BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Nevertheless he retained a fondness for the Ramayana.At this time he daily experienced a strange vision when he was about to fallasleep. Closing his eyes, he would see between his eyebrows a ball of light ofchanging colours, which would slowly expand and at last burst, bathing hiswhole body in a white radiance. Watching this light he would gradually fallasleep. Since it was a daily occurrence, he regarded the phenomenon as commonto all people, and was surprised when a friend denied ever having seen such athing. Years later, however, Narendra's spiritual teacher, Sri Ramakrishna, saidto him, 'Naren, my boy, do you see a light when you go to sleep?' Ramakrishnaknew that such a vision indicated a great spiritual past and an inborn habit ofmeditation. The vision of light remained with Narendra until the end of his life,though later it lost its regularity and intensity.While still a child Narendra practised meditation with a friend before the imageof Siva. He had heard that the holy men of ancient India would become soabsorbed in contemplation of God that their hair would grow and gradually enterinto the earth, like the roots of the banyan tree. While meditating, therefore, hewould open his eyes, now and then, to see if his own hair had entered into theearth. Even so, during meditation, he often became unconscious of the world. Onone occasion he saw in a vision a luminous person of serene countenance whowas carrying the staff and water-bowl of a monk. The apparition was about tosay something when Naren became frightened and left the room. He thoughtlater that perhaps this had been a vision of Buddha.At the age of six he was sent to a primary school. One day, however, he repeatedat home some of the vulgar words that he had learnt from his classmates,whereupon his disgusted parents took him out of the school and appointed aprivate tutor, who conducted classes for him and some other children of theneighbourhood in the worship hall of the house. Naren soon showed a precociousmind and developed a keen memory. Very easily he learnt by heart the whole ofa Sanskrit grammar and long passages from the Ramayana and theMahabharata. Some of the friendships he made at this age lasted his wholelifetime. At school he was the undisputed leader. When playing his favouritegame of 'King and the Court,' he would assume the role of the monarch andassign to his friends the parts of the ministers, commander-in-chief, and otherstate officials. He was marked from birth to be a leader of men, as his nameNarendra (lord of men) signified.Even at that early age he questioned why one human being should be consideredsuperior to another. In his father's office separate tobacco pipes were providedfor clients belonging to the different castes, as orthodox Hindu custom required,and the pipe from which the Moslems smoked was set quite apart. Narendraonce smoked tobacco from all the pipes, including the one marked for the