BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

26 SWAMI VIVEKANANDASri Ramakrishna took him to an adjacent gardenand fell into ecstasy. In that state as he touchedNarendra Nath, the latter, in spite of all precautions,was overwhelmed and lost all outwardconsciousness. When he came to himself he foundSri Ramakrishna stroking his chest.Narendra had no idea of what had happenedin the meantime. But it was then that SriRamakrishna learnt many things about him.Referring to this incident Sri Ramakrishna said lateron that in that state as Narendra Nath dived deepinto himself, Sri Ramakrishna studied his inner life,and the study only confirmed what he had inferredabout his future disciple.Narendra Nath was fully convinced of theextraordinary nature of that mighty power whichwas working through Sri Ramakrishna. The ideathat Sri Ramakrishna was a monomaniac wasreplaced by a feeling of profound respect for him.He recognized Sri Ramakrishna as a great spiritualpersonality, but his mind was not fully prepared toaccept him as a Guru. His mental make-up as wellas his associations with the Brahmo Samajprevented him from believing in the necessity of aGuru. How could a man, however great, be anunerring guide? So he would not accept any wordof Sri Ramakrishna without testing it by his ownexperience or reason.