A respectful homage & floral tribute to Swami Vivekanand as flashed on the f.b. on Jan.24,,2011.

Bishwa Nath Singh

The noble laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had told Romain Rolland: that he wants to know India, read Vivekananda, in him everything is positive and nothing is negative This amply proves as how Gurudev use to hold Swami Vivekanand in his great esteem and use to refer him as the Vedanta Kesari. Let us have a glimpse of this great saga of yester years Swami Vivekanand ( 1863 to 1892)and pay our humble obeisance’s to his lotus feet!

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(Photo of Swami Vivekanand)


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Bishwa Nath Singh:
His Holiness Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on January 12 1863. His name was Narendra Nath. His father, Viswanath Datta, was a well- reputed Attorney and highly respected for his intelligence and culture. His mother, Devi Bhuvan...eshwari, was a very religious woman with an ability to groom her children well Narendra Nath while he was a child demonstrated to be very naughty and self-willed, and often had to be placed under a water tap to curb his mischief. Nevertheless, later on ,he proved himself to be a very generous, loving and devoted, with a strange attraction for wandering Sagas He loved worshipping Lord Rama and Lord Krishna with his mother.He had his early education at home, later he joined the Metropolitan Institution of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1871 and in 1879 he had passed the entrance examination for Presidency College, Calcutta, entering it for a brief period and subsequently shifting to General Assembly's Institution. During the course, he studied western logic, western philosophy and history of European Nations. In 1881 he passed the Fine Arts examination and in 1884 he passed the Bachelor of Arts During his college life ,he proved himself to be a very social student He was rarely absent from social parties. He was known as the "soul of social circles" and no gathering was deemed complete without his presence.He had passion for reading religious books. He had gone about asking prominent residents of contemporary Calcutta whether they had come "face to face with God" but could not get answers that had satisfied him.[His first introduction to his Guru Ramakrishna occurred in a literature class in General Assembly's Institution, when he heard Principal Reverend W. Hastie lecturing on William Wordsworth's poem The Excursion and the poet's nature-mysticism.In the course of explaining the word trance in the poem, Hastie told his students that if they wanted to know the real meaning of it, they should go to Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar. This prompted some of his students, including Narendranath to visit Ramakrishna. One day, his neighbor received a surprise visit from the saint of Dakshineshwar Sri Ramakrishna. Narendra Nath was also invited to sing devotional songs. He thilled the gathering and more over to Swami Ramakrishna until the saint fell into a state of ecstasy. When Swami Ramkrisna became normal, he made Narendra sit beside him and enquired lovingly of the boy. Since then, their relationship grew. His meeting with Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in November 1881 proved to be a turning point in his life The passing away of his father had forced Narendra to find work and support the family. During those years of great struggle, his sheet anchor was his Guru Sri Ramakrishna.He became the ardent disciple of his Guru and leant many things from him at his lotus feet.He was since then known as Swami Vivekananda, founded an Ashram near Calcutta, in order to organize and carry out better the mission of his Guru that was Self-realization. This was the beginning of the Ramakrishna Mission.Swami Vivekananda travelled widely from 1888 to 1890. He went on a pilgrimage all over the country, studying the conditions of the people. Wherever he went, his magnetic personality created a great impression and drew large audience who became his followers. He went to America in 1893 to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. His powerful speech at the opening session of the Parliament brought him instant fame and acclaimed him as a great orator and the most ideal interpreter of our country’s wisdom. His address to gathering as all his brothers and sisters drew great admiration for him instantly made him very popular in America Swami Vivekananda's powerful personality and his passionate call of service of the poor had influenced people all over India and the world. Though, he had arrived in America penniless depending only on God's Grace, but after the Parliament he began to receive the homage and hospitality of all Americans living far and wide. He lectured at all the important centers. As a true saga and being a Sanyasi ( by renouncing all worldly pleasures and going under Phusical penance as a holy saint),he had refused to sell religion for the sake of amassing money. He preached the gospel of unity of faiths and scattered the seeds of purity, knowledge and faith. After his stay of two years in America he toured England and Europe for three months. He had established the Vedanta societies in America and England. Later he sailed back to India and in 1897 founded the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, a philanthropic and spiritual organization The tremendous ovation he received on his return to India in no way took his mind away from his mission of bringing religion to the doors of the poorest. His aim was to awaken the masses by reviving Vedic religion, and to clean it of the dirt and impurity that had clung to it for so many centuries.. Six years of discipleship under Sri Ramakrishna had taken him to the realms of God-vision. Seven years of travelling in India had broadened his outlook on life. Nine years of a national and international career were all that were left for him; yet, how filled with glorious work those nine years were!His gospel was one of hope, faith and strength. He never succumbed to despair, for he knew that India was capable of expansion and growth. His clarion call to the nation was: "Awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached." By the time of his death, He had composed many songs including his favorite Kali the Mother. He used humor in his teachings and was also a good cook who used to prepare lovely dishes for HIS Guru and Goddess Kali.. His language was seen very free flowing. His writings in Bangla stand testimony to the fact that he believed that words - spoken or written - should be for making things easier to understand rather than show off the speaker or writer's knowledge. He entered Mahasamadhi on July 4,1902 at the age of thirty nine years. He had left deep mark of his impression in minds of millions of his followers who adore him the most even today. He had always believed in perfection and reached to perfection as well .Let us join to pay our humble obeisance’s to his lotus feet and pay our respectful homage and rich floral tribute to him! Such great saint is rarely born on this worldly earth.

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Like · 3 people .You, Ak Shrivastava and Anil Kumar like this.

Suzette Hedrick:
Such kindness and serenity in his face and eyes...♥

Anil Kumar ;
Shat Shat NAMAN

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f.b.
Jan.24,2011.