Vivekananda

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and BE FREE. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details."

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was born Narendranath Datta (or Narendra for short) on January 12, 1863 into a wealthy Calcutta family. The young Narendra developed a special fondness for wandering monks, whose very sight would greatly excite him. One day when such a monk appeared at the door and asked for alms, Narendra gave him his only possession, the tiny piece of new cloth that was wrapped around his waist. Thereafter whenever a monk was seen in the neighbourhood, Narendra would be locked in a room. Even then he would throw out of the window whatever he found near at hand as an offering to the holy man.

With a worldly father and spiritual mother, Narendra developed an understanding of both worlds (spiritual and practical), including the knowledge of the Hindu deities and spiritual practices. "For a time the congregational prayers and the devotional songs of the Brahmo Samaj exhilarated Narendra's mind, but soon he found that they did not give him any real spiritual experience. He wanted to realise God, the goal of religion. He began going from one spiritual leader to another asking "Sir, have you seen God?" None gave an acceptable response to his question. Eventually he heard about a spiritual man by the name of Ramakrishna, with whom he was to eventually meet in February of 1881. Narendra was to find in Ramakrishna a teacher of great presence and knowledge.

For five years Narendra closely watched the Master, never allowing himself to be influenced by blind faith, always testing the words and actions of Sri Ramakrishna in the crucible of reason. It cost him many sorrows and much anguish before he accepted Sri Ramakrishna as the guru and the ideal of his spiritual life. But when the acceptance came, it was wholehearted, final and irrevocable. The Master, too was overjoyed to find a disciple who doubted, and he knew that Naren was the one to carry his message to the world.

The inner change within Narendra began to be noticed by those around him, although the process will for ever remain, like all deep spiritual mysteries, unknown to the outer world. Ramakrishna never once asked Narendra to abandon reason. He met the challenge of Narendra's intellect with his superior understanding, acquired through first hand knowledge of the essence of things. When Narendra's reasoning failed to solve the ultimate mystery, the teacher gave him the necessary insight. Thus with patience, love and vigilance, he tamed the rebellious spirit, demanding complete obedience to moral and spiritual disciplines, without which the religious life cannot be built on a firm foundation.

Narendra was with his teacher and master Sri Ramakrishna for six years. He always came to him in the hours of his spiritual difficulties. One time he complained that he could not meditate in the morning on account of the shrill note of a whistle from a neighbouring mill and was advised by Ramakrishna to concentrate on the very sound of the whistle. In a short time he overcame the distraction. Another time he found it difficult to forget the body at the time of meditation. Sri Ramakrishna sharply pressed the space between Narendra's eyebrows and asked him to concentrate on that sensation. The disciple found this method effective.

As the years passed, so too did he achieve greater and greater depths of understanding. Time and time again he sat silently in contemplation gathering an understanding of the presence that dwelt both without and within.

Some time after Ramakrishna's death, his chosen disciples performed the formal sacrifice called viraja and took the monastic vows of celibacy and poverty. Further, they dedicated their lives to the realisation of God and the service of men. They assumed new names to signify their utter severance from the world. Narendra, who later became world famous as Swami Vivekananda, did not take that name until his departure for America in 1893.

During the years following 1893, he followed a rigorous schedule of talks and meetings in America and Europe. His first great appearance was as a representative of the Hindu faith at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. His vast knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as his deep spiritual insight, fervid eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy, colourful personality, and handsome figure made an irresistible appeal to the many types of Americans who came into contact with him. People who saw or heard Vivekananda only once cherished his memory even after a lapse of more than half a century.

In America, Vivekananda's mission was the interpretation of India's spiritual culture, especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the religious consciousness of the Americans through the rational and humanistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy. In America he became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.

The Swami's mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind, he strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda had a direct and intuitive experience of the Reality. He derived his ideas from that unfailing source of wisdom and often presented them in the soul stirring language of poetry. He also wrote of the different yoga's - Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga, and organised the Ramakrishna Order of monks which is devoted to the propagation of the Hindu spiritual culture not only in the Swami's native land but also in America and other parts of the the world.

He died in the year 1902.

Extracts from "Vivekananda - A Biography" by Swami Nikhilananda. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre of New York ISBN 0 911206 25 6

Back to Top?