Good morning, to one and all present here.

Today, on this occasion of Swami Vivekanda’s birth

anniversary, I would like to express a few words on Caring Naren. A characteristic of
Narendranath was his solicitude to others. To those, who he loved among his fellows, he was
kind himself.
For instance, one day, when he went with twenty or more boys to see the Calcutta fort. One of
the party complained of pain, and stayed back, while the others laughed at the sick boy’s
expense and went ahead. Left alone, the boy sat down on the ground, his pain growing worse.
Naren had went with the party, but suddenly he turned & said, “It may be that he’s seriously
ill. One of us must go back to him, so I’ll go.” He retraced his steps just in time. The boy had
overtaken with fever. Naren assisted him, and took him home. Soon the boy recovered, and
thanked Naren. This shows Naren took care of his friends.
But not only friends, Naren took care of strangers as well. Following incident tells us about it.
Naren and his friends were members of the gymnasium of the shri Navagopal Mitra. One day,
while they were trying to set up a very heavy trapeze, a crowd gathered to watch. Among
them, was an English sailor, whom Naren had asked for help. While that sailor was lifting the
trapeze to help the boys, it suddenly fell and knocked at him. Naren tore a piece from his dhoti,
and bandaged the wound of the sailor. When the sailor regained consciousness, Naren and his
friends lifted him & took him to a neighbouring schoolhouse. A doctor was sent for and
Navagopal Mitra was informed. After one week of nursing, the sailor got recovered. There’s
another similar incident.
One day a monk came & asked for alms. All Naren had was a dhoti. He was proud of his new
cloth, but straightaway gave it to the sadhu, went away blessing the boy. This shows that Naren
did not care about material wealth, but cared about poor and elderly people.
Naren also took care of animals. He had a number of pet animals, whom he loved playing with.
Whenever, any of his pet was ill, he always took great care of it. These show us that Naren was
a gentleman from his childhood, and also was very caring, not only for human beings, but also
with animals. He is a great example of inspiring many others to be just like him.
THANK YOU AND NAMASTE!
Good morning, to one and all present here. Today, on this occasion of Swami Vivekanda’s birth
anniversary, I would like to express a few words on his informal education. The first education is
always at the knee of the mother, and immense was Bhubhnashwari’s eagerness to educate her
son well. It was in her lap, that Narendranath first became aware about the glory, of the gods and
goddess, the greatness of the sages of India, among whom was his grandfather, the sanyasi,
Durgaprasad. It was also from his mother, from whom he had first heard about the tales of
Ramayana and Mahabharata. In this small congregation, Naren would be found sitting quietly
throughout the reading and the listening with rapt attention. There can be no doubt that these
exerted a great influence on his mind. Naren also learned many things, from his maternal
grandmother, and from his mother. One of his younger brothers, Mahendranath later write that
their great grandmother belonged to the Vaishnava sect, and knew many teachings and anecdotes
from the epics, Bhagvatam and Vaishnava lore. Indeed, most of the stories that he said to his
audience, were from his childhood, told by these two elderly ladies. Even the singers in the streets
contributed to young Naren’s education. Fascinating are those singers! Sometimes they would
even go to large parties, perhaps as a family with strained circumstances, but they are always
joyous. Some carry an image of the Divine Mother, or it may be that a father will go with his son
dressed as Shri Krishna. From house to house the singers go, singing joyously of the lord, or telling
sacred stories in song. Often, they would come to Naren’s house, and for her son’s sake, her
mother always made them feel welcome, for she realized, that the more often and intimately a
child is exposed to the national culture, the better and truer man he becomes. But, schools are
places where one is apt to meet with all sorts of comrades, and within a few days, Naren had
acquired a vocabulary which quite upset his family. Never again, determined his entire household
that he should ever go to school again! Instead, a private tutor was engaged, who conducted
classes in the family worship hall for Naren and some other boys. Soon Naren was noticed for his
great intelligence. Later, when he became an adult, he helped a lot of people. With this form of
informal but enriching education he earned a respectful name, and became a great leader.
THANK YOU!!!
Good morning, to one and all present here. Today, on this occasion on Swami Vivekanda’s birth
anniversary, I would like to express a few words on Naren- A born Leader. Even at an early age,
Naren asserted himself as leader among his fellows. Whenever occasion offered, he put himself
as lead. One such occasion came on the Makar Sankranti day, when boys worship mother Ganga,
& everyone think it is auspicious to bathe in the sacred waters. Naren had insisted that this
festival should be celebrated, & took permission from his father. Then he gathered together a
group of boys, and his father instructed the private tutor, to teach them songs on mother Ganga.
On the appointed day, all the children headed out of the home, leaded by Naren. Garlands of
flowers in their hands, they went through the streets to reach the River Ganga, singing all the
while. When, they reached the river, all the children shouted joyfully “WORSHIP THE MOTHER
GANGA”- and they threw their garlands upon the waters. What a pretty sight! It was this spirit of
self-sacrifice in Naren that made him a leader. Even in his college days, Naren was in lead upon
the students. Another occasion was about he, saving a theatrical performance from disruption.
(Say this line a bit more joyfully and with pauses). The drama was going on nicely, when suddenly
in the middle of the performance, a bailiff came onto the stage, wanting to arrest the lead actor.
He said to the actor loudly, “I arrest you in the name of law!” That moment a voice called out,
“Get off the stage, what do you mean by disturbing the drama like this.” It was a harsh voice,
and, it was the voice of Naren. Immediately, many people burst out in support, Get off the
stage!” Get off the stage!” And the bailiff went away in shame. Everyone patted Naren’s back and
said, “Well done! Well done! We would not have had our money’s worth, without you”. He,
inspires many of us to be a caring and great leader, just like him.
THANK YOU AND NAMASTE!