SWAMI VIVEKANANDA -- SOME UNKNOWN FACTS
The Monk as Man: The Unknown Life of Swami Vivekananda
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Sankar's book The Monk as
Man: The Unknown Life of Swami Vivekananda (Penguin) brings to light many
hidden facets of one of Hinduism's most celebrated gurus. Here we share 15
things that you may not have known about Swami Vivekananda and his life.
1. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> The great figure
who toured America and England and was known for his brilliant eloquence scored
only a 47% at the university entrance level examination, a 46% in the FA (later
this exam became Intermediate Arts or IA), and a 56% in his BA exam.
2. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> After his father’s
death, the family was reduced to poverty. On many mornings Vivekananda.
3. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Taking advantage
of his penury, many well-to-do ladies who were enamored of him tried to woo
him. He preferred to starve than fall for such temptations. To one such lady he
said, “Shun these worthless desires and call upon God.”
4. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> In spite of his BA
degree, Narendranath (Vivekananda's real name) had to go from door to door in
search of employment. He would loudly proclaim, “I am unemployed” to those who
asked him. His faith in god shook and he began to tell people rather
aggressively that God does not exist. One neighbor complained, “There is a
young fellow living in that house. I have never seen such a conceited fellow!
He is too big for his boots – and all because he has a BA degree! When he
sings, he even strikes the table arrogantly and struts around smoking cheroot
before all the elders…”
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5. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> After the death of
his paternal uncle Taraknath, his wife Gyanadasundari ousted Vivekananda’s
family from their ancestral house and filed a suit in the court. Vivekananda
fights the various litigation suits for 14 years and on the last Saturday of
his life on 28 June 1902 he puts an end to the court case after paying some
financial compensation.
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6. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> When Jogendrabala,
his sister committed suicide, Vivekananda told Yogen Maharaj, “Do you know why
we Duttas are so talented in our thinking? Ours is a family with a history of
suicides. There have been many in our family who have taken their own lives. We
are eccentric. We do not think before we act. We simply do what we like and do
not worry about the consequences.
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7. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> The Maharaja of
Khetri, Ajit Singh, used to send 100 rupees to Swamiji’s mother on a regular
basis to help her tide over her financial problems. This arrangement was a
closely guarded secret.
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8. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> He simply
worshiped his mother. After his Chicago fame, when Pratap Mazoomdar viciously
condemned him, “He is nothing but a cheat and a fraud. He comes here to tell
you that he is a fakir,” Vivekananda responded in a letter to Isabelle
McKindley – “Now, I do not care what they even my own people say about me –
except for one thing. I have an old mother. She has suffered much in her life
and in the midst of all she could bear to give me up for the service of God and
man; but to have given up the most beloved of her children – her hope – to live
a beastly immoral life in a far-distant country, as Mazoomdar was telling in
Calcutta, would have simply killed her.”
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9. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> No women, not even
his mother, were allowed inside the monastery. Once when he was delirious with
fever his disciples fetched his mother. Seeing her Vivekananda shouted, “Why
did you allow a woman to come in? I was the one who made the rule and it is for
me that the rule is being broken!”
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10. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Vivekananda was a
connoisseur of tea. In those days when the Hindu pandits were opposed to
drinking tea, he introduced tea into his monastery. Bally municipality
increased taxes on Belur on the grounds that it was a ‘private garden house’
where tea was served. Vivekananda sued the municipality in Chinsurah Zilla
District Court. The British magistrate came on horseback to investigate. Now,
who can beat the British at tea drinking? The charges were dismissed.
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11. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Vivekananda once
convinced Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the great freedom fighter, to make tea at Belur
Math. Tilak brought nutmeg, mace, cardamom, cloves and saffron with him and
prepared Mughlai tea for all.
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12. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Vivekananda’s
tireless service to man and God took a toll on his physical body. In all his 39
years, he suffered from various ailments – migraines, tonsillitis, diphtheria,
asthma, typhoid, malaria, other persistent fevers, body heating up after
dinner, liver problem, indigestion, gastroenteritis, accumulation of water in
the stomach, dysentery and diarrhea, dyspepsia and abdominal pain, gallstone,
lumbago, neck pain, Bright’s disease (acute nephritis), kidney problem, dropsy,
albuminuria, bloodshot eyes, loss of vision in his right eye, chronic insomnia,
inability to bear heat, premature greying of hair, neurasthenia, excessive
fatigue, sea sickness, sunstroke, diabetes, heart problems. His motto, “One has
to die…it is better to wear out than to rust out.”
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13. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Towards the end of
his brief life he advised his disciples, “Learn from my experiences. Don’t be
so hard on your body and ruin your health. I have harmed mine. I have tortured
it severely, and what has been the result? My body has become ruined during the
best years of my life! And I am still paying for it.” When one of his disciples
asked him why he ignored his health, he replied he had no sense he has a body
when he was in America.
14. <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> Vivekananda hated
cowards. He writes to John P. Fox, “I like boldness and adventure and my race
stands in need of that spirit very much…my health is failing and I do not
expect to live long.”
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<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amdavadis4Ever/join> In 1900 two years before
his death when he arrived in India from the West for the last time, he hurried
to Belur to be with his disciples or gurubhais. He heard the dinner gong but
found the gate locked. He climbed over it and quickly made his way to the
dining area to eat his favorite dish khichuri. No one suspected his rapidly
failing health.
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