Jan 12, 2022,Lesser known facts about Swami Vivekananda ….
This article is contributed by Mr. Sugato Roy..
Lesser known facts about Swami Vivekananda
We all know that Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th January 1863 at the family residence in North Kolkata ‘s Gourmohan Mookherjee Street to Biswanath Dutta and Bhubaneswari Debi. Biswanath Dutta was a reputed attorney in the Calcutta High Court at that time. Vivekananda was born Narendranath Dutta and was the prime disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa. The Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Math at Belur was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 on the banks of River Hooghly. The Mission is now spread to almost every corner of the globe. Vivekananda will be known eternally for his path-breaking speech at the Parliament of World’ Religions in 1893 which was held in Chicago where his first utterance was “ My Dear American Brothers and Sisters “ that created history. Vivekananda birth anniversary is observed as the National Youth Day in our country. Swami Vivekananda died on 4th July before attaining the age of 40 but by that time his philosophy, his teachings notably Vedanta had created waves in our country that time.
Let us look into certain lesser-known facts about one of the greatest sons of our country.
- As a kid, Vivekananda was a very restless and moody child and many times his mother could not control the young child effectively. She used to pour cold water on the young kid and chant ‘ Om Namah Shivay “. Immediately the boy used to calm down. His childhood nickname was Biley.
- Swami Vivekananda was a keen sportsman and participated in various physical activities, sports and exercises. He was an ardent football player but his triumph in cricket is well known even today. At that time Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens was just about twenty years old. Calcutta Cricket Club was the occupant of Eden at that time which was the oldest cricket club outside Britain. Vivekananda used to play for Town Club, the archrivals of CCC. In one such engrossing match sometimes in the mid-1880s at Eden, Vivekananda bagged seven wickets in a match as the main bowling attack of Town Club.
- An alumnus of both Presidency College and Scottish Church College, Swami Vivekananda was a graduate of the University of Calcutta. It is supposed that he was not very lucid in English speeches but his brilliant oratory in the Chicago Parliament of World’s Religions took India and the USA by storm.
- After the demise of Biswanath Dutta, Swamiji’s father who was a practising attorney at the High Court of Calcutta, the Dutta family was subjected to abject financial hardships all of a sudden. A working mom was unheard of in those days. To ease the financial hardships in which the family had plunged in, Vivekananda used to lie to his mother often by saying that he would not have meals in the house as some friends have called him over lunch. Vivekananda felt this would lessen the financial burden at home. He used to go almost hungry on those days but never spoke to anyone about it.
- Swami Vivekananda was a good cook and his pulao and dessert with sugar and ghee were simply outstanding. He loved having Kachuri and sabzi too and was a passionate lover of Khichuri.
- When he became a monk he took the name Swami Vividishananada but when he went to Chicago he took the name Swami Vivekananda.
- Swamiji had to battle as many as 31 ailments in his life. Some of the diseases which he had to fight in his superbly illustrious life were diabetes, heart problems, liver and kidney problems, migraine, insomnia etc. He also suffered from bouts of malaria.
- One prophetic statement Swami Vivekananda made about himself was that he will not live beyond the age of 40 years. He passed away to perpetuity at the age of 39 + years. He died because of a rupture of the blood vessels in his brain.
SUGATO ROY
GRADUATE FROM ST XAVIER’S COLLEGE AND POST GRADUATE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA, SPECIALISING IN MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE OF 24 YEARS IN VARIOUS CAPACITIES IN ADVERTISING AND PUBLISHING INDUSTRY. HAS BEEN AWARDED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN ADVERTISING AND PUBLICITY MANAGEMENT.