Naren Becomes Swami Vivekananda - The Master Connected India To The World - 3
Posted: Thursday, January 20, 2011
by Drunken Mystic
http://drunkenmystic.wordpress.com
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success - that is the way great spiritual giants are produced." – Swami Vivekananda
By the time Naren was convinced about his relationship with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the master had already chosen most of his disciples who would work towards the fulfilment of his mission. On one hand the British Empire was bringing the influence of Christianity through conversions and spiritually, India was going through the “Bhakti (devotional) Movement" to resist the conquest of the Christian missionaries through the works of many other saints like Lahiri Mahasaya (Autobiography of a Yogi) and Trailanga Swami. This looked like as if it was already preordained that such great avatars had to incarnate to save mankind which was plunging into religious ignorance.
Although Sri Ramakrishna always showered more love on Naren, he never let his other disciples ever feel discriminated. He always educated them to live together and support each other with love. Sri Ramakrishna also often used to tell Naren that he would be their leader, teacher and guardian after his passing. The days were closing in for Sri Ramakrishna as his throat cancer was worsening and doctors had advised him complete rest. But the master never obeyed and continued to talk to his devotees and disciples until his last breath.
The master was shifted to Cossipore in a garden house on
Right before his death, Sri Ramakrishna called Naren to sit beside him and gave him the responsibility of the mission. He passed on his spiritual mantle to Naren and said “I have given you all my spiritual powers and have nothing left with me. It is up to you now to continue with the good work" – Film on Swami Vivekananda. He slowly concentrated on his third eye and entered into a deep state of trance and breathed his last on
Naren took up the responsibility of forming the new monastic brotherhood, under the ancient order of Sannyasa. This order was set up by the great reformer/saint, Adi Sankaracharya around 700 A.D. The monk chooses a name or allows his master to choose it. The names usually end with Ananda which means bliss and is prefixed with Swami. Swami is used because the monk has vowed in front of the fire to burn all his past attachments of family bondage, worldly life and surrendered to become the son of God. So if one chooses the name as Vivekananda it literally means – bliss of discriminative wisdom.
After choosing a name, they choose a title. There are basically ten which are - Saraswati, Bharti, Tirth, Puri, Giri, Ashram, Vana, Aranya, Sagar and Parvat.
Naren chose his initiate name as Swami Vivekananda. The others were, Rakhal – Swami Brahmananda, Baburam – Swami Premananda, Yogindra – Swami Yogananda, Niranjan – Swami Niranjananda, - Sharat – Swami Saradananda, Tarak – Swami Shivananda, Shashi – Swami Ramakrishnananda, Kali – Swami Abhedananda, Latu – Swami Adbhutananda, Gopal – Swami Advaitananda, Harinath – Swami Turiyananda, Sarada Prasanna – Swami Trigunatitananda, Gangadhar – Swami Akhandananda, Subodh – Swami Subodhananda, Hariprasanna – Swami Vijanananda.
Soon after the master’s passing, all of them took their monastic vows, and lived together in a broken house in Baranagar in Kolkatta. Swami Vivekananda knew he was appointed for a greater mission than just merely setting up a brotherhood of monks. His intuitive voice would somehow remind him that he was born to give a greater message to the world and
The first thing he noticed was poverty and suffering and was terribly affected by it. The main causes for poverty which he realized were lack of education, poor agriculture methods and lack of small scale industries. He also realized that the caste system was playing a huge factor in
His great vision for the future of
It was during these travels over 3 years which started in 1890, he met people from all walks of life. The Maharaja of Mysore invited him over to his palace where he met the Diwan of Mysore, Seshadri. Sir Seshadri recalled him as “a magnetic personality and a divine force which were destined to leave their mark on the history of his country." – Life of Swami Vivekananda by Eastern and Western Disciples. The Maharaja led the Swami into his room of precious collections and told his men “Let him take whatever he wants." The Swami saw many antiques displayed around and finally his eyes fell on a box of Cuban cigars. He immediately pointed at the cigar. The man offered him the complete box and the Swami opened the lid and picked one to express his contentment.
From Mysore, the Maharaja arranged Swami's trip to meet Dewan of Cochin. Later, the swami travelled right through Kerala and reached down south to the last point of India, Kanyakumari, where he sat and meditated for sometime on the rock (
.A Vivekananda Rock Memorial stands on this last of rock of India in Kanyakumari today. Everybody can visit this place by ferry. The southern most tip is an awesome wonder to see the three seas - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea meet at the tip and colours of the waters are also different.
He then travelled from here to Madurai and then to Rameshwaram and Ramanad. In Madurai he met the king of Ramnad who encouraged Naren to speak at the U.S. Parliament of Religions in
He was preparing for his trip to
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Your opening quote really resonates with me. The words are like an oasis."We are so many sanyasis wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysics—it is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva use to say, 'An empty stomach is no good for religion?' We as a nation have lost our individuality and that is the cause of all mischief in India. We have to raise the masses." I think there's so much real, down to earth wisdom in this. What are we on this physical plane for if not to wrestle with the real tensions that exist between the needs of our souls and those of our bodies?I can't wait to read about what happened in America...Wow, your comment awesomely resonates with what Vivekananda said. If he wasn't great, President Obama wouldn't have mentioned him in his speech at the Indian Parliament. Thank you and I wish to throw more light on his work.
DMI hope you know I have posted what happened in America in part - 4? There are more parts to follow succeeding the speech.
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