Guest guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Vivekananda was the chiefest of Ramakrishna Paramahansa's disciples, which to me says plenty about him...he was known as Narendra, and was a modern young man that had little patience with the old ways of India, which included traditional Brahmin priesthood such as Ramakrishna. It also says much that Ramakrishna's shining spiritual sincerity overcame the prejudices of this ardent young man who was intent on social reform.He was very much a spokesman for the downtrodden and the disabled. When he begged Ramakrishna to ask Kali Ma to help his material situation, which was, at the time, quite dire (his father had died, throwing his family into severe poverty), Ramakrishna insisted that he ask Kali himself. But when Narendra went before the Mother, he lost all recollection of what he wanted, and begged instead for knowledge and devotion. When he returned to Ramakrishna, he asked, "Well, did the Mother grant your wish for material prosperity?" Narendra shook his head in disbelief. "No, I forgot to ask her!" Ramakrishna shook his head and sent him into the temple again, but once more Narendra found himself unable to ask for anything but spiritual benefit. He tried yet a third time, but it was no use. The only words that would come out of his mouth before the Mother were "Please, Mother, grant me only pure knowledge and devotion!" Lilith M. --- Mary Ann <buttercookie61 wrote: > > I came across the below quote the other day and > wanted to share it > with the group. Are any of you familiar with Swami > Vivekananda's > writings enough to share any thoughts/feelings about > the works, or > their author? > > "All love is expansion, all selfishness is > contraction. Love is > therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, > he who is > selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, > because it is > law of life, just as you breathe to live." -- Swami > Vivekananda > > Mary Ann > > > > > > Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail./mail_250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Dear Mary Ann, Kindly read "They Lived with God" and "God Lived with Them". Both are written by Swami Chetanananda to know about Swamiji and his other 15 monistic direct disciples of Thakur (Ramakrishna Paramhamsa) along with Thakur's household devotees (the greatest among them being Nag mahasaya). Thakur used to fondly compare Vivekananda and Nag mahasaya by saying "Naren has made himself so big in spiritualism that Mahamaya cannot ensnare him with her noose while Nag mahasaya has made himself so humble before the Mother of the universe that he is too small to be ensnared". Both books are a must read for all devi bhaktas. Satyen --- Mary Ann wrote: > > I came across the below quote the other day and > wanted to share it > with the group. Are any of you familiar with Swami > Vivekananda's > writings enough to share any thoughts/feelings about > the works, or > their author? > > "All love is expansion, all selfishness is > contraction. Love is > therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, > he who is > selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, > because it is > law of life, just as you breathe to live." -- Swami > Vivekananda > > Mary Ann > > > > > > Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail./mail_250 The all-new My – What will yours do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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