Swami Vivekananda (The Master Builder of Our Nation)

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TO THE RESCUE OF A FRIEND

He had a wonderful capacity to rise up to any occasion and execute even the most difficult task with a superb precision and skill. His presence of mind at critical junctures was extra ordinary and praiseworthy. A number of incidents even in his early youth reflected this quality. Once he went to the Charkha fair with a younger friend. By the time they returned after making their purchases of 'Mahadeva dolls' it had become dark. Naren somehow got separated from his friend. Looking for his friend he found him on the verge of being trampled under the hoofs of a galloping horse. In a split second, Naren dashed towards his friend, caught hold of his hand and pulled him away. If he had lost even a few seconds, a great calamity would have taken place. The bystanders were astonished at his alacrity and praised him for his boldness and presence of mind.

 

ACCIDENT AT GYMNASIUM

Not only was Naren bold and daring, but he also possessed a high sense of duty. There was a gymnasium run by Sri Nabagopal Mitra where he and his friends were regular visitors. One evening the boys were trying to set up a trapeze. An English sailor, who was passing by, came to help them to set up the trapeze. While lifting it, unfortunately it slipped out of their hands and pressed the sailor down unconscious. Thinking him to be dead all but Naren fled away. With great presence of mind, he stayed with him. He tore off a piece of his cloth and bandaged the wound. He taken sprinkled water on his face and fanned him till he regained consciousness. Later, he removed him to a neighboring school-house and called for a doctor to attend on him. With full attention and kindness, Naren nursed him for a week, until he recovered fully and then sent him away after presenting him a purse of money collected from his friends. This humanism was ever present in him and added the much needed soft and cool touch to otherwise fiery personality that he became in his later life.

 

AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

 

UPRIGHTNESS IN ACTION

Physically full of life and vigor, mentally alert and captivating, morally upright and truthful, Naren grew from childhood to youth. He was endowed with a powerful memory and could get by heart long passages with utter ease, greatly impressing his teachers and classmates. There were occasions when for all practical purpose he would appear inattentive, chatting with his friends when the class was on. Teachers would then pull them up but Naren was always ready with quick satisfactory answers, much to the amazement of the teachers, who found it difficult to punish Naren at those times. They would ask the other boys to stand up, as punishment for their inattentiveness. Naren, though he was able to answer the teachers, all the same realized that he was an offender and insisted on sharing the punishment with his friends. His ability to answer the questions came out of his rare capacity to do two things at a time, talking to his friends and listening to the teachers simultaneously. He felt, that his sense of honor as a pupil would be hurt, if he did not undergo the punishment along with his friends.

 

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

His sense of uprightness was couples with his averseness to injustice. Once, he was subjected to a corporal punishment by a teacher. The teacher was rebuking a boy who, instead of feeling sorry, started laughing which made Naren and his friends also break into laughter. At this the teacher got infuriated and turned to Naren and punishes him too, by boxing his ears violently. The ear began to bleed. Naren protested against such punishment. The matter came to the notice of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who had come to the school. He admonished the teacher and consoled Naren and sent him home. At home, his worried mother passed him to keep away from school, but he attended school the very next day as though nothing had happened. Never in his life did he bear any ill-will even towards his worst offenders, a noble trait which truly marked his greatness.

 

INDOMITABLE SPIRTIT

Naren had an indomitable spirit. Nobody could discourage him or dissuade him from what he desired and decided to do. He was still in his school when a British war-ship, SYRAPIS, arrived at the Calcutta port. The ship was open to the public and naturally Naren and his friends wanted to see it. The problem was how to get a pass from the British official in-charge. His office was in upper storey of a building at Chowringhee. The guard at the door would not allow the eleven-year old child applicant to pass through and meet officer. But Naren was bent upon securing a pass and decided to bypass the sentry. He went round the building and soon located a spiral staircase at the back. Unnoticed by anyone he climbed on to the first storey and joined the queue. When his turn came, he saluted the officer and placed the application before him. The kind officer signed the pass. He was very happy. Just to show it to the sentry Naren made it a point to come down by the main staircase, with his face beaming with joy. The astonished sentry asked him how he could go up. With his ready sense of humor he replied that he was a magician.

 

ESCAPE FROM THE BOATMAN

On another occasion, he and his friends got into difficulty with some boatmen. They went to visit the Nawab's zoological garden at Metiaburuz, a suburb of Calcutta. While returning some of the boys developed sickness and started vomiting in the boat. When they reached the bank the boatman would not let them get out unless they cleaned the boat. The boys would not oblige them and there arose a quarrel between the boatmen and the children, Somehow, Naren managed to jump ashore stealthily and ran to the main road to seek help. Encountering a few British soldiers, he narrated the incidents in his boyish broken English and brought them to the scene. The soldiers who had grasped the situation ordered the boatmen to release the children. The boatmen, afraid of the soldiers, immediately set the boys free. Through Naren's courage and presence of mind the boys saved themselves from a very unpleasant situation. They had a hearty laugh as they walked back.

 

UNMASKING A GHOST

Naren had a virile body and sharp intellect. During holidays he and his friends were in the habit of climbing a big tree in the neighbor's compound and boisterously playing about on that, swinging like bats. The old grandfather in the house, did not approve of the young boy's noisy game and would order them to come down. Naren would not obey him and would question him why he should come down. The old man had a story ready and told him one day that a ghost inhabited the tree and would break the neck of anybody who dared to disturb him by climbing up the tree. Naren listened to him politely, but as soon as he was out of sight, climbed up the tree and started swinging again. His friends, made of a lesser mettle, were scared of the ghost and would request Naren not to risk his life. Naren laughed at it in his characteristic jocular manner saying that if in reality there was a ghost, it would have broken his neck long ago.

 

To accept a statement not backed by reason was not in Naren's nature. His sharp intellect revolted against anything which was irrational and false. He kept up this principle even in his relationship with his great Master, Sri Ramakrishna, much to the latter's pride and gratification.

 

Cont.