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.
Swami Vivekananda , is affectionately called as the " Orange Monk " by the westerners .He wears the orange colour Hindu saintly dress and so he is called as the Orange Monk.He had a magnetic art of attracting people to his speeches. He addressed the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, in 1893.His inspiring speech began with " Sisters and Brothers of America." After his inspiring speech on Hinduism, he became India's Spiritual Ambassador in America.
He narrates certain incidents which happened in his life. From these incidents he must be, ofcourse sending us a message. And this one is about the encounter with monkeys in Sarnath.
Swami, a great devotee of Godess Durga was returning after praying at the Durga temple in Sarnath.He was walking between a tank filled with water on one side and a big wall on the other side. He was suddenly surrounded and cornered by a herd of monkeys. Some shrieked, some howled at him. And some even went to the extent of clutching his feet with the intention of biting him. He started to run away from them. The faster he ran, the more bolder the monkeys were. They began to chase him. Swami did not know the way to escape from these animals.
Another saint who was passing by, saw this. He shouted at Swami Vivekananda ," Oh,Saint! Why are you running away from them.Face the brutes." These words brought him back to senses. He stood firm, turned around and majestically stared at the monkeys . Now the monkeys , fell back and fled from the scene.
Swami, then went on his way and ofcourse he thanked the saint who helped him.
Let us take the message
BE BOLD. BE STRONG. BE A HERO.
image courtesy---google
