Swami.vivekananda Books

[Florentina Holcombe]

Borninto an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family in Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined from a young age towards religion and spirituality. He later found his guru Ramakrishna and became a monk. After the death of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda extensively toured the Indian subcontinent as a wandering monk and acquired first-hand knowledge of the living conditions of Indian people in then British India. Moved by their plight, he resolved to help them and found a way to travel to the United States, where he became a popular figure after the 1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago at which he delivered his famous speech beginning with the words: "Sisters and brothers of America ..." while introducing Hinduism to Americans.[10][11] He made such an impression there that an American newspaper described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament".[12]

After great success at the Parliament, in the subsequent years, Vivekananda delivered hundreds of lectures across the United States, England, and Europe, disseminating the core tenets of Hindu philosophy, and founded the Vedanta Society of New York and the Vedanta Society of San Francisco (now Vedanta Society of Northern California),[13] both of which became the foundations for Vedanta Societies in the West. In India, he founded the Ramakrishna Math, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householders, and the Ramakrishna Mission, which provides charity, social work and education.[7]

Vivekananda was one of the most influential philosophers and social reformers in his contemporary India, and the most successful missionary of Vedanta to the Western world. He was also a major force in contemporary Hindu reform movements and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.[14] He is now widely regarded as one of the most influential people of modern India and a patriotic saint. His birthday in India is celebrated as National Youth Day.[15][16]

Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta (name shortened to Narendra or Naren)[18] in a Bengali Kayastha family[19][20] in his ancestral home at 3 Gourmohan Mukherjee Street in Calcutta,[21] the capital of British India, on 12 January 1863 during the Makar Sankranti festival.[22] He belonged to a traditional family and was one of nine siblings.[23] His father, Vishwanath Datta, was an attorney at the Calcutta High Court.[19][24] Durgacharan Datta, Narendra's grandfather was a Sanskrit and Persian scholar[25] who left his family and became a monk at age twenty-five.[26] His mother, Bhubaneswari Devi, was a devout housewife.[25] The progressive, rational attitude of Narendra's father and the religious temperament of his mother helped shape his thinking and personality.[27][28] Narendranath was interested in spirituality from a young age and used to meditate before the images of deities such as Shiva, Rama, Sita, and Mahavir Hanuman.[29] He was fascinated by wandering ascetics and monks.[28] Narendra was mischievous and restless as a child, and his parents often had difficulty controlling him. His mother said, "I prayed to Shiva for a son and he has sent me one of his demons".[26]

In 1871, at the age of eight, Narendranath enrolled at Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Metropolitan Institution, where he went to school until his family moved to Raipur in 1877.[30] In 1879, after his family's return to Calcutta, he was the only student to receive first-division marks in the Presidency College entrance examination. [31] He was an avid reader in a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, religion, history, social science, art and literature.[32] He was also interested in Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Narendra was trained in Indian classical music,[33] and regularly participated in physical exercise, sports and organised activities. Narendra studied Western logic, Western philosophy and European history at the General Assembly's Institution (now known as the Scottish Church College).[34] In 1881, he passed the Fine Arts examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884.[35][36] Narendra studied the works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Baruch Spinoza, Georg W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Auguste Comte, John Stuart Mill and Charles Darwin.[37][38] He became fascinated with the evolutionism of Herbert Spencer and corresponded with him,[39][40] translating Herbert Spencer's book Education (1861) into Bengali.[41] While studying Western philosophers, he also learned Sanskrit scriptures and Bengali literature.[38]

William Hastie (principal of Christian College, Calcutta; from where Narendra graduated) 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. He is bound to make his mark in life".[42]

