Memorable events from the life of Swami Vivekananda - 3

July 5, 1999

Narendra's father, Vishwanath Datta, was well-known for his charity.

Mahendranath Datta, his second son, writes of him: 'The impulse to

help the poor was almost like a disease with him'. In his locality

he was popularly called 'Vishwanath the benevolent', He could hardly

remain silent when he found someone in distress. He would bear

ungrudgingly the educational expenses for the children of his

distant relatives and would go out of his way to alleviate the poverty

of his neighbours. What is striking is, he did not discriminate in

the matters of charity. He would give financial aid even to drug

addicts. Narendranath noticed this and once drew his father's

attention to this gross misuse of money. At this Vishwanath said:

'Life is full of suffering, my son. When you grow up you will

realise this yourself and will have pity even on addicts or those

who take to drink and other vices to get temporary relief from the

endless miseries of life.'

Narendranath found a complete expression of this sympathy in the

life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna who transformed his natural

compassion into love and reverence for everyone and everything.

Sri Ramakrishna taught him that pity is not enough. Man is a living

God. Do we ever think of showing pity to God? No, on the contrary,

we feel blessed to be able to serve and worship Him. Therefore

'pity' is not the right expression. The right kind of attitude

should be to serve 'jiva' as 'Shiva', to serve humanity as the

manifestation of Divinity. None is to be hated, for even the

sinner is essentially the same God. The same 'Narayana' is

present in the guise of a thief or the person lacking culture, as

well as in the righteous and refined.

Swami Vivekananda thus learnt from his Master to treat everyman,

even the fallen one, with respect. He used to say: ' God the

wicked', 'God the Sinner'. He often said: 'If in this hell of a

world one can bring a little joy and peace even for a day into

the heart of a single person, that much alone is true; this I have

learnt after suffering all my life.'

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Taken from the book

" My India The India Eternal " published by

The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta.

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