BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

28 SWAMI VIVEKANANDAbelieve in the need of a Guru, Naren did not believein image worship, Naren did not believe in spiritualmonism. Sri Ramakrishna had a hard timeconvincing his dear Naren about these. Sometimesexasperated, Sri Ramakrishna said to NarendraNath, ‘If you do not believe in my words, why doyou come to me?’ Immediately came the reply fromNaren, ‘Because I love you. But that does not meanthat I shall accept your words without exercisingmy critical judgment.’ Sri Ramakrishna onlyrejoiced at the intellectual sincerity of NarendraNath. Of all the disciples Narendra Nath was theonly one who would dare to challenge the veryrealizations of Sri Ramakrishna—so much so thatat times Sri Ramakrishna had to go to the DivineMother at the temple for a solution of the perplexitycreated in his mind by Narendra Nath. Narenwould take the utmost liberty with SriRamakrishna. For others Sri Ramakrishna wouldprescribe this or that restriction as a spiritualguidance. But for Narendra Nath, there was norestriction whatsoever. Naren was a roaring fire.No impurity could touch him. He could not gowrong. So there was no necessity for any impositionon Narendra Nath.It is very difficult to describe the sweetrelationship that existed between Sri Ramakrishnaand Narendra Nath. Sri Ramakrishna confided the