TEST BY MOTHER
Before leaving for abroad for the first time to preach Hinduism, Vivekanand's mother wanted to know whether he is all perfect for this mission or not, she invited him for dinner. Vivekanand enjoyed the food that had the additional flavor of his mother's special love and affection. After the delicious dinner, Vivekanand's mother offered Vivekanand a dish of fruits and a knife. Vivekanand cut the fruit, ate it and after that his mother said, "Son, can you please give me the knife, I need it." Vivekanand immediately responded by giving the knife.
Vivekanand's mother calmly said, "Son, you have passed my test and I heartily bless you for going abroad." Vivekanand surprisingly asked, "Mother, how did you test me? I did not understand."
Mother replied, "Son, when I asked for the knife, I saw how you handed it to me, you gave the knife by holding its sharp edge and kept the wooden handle of knife towards me. This way, I would not get hurt when I take it and this means you took care of me. And this was your test in which you passed.
The person who thinks of others welfare rather than thinking about self has got the right of preaching the world and you have got that right. You have all my blessings."
This was the most important mark he left in the hearts of many he met in his lifetime - to think of others before thinking for self.
Moral: There are some qualities which draw the difference between a common man and an uncommon man. To think about the welfare of everyone falls under an extraordinary quality. The true noble person is the one who thinks of others' happiness even if it is in little matters to our day to day life. The one who thinks of himself alone is considered selfish & will not be valued by the world in the long run. It is the law of nature that as the bigger hearted & noble you are, the more you will keep receiving & as the narrower minded you become, the less you will receive.
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Conversion from Physical life to Spiritual Life
There is a very wonderful incident which
occurred in Vivekananda’s life. One day, his mother was very ill and on
her deathbed. Now it suddenly struck Vivekananda that there was no money
in his hands and he was unable to provide her with the necessary
medicine or food. It made him very angry that he was unable to take care
of his mother when she was really sick. When a man like Vivekananda
gets angry, he gets really angry. He went to Ramakrishna – there was nowhere else to go, even if he got angry, that was where he went.
He told Ramakrishna “All this nonsense, this spirituality, where is it
getting me? If I was employed and had done the things that I was
supposed to do, today I could have taken care of my mother. I could have
given her food, I could have given her medicine, I could have given her
comfort. Where has this spirituality taken me?”
Ramakrishna being a worshiper of Kali, had
a Kali shrine in his house. He said “Does your mother need medicine and
food? Why don’t you go and ask the Mother for what you want?” It
sounded like a good idea to Vivekananda and he went into the shrine.
After about an hour, he came out and
Ramakrishna asked, “Did you ask the Mother for food, money and whatever
else your mother needs?”
Vivekananda replied, “No, I forgot.”
Ramakrishna said, “Go back inside again and ask.”
Vivekananda went into the shrine again and came back after four hours. Ramakrishna questioned him, “Did you ask the Mother?”
Vivekananda said “No, I forgot.”
Ramakrishna again said. “Go inside again and this time, don’t forget to ask.”
Vivekananda went inside and after almost eight hours, he came out. Ramakrishna again asked him, “Did you ask the Mother?”
Vivekananda said “No, I will not ask. I have no need to ask.”
Ramakrishna replied “That’s good. If you
had asked for anything in the shrine today, this would have been the
last day between you and me. I would not have seen your face ever again,
because an asking fool does not know what life is about. An asking fool
has not understood the very fundamentals of life.”
Prayerfulness is a certain quality. If you
become prayerful, if you become worshipful, it is a fantastic way to
be. But if you are praying with an expectation that you will get
something, then it is not going to work for you.
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Gita as a Strong Foundation
In
the United States, a Christian had invited Swami Vivekananda to his
home with the intention to mock the Swami's religiosity. He welcomed the
Swami at home and showed the latter his book rack. He pointed towards a
pile of books which were placed in such a way that the Bhagavad Githa
was placed at the bottom of the pile, followed by other religious books
and the Bible was placed at the top of the pile.
He then questioned the Swami, "I usually do my reading here. Don't you like the way I arranged my books?"
The
Swami replied, "I sure do. The books are very organized and arranged
neatly. The ones on the top stand firmly because the foundation is
exceedingly strong."
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The Lady who wanted to marry Vivakanand
Swami
Vivekananda was on the tour of USA. He was extremely popular there due
to his impressive speeches. Due to his immense popularity, one woman
approached him and expressed her desire to marry. Swami Vivekananda
asked her the reason for such a desire.
