RISE! AWAKE! REST NOT TILL GOAL IS REACHED!

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Article by p. sivadas master

 

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It was a Monday morning, on the 12^th day of January, 1863. The members of Datta family were very happy. Bhuvaneswari devi, wife of Viswanath Datta, gave birth to a beautiful child.  In due course they named the boy Narendranath Datta. But the relatives, neihbours and friends used to callhin ‘Naren’. Some others called him ‘Narendran’. No one thought then the boy would become a world famous spiritual leader.

 Ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda

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Viswanath Datta arranged a private tutor to teach Narendranath the basic lessons. Later Naren was enrolled in Metropolitan School,Kolkatha. He passed the high school examination in first class (1879). Naren joined Presidency College. Next year he shifted to General Assembly’s Institution (which was later known as Scottish Church College) and studied Western Philosophy and World History.

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In 1881 Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, of Dakshineswaram, visited the house of Surendranath Mithra, the neighbour. Surendranath Mithra invited Naren also on the occasion. Naren sang a prayer for Paramahamsa. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa invited Naren to “come Dakshineswaram one day”.

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Narendranath Datta had a sharp intellect with a rational approach. He even questioned the existence of God. The friends advised him to go to Dakshineswaram. He began his journey in search of a person who could quench his spiritual thirst, which ended in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Narendranath became the disciple of Paramahamsa.

 Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

 

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Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa asked Narendranath to continue his work after Paramahamsa’s death. So after Paramahamsa’s death Narendranath vowed as sanyasi , with the name  Vivekananda.

 Swami Vivekananda

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He traveled from Himalaya to Kanyakumari. The worst condition of his motherland worried him. The experiences of his journey made him think how our nation could be saved. He spent in meditation on top of a rock, in Indian Ocean, at Kanyakumari for three days. He returned from the rock with a new light, with a new vision and with a new plan to save Indians and India, or the world itself.  

 Vivekananda Smarakam at Kanyakumari

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Swami Vivekananda took part in World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, America.

His historical speech began with the salutation: “My dear brothers and sisters of America…” This made the audience speechless. There Swami Vivekananda stressed on, in his speech, the importance of a vision for a universal outlook, which is already in Indian Philosophy. All the great philosophers presented there congratulated Swamiji.  Swami Vivekananda showed the world what India was.

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He believed in the power of youth and considered it as the power of the nation. To him youths were the only hope for India’s progress. He encouraged the youth to awake from sleep and to work. He said:

“Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached”

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