Vivekananda Jayanti 2023: Vivekananda’s First Meeting With God, The Universal Consciousness

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Swami Vivekananda belonged to well to do family that lost all its glory once his father, who was the barrister, lost his life to the whims of fate. Soon after his demise, the family of Vivekananda went into depths of poverty and squalor. Vivekananda did not eat for days, due to the dearth of food, but always lied to his mother that he had his lunch on the way in his friend's house. All this was done because he did not want to hurt his mother.

Professors Introduction To The Word Trance

At college, he researched extensively on western philosophical thought, which was the reason behind his spirit of enquiry. He had sought refuge in the Brahmo Samaj and met religious leaders. He did not find any convincing response from them about gods existence. When life turned utterly difficult to manage and he enrolled himself into a university, due to a twist of fate, the word trance was discussed in his classroom. Unable to satisfy his curiosity, the professor asked him to visit Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the seer of Kolkata. Vivekananda, apart from discussing his spiritual doubts, also discussed his financial plight with Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. As a reply, Paramahamsa told him that he had a way and that was to pray to Goddess Kali to provide him with the wealth he wanted. Vivekananda visited the temple, looked at the idol of Mother Goddess Kali, felt numbed in his senses and did not feel the urge to ask her for any material benefit.

Vivekananda's Prayers To Kali

Days passed and were spent in the same fashion. One day, Ramakrishna called him to ask him if he had asked Goddess for wealth to which Vivekananda answered in the negative. After seeing the Goddess' idol, he found it impossible to ask her for what he wanted with a straight face. He turned into a disciple of Ramakrishna at this stage.

Vivekananda's Actual Meeting With God, The Divinity

Actually, his first meeting with the saint was when he was barely 19. Upon seeing Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, because of his sceptical bent of mind, could not understand the depth of Ramakrishna's devotion that looked so ecstatic. Firstly, he thought that they were figments of his imagination and hallucinations. He shot innumerable questions at him and finally, Ramakrishna asked him patiently to see the truth in every possible way. Vivekananda was baffled beyond his wits and then straightaway asked him "You are talking about God always. Have you seen him? If so, prove it." Ramakrishna said simply that he himself was proof that God exists. Vivekananda gave up asking questions at this stage as he was stunned.

His Experience After The Samadhi

Vivekananda was dumbfounded and as he was immersed in thoughts, in silence, Ramakrishna placed his foot on Vivekananda's chest immediately after which Vivekananda went into trance and samadhi where he lost his senses, his worldly ties and moorings, and logic. He sensed his identity merging with the divine and felt copious tears flowing down his cheeks for a long time. He was never the same again after this episode.

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