In this article, I am going to share with you the life of Swami Vivekananda.
Childhood of Swami Vivekananda :
On 12th January, 1863 he was born into a rich family. He was named Narendranath Dutta. And he was affectionately known as Naren. His grandfather, Durgacharan Dutta was a scholar in Sanskrit and Persian languages, and he had studied law and left his home at the age of 25 to become a monk. On the other hand, talking about his father, Vishwanath Dutta, he was also a lawyer in Calcutta High Court. Naren’s father knew many languages like English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic. He used to recite poems daily to Naren and other members of the family because he had studied Hindu scriptures, Bible and Deewan-e-Hafiz in Persian and because of this, Naren had a liberal outlook towards life since his childhood.
Mother’s Advice To Swami Vivekananda :
On the other hand, his mother, Bhubaneswari Devi, was a religious women. She said, ”Naren, people will speak rubbish, so try to protect your dignity but while doing so, do not try to insult the other person”.
Education of Swami Vivekananda :
In 1871, when Naren was 8 years old, he got admission to the Metropolitan Institution. The Head of this institution was Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, the social reformer because of whom widow remarriage could be legalized. Today, this institution is named Vidyasagar College. Naren did his schooling from here. He was very good in both sports and studies. After this, he joined the Presidency College in 1879. It was the same Hindu College founded by David Hare and others under the guidance of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Henry Derozio’s Influence on Swami Vivekananda :
This was the college where Henry Derozio had inculcated the spirit of free thinking into his students. These students were known as Derozians or Young Bengal. And Derozio played an important role in the Bengal Renaissance. So again, Naren studied at a place where students were encouraged to think freely and question everything. The spirit of critical thinking was installed into them. Naren studied the Hindu scripture and western philosophers in detail along with the college education. Some famous names here include Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. In fact, Swami Vivekananda was so impressed by Herbert Spencer, that he translated Spencer’s book ‘Education’ into Bengali.
Influence of Brahmo Samaj on Swami Vivekananda :
Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded Brahmo Samaj. The values of Brahmo Samaj were – 1. Rationalism, 2. Against Caste restrictions, 3. Denounce Idol-worship and polytheism, 4. Toleration and Universal Brotherhood. By the time Swami Vivekananda came along, this group of Brahmo Samaj was divided into several sections or into various factions. After college, Naren joined one of these factions where he found people like himself with similar interests like religion and spirituality.
Swami Vivekananda’s view on Advaita Vedanta :
Several years before this, Adi Shankaracharya gave the principles of Advaita Vedanta based on the Upanishads, ‘Aham Brahmasmi Tvamcha’. ”I am Brahm and so are You. And everything is made from the same Brahm. The soul and its creator are not distinct. So why are there differences between people? Look at yourself how you look at others.” Raja Ram Mohan Roy preached this principle from the Vedanta, and founded Brahmo Samaj and Vedanta College. Later on, Swami Vivekananda led it. So, there is a deep link between Swami Vivekananda and Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
Swami Vivekananda’s Speech About Raja Ram Mohan Roy :
Swami Vivekananda said this about Raja Ram Mohan Roy in a lecture : ”Give as the rose gives perfume, because it is its own nature, utterly unconscious of giving. The great Hindu reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was a wonderful example of such unselfish work. He devoted his whole life to helping India. It was he who stopped the burning of widows. He also founded the important religious society called Brahmo samaj, and subscribed a hundred thousand dollars to fund a university. He then stepped out and told them to go ahead without him. He cared nothing for fame or for results to himself.”
How Swami Vivekananda become a monk from a philosopher ?
One day he had a class in his college, in which Professor William Hastie was teaching a poem, named The Excursion. This was a poem written by William Wordsworth. There is a word in this poem ‘Trance’, then the professor tried to explain the meaning of this word to the students but Naren and the other students couldn’t understand its meaning. So the teacher asked them to go and look at Ramakrishna. And then they would understand the meaning of the word.
Swami Vivekananda’s Meeting With Ramakrishna :
Ramakrishna was at a home in Calcutta for giving a spiritual lecture. So Naren and his friends went there. The devotional singer who was supposed to sing didn’t show up. So, Naren started to sing. Ramakrishna liked the song so he told him to visit Dakshineshwar. When Naren went there, Ramakrishna asked him to sing again. After hearing Naren’s song Ramakrishna told him that he could see Narayan(God) in him.
Naren’s Question to Ramakrishna about God :
Naren had actually asked this question to many people : “Have you ever seen God?”, people would either say no or would deflect from the question while answering it. Then he asked the same question to Ramakrishna. To which Ramakrishna replied, “Yes, I have. The way that I am seeing you here, I’ve seen God the same way. More clearly than now.” Then again Naren would go to visit Ramakrishna. And one day he said that he wanted to test him. At this, Ramakrishna wasn’t angry, rather he said, “Yes sure, do test me.” After that, Naren accepted Ramakrishna as his spiritual teacher.
Naren Experiences Poverty :
In 1884, when Naren was 21 years old, he was about to complete his B.A. , when he got the news of his father’s death. On top of it, It is discovered that there are several loans that need to be repaid. After that, his relatives file a court case regarding the ownership of the property. Naren start’s looking for work but he couldn’t find any. For the first time in his life, he experiences poverty. He experiences how it feels to live in poverty. Even though he was already very compassionate towards the poor, but now he could feel the pain himself. The empathy that he had for the poor people increased manifold.
Naren’s Experience About Poverty :
Later he said this while remembering about this time: “I was dying of starvation. Barefooted, I went from office to office and was refused everywhere. I learnt by experience what compassion if. This was my first contact with the realities of life ; and I discovered it…had no room for the weak, the poor and the deserted.” During this period, there were times when Swami Vivekananda would get very frustrated. And started questioning the existence of God.
Naren’s Frequent visit To Ramakrishna :
During this time, he visits to Ramakrishna became more frequent and Ramakrishna helped calm him. Naren used to meditate since childhood, but learning with Ramakrishna helped increased his expertise in meditation. One day he asked his teacher, to teach him Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest form of meditation. But Ramakrishna explains that it is only an inferior mind that wants to concentrate on meditating. Helping humanity is the most effective form of worshiping God.
Christmas Eve is very famous in the whole world so you should not miss a chance to read this article about the celebration of Christmas Eve around the world: Merry Christmas Eve : How People Around The World Celebrate It ?
Swami Vivekananda travels in India :
In 1888, Swami Vivekananda was then 25 years old, he left his place for meditation to travel across India. He had only his water bottle, a walking stick and two of his favorite books The Bhagvat Gita and Imitation of Christ. During his travels, he went from Lahore to Kanyakumari, sometimes on foot, sometimes on rail. He met many people and had many conversations. People of all race and religions, like Hindu, Muslims, Christians, Kings and Courtiers, Scholars and government employees. Like this, he saw India like never before. In the year 1893, he attends religious conference in Chicago and introduces the Vedanta Philosophy to the rest of the world as well as his ideologies and way of thinking.
