Narendranath Dutta to Swami Vivekananda

This article is also based on the inputs from the book " The Face of Silence" by Dhan Gopal Mukherji

as was the previous article " Early Life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa" despatched on 5th July 2008

Best wishes

B.M.N.Murthy, Saturday 12th July 2008

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S INITIATION INTO SANYASA


Narendranath Dutta, afterwards known by the immortal name of Swami Vivekananda, was born in Calcutta in 1863 in a Kshatriya family. His forefathers were deeply religious and led a strict orthodox life. Unfortunately Vivekananda developed a strong tendency towards agnosticism in his middle teens and started believing in the Charuvak system of philosophy: “God does not exist; He is an invention of the priests”.
Unfortunately for him, Vivekananda had few supporters for his philosophy and he had to fight alone. He therefore joined the Brahmo Samaj under their leader Keshub Chandra Sen whose zeal for social reforms attracted Vivekananda. Before he was twenty, Vivekananda earned the name as an iconoclast who was a fanatical puritan. He attacked the pretensions of learned holy men and Brahmins. He was a sort of ‘an agnostic bull in the China shop of religion.

One day in the company of Keshub Chandra Sen, Vivekananda went to Dakshineshwar to meet Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. One of the eye witnesses to this meeting [the late Bhupenra Nath Basu], has described this meeting in the following words:
“Vivekananda and I were studying in the Law College at that time. He invited me to go to Dakshineshwar along with Keshub and others. On our arrival at the Kali Temple, we found a very strange looking man whose eyes were like those of a hawk. The only thing that I remember of that interview is that just as we were getting ready to take leave of the Master after the meeting, the Master said “Keshub, though you lecture a great deal your fame will not reach far. But this lad [pointing towards Vivekananda] will be famous across the seas”. Every one laughed at the comment of the Master. We thought he was making fun of Keshub. That prophesy of Sri Ramakrishna, instead of pleasing Vivekananda offended him as he hated soothsayers, palmists, astrologers etc. In spite of his spontaneous dislike for the Master, with the passage of time Vivekananda developed a desire to meet the Master a second time and was inwardly getting closer to him. He went to Dakshineshwar for a second time and during the journey doubts began to haunt him whether any useful purpose would be served by the second meeting since he did not believe in the existence of God. Anyway, with conflicting thoughts in his mind, he approached the Master”

On his arrival in Dakshineshwar he found the Master sitting on a couch alone. The moment the Master saw him, he greeted Vivekananda with the words “I am so glad you have come. I have waited for this for many years” For a while neither of them spoke a word. Suddenly Ramakrishna lifted his right foot, slowly moved it forward and brought it in contact with Vivekananda’s body. Mild tremors went through the body of Swami Vivekananda. Recollecting this incident, the Swamiji has written “At that instant, before my eyes wide open the walls of the room reeled and fell. The furniture also tumbled. All round I felt a total void. And suddenly the lean mouthed Universe set to devour my ‘Me-ness. Then I thought to myself “To lose one’s ego is to die”. Death was so near to me that I could touch it. Frightened I cried for help: “I want to die. Do not let me die as yet,
for my mother and father are living”. At those words of mine the Master laughed aloud. He gently rubbed my chest with his hand and added “Let us stop now; it is not necessary to see it all in one flash. Later you shall know the rest”. After the utterance of these words by the Master, as if by wizardry, the furniture, the walls, the room etc all arranged themselves as before. I came to the conclusion that there are hidden mysteries about and beyond us that our intellectual insolence can never uncover. That experience convinced me that Ramakrishna was not mad. When I went to take leave of the Master, he extracted a promise from me that I would come to see him again”

Vivekananda spent many days thinking over his second experience with the Master which fascinated him as well as frightened him. No matter from whatever standpoint he examined it, he could not find a satisfactory solution. As if to crown his perplexities, an inner voice often said “Go to him for he alone can make it clear”. As time passed that cry became more and more frequent. Finally he obeyed the inner urge and went to Dakshineshwar to meet the Master for the third time. The Master was taking a walk inside the garden. Then both of them went inside and sat when the Master touched him. The experience that Vivekananda had when the Master touched him has never been divulged by him. But years later some close disciples asked the Master about it and the Master explained: “When Vivekananda lost his temporal ‘I’, I asked him some questions about himself, particularly about the full amount of realization that he had already accomplished. He gave me answers that were clear. And they brought me certainty; for all those things I had known about him in my meditation. All the same it was good to get his verification. I concluded he is a fully realized Soul”

After his latest experience Vivekananda gradually drew nearer the Master. He took lessons in meditation and other spiritual practices. Even then he hesitated to renounce the world and take up Sanyasa. Time and again he said to Ramakrishna “Please tell the Divine Mother to provide for my family so that I can take the begging bowl. Ramakrishna answered “ I cannot. You go and pray to her”. In spite of many discussions between him and Ramakrishna neither of them prayed to the Mother. Apparently they did not wish to ask God to provide for the family. One day he took up the matter with his own mother. That austere lady brought up in the strictest discipline of the family told him
“ Since when did a member of our family give up God for the fear of poverty? Did I not pray to God long before you were born that you should be a man of religion and devoted to God? Now that the Infinite stands at the gates of your life, you want to turn Him away?
None of your ancestors would have done such a thing. What right do you have to be afraid of poverty for me?” Vivekananda bowed his head to his mother and walked towards Dakshineshwar determined to put an end all his troubles by taking initiation from his Guru. By the time he reached the Holy One’s presence, he was a man of determined will. He was given initiation by the Master.

After initiation Vivekananda had to work much harder and master still higher meditation. After he had studied and mastered all the Ramakrishna had to teach, Vivekananda was sent on a pilgrimage and was asked to meet many Yogis, Acharyas and Tapaswins who had scattered all over the country. After his contact with all these men of wisdom and realization, Vivekananda was ripe enough to climb up the next step in the ladder of spiritual evolution. Ramakrishna then said “Now debate with all the pundits and yogis who come to see me. Test what you have been taught by pitting against what they know. You have got the gold; now put it through the fire of criticism”. Soon thereafter Vivekananda got into an intellectual debate with all the pundits and holy men who came to Dakshineshwar. All the debates were carried on in Sanskrit. The chief rule of the debate was that every quotation should be correct and during debate the source of the quotation should be stated from memory. No reference to any book or publication was permitted. In these debates, the success of Vivekananda was as an outstanding debater in Sanskrit was well established. Soon thereafter, Ramakrishna sent him on a second pilgrimage. When Vivekananda was a bit hesitant to undertake the journey, the Master advised him “You must go, visit and stay with the common people and understand first hand their problems and their sufferings. You must get a true picture of the poverty of the country. Soon after my death a day will come when you will have to preach to multitudes far and near. At that time you will understand the benefit of this journey. Through your voice will be heard the clamor of a thousand spiritual realizations”
With the blessings of the Master and a begging bowl in his hands, Vivekananda set foot on his second pilgrimage, this time to learn from the lowest of the lowly and from those who are lost together. This time he covered the journey partly by foot and partly by train.

When Vivekananda returned from his second long pilgrimage the Master remarked: “Now that you have suffered the hardships of deserts and jungles and now that you have seen almost all there is to see, stay by me. Help me to train and bless all who come here. We must soon finish our joint work for the time is fast approaching for me to go”

[Based on the book “The Face of Silence” by Dhan Gopal Mukherji]


B.M.N. Murthy

ARTICLE NO.452--Swami Vivekananda's Initiation into Sanyasa
Created: Friday, July 11, 2008 11:10 AM