Spirit News Blog - Swami Vivekananda

Belur Math

Article by Dr. Vidagdha Bennett

There is an image of Swami Vivekananda that kept recurring to me when I arrived in Kolkata. Not the traditional image of him striding through India as an itinerant monk, dauntless in his quest, nor his fiery addresses at the Parliament of Religions, but something almost heartbreaking – the image of him scaling the locked gate to gain entry to Belur Math, the monastery he himself had created.

The incident occurred towards the end of Swami Vivekananda’s life, when his body had started to break down irretrievably. He had made his last tour to London and America, saying farewell to his dear ones and entrusting the responsibilities of his work to his Gurubhais Abhedananda and Turiyananda. Now, after a long absence, he just wanted to go home – to India, to Bengal, to his room at Belur Math. Unlike his earlier triumphant return, this time Swami Vivekananda did not inform anybody of his impending arrival. In his haste to reach India, he left the other members of his party in Cairo and travelled alone – in itself an unusual occurrence for someone with so many distinguished disciples.

Swami Vivekananda disembarked from his steamer in Bombay and caught the train to Calcutta (now Kolkata), a trip taking upwards of forty hours. Arriving at Howrah Station in the late evening of December 9th, 1900, in the garb of a sahib, he managed to locate a horse carriage for himself and his luggage. Then he started for Belur Math. Alas, when he arrived at last, the monastery was locked up for the night.

From: Shivaratri celebration in Belur Math.

Brothers offering their Dance to Lord Shiva in the Main Temple of Sri Ramakrishna. Belur Math was founded by Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda became the leader of the early Sri Ramakrishna movement. Vivekananda had a close to connection to Lord Shiva, the cosmic God of renunciation

What should we pray for?

People pray for many different things. Pray can be a form of desire. We pray for material comforts or release from physical pain. However prayer can be more than just praying for the satisfaction of our material needs. The highest prayer is merely to become one with the highest spiritual realisation.

There is a story of two great Spiritual figures, Sri Ramakrishna and his beloved disciple Swami Vivekananda. Due to the death of his father Swami Vivekananda’s family were living in extreme poverty; his mother started to criticise Vivekananda, saying why did he spend his time praying to God when God could not even provide for the family’s basic needs. Vivekananda felt cut to the bone, so he went to his Spiritual Master Sri Ramakrishna and explained his family’s dire financial predicaments. Sri Ramakrishna compassionately replied to Vivekananda and said if he went to the Temple of Mother Kali and prayed for the boon of financial wealth all his family’s financial problems would be solved.