Jai Ramakrishna
(Below are some of the most inspiring incidents in the life of Swami Vivekananda.)
This is how the Swami describes what has been called the most difficult period of his life :
‘Even before the period of mourning was over I had to knock about in search of a job. Starving and bare¬footed, I wandered from office to office under the scorch¬ing noon-day sun with an application in hand, one or two intimate friends who sympathized with me in my misfortu¬nes accompanying me sometimes. But everywhere the door was slammed in my face.
This first contact with the reality of life convinced me that unselfish sympathy was a rarity in the world—there was no place in it for the weak, the poor and the destitute. I noticed that those who only a few days ago would have been proud to help me in any way, now turned their face against me, though they had enough and to spare. Seeing all this, the world sometimes seemed to me to be the handi-work of the devil.
One day, weary and footsore, I sat down in the shade of the Ochterlony Monument in the Maidan. Some friends of mine happened to be there. One of them sang a song about the overflowing grace of God, perhaps to comfort me.
It was like a terrible blow on my head. I remembered the help¬less condition of my mother and brothers, and exclaimed in bitter anguish and despondency, “Will you please stop that song? Such fancies may be pleasing to those who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and have no starving relatives at home. Yes, there was a time when I too thought like that. But today before the hard facts of life, it sounds like grim mockery.” My friend must have been wounded. How could he fathom the dire misery that had forced these words out of my mouth?….
