Swami Vivekananda 4

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Swami Vivekananda: Part 4

 

In the year 1881 Narendra met Sri Ramakrishna for the first time. As it

happened, Sri Ramakrishna had gone to Calcutta to one of his devotee's

house. It was near Narendra's. There devotional musical songs were to be

sung, but singer didn't turn up for the program. Surendra and Ram,

householder devotees of Sri Ramakrishna thought of inviting Narendra to

fill up the gap, for they knew the high capabilities of Narendra in

singing and playing musical instruments. In fact they were Swami

Vivekananda's good friends.

 

Thus came our hero to the house of the devotee and sang one of the most

touching songs, in Bengali. The first lines went like these: 'O mind,

why loiter in this foreign land wearing foreigner's dress and clothes.

Let us go home, to our own land, where we truly belong!' Sri Ramakrishna

was visibly moved by the sincerity and quality of Narendra's singing.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he lovingly got acquainted with Narendra.

He also invited Naren to visit Dakshineswar at his earliest convenience.

 

Moreover, Naren's English teacher in college had once told the class to

visit Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa at Dakshineswar to know the exact

meaning of the word 'trance', for Sri Ramakrishna often went into that

state of superconscious samadhi. Accordingly in the November of 1881, at

the age of eighteen, Narendra went to Dakshineswar with his friends.

 

Sri Ramakrishna treated him with utmost love and familiarity, as if they

knew each other intimately and were meeting not as strangers but as

close old friends!

[sri Ramakrishna in his vision knew Narendra to be a sage who has

accompanied him on the earth to help him in his mission. Sri Ramakrishna

had very vividly described the vision to his devotees. Details is not

given here, for it is too lengthy.]

 

Narendra knew nothing about this. He was totally stranger to Kali

temple, Dakshineswar and Sri Ramakrishna. On seeing Narendra Sri

Ramakrishna was overjoyed, he got up and said, " O Narayana, why did you

take such long to come here? I have been restlessly waiting for you

since long. " Thus saying, he escorted Narendranath to inner room and fed

him with his own hands with sweets and other eatables. Naturally Swami

Vivekananda was puzzled to receive this kind of treatment; this was not

natural reaction between two strangers!

 

Commenting about his first visit later Narendra said, " It was the most

unusual meeting. I couldn't understand the peculiar behaviour of that

'mad, monomaniac Brahmin'. I was reluctant to visit him again, but his

pure love, simplicity, genuine renunciation and love for God pulled me

again and again to him, despite protests of logic and reason. "

 

Continued … 5

 

C S Shah

http://www.neovedanta.org/poetry.html