Today is Gurupurnima, a festival and a day of tremendous spiritual importance to Hindus and Buddhists across the world. We, Indians, have always revered the relationship of knowledge sharing between Guru and the Disciple. It is also known as Vyas Poornima. The significance of Guru Poornima is that spiritual seekers, disciples and students offer worship and show their gratitude and respect to their Guru on this day.
Swami Vivekananda and His relationship with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa are full of examples of how a perfect Guru-Shishya bond can illumine the heart and intellect of even a hard core atheist.
Vivekananda was born Narendranath Datta on 12 January 1863 in Calcutta in a wealthy family…Swami’s parents influenced his thinking—the father by his rational mind and the mother by her religious temperament. In his early youth Narendra joined Brahmo Samaj and his initial beliefs were shaped by Brahmo concepts, which included belief in a formless God and the deprecation of idolatry.
Surendra Nath Mitra was a noted householder devotee of Ramakrishna, who used to visit Mitra’s house in Calcutta to deliver spiritual lectures. It was in Mitra’s house where Ramakrishna met Narendranath for the first time in a spiritual festival. In this festival as the appointed singer could not attend for some reason, young Narendranath, who was a talented singer, was requested to sing songs. Narendra sang few devotional songs and Ramakrishna was impressed by his singing talent. He invited Narendra to come to Dakshineswar and meet him.
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Narendra’s father, Vishwanath Datta, wanted to get his son to get married. Narendra was reluctant to marry and was attempting to quench his religious and spiritual thirst. Narendra went to Dakshineswar to meet Ramakrishna. [
Ramakrishna warmly welcomed Narendra and asked him to sit on a mat spread on the floor. Then Ramakrishna asked him to sing a song. Narendra gave his assent and started singing a devotional song
When Narendra finished singing, Ramakrishna suddenly became emotional, grasped Narendra’s hands and took him into the northern porch of the Kali temple and with tears in his eyes said to him —
Ah! You have come so late. How unkind of you to keep me waiting so long! My ears are almost seared listening to the cheap talk of worldly people. Oh, how I have been yearning to unburden my mind to one who will understand my thought! Then with folded hands he said: ‘Lord! I know you are the ancient sage Nara — the Incarnation of Narayana — born on earth to remove the miseries of mankind.
Then Ramakrishna and Narendra returned to their room and started talking. Narendra asked Ramakrishna if he had seen or experienced God. Ramakrishna immediately replied in the positive. Without any hesitation, he said:
Yes, I have seen God. I see Him as I see you here, only more clearly. God can be seen. One can talk to him. But who cares for God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children, wealth, and property, but who weeps for the vision of God? If one cries sincerely for God, one can surely see Him.
Vivekananda was so much impressed with this meeting that he started visiting Ramakrishna daily when he felt: “religion could be given. One touch one glance can change a whole life”
Narendra felt amazed as this was the first time he was meeting someone who could say that he had met or experienced God. He also understood those were not mere words, but words uttered from deep inner experiences. He left Dakshineswar and came back to Calcutta in a highly puzzled and bewildered state of mind.
During the second meeting, when he was talking to Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna suddenly placed his right foot on Narendra’s chest and Narendra started feeling unconscious, he felt as if everything around him, the rooms, the walls, and the temple garden were vanishing away. Narendra got scared and cried out “What are you doing to me? I have my parents, brothers, and sisters at home.” Ramakrishna laughed and moved his foot from his body. He restored his consciousness and said “All right, everything will happen in due time.
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Narendra went to meet Ramakrishna for the third time. This time he was very scared after his last experience. Ramakrishna welcomed Narendra and started talking with him. Narendra was trying to stay alert and not to be hypnotized once again by Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna took him to the adjacent garden and touched him. Narendra failed to resist Ramakrishna’s will power and became unconscious. Ramakrishna later said, after making Narendra unconscious, he asked him many questions such as his previous works, his future aims etc. After receiving answers to his questions, Ramakrishna felt assured and later he told other disciples that he was confident that Narendra had attained “perfection” in his previous birth. He also said that he recognized Naren had actually been a Rishi who had come down to earth to love and serve humanity.
