Little Known Facts about Swami Vivekananda

1. Swami Vivekananda's sanayas name was Swami Vividdishananda, He changed that name to the name by which he was subsequently known when he set out to the West.
2. Swami Vivekananda was born during the mid-Victorian age: 12.1.1863
3. His father, Vishwanath Datta, was a lawyer of the Calcutta High Court. He was largely influenced in many ways by Western education.
4. Swami Vivekananda was, therefore, enormously informed by the insidious Western empiricism.
5. Swami Vivekananda's first ever spiritual experience was when he was 15 years old.
6. Swami Vivekananda's school principal, William Hastie of General Assembly's Institution (now known as Scottish Church college) said: "Narendranath is really a genius."
7. Swami Vivekananda studied different religions and philosophical systems of the East and the West.
8. He was a member of the Brahmo Samaj, which did not believe in gods. To a large extent, it opposed Hinduism.
9. Swami Vivekananda was familiar with the Romantic poets and their works. He had studied Wordsworth's The Excursion.

1. Swami Ramamkrishna, the spiritual master of Swami Vivekananda, had once said, "People will never understand him (=Swami Vivekananda) fully."
2. Swami Vivekananda did not speak about anyone behind his back.
3. Swami Vivekananda passed his B.A. examination, and was admitted to a law school.
4. A rich woman accosted Swami Vivekananda, promising him wealth and comfort. The swami did not touch her with a barge pole.
5. Swami Vivekananda used to do japa as soon he got out of bed in the morning.
6. Swami Vivekananda once remarked that "a God who could not in this life give a crust of bread was not to be trusted in the next life for the kingdom of heaven".
7. Swami Vivekananda left India on 31.5.1893, and reached Chicago on 30.7.1893 via several countries, viz. Malaysia (=Penang) and Singapore.
8. Nicola Testa and Rockefellar had met Swami Vivekananda.
9. Swami Vivekananda had a tremendous impact all over South India.
10. Despite his so-called "spiritual attainments", Swami Vivekananda had been known for his strange advice and heterodox unspiritual sermons. (The details of which can be found on page 62, God Lived with Them).
11. Swami Vivekananda had diabetes and asthma.
12. Again, despite his so-called "spiritual attainments", he seemed to have grieved when his favourite pet died. (pg. 63, supra).
13. What is disconcerting is, even in the afternoon of his life, Swami Vivekananda, who was by then said to be "spiritually accomplished", kept doubting his Guru. (pg. 67, supra).
14. Swami Vivekananda believed in astrology.
15. Swami Vivekananda observed Ekadasi strictly. (pg. 69, supra)
16. On the day of his death, Swami Vivekananda "relished various kinds of fish preparations". (Quite disconcerting to discover this).
17. Four hours before his death, Swami Vivekananda had been said to have said, "India is immortal…if she persists in her search for God, BUT if she goes in for politics and social conflict, she will die", a prophecy that seems to be coming true now.
18. Four hours before his death, Swami Vivekananda, facing the ganges, chanted on his japa mala.
19. An hour and a half before his death, with Japa mala in his hand, he lay down on his bed.

1. Swami Vivekananda left his body during Dakshinayana (=when the sun travels towards the south on the celestial sphere. This marks the period when the Gods and Goddesses are in their celestial sleep.) It has been proclaimed in the Bhagavad Gita 8:25 that "dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam/ tatra cāndramasaṁ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate, i.e., "The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun passes to the south reaches the moon planet but comes back."

Source: pgs. 19-75, God Lived with Them by Swami Chetenananda