Narendra was known for his prodigious memory and the ability at speed reading. Several incidents have been given as examples. In a talk, he once quoted verbatim, two or three pages from Pickwick Papers. Another incident that is given is his argument with a Swedish national where he gave reference to some details on Swedish history that the Swede originally disagreed with but later conceded. In another incident with Dr. Paul Deussen's at Kiel in Germany, Vivekananda was going over some poetical work and did not reply when the professor spoke to him. Later, he apologised to Dr. Deussen explaining that he was too absorbed in reading and hence did not hear him. The professor was not satisfied with this explanation, but Vivekananda quoted and interpreted verses from the text, leaving the professor dumbfounded about his feat of memory. Once, he requested some books written by Sir John Lubbock from a library and returned them the very next day, claiming that he had read them. The librarian refused to believe him, until cross-examination about the contents convinced him that Vivekananda was indeed being truthful.[43]

In 1880, Narendra joined Keshab Chandra Sen's Nava Vidhan, which was established by Sen after meeting Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and reconverting from Christianity to Hinduism.[45] Narendra became a member of a Freemasonry lodge "at some point before 1884"[46] and of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his twenties, a breakaway faction of the Brahmo Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen and Debendranath Tagore.[45][34][47][48] From 1881 to 1884, he was also active in Sen's Band of Hope, which tried to discourage youths from smoking and drinking.[45]

It was in this cultic[49] milieu that Narendra became acquainted with Western esotericism.[50] His initial beliefs were shaped by Brahmo concepts, which denounced polytheism and caste restrictions,[29][51] and a "streamlined, rationalized, monotheistic theology strongly coloured by a selective and modernistic reading of the Upanisads and of the Vedanta."[52] Rammohan Roy, the founder of the Brahmo Samaj who was strongly influenced by unitarianism, strove towards a universalistic interpretation of Hinduism.[52] His ideas were "altered [...] considerably" by Debendranath Tagore, who had a romantic approach to the development of these new doctrines, and questioned central Hindu beliefs like reincarnation and karma, and rejected the authority of the Vedas.[53] Tagore also brought this "neo-Hinduism" closer in line with western esotericism, a development which was furthered by Sen.[54] Sen was influenced by transcendentalism, an American philosophical-religious movement strongly connected with unitarianism, which emphasised personal religious experience over mere reasoning and theology.[55] Sen strived to "an accessible, non-renunciatory, everyman type of spirituality", introducing "lay systems of spiritual practice" which can be regarded as an influence to the teachings Vivekananda later popularised in the west.[56]

Not satisfied with his knowledge of philosophy, Narendra came to "the question which marked the real beginning of his intellectual quest for God."[47] He asked several prominent Calcutta residents if they had come "face to face with God", but none of their answers satisfied him.[57][36] At this time, Narendra met Debendranath Tagore (the leader of Brahmo Samaj) and asked if he had seen God. Instead of answering his question, Tagore said, "My boy, you have the Yogi's eyes."[47][41] According to Banhatti, it was Ramakrishna who really answered Narendra's question, by saying "Yes, I see Him as I see you, only in an infinitely intenser sense."[47] According to De Michelis, Vivekananda was more influenced by the Brahmo Samaj's and its new ideas, than by Ramakrishna.[56] Swami Medhananda agrees that the Brahmo Samaj was a formative influence,[58] but that "it was Narendra's momentous encounter with Ramakrishna that changed the course of his life by turning him away from Brahmoism."[59] According to De Michelis, it was Sen's influence which brought Vivekananda fully into contact with western esotericism, and it was also via Sen that he met Ramakrishna.[60]

Narendra's first introduction to Ramakrishna occurred in a literature class at General Assembly's Institution when he heard Professor William Hastie lecturing on William Wordsworth's poem, The Excursion.[51] While explaining the word "trance" in the poem, Hastie suggested that his students visit Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar to understand the true meaning of trance. This prompted some of his students (including Narendra) to visit Ramakrishna.[62][63][64]

They probably first met personally in November 1881,[note 1] though Narendra did not consider this their first meeting, and neither man mentioned this meeting later.[62] At this time, Narendra was preparing for his upcoming F. A. examination, when Ram Chandra Datta accompanied him to Surendra Nath Mitra's, house where Ramakrishna was invited to deliver a lecture.[66] According to Makarand Paranjape, at this meeting Ramakrishna asked young Narendra to sing. Impressed by his singing talent, he asked Narendra to come to Dakshineshwar.[67]

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