Swami Vivekananda's travels in India (1888–1893)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In 1888,

dewans, rajas, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, paraiyars and government officials.[5]

North

In August 1888 Swami Vivekananda's first destination was

Trailanga Swami.[8] After meeting Vivekananda, Mukhopadhyay said, "Such vast experience and insight at such an early age! I am sure he will be a great man".[6] Narendra also met Sanskrit and Vedic scholar Babu Pramadadas Mitra,[9] with whom he corresponded on the interpretation of Hindu scriptures.[9][8] After leaving Varanasi, he visited Ayodhya, Lucknow, Agra, Vrindavan, Hathras , and Rishikesh.[7] When he was staying in Vrindavan, one day, he saw a man smoking a hookah. He asked the man to give him a tobacco bowl, but the man refused to do so, explaining he was a man of lower caste. Narendra initially accepted his point and started walking, but within a few minutes, he started feeling ashamed, as he had been practising "non-duality of the soul" for a long time. He returned to the man, and once again requested him to give him a tobacco bowl and despite the man's reluctance, he took the hookah from him and started smoking.[10]

Vivekananda sitting, black and white image
Vivekananda as a wandering monk
After Ramakrishna's death, in January 1887 Vivekananda (then Narendranath Datta) and eight other disciples of Ramakrishna took formal monastic vows in Baranagar Math. In 1888, Narendra left the math and began life as a wandering monk. Both photos were taken at this time.[11]

While on the way to Haridwar, in September 1888,[12] Narendra stayed at Hathras. There in the railway waiting room Narendra met Sharat Chandra Gupta, a railway station master.[13] Gupta went to Narendra and asked if he was hungry, to which he got a reply in positive. He took Narendra to his home. When Narendra asked him what food he was going to offer, Gupta quoted a Persian poem in reply: "Oh beloved, I shall prepare the most delicious dish with the flesh of my heart".[14] Narendra told Gupta that he had a great mission in life — he wanted to serve his motherland where starvation and poverty stalk millions of people. He narrated his dream of seeing India regaining her old glory. During the conversations, Gupta asked Narendra if he could help him anyhow. Narendra immediately replied— "Yes, take up the kamandalu and go begging". Gupta understood that he was being asked to renounce his personal interest for the welfare of many. He decided to renounce the world and became a disciple of Narendranath.[15] Narendra and Gupta left Hathras together.[15]

After leaving Hathras Narendra and Gupta first went to Haridwar, and from there travelled to Rishikesh, on foot. Here Narendra initiated Gupta into Sannyasa and was named Swami Sadananda.[16][17] Gupta was the directly initiated monastic disciple of Vivekananda.[16] Vivekananda called him "the child of my spirit".[10]

Meeting with Pavhari Baba

See also: Pavhari Baba § Meeting with Swami Vivekananda

Between 1888 and 1890, Swami Vivekananda visited

lumbago,[18] and it was becoming impossible for him to move or sit in meditation.[20] After meeting Baba, Swami Vivekananda wanted to become his disciple and Baba asked him to stay a few more days at Ghazipur. However, the night before his initiation, Swami Vivekananda had a dream in which Ramakrishna looked at him with a melancholy face. This dream convinced Swami Vivekananda that no one other than Ramakrishna could be his teacher, and he abandoned the idea of becoming Baba's disciple.[21]

Return to Baranagar Math and Himalayan journey (1890–91)

During the first half of 1890, after the deaths of fellow Ramakrishna disciples Balaram Bose and Suresh Chandra Mitra, Narendra returned to Baranagar Math because of ill health and to arrange for the math's financial support.

Swami Akhandananda) for the Himalayas
.

This constituted the first phase of a journey which would bring Swami Vivekananda to the West.[13][23] He visited the sacred sites of Nainital, Almora, Srinagar, Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar. During these travels, he met Swami Brahmananda, Saradananda, Turiyananda and Advaitananda. They stayed at Meerut for several days, engaged in meditation, prayer and study of the scriptures. At the end of January 1891, Swami Vivekananda left his colleagues and travelled to Delhi.[23][24]

Rajputana (1891)

See also: Ajit Singh of Khetri § Relationship with Swami Vivekananda

After visiting historical sites at Delhi, Swami Vivekananda started his travel towards Rajputana. In these days, he drew inspiration from the words of the Gautama Buddha— [25][26][27]

Go forward without a path,
Fearing nothing, caring for nothing!
Wandering alone, like the rhinoceros!
Even as a lion, not trembling at noises,
Even as the wind, not caught in the net,
Even as the lotus leaf, untainted by water,
Do thou wander alone, like the rhinoceros!

In February 1891, he first went to

Mangal Singh, King of Alwar, whose outlook was Westernised, Singh challenged Swami Vivekananda and ridiculed Hindu idol worship. Swami Vivekananda attempted to explain to him that Hindu worship is symbolic worship, but failed to make the king understand. Then Swami Vivekananda saw a painting hanging on the wall, it was the a painting of the Singh's deceased father and asked him to spit on it. Singh became angry and retorted how he could spit on his father. Swami Vivekananda explained, though it was just a painting, not the king himself, it reminds everybody about the king, similarly an idol worshipped by a Hindu is actually a symbolic worship of the Almighty.[29][28]

From Alwar, Swami Vivekananda went to

Dargah Sharif. At Mount Abu he met Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri, who became an ardent devotee and supporter.[30] Swami Tathagatananda
, a senior monk in the Ramakrishna Order, wrote of their relationship:

... Vivekananda's friendship with Maharaja Ajit Singh of Khetri was enacted against the backdrop of Khetri, a sanctified town in Northern Rajasthan, characterized by its long heroic history and independent spirit. Destiny brought Swamiji and Ajit Singh together on 4 June 1891 at Mount Abu, where their friendship gradually developed through their mutual interest in significant spiritual and secular topics. The friendship intensified when they travelled to Khetri and it became clear that theirs was the most sacred friendship, that of a Guru and his disciple.[31]

At

Mahābhāṣya on the sutras of Panini. After 2+1⁄2 months there, in October 1891 he left for Bombay Presidency.[5][32]

West (1891–92)

Swami Vivekananda visited

Baroda. He remained for nine months at Porbander, furthering his philosophical and Sanskrit studies with learned pandits.[5]

Swami Vivekananda's next destinations included Mahabaleshwar, Pune, Khandwa and Indore. At Kathiawar he heard of the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions, and was urged by his followers to attend it. After a brief stay in Bombay in July 1892, he met Bal Gangadhar Tilak during a train journey.[33] After staying with Tilak for a few days in Pune,[34] Swami Vivekananda travelled to Belgaum in October 1892 where he met Panth Maharaj, and to Panaji and Margao in Goa, spending three days at Rachol Seminary (the oldest convent in Goa, with rare religious manuscripts and printed works in Latin) studying Christian theological works.[35]

South (1892–93)

Swami Vivekananda later travelled to

Cochin and a railway ticket.[38]

From Bangalore, Swami Vivekananda visited

Trivandrum, Nagercoil and reached Kanyakumari on foot on Christmas Eve 1892.[40] At Kanyakumari, Swami Vivekananda meditated on the "last bit of Indian rock" (later known as the Vivekananda Rock Memorial). At Kanyakumari, Narendra had a "vision of one India" (the "Kanyakumari resolve of 1892").[41]
He later wrote:

"At Cape Camorin sitting in Mother Kumari's temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rock—I hit upon a plan: We are so many

sanyasis wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysics—it is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva use to say, 'An empty stomach is no good for religion?' We as a nation have lost our individuality and that is the cause of all mischief in India. We have to raise the masses."[41][42]

To realize this, he needed collaborators and funds. The people were easily to find, but the funds were hard to acquire, and therefore Narendra decided to travel to America, "to earn money myself, and then return to my country and devote the rest of my days to the realisation of this one aim of my life."[43]

From Kanyakumari, Swami Vivekananda visited

Pondicherry and Madras; there, he met some of his disciples, specially Alasinga Perumal.[a] Perumal went door to door in hopes of getting money for Swami Vivekananda's travel.[45] With funds collected by his Madras disciples, the kings of Mysore, Ramnad, Khetri, diwans and other followers, Swami Vivekananda left Bombay for Chicago on 31 May 1893 with the name "Vivekananda", as suggested by Ajit Singh of Khetri,[42] which means "the bliss of discerning wisdom".[46]

Notes

  1. ^ Alasinga Perumal played important roles in collecting funds for his voyage to America and later establishing the Ramakrishna Mission in Madras).[44]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rolland 2008, p. 7.
  2. ^ Dhar 1976, p. 243.
  3. ^ a b Richards 1996, pp. 77–78.
  4. ^ a b Bhuyan 2003, p. 12.
  5. ^ a b c d e Rolland 2008, pp. 16–25.
  6. ^ a b Banhatti 1995, p. 19.
  7. ^ a b Bhuyan 2003, p. 11.
  8. ^ a b Virajananda 2006, pp. 214–216.
  9. ^ a b Badrinath 2006, p. 118.
  10. ^ a b Nikhilananda 1953, p. 43.
  11. ^ "Swami Vivekananda Images 1886 to 1893". Vivekananda.net. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  12. ^ Badrinath 2006, p. 123.
  13. ^ a b c Banhatti 1995, pp. 19–22.
  14. ^ Banhatti 1995, p. 20.
  15. ^ a b Badrinath 2006, pp. 123–124.
  16. ^ a b Badrinath 2006, p. 124.
  17. ^ Rolland 2008, pp. 11–12.
  18. ^ a b Badrinath 2006, p. 119.
  19. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 227–228.
  20. ^ Nikhilananda 1953, pp. 44–45.
  21. ^ Sil 1997, pp. 216–218.
  22. ^ Badrinath 2006, p. 120.
  23. ^ a b Virajananda 2006, pp. 243–261.
  24. ^ Rolland 2008, p. 15.
  25. ^ Cooper 1984, p. 49.
  26. ^ Vivekananda 1976, p. 22.
  27. ^ a b Nikhilananda 1953, p. 49.
  28. ^ a b Nikhilananda 1953, pp. 49–50.
  29. ^ Banhatti 1995, p. 21.
  30. ^ Nikhilananda 1953, p. 50.
  31. ^ Swami Tathagatananda (June 2011). "Swami Vivekananda's special relationship with Raja Ajit Singh". The Vedanta Kesari. 98 (6). Ramakrishna Math and Mission: 230. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  32. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 262–287.
  33. ^ Rolland 2008, p. 25.
  34. ^ Dhar 1976, p. 1434.
  35. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 288–320.
  36. ^ Beckerlegge 2008, p. 129.
  37. ^ Nikhilananda 1953, p. 52.
  38. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 323–325.
  39. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 327–329.
  40. ^ Virajananda 2006, pp. 339–342.
  41. ^ a b Agarwal 1998, p. 59.
  42. ^ a b Banhatti 1995, p. 24.
  43. ^ Michelis 2005, p. 109.
  44. ^ Badrinath 2006, pp. 135–138.
  45. ^ Badrinath 2006, p. 137.
  46. ^ Gosling 2007, p. 18.

Sources
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swami_Vivekananda%27s_travels_in_India_(1888–1893)&oldid=1210658856"