“ARISE, AWAKE AND DO NOT STOP UNTIL THE GOAL IS REACHED” these were the words of one of the India’s greatest philosophers, a great human who served his whole life to the motherland.
Swami Vivekananda “ Narendranath Datta” was born in a Bengali family, on 12 January 1863. He was born in a traditional family and was one of the nine siblings. His father, Vishwanath Datta, was at the Calcutta High Court as an attorney. His mother Bhubaneswari Devi, was a housewife. Being a seeker by habit Narendranath was inclined towards spirituality from a very young age, he used to meditate in front of the images of deities such as Shiva, Rama, Sita and Mahavir Hanuman.
Swami Vivekananda was a very brilliant student, he was the only student to receive first division marks in the Presidency College entrance examination, he was a regular reader and used to read wide range of subjects. Narendra was trained in Indian classical music. He was known for his very sharp memory and the ability to read very fast, some accounts have called Narendra a shrutidhara (a person with prodigious memory). He taught Shukla-Yajur-Veda, Sanskrit grammar and the philosophy of yoga to pupils.
In 1881, Vivekananda met Ramakrishna, who became his spiritual focus after his father’s demise in 1884, this meeting somewhere changed his life and he accepted him as his guru.
In 1885 ,Ramakrishna developed throat cancer during his last days. Vivekananda and other disciples took care of him. Vivekananda’s spiritual education continued, he was taught by Ramakrishna that service to mankind is the most effective worship of GOD. Ramakrishna asked him to take care for the other monastic disciplines, and in turn asked them to see Narendra as their leader. He founded Ramakrishna Misson at Belur math on Ganga River near Kolkata.
On 4th July (the day he died) Vivekananda did all of his work like meditation ,taught Sanskrit grammar, Shukla-Yajur-Veda and the philosophy of yoga to pupils around. At 7 pm he came to his room. He died at 9:20 p.m, while meditating. Vivekananda has already predicted about his death that he will not live more than 40 years which came true.
Swami Vivekananda has left an incredible mark globally his teachings are followed by lot of people globally. Few of his famous teachings are as follows:
- Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead, if you lose, you can guide.
- The ideal person is one who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the most intense activity, and in the midst of the most intense activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert.
- Each work has to pass through these stages- ridicule,opposition & then acceptance.Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.
- Great results are attained only by great patience, great courage, and great attempt.
- When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This state is called Dhyana.
Here is the short video clip by Sadhguru on Swami Vivekananda which describes a remarkable story of Swami Vivekananda’s life showcasing his gentleness and how that qualified him to take his Guru’s message across the world.