SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ... 4

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ... 4

Mother's influence was profound on Bileh. Probably the name Bileh owed its existence to an aberration in pronunciation by the toddler who found the name Bireshwar beyond his infant capacity to articulate. Anyhow, Bhuvaneshwari was an ideal mother who inspired rare virtues in the highly susceptible mind of Bileh. She taught him nobility of bearing, uprightness of character, dignity and truthfulness. Vishwanath's influence was in the realm of liberal ideas, versatility, scholarship and magnanimity. He was well versed in several languages, was widely read, had a broad catholic spirit and a matchless generosity bordering on being indulgent towards idle relatives and acquaintances.

Narendranath was the good name that Bileh bore and indeed it befitted him as his future career as a preeminent  leader of men bore testimony to.

Early schooling was at home under the tutelage of the boy's mother and grandmother followed by lessons in the family worship-hall under a private tutor after the initial misadventure of his being sent to a local school where he quickly picked up an undesirable vocabulary.

Tales from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata recounted by his mother and grandmother captivated Naren. He was specially drawn to the worship of Sita-Rama till his reverie was broken by an unsavoury rendering of the divine duo by Vishwanath's syce who spoke disparagingly about the institution of marriage. Naren was perceptive enough to realise that even Sita and Rama were a wedded couple and, therefore, could not be worship-worthy. Inconsolable he confided to Bhuvaneshwari his spiritual predicament who intelligently upheld before the boy's imagination the glory of the celibate ascetic Shiva. Naren's spiritual allegiance in a flash changed and he rushed to the terrace to cast down the clay images of Rama and Sita onto the lane below.

Shiva now became the object of his adoration and it was a significant development in the boy's understanding of spirituality which became the mould for his future life. Shiva-incarnate had aptly chosen his own innermost self as his divine ideal.

Naren was not only naughty and given to pranks which he played on his sisters but he could be immersed in meditation as well when he would be lost to the outer world. Once he along with his friends locked themselves up in the attic and played at the game of meditation. His friends merely feigned meditation but Naren was actually transported to an ethereal realm while sitting motionless in profound mental concentration. From nowhere a cobra came and held its unfurled hood close to where Naren sat transfixed in meditation. The other boys ran away and the elders on being informed rushed to the roof to find Naren lost to the outer world and the cobra with unfurled hood as if keeping guard over the boy. Fortunately, the cobra slid away without harming any and Naren was pulled out of his deep state. He was bathed in bliss and had known nothing of the snake whatsoever.

Early indications of future greatness perhaps as meditation became his daily companion till his last hour on earth. Sri Ramakrishna had called him an adept in meditation, a 'dhyansiddha'.

Written by Sugata Bose