the river, Ramakrishna had been cremated sixteen years before.

"The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free."

-  Swami Vivekananda

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success."

- Swami Vivekananda

For more detail please visit: www.vivekananda.org