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FIRST MEETING WITH MADAME EMMA CALVE
(New Discoveries, Vol. 1, pp. 484-86.)
[The story of the first meeting of Swami Vivekananda and Madame Emma Calvé, as told in Calvé’s autobiography, My Life]
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
by Swami Vivekananda
Volume 9, Conversations and Interviews
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
by Swami Vivekananda
Volume 9, Conversations and Interviews
Rockefeller was annoyed that anyone dared to talk to him that way and tell him what to do. He left the room in irritation, not even saying goodbye. But about a week after, again without being announced, he entered Swamiji’s study and, finding him the same as before, threw on his desk a paper which told of his plans to donate an enormous sum of money toward the financing of a public institution.
“Well, there you are”, he said. “You must be satisfied now, and you can thank me for