ANECDOTES IN THE LIFE OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA :

            1. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: A GREAT LESSON LEARNT FROM HIS  MOTHER        

2.  SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: A TRUTHFUL STUDENT

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1. FOR SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: A GREAT LESSON FROM HIS MOTHER

When Swami Vivekananda [then Narendra] was studying in school he was punished for no fault of his own. The Geography teacher asked him a question which Narendra answered correctly. But the teacher thought Narendra he was wrong and punished him. But Naredra was undaunted even as a boy. He protested, ‘I committed no error, sir; I am sure what I said is right.’ This made the teacher furious and he caned Narendra mercilessly.

BHUVANESHWARI DEVI

Narendra returned home, his eyes filled with tears and narrated every thing to his mother. But Bhuvaneshwari Devi consoled him saying, ‘My son, why do you care if you are in the right? Follow the truth always, whatever happens.’

Narendra found his Master, Sri Ramakrishna to be an embodiment of the ideal his mother had instilled in him. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: ‘Truth is to be cultivated by all means. If a man holds to truth in this Kaliyuga, he will certainly realize God.’ And Sri Ramakrishna himself practised what he preached.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

This ideal of unwavering loyalty to truth which, Swami Vivekananda saw in his mother and later in his spiritual master Sri Ramakrishna found expression in all his actions. It was therefore only but natural that the world would later hear him proclaim: ‘Every thing can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.’

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 2.   SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: A TRUTHFUL STUDENT

While in school one day Swami Vivekananda [then Narendra] was talking animatedly to his friends during a class recess. Meanwhile, the teacher had begun to teach his subject. But the students were too absorbed in Narendra’s story to pay any attention to the lesson. After some time had passed, the teacher heard the whispering and understood what was going on! Visibly annoyed, he now asked each student what he had been teaching on. None could answer. But Narendra was remarkably talented; his mind could work simultaneously on two planes. While he had engaged one part of his mind in talking, he had kept the other half on the lesson. So when the teacher asked him that question, he answered correctly. Quite nonplussed, the teacher inquired who had been talking so long. Everybody pointed at Narendra, but the teacher refused to believe them. He then asked all students except Narendra to stand upon the bench. Narendra also joined his friends and stood up. The teacher asked him to sit down. But Narendra replied: ‘No sir, I must also stand up because it was I who was talking to them.’

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