Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami Nikhilananda
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In 1879 the family returned to Calcutta, and Narendra within a short time graduated<br />
from high school in the first division. In the meantime he had read a great many<br />
standard books of English and Bengali literature. History was his favourite subject. He<br />
also acquired at this time an unusual method of reading a book and acquiring the<br />
knowledge of its subject-matter. To quote his own words: 'I could understand an author<br />
without reading every line of his book. I would read the first and last lines of a<br />
paragraph and grasp its meaning. Later I found that I could understand the subjectmatter<br />
<strong>by</strong> reading only the first and last lines of a page. Afterwards I could follow the<br />
whole trend of a writer's argument <strong>by</strong> merely reading a few lines, though the author<br />
himself tried to explain the subject in five or more pages.'<br />
Soon the excitement of his boyhood days was over, and in 1879 Narendranath entered<br />
the Presidency College of Calcutta for higher studies. After a year he joined the<br />
General Assembly's Institution, founded <strong>by</strong> the Scottish General Missionary Board and<br />
later known as the Scottish Church College. It was from Hastie, the principal of the<br />
college and the professor of English literature, that he first heard the name Sri<br />
Ramakrishna.<br />
In college Narendra, now a handsome youth, muscular and agile, though slightly<br />
inclined to stoutness, enjoyed serious studies. During the first two years he studied<br />
Western logic. Thereafter he specialized in Western philosophy and the ancient and<br />
modern history of the different European nations. His memory was prodigious. It took<br />
him only three days to assimilate Green's History of the English People. Often, on the<br />
eve of an examination, he would read the whole night, keeping awake <strong>by</strong> drinking<br />
strong tea or coffee.<br />
About this time he came in contact with Sri Ramakrishna; this event, as we shall<br />
presently see, was to become the major turning-point of his life. As a result of his<br />
association with Sri Ramakrishna, his innate spiritual yearning was stirred up, and he<br />
began to feel the transitoriness of the world and the futility of academic education. The<br />
day before his B.A. examination, he suddenly felt an all-consuming love for God and,<br />
standing before the room of a college-mate, was heard to sing with great feeling:<br />
Sing ye, O mountains, O clouds, O great winds!<br />
Sing ye, sing ye, sing His glory!<br />
Sing with joy, all ye suns and moons and stars!<br />
Sing ye, sing ye, His glory!<br />
The friends, surprised, reminded him of the next day's examination, but Narendra was<br />
unconcerned; the shadow of the approaching monastic life was fast falling on him. He<br />
appeared for the examination, however, and easily passed.<br />
About Narendra's scholarship, Professor Hastie once remarked: 'Narendra is a real<br />
genius. I have travelled far and wide, but have not yet come across a lad of his talents