Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment

all i can say that it is absolutely a crap. Narasingha Prosad i beg that u must enlighten your self first before putting such bogus book in publication. Didn't ur mind even for once thought before u've quoted such stupid and out of fact remarks about Swamiji. Alas u cannot tarnish even a little bit Image of Swamiji as he never cared for the immature persons like you. During his stay in America a person name Mukhopaddhay tried to tarnish his image like this by giving all false apprehensions about him in India. He even tried to make him(Swamiji) a characterless person but what happened to him did the world approved his stupid talks no rather he got condemned by American news paper" I guess the persons like u r very crazy see first your fault rather pointing fingers at others. My god bless u..

It seems the author (and his colleagues who also write unpopular books on RK and disciples) do not ask themselves "what would my critics cite to try to refute my claims and/or insinuations?" If they did, I think they would see they were in way over their heads. For example, Rajagopal implies Saradananda was a deceitful person in one of his books. If he thinks he has done a satisfactory job as a scholar in providing evidence of his claim, then he must also be able to refute the numerous extraordinary points in support of his spotless character. For example: -95% of the votes were cast for him to be the next president after Swami Brahmananda passed away. This demonstrates the love and respect everyone had for him, which they surely gained through personal dealings. Furthermore, he turned down the position out of loyalty to Swami Vivekananda's command that he be Secretary. -Sri Ramakrishna selected him as a disciple, though he was extremely strict in doing so. -Sri Ramakrishna tested him by sitting on his shoulder's and "seeing how much weight he could bear", predicting the work he was to do in the future. -Saradananda felt no inclination to get Master's blessing when he became the Kalpataru - Saradananda's life was threatened on at least 3 occassions. He remained unperturbed throughout all of them. Even Vivekananda in his occassional rage could not unsettle him. - Holy Mother said Sharat is the only one who could shoulder her burden. - Holy Mother would become soothed just by touching his body, whereas many people caused her pain when she touched them - Holy Mother said she could not go and live anyplace where Sharat was not - Holy Mother said she was leaving the earth and taking Sharat with her in her arms! - Holy Mother said that he is not even an ordinary knower of Brahman, but above even that, and that there are only a handful like him in the entire world. In trying to point out faults that so many other people failed to see, the relevant author in this case must necessarily also prove how so many other people (THAKUR, MA, AND SWAMIJI NO LESS) all failed to see such things, and yet the author thinks he can! Furthermore, in Rajagopal's case, he does not even try to imagine that there is a valid reason for certain facts about authorship of books to remain a little obscured. There are certain things that should not be known, and is in perfect keeping with morality and righteousness to maintain it that way. For example, Sri Ramakrishna locked the doors and closed the windows when teaching monks, so householders would not hear. And rightly so! There are certain things that certain people are not spiritually fit to hear, and it would upset their spiritual progress. I think it is wise to be careful about seeking missing information where the authors do not even know if the consequences of finding that info would be good or harmful for human beings! It is just reckless and poorly thought out. Such quest for truth apparently does not have enough regard for whom it harms in the process. Analogous warnings go for this present book also. If you slight a great character like Swamiji, see just how far you can refute the torrent of contradictory evidence? You cannot. I think Sil, Kripal, and Chattopadyay really are not doing good to people, and are potentially doing great harm to people. In the end, are your handful of observations right, and 1,000 other people's wrong? Or are those 1,000 people right, and your 2 or 3 observations wrong? Which is more likely. This is all just seeing through the lens of your own mind.

People hold on to their starry-eyed interpretations of the lives of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda like small children hold on to pieces of candy. It is now time to grow up and come to grips with the fact that both of these figures were first and foremost, human beings, and as such, exhibited many of the same faults and foibles as those shared by the rest of humanity. Dr. Sil has done an excellent job bringing a much needed humanity to the story of Vivekananda. Any true student and devotee of the Swami must read this book if they are to be truly informed about his life as it was, rather than how it has been reported (read: whitewashed) by the Ramakrishna Math.