The meetings with Ramakrishna proved to be a turning point in Narendra’s life. He started visiting Dakshineswar regularly.
Narendra was attracted by Ramakrishna’s personality but he initially could not recognize Ramakrishna. After his second day’s experience considered him as a “Monomaniac”. His thoughts had been shaped by the teachings of Brahmo Samaj, which were against “idol worship” and he was an atheist in real life.
At first Narendra would not accept Ramakrishna as his teacher. He tested Ramakrishna in various ways and asked him many critical questions. Ramakrishna also encouraged Narendranath and told him “Test me as the moneychangers test their coins
Narendra did not accept or worship Kali, the goddess Ramakrishna used to worship. Ramakrishna asked him— “Why do you come here, if you do not accept Kali, my Mother?” Narendra replied “Simply because I come to see you. I come to you because I love you.
After many such tests, Narendra started accepting Ramakrishna as his spiritual teacher. He remained with Ramakrishna till Ramakrishna’s death in 1886. In the five years since 1882, he closely observed Ramakrishna and took spiritual teachings from him.[
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In 1885, Ramakrishna developed throat cancer, and was transferred to Calcutta. Narendra and Ramakrishna’s other disciples took care of him during his last days,
During the last days of Shri Ramkrishna Paramhamsa’s body he was always engaged in Guru Seva without considering bad condition of his house and family and nor did he bothered for his own food. Due to throat cancer Ramkrishna Paramhamsa’s body was very sick. He used to spit cough, phlegm & blood. Vivekanada used to clean all these very attentively and with full love & devotion.
Once one of the disciple displayed negligence in Sri Ramkrishna Paramhamsa’s service and frowned his nose and eyebrows upon the spits. Seeing this Swami Vivekananda became angry. To give lesson to that Gurubhai, demonstrating the love for each belongings of Gurudev he went and drank the whole vessel filled with cough, blood and such other particles kept near Gurudev’s bed.
Two days before the death of Ramakrishna, Narendra was standing beside the bed of Ramakrishna when a thought suddenly came to his mind “was this person really an incarnation of God?” Narendra thought, but could not find answer to this question. Suddenly Narendra noticed lips of Ramakrishna, who was lying ill on the bed, moving, he slowly uttered— “He who in the past was born as Rama and Krishna is now living in this very body as Ramakrishna — but not from the standpoint of your Vedanta.
The message of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, the Hinduism tenet, inspired by Ramakrishna, the nineteenth century doyen of revival of Hinduism, was ably and convincingly transmitted by Vivekananda his illustrious disciple [ first at the Parliament of the World’s Religions held from 23 September 1893 at thus began the impressive propagation of the Ramakrishna movement throughout the United States. (Also included in the message of this movement was on four yogas… The two men thereupon launched the Ramakrishna Mission and established the Ramakrishna Math to perpetuate this message and over the years the two organizations have worked in tandem to promote what is popularly called the Ramakrishna Order and this legacy has been perpetuated not only to the western world but to the masses in India to this day. Vivekananda who was an unknown monk on the US soil on 23 September 1893 before the start of the Parliament became overnight a celebrity.
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Vivekananda considered Ramakrishna as an incarnation of God. In a letter in 1895, he wrote that in Ramakrishna there was “knowledge, devotion and love — infinite knowledge, infinite love, infinite work, infinite compassion for all being”. He further said Ramakrishna had the head of Adi Shankara and the hearts of Ramanuja and Chaitanya. He considered it his good fortune that he could see the man so close. He owed everything to Ramakrishna. He said—[
All that I am, all that the world itself will some day be, is owing to my Master, Shri Ramakrishna, who incarnated and experienced and taught this wonderful unity which underlies everything, having discovered it alike in Hinduism, in Islam, and in Christianity.
Swami Vivekananda died on 4th July 1902.
