And, thus, Naren became the force that carried Sri Ramakrishna’s message to the world.

Sri Ramakrishna passed away on the 16th of August, 1886, leaving his disciples desolate. Some returned to their homes. Naren, remembering the Master’s admonition, went to their homes to enjoin them to come back to Baranagore where the first monastery had begun.

One by one the disciples returned to band themselves into a brotherhood and spent day and night in prayer and spiritual practices. Material deprivations did not deter them.

With Naren spurring them towards greater renunciation, they performed the Viraja ceremony; took vows of lifelong celibacy and poverty; gave up their old names to complete their severance from an old way of life and its associations and dedicated their lives to realizing God.

After two years of staying largely in Baranagore, a new chapter was to begin. Naren could no longer resist the call of the traditional wandering life of a Hindu monk. He wanted to test his own strength, to become fearless in the face of the unknown and at the same time make his brother monks stand self-reliant.

So, we see Naren spend the next two years as a monk on a ‘pilgrimage’ of India, going from Rajputana to Bombay State to Southern India mingling with the people of his beloved motherland from the pariah to the prince with the same equanimity.

His heart reeled at the state of India’s starving and uneducated masses. And then, in Kanyakumari after meditating for days he ‘hit’ as he later wrote, ‘upon a plan’. A plan which would ameliorate the condition of the vast downtrodden masses while bringing about a renaissance of her rich spiritual heritage.

He decided to go to America, where as he explained to the Maharaja of Mysore, he would ask the West for the means to achieve his plans giving them the gospel of Vedanta in exchange. Before leaving for the West and the parliament of Religions, he visited Rajputana once again where he took the name of Vivekananda at the request of his disciple, the Maharaja of Khetri.

In May of 1893, Swami Vivekananda set sail for America via the East.

As is now well known, on September 11, 1893, when Swami Vivekananda rose to address the Parliament of Religions, his first words: “Sisters and Brothers of America” were greeted with unprecedented applause as delegates rose to their feet in a standing ovation.

It seems all too prophetic today that the Swami spoke on that day of the Vedantic truth which said all religions lead to the same goal, that a Hindu should remain and be a good Hindu, a Christian should remain and be a good Christian, that there was no place in religion for persecution or intolerance, that the need was of a universal religion centered in aiding humanity to realize its true divine nature.

In the approximately five short years that followed the Parliament of Religions, Swami Vivekananda was lionized by the upper-most strata of society, yet he worked unceasingly spreading the message of Vedanta in the West by giving public lectures, meeting with interested groups and holding retreats all across the US and, later, Europe. He established Vedanta groups, and after putting Sri Ramakrishna’s work on a firm footing, returned to India to put into action his plan for his beloved motherland.

When Swami Vivekananda returned to Madras and India, the city greeted him as a hero. Its citizens erected seventeen arches; twenty-four separate public addresses were made in various languages; it was as though the city had suspended its personal life to give this Son of India a public welcome.

Once again, he was lionized.

Once again, he had, only his countrymen at heart.

The great Swami proclaimed that before India could be flooded with social or political ideas, the country should be deluged with spiritual ideas.

“The first work,” he said, “that demands our attention is that the most wonderful truths confined in our Upanishads, in our scriptures and Puranas must be brought out . . . and scattered broadcast over the country.” So, all of India learns behind each one of us is that Infinite Soul and each one of us has the capacity to become great and good.

“Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”