Swami Vivekananda , named as Naren by his parents, always exhibited courage and confidence even as a small boy. He normally used to go and play in his neighbour's house. There was a champaka tree , the flowers of which are liked by Lord Shiva. And so , people collect these flowers for worship .
Naren as a small boy used to dangle upside down from the branches of this tree. He enjoyed doing this.
The grandfather of the house saw Naren swinging from the branches of this Champaka tree. He was scared that Naren might get hurt if he falls from the tree .Also he might lose the precious Champaka flowers . So, he called out,
" Naren, my boy. Don't climb up this tree . There is a ghost living in this tree. It catches the children playing around the tree and breaks their neck."
Naren immediately jumped down. Grandfather returned back to his room to relax. Again Naren started to dangle from the tree branch. Now his friend standing down said, " Naren, have'nt you heard from the grandfather that there is a ghost in this tree. The ghost might kill you. Get down from the tree. "
Naren laughed away and said to his friend ," Don't be silly. If there is really a ghost in this tree as the grandfather said, then my neck should have been broken by now. Don't believe anything that anybody tells you. We have to use our common sense before believing anything."
And this was Swamiji as a young boy.
Shall we take the message,
One should be bold and without fear, with an exceptionally strong common sense!
image courtesy--google.
