Narendra’s Search for Truth
Vivekananda’s pre-monastic name was Narendranath Dutta, Narendranath or Naren, for short. Unlike Ramakrishna, whose wisdom and enlightenment owed nothing to institutional education, traditional or modern, Vivekananda was a full-fledged modern youth in education and upbringing, when he first met Ramakrishna towards the end of 1881. In his views and outlook, he represented young India in transition. India had, by then, been exposed to the powerful influence of modern Western culture for over half a century through the new education introduced by the British Government, which was avidly sought after by the Indian youths. Modern science, Greco-Roman history, English literature, modern Western history, and modern socio-political thought, opened the mind of India to the rich cultural heritage of the Western peoples and roused in it a mood of questioning, self-criticism, and a general spirit of restlessness. Narendra drank freely of this education; he was a keen student of Western thought with its scientific spirit and its philosophy of rationalism and humanism. This philosophy had already dominated the Western mind for nearly a hundred years, and now it found a fertile soil in India also. At college, Narendra was a handsome youth, intelligent, vivacious, and energetic. He was a keen physical culturist, a devotee of music, a student of science, and a lover of philosophy. He opened himself up to the influences of all the best elements in the Western heritage and became a dynamic representative of that heritage. He was a picture of strength and manliness; he possessed the Promethean spirit. And yet, this education and achievement did not satisfy his heart; it was restless with a nameless spiritual thirst and a yearning to realize Truth. It was to quench this thirst that he went to Sri Ramakrishna.
His English and Indian professors as well as his fellow-students were impressed by his intellectual brilliance. His English Principal, William Hastie, a great scholar, said of him (The Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, Fourth Edition, p.26):
“Narendranath is really a genius. I have traveled far and wide but I have yet come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German Universities, amongst philosophical students. He is bound to make his mark in life.”
In spite of the intellectual agnosticism which modern education bred in him, he held fast to the ideals of purity and renunciation, which he had imbibed and his passion for spiritual life grew with the years.
It was from a chance remark of Principal Hastie during a lesson on Wordsworth’s poem, The Excursion, that Narendra heard the name of his future master for the first time. Explaining the poet’s reference to trance, Principal Hastie had said that such religious ecstasies were the result of purity and concentration, that it was a rare phenomenon in modern times, and that he had known only one person who had experienced that blessed state, and that person was Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar.
Narendra soon realized the inadequacies of modern rationalism and humanism. Religion may have its faults; it may have blundered into dogmatism and intolerance; but it has a spiritual core which mankind cannot ignore without making itself poorer, said he to himself. The endeavours and conclusions of the sense-bound intellect cannot be the last word in man’s search for truth. An intellectual approach to truth will end only in agnosticism; and often even in cynicism. But the whole being of man seeks to experience truth, to realize it. And he found that modern thought had no message to give to man on this theme. This rising above rationalism to direct experience and realization, this growth of man from the sensate to the super-sensual dimension, is the special message of the Indian spiritual tradition; and Ramakrishna embodied it in himself in its fullness.
Man may sharpen his reason and intellect; he may have the best of wealth and power; he may enjoy the delights of art and literature; yet his heart will continue to be a vacuum, and a prey to tension and sorrow, till he discovers his own spiritual dimension, till he realizes God. This is the testament of Indian thought. Says the Svetasvatara Upanisad (VI.20):
“Even if men (through their technical efficiency) roll up all space like a piece of leather, they will not experience the end of sorrow without realizing God.”
Vivekananda felt the pang of this vacuum as a university student. That made him restless; he could have silenced his heart’s craving for truth, learnt to live with his intellectual agnosticism, and made the best of the world with his undoubted talents. But he was made of a different stuff, and meant for a different role. His passion for truth would not allow him to compromise with a humdrum life. So like a ‘hart that panteth after the water-brooks’, in the words of the Psalm, his heart became restless for truth, and in this mood he went from place to place, from teacher to teacher, until an inexorable destiny took him to Sri Ramakrishna. ‘Is there a God? And, if there is, ‘Have you seen Him?’ were the questions that this young seeker put to every teacher. The history of religion tells us that when this question has been seriously put by any seeker, he has receive a positive answer. The very soul of religion lies in the yearning behind this question. None of the teachers gave him satisfactory replies. None except one; and that was Sri Ramakrishna.
Excerpt from “The Universal Symphony of Swami Vivekananda” by Swami Ranganathananda
Published by Advaita Ashram (Publication Department), 5, Dehi-Entally Road, Kolkata-700014
Vivekananda’s pre-monastic name was Narendranath Dutta, Narendranath or Naren, for short. Unlike Ramakrishna, whose wisdom and enlightenment owed nothing to institutional education, traditional or modern, Vivekananda was a full-fledged modern youth in education and upbringing, when he first met Ramakrishna towards the end of 1881. In his views and outlook, he represented young India in transition. India had, by then, been exposed to the powerful influence of modern Western culture for over half a century through the new education introduced by the British Government, which was avidly sought after by the Indian youths. Modern science, Greco-Roman history, English literature, modern Western history, and modern socio-political thought, opened the mind of India to the rich cultural heritage of the Western peoples and roused in it a mood of questioning, self-criticism, and a general spirit of restlessness. Narendra drank freely of this education; he was a keen student of Western thought with its scientific spirit and its philosophy of rationalism and humanism. This philosophy had already dominated the Western mind for nearly a hundred years, and now it found a fertile soil in India also. At college, Narendra was a handsome youth, intelligent, vivacious, and energetic. He was a keen physical culturist, a devotee of music, a student of science, and a lover of philosophy. He opened himself up to the influences of all the best elements in the Western heritage and became a dynamic representative of that heritage. He was a picture of strength and manliness; he possessed the Promethean spirit. And yet, this education and achievement did not satisfy his heart; it was restless with a nameless spiritual thirst and a yearning to realize Truth. It was to quench this thirst that he went to Sri Ramakrishna.
His English and Indian professors as well as his fellow-students were impressed by his intellectual brilliance. His English Principal, William Hastie, a great scholar, said of him (The Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, Fourth Edition, p.26):
“Narendranath is really a genius. I have traveled far and wide but I have yet come across a lad of his talents and possibilities, even in German Universities, amongst philosophical students. He is bound to make his mark in life.”
In spite of the intellectual agnosticism which modern education bred in him, he held fast to the ideals of purity and renunciation, which he had imbibed and his passion for spiritual life grew with the years.
It was from a chance remark of Principal Hastie during a lesson on Wordsworth’s poem, The Excursion, that Narendra heard the name of his future master for the first time. Explaining the poet’s reference to trance, Principal Hastie had said that such religious ecstasies were the result of purity and concentration, that it was a rare phenomenon in modern times, and that he had known only one person who had experienced that blessed state, and that person was Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar.
Narendra soon realized the inadequacies of modern rationalism and humanism. Religion may have its faults; it may have blundered into dogmatism and intolerance; but it has a spiritual core which mankind cannot ignore without making itself poorer, said he to himself. The endeavours and conclusions of the sense-bound intellect cannot be the last word in man’s search for truth. An intellectual approach to truth will end only in agnosticism; and often even in cynicism. But the whole being of man seeks to experience truth, to realize it. And he found that modern thought had no message to give to man on this theme. This rising above rationalism to direct experience and realization, this growth of man from the sensate to the super-sensual dimension, is the special message of the Indian spiritual tradition; and Ramakrishna embodied it in himself in its fullness.
Man may sharpen his reason and intellect; he may have the best of wealth and power; he may enjoy the delights of art and literature; yet his heart will continue to be a vacuum, and a prey to tension and sorrow, till he discovers his own spiritual dimension, till he realizes God. This is the testament of Indian thought. Says the Svetasvatara Upanisad (VI.20):
“Even if men (through their technical efficiency) roll up all space like a piece of leather, they will not experience the end of sorrow without realizing God.”
Vivekananda felt the pang of this vacuum as a university student. That made him restless; he could have silenced his heart’s craving for truth, learnt to live with his intellectual agnosticism, and made the best of the world with his undoubted talents. But he was made of a different stuff, and meant for a different role. His passion for truth would not allow him to compromise with a humdrum life. So like a ‘hart that panteth after the water-brooks’, in the words of the Psalm, his heart became restless for truth, and in this mood he went from place to place, from teacher to teacher, until an inexorable destiny took him to Sri Ramakrishna. ‘Is there a God? And, if there is, ‘Have you seen Him?’ were the questions that this young seeker put to every teacher. The history of religion tells us that when this question has been seriously put by any seeker, he has receive a positive answer. The very soul of religion lies in the yearning behind this question. None of the teachers gave him satisfactory replies. None except one; and that was Sri Ramakrishna.
Excerpt from “The Universal Symphony of Swami Vivekananda” by Swami Ranganathananda
Published by Advaita Ashram (Publication Department), 5, Dehi-Entally Road, Kolkata-700014
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