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Swami Vivekananda
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Introduction
Vivekananda was born as Narendranath in Calcutta, the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival. He belonged to a traditional Bengali Kayastha (a caste of Hindus) family and was one of the nine siblings.[13] Narendra's father Vishwanath Datta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court.[14] Narendra's mother was a pious woman and a housewife. The progressive rational approach of his father and the religious temperament of his mother helped shape his thinking and personality.[15][16] Young Narendranath was fascinated by the wandering ascetics and monks.[16]
Narendra was an average student, but a voracious reader.[17] He was interested in a wide range of subjects such as philosophy, religion, history, the social sciences, arts, and literature.[18] He evinced interest in the Hindu scriptures such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. He trained in Indian classical music,[19] and participated in physical exercise, sports, and organisational activities.[18] Narendra joined the Metropolitan Institution of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1871 and studied there until 1877 when his family moved to Raipur.[20] The family returned to Calcutta two years later.
[edit] College and Brahmo Samaj
In 1879 after his family moved back to Calcutta, Narendra passed the entrance examination from the Presidency College. He subsequently studied western logic, western philosophy and history of European nations in the General Assembly's Institution (now known as the Scottish Church College).[21][22] In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts examination and in 1884 he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree.[23][24]
Narendra studied the works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Georg W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and Charles Darwin.[25][26] Narendra became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and had correspondence with him;[27][28] he translated Spencer's book Education (1861) into Bengali. Alongside his study of Western philosophers, he was thoroughly acquainted with Indian Sanskrit scriptures and many Bengali works.[26] Dr. William Hastie, principal of General Assembly's Institution, wrote, "Narendra is really a genius. I have travelled far and wide but I have never come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German universities, among philosophical students."[25] Some accounts regard Narendra as a srutidhara—a man with prodigious memory.[29][30][31]
With Ramakrishna guru of Vivekananda.
Narendra's meeting with Ramakrishna in November 1881 proved to be a turning point in Narendra's life.[39] Narendra said about this first meeting that
"Ramakrishna looked just like an ordinary man, with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language and I thought 'Can this man be a great teacher?'. I crept near to him and asked him the question which I had been asking others all my life: 'Do you believe in God, Sir?' 'Yes', he replied. 'Can you prove it, Sir?' 'Yes'. 'How?' 'Because I see Him just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense.' That impressed me at once. [...] I began to go to that man, day after day, and I actually saw that religion could be given. One touch, one glance, can change a whole life."[39][40]
Though Narendra did not accept Ramakrishna as his teacher initially and revolted against his ideas, he was attracted by his personality and started visiting him at Dakshineswar frequently.[41] He initially looked upon Ramakrishna's ecstasies and visions as "mere figments of imagination",[15] and "hallucinations".[42] As a member of Brahmo Samaj, he was against idol worship and polytheism, and Ramakrishna's worship of Kali.[43] He even rejected the Advaitist Vedantism of "identity with absolute" as blasphemy and madness, and often made fun of the concept.[42] Though at first Narendra could not accept Ramakrishna and his visions, he did not neglect him. Instead, he tested Ramakrishna, who faced all of his arguments and examinations with patience—"Try to see the truth from all angles" was his reply.[41] His father's untimely death in 1884 left Narendra's family bankrupt. Unable to find employment and facing poverty, Narendra questioned God's existence.[44] During this time, Narendra found solace in Ramakrishna, and his visits to Dakshineswar increased.[45] Narendra gradually became ready to renounce everything for the sake of realising God. In time, Narendra accepted Ramakrishna as his guru.[41]In 1885, Ramakrishna developed throat cancer and he was transferred to Calcutta and later to Cossipore. Narendra and Ramakrishna's other disciples took care of him during his final days. Narendra's spiritual education under Ramakrishna continued. At Cossipore, Narendra reportedly experienced Nirvikalpa Samadhi.[46] During Ramakrishna's last days, Narendra and some of the other disciples received the ochre monastic robes from Ramakrishna, forming the first monastic order of Ramakrishna.[47] Narendra was taught that service to men was the most effective worship of God.[15][48] During his final days, Ramakrishna asked Narendra Nath to take care of other monastic disciples and in turn asked them to look upon Vivekananda as their leader.[49] Ramakrishna died in the early morning hours of 16 August 1886 at his garden house in Cossipore.[49]
Founding of the Ramakrishna Math
Vivekananda (standing, 3rd from left) and other disciples of Ramakrishna in Baranagar Math, in 1887[50]After the death of Ramakrishna, his devotees and admirers stopped funding the Cossipore math. The unpaid rents soon piled up and Narendra and other disciples of Ramakrishna had to find a new place to live.[51] Many of his disciples returned home and became inclined towards a Grihastha (family-oriented) life.[52] Narendra decided to make a dilapidated house at Baranagar the new math (monastery) for remaining disciples. The rent of the Baranagar Math was cheap and it was funded by "holy begging" (mādhukarī). In his book Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment, Narasingha Prosad Sil writes, "the Math was an adult male haven, a counter–culture community of freedom–seeking youths on the fringe of society and the city".[53] The math became the first building of the Ramakrishna Math—the monastery of the first monastic order of Ramakrishna.[39] Narendra later reminisced about the early days in the monastery:[54]
As a monk wandering in India (1888–1893)
Swami Vivekananda at Jaipur, ca.1885–1893.[57]
Swami Vivekananda location unknown, ca.1888–1893[57]In 1888, Vivekananda left the monastery as a Parivrâjaka— the Hindu religious life of a wandering monk, "without fixed abode, without ties, independent and strangers wherever they go."[58] His sole possessions were a kamandalu (water pot), staff, and his two favourite books—Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ.[59] Vivekananda travelled extensively in India for five years, visiting centres of learning, acquainting himself with the diverse religious traditions and different patterns of social life.[60][61] He developed a sympathy for the suffering and poverty of the masses and resolved to uplift the nation.[60][62] Living mainly on bhiksha (alms), Vivekananda travelled on foot and railway tickets bought by his admirers whom he met during the travels. During these travels he made acquaintance and stayed with Indians from all walks of life and religions—scholars, dewans, rajas, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, pariahs (low caste workers) and government officials.[62]