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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Greatness Foreshadowed

Narendra's father was a lawyer. So every day his house used to be crowded with his clients belonging to different castes. The house was like an inn; the clients had breakfast and lunch there. It was the custom to provide the guests with hukkas (long pipes) o smoke after food. There was a different pipe for clients of each caste. Narendra wondered what would happen if he smoked the pipe mean for people of a different caste. Finally he experimented nothing untoward happened. He concluded that caste had no meaning.

The maxim "The child is father of the man" was entirely true of the compassionate boy, Narendra. Once there was a display of physical exercises in a localgymnasium. Accidentally an iron bar fell on a sailor among the spectators. He fell down unconscious. The people who had gathered there ran away lest the police should question them. Narendra, with the help of two friends of his, gave the wounded sailor first aid. Then he took him to a doctor. He even raised some money for the wounded man. On another occasion Narendra pulled out one of his friends who had been caught under the wheel of a coach drawn by horses. Likewise he helped a little boy who was a total stranger. The boy was lying on a road with high fever. He took him home. Narendra never knew what fear was.

It was not that Narendra excelled only in sports; he was quick and alert in his studies as well. After a single reading he could remember any lesson. His memory was amazing. Concentration was the key to his success in studies.

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About Swami Vivekananda
Introduction
Spirited But Mischievous
You are Here! Greatness Foreshadowed
The Parents
In Search Of The Guru
The Attraction  And The Test
The Guru Is No More
Pilgrimage
Some Experiences
Plans To Go To America
On Foreign Soil
Thunderous Response
Fulfilment