Some interesting stories from Vivekananda’s life

NATIONAL YOUTH DAY

Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, January 12^th, has been declared as National Youth Day by the Government of India. The Government of India mentioned the significance of this day as follows-

“It was felt that the Philosophy of Swami ji and the ideals for which he lived and worked could be a great source of inspiration to the Indian youth”.

Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on 12^th January 1863, according to the Hindu calendar, that day was also the festival of Makar Sankranti.

On hearing the name ‘Swami Vivekananda’, an image of a serious personality emerges in one’s mind. This is also true to some extent, but there is another aspect of Vivekananda’s personality as well, which is Vivekananda’s funny nature.

Sometimes Swamiji used to explain many serious things in a very hilarious and light-hearted manner, I have compiled some such incidents here.

Why did Vivekananda shave without looking in the mirror?

In those days it was not customary to shave at home. Generally, people used to go to the barber shop to shave, everyone had their own favorite barber, but Swami Vivekananda, who lived in Bellur Math in those days, was famous for shaving himself, and that too without using a mirror.

When someone used to discuss this habit of his with Swami ji , he used to tell that he had developed this habit during his stay in America.

Swami ji used to mention an incident that once he went to a barber shop to get his beard shaved during his stay in America, but that barber refused to shave him.

The barber said that he could not shave them because if his white customers came to know that this barber has shaved a black person they would boycott his shop as black people are also shaved here.
After this incident, Swamiji decided to shave himself and this habit of his remained even after he returned to India.

Is playing football more important than reading the Gita?

The Gita is one of the most sacred religious texts of the Hindus. Gita has the same importance among Hindus as Bible among Christians and Quran among Muslims.

Once a strange-looking young man came to Swami Vivekananda and urged that he wanted Swami Ji to explain him the knowledge of Gita in simple language.

Swami Vivekananda looked at the young man carefully and said that young man listen to me carefully “Playing football is more important for you than understanding the knowledge of the Gita”.The young man asked with surprise why so?
Vivekananda smilingly said that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.
To understand the knowledge of Gita, it is necessary to have a healthy mind, and a healthy mind will nurture and cherish only when the body is healthy.

The young man, after listening to Swami ji went back and for 6 months spent his time playing football, exercising, and meditating which thereby resulted in a drastic improvement in his health.

After six months, the young man recovered and came to Swami Vivekananda and once again requested him to preach on Gita. Swami ji did not disappoint the young man this time and explained to him the essence of Gita in quite a detail.

The young man was so impressed by Swami ji’s lecture on Gita that he later founded Gita Prachar Mandal(an organization to explain the teachings of Gita in simple language to the general public) and wrote a poetic version of Gita in Bengali. That young man was none other than Satendra Banerjee.

THE MONK WHO LOVED TEA

CHA ~ TEA

Everyone is aware of Vivekananda’s love for tea. In those days tea was considered a stimulant drink and the consumption of tea was prohibited in monasteries. Swami Vivekananda used to drink about 20 – 25 cups of tea a day. He categorically refused to consider tea as a stimulating and harmful drink, describing it as an invigorating drink. Tea was also considered a beverage for the elite class in India, Swami Vivekananda had a major contribution in the democratization of tea. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SUBJECT PLEASE VISIT : https://nithinks.com/2021/06/10/a-happily-tea-adict-country/

When swami Vivekananda got angry

Vivekananda very rarely got angry. But once in Varanasi, when people were not paying attention to his words because of his young age, he angrily said that “I shall not return until I burst on society like a bomb shell, and it will follow me like a dog”  

People were stunned to see Swami ji angry, this anger of Swami ji was not a part of his nature but it was a fury born out of the neglect of the elite class.

People who were witnesses to this incident said that Swami Vivekananda was repeatedly urging the enlightened people of Varanasi city to donate to the welfare of the poor, but people were not paying much attention considering him young, so Swami ji could not control his temperament.

My effort in this post was to show some untouched aspects of Vivekananda’s life, if anyone of you has some unique information related to Vivekananda, please share it with me, I’d love to hear your thoughts.