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Title: Swãmi Vivekãnanda - An unabridged life history
Author: Swami Ãshutoshãnanda
Publishers: Sri Rãmakrishna Mutt, Chennai - 600 004

Swami Vivekãnanda's unabridged life history was written by Swami Ãshutoshãnanda and released in two volumes by Sri Rãmakrishna Mutt, Chennai. It is a wonderful book. Let us see an incident from this.

In the beginning, whenever Swami Vivekãnanda used to come to meet Bhagawãn Rãmakrishna, the latter used to give him some tdvaita texts to read. Vivekãnanda saw these as books of atheists. He did not see much difference between atheistic thoughts and Advaitic philosophy and made fun of it. Once, when he was talking to Hãsra, Rãmakrishna came there and took Vivekãnanda to Samãdhi by his touch. Swãmi Vivekãnanda explains about this expeience.

"As soon as Gurudev touched me, there was a revolt in my mind. I felt that, in this world, nothing else is real but God. I was patiently waiting to see how long this state would prevail. That feeling did not leave me the whole day. I returned home; yet had the same thought. Where ever I see, I could see only God. When I sat to eat, I could see God and none else in everything - the plate, the food, the one who served and me, who is partaking food. After taking a couple of mouthfuls of food. I sat baffled. I could resume only when my mother noted my strange behaviour and asked me to continue. Thus I had the same vision all the time - while eating, resting and going to college. An unexplicable ecstasy overcame me. When I was walking on the road, vehicles came by. But I did not feel like moving away. I felt that I am the same as those vehicles. My limbs had lost all their feelings. I did not feel any interest in food. I felt like someone else is eating. While eating I would pause for a while and recline against the wall. Then I would sit up and resume my food. Sometimes I would over-eat. Though that did not affect me, my mother would get scared. She feared that I was afflicted with some serious illness. Sometimes she would even say that I would never recover. When the feeling subsided a bit, the whole world seemed to me as a dream. When I went to the Hetula pond, in order to check if the iron railings on the four sides of the pond are real, I banged my head against them! I felt no feelings in my limbs. I even wondered I was paralyzed.

Thus, I was not able to come out of the strong hold of that feeling for a few days. When I returned to normalcy, I realized that it was the Advaitic experience. I started to believe that the scriptures were no sham. I could not doubt the truths of the Advaita philosophy any more. "

Thus, the book contains many more of such interesting incidents, teachings and spiritual pointers. One cannot but be astonished by the renunciation and the exemplary service of Swamiji.

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