BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

He was overwhelmed with grief, and to Pramadadas, who expressed his surpriseat the sight of a sannyasin indulging in a human emotion, he said: 'Please do nottalk that way. We are not dry monks. Do you think that because a man hasrenounced the world he is devoid of all feeling?'He came to Calcutta to be at the bedside of Balaram, who passed away on May13. Surendra Mitra died on May 25. But Naren steadied his nerves, and inaddition to the practice of his own prayer and meditation, devoted himself againto the guidance of his brother disciples. Some time during this period heconceived the idea of building a permanent temple to preserve the relics of SriRamakrishna.From his letters and conversations one can gain some idea of the great stormthat was raging in Naren's soul during this period. He clearly saw to what anextent the educated Hindus had come under the spell of the materialistic ideasof the West. He despised sterile imitation. But he was also aware of the greatideas that formed the basis of European civilization. He told his friends that inIndia the salvation of the individual was the accepted goal, whereas in the Westit was the uplift of the people, without distinction of caste or creed. Whateverwas achieved there was shared by the common man; freedom of spiritmanifested itself in the common good and in the advancement of all men by theunited efforts of all. He wanted to introduce this healthy factor into the Indianconsciousness.Yet he was consumed by his own soul's hunger to remain absorbed in samadhi.He felt at this time a spiritual unrest like that which he had experienced at theCossipore garden house during the last days of Sri Ramakrishna's earthlyexistence. The outside world had no attraction for him. But another factor,perhaps unknown to him, was working within him. Perfect from his birth, he didnot need spiritual disciplines for his own liberation. Whatever disciplines hepractised were for the purpose of removing the veil that concealed, for the timebeing, his true divine nature and mission in the world. Even before his birth, theLord had chosen him as His instrument to help Him in the spiritual redemptionof humanity.Now Naren began to be aware that his life was to be quite different from that ofa religious recluse: he was to work for the good of the people. Every time hewanted to taste for himself the bliss of samadhi, he would hear the piteousmoans of the teeming millions of India, victims of poverty and ignorance. Mustthey, Naren asked himself, for ever grovel in the dust and live like brutes? Whowould be their saviour?He began, also, to feel the inner agony of the outwardly happy people of theWest, whose spiritual vitality was being undermined by the mechanistic and