Swami Vivekananda

PREFACE


Swami Vivekananda's inspiring personality was well known both in India and in
America during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the
twentieth. The unknown monk of India suddenly leapt into fame at the Parliament of
Religions held in Chicago in 1893, at which he represented Hinduism. His vast

knowledge of Eastern and Western culture as well as his deep spiritual insight, fervid
eloquence, brilliant conversation, broad human sympathy, colourful personality, and
handsome figure made an irresistible appeal to the many types of Americans who came
in contact with him. People who saw or heard Vivekananda even once still cherish his
memory after a lapse of more than half a century.


In America Vivekananda's mission was the interpretation of India's spiritual culture,
especially in its Vedantic setting. He also tried to enrich the religious consciousness of
the Americans through the rational and humanistic teachings of the Vedanta
philosophy. In America he became India's spiritual ambassador and pleaded eloquently
for better understanding between India and the New World in order to create a healthy
synthesis of East and West, of religion and science.
In his own motherland Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern India
and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness.


To the Hindus he preached the
ideal of a strength-giving and man-making religion. Service to man as the visible
manifestation of the Godhead was the special form of worship he advocated for the
Indians, devoted as they were to the rituals and myths of their ancient faith. Many
political leaders of India have publicly acknowledged their indebtedness tto Swami

The Swami's mission was both national and international. A lover of mankind, he
strove to promote peace and human brotherhood on the spiritual foundation of the
Vedantic Oneness of existence. A mystic of the highest order, Vivekananda had a
direct and intuitive experience of Reality. He derived his ideas from that unfailing
source of wisdom and often presented them in the soul-stirring language of poetry.



The natural tendency of Vivekananda's mind, like that of his Master, Ramakrishna, was
to soar above the world and forget itself in contemplation of the Absolute. But another
part of his personality bled at the sight of human suffering in East and West alike. It
might appear that his mind seldom found a point of rest in its oscillation between
contemplation of God and service to man. Be that as it may, he chose, in obedience to
a higher call, service to man as his mission on earth; and this choice has endeared him
to people in the West, Americans in particular.
In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863-1902), of which only ten were
devoted to public activities — and those, too, in the midst of acute physical suffering



— he left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and
Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding treatises on Hindu philosophy. In addition, he
delivered innumerable lectures, wrote inspired letters in his own hand to his many
friends and disciples, composed numerous poems, and acted as spiritual guide to the
many seekers who came to him for instruction. He also organized the Ramakrishna
Order of monks, which is the most outstanding religious organization of modern India.

It is devoted to the propagation of the Hindu spiritual culture not only in the Swami's
native land, but also in America and in other parts of the world.
Swami Vivekananda once spoke of himself as a 'condensed India.' His life and
teachings are of inestimable value to the West for an understanding of the mind of
Asia. William James, the Harvard philosopher, called the Swami the 'paragon of
Vedantists.' Max Müller and Paul Deussen, the famous Orientalists of the nineteenth
century, held him in genuine respect and affection. 'His words,' writes Romain Rolland,
'are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of
Handel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the


pages of books, at thirty years' distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like
an electric shock. And what shocks, what transports, must have been produced when in
burning words they issued from the lips of the hero!'
EARLY YEARS
Swami Vivekananda, the great soul loved and revered in East and West alike as the
rejuvenator of Hinduism in India and the preacher of its eternal truths abroad, was born
at 6:33, a few minutes before sunrise, on Monday, January 12, 1863. It was the day of
the great Hindu festival Makarasamkranti, when special worship is offered to the



Ganga by millions of devotees. Thus the future Vivekananda first drew breath when
the air above the sacred river not far from the house was reverberating with the
prayers, worship, and religious music of thousands of Hindu men and women.
Before Vivekananda was born, his mother, like many other pious Hindu mothers, had
observed religious vows, fasted, and prayed so that she might be blessed with a son
who would do honour to the family. She requested a relative who was living in
Varanasi to offer special worship to the Vireswara Siva of that holy place and seek His
blessings; for Siva, the great god of renunciation, dominated her thought. One night
she dreamt that this supreme Deity aroused Himself from His meditation and agreed to
be born as her son. When she woke she was filled with joy.
The mother, Bhuvaneswari Devi, accepted the child as a boon from Vireswara Siva
and named him Vireswara. The family, however, gave him the name of Narendranath
Datta, calling him, for short, Narendra, or more endearingly, Naren.
The Datta family of Calcutta, into which Narendranath had been born, was well known
for its affluence,

philanthropy, scholarship, and independent spirit. The grand father,
Durgacharan, after the birth of his first son, had renounced the world in search of God.
The father, Viswanath, an attorney-at-law of the High Court of Calcutta, was versed in
English and Persian literature and often entertained himself and his friends by reciting
from the Bible and the poetry of Hafiz, both of which, he believed, contained truths
unmatched by human thinking elsewhere. He was particularly attracted to the Islamic
culture, with which he was familiar because of his close contact with the educated



Moslems of North-western India. Moreover, he derived a large income from his law
practice and, unlike his father, thoroughly enjoyed the worldly life. An expert in
cookery, he prepared rare dishes and liked to share them with his friends. Travel was
another of his hobbies. Though agnostic in religion and a mocker of social
conventions, he possessed a large heart and often went out of his way to support idle
relatives, some of whom were given to drunkenness. Once, when Narendra protested
against his lack of judgement, his father said: 'How can you understand the great
misery of

 human life? When you realize the depths of men's suffering, you will
sympathize with these unfortunate creatures who try to forget their sorrows, even
though only for a short while, in the oblivion created by intoxicants.' Naren's father,
however, kept a sharp eye on his children and would not tolerate the slightest deviation
from good manners.
Bhuvaneswari Devi, the mother, was cast in a different mould. Regal in appearance
and gracious in conduct, she belonged to the old tradition of Hindu womanhood. As
mistress of a large h


ousehold, she devoted her spare time to sewing and singing, being
particularly fond of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, large
portions of which she had memorized. She became the special refuge of the poor, and
commanded universal respect because of her calm resignation to God, her inner
tranquillity, and her dignified detachment in the midst of her many arduous duties.
Two sons were born to her besides Narendranath, and four daughters, two of whom
died at an early age.