The woman replied, "I am
attracted to your extraordinary intelligence and mind. I always wished
for a child just like you. I would like to marry you so that we could
have child with similar good qualities." Swami Vivekananda thought that
its fine for the woman to feel attracted due to his nature and
intelligence. But he felt that its not a valid reason to marry just for
fulfilling the desire of a child. After thinking for sometime,
Vivekananda replied, "Dear lady, I can understand your wish to marry me.
However, it will take a lot of time in waiting for the baby to grow up
to see if he or she is wise. Even after waiting for so long, there is no
guarantee that the child will be wise."
The woman understood and
said, "But what will happen to my wish of getting a child as wise as
you. Will it be fulfilled or not?" Swami Vivekananda replied, "I have a
guaranteed idea for your wish. If you allow, can I suggest you?" The
woman became happy to hear this and said, "Sure!! Why not?" Swami
Vivekananda replied, "You can adopt me as your child. This way, you will
become my mother and you will get a wise and intelligent child, who is
none other than me." The woman felt shocked to hear the reply.
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When Maharaja of Jaipur Welcome Swami Vivekanand with most expensive Prostitute
Long
before Swami Vivekananda had become popular through his landmark
speeches in Chicago in 1893, he had once gone to meet and stay with
Maharaja of Jaipur. As was the custom, Maharaja a great lover of
festivities went out of his way to welcome Swamiji. There was an issue
that he didn’t forsee. Welcoming rituals included welcoming the guests
by prostitutes who were specially called in.
As Swamiji came,
Maharaja called the “best and the most expensive prostitute” to welcome
him. Swamiji was a Sanyasi, and Maharaja was unaware of his ways. On
learning that prostitutes were called to sing and dance for him, he
locked himself in his room. He hadn’t yet matured as a Yogi.
The
Maharaja came to ask for his forgiveness. Said that this was the most
expensive prostitute for whom he had already paid and turning her away
would be insulting her and creating a rift with the whole group. But
Swami Vivekananda would have nothing of it. He remained holed up in his
room.
The prostitute started singing on her own, without the guest in
the presence of the hosts. She sang a divine song of a Saint. Weeping,
crying and yet singing her heart out and her pain… being “dirt” in
front of him, a Saint. Swamiji couldn’t ignore her singing and walked
out of the room and sat in front of her to listen to her singing that
night. That night be wrote in his diary:
”A new
revelation has been given to me by the divine. I was afraid… must be
some lust within me. That’s why I was afraid. But the woman defeated me
completely, and I have never seen such a pure soul. The tears were so
innocent and the singing and the dancing were so holy that I would have
missed. And sitting near her, for the first time I became aware that it
is not a question who is there outside; it is a question what is.”
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Once Swami Vivekananda was traveling in a
train to attend a meeting. As always, Swamiji's attire consisted of a
saffron robe and turban. On seeing this attire, a
co-passenger who does not know anything about this Larger-than-Life Gem,
took him to be a normal one, started commenting about him like
anything.
He even hurled abuses at Swamiji, but our Swamiji,
with a compassionate heart filled with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE towards all,
never minded about the brickbats being fired at him. He kept on looking
at the co-passenger with a beaming smile on his face.
At the
same time, Swamiji was feeling hungry as he had not took anything in the
morning. As we all know, these IMMORTAL people never used to think
about things that are transient and only will be thinking and caring
about the welfare of the suffering people around them at all times.
So, we need to carefully assess the situation. At one end, he is
receiving those unhealthy comments from his co-passenger and on the
other end he was feeling hungry. Now, the station has finally come for
our Swamiji and he got down from the train and sat on a chair in the
railway station exactly in front of the compartment in which he
travelled as he was completely tired and exhausted. That fellow is all
smiles after seeing our Swamiji in such a condition.
Now see how our Father, "The God" helps him out with such a BEAUTIFUL MIRACLE of all times....
As soon as our Swamiji sat on the chair, he heard a man calling out,
"Who is Swami Vivekananda?"....loudly time and again. Then our Swamiji
called him and asked what is the matter. That man's eyes were filled
with tears and he immediately fell down at the feet of our swamiji and
told him that he got a dream in which he was ordered by "The God" to go
and feed his child named Swami Vivekananda as he is very hungry and has
not had anything right from the morning. He brought along with him the
food and served him with heartful of love.
On seeing this
incident, that co-passenger came out running from the train and fell
down at the feet of our Swamiji with tears in his eyes and asking him to
forgive for the disrespect he has shown to Swamiji who is a blessed
soul and whose care is taken care of by none other than by "The God"
Himself.
We people always think about ourselves, but these
Greatest Souls of all times will never think about themselves as they
are completely selfless. Hence, "The God" always do such a lovely
miracles to rescue them at the right time to show the world how worth
they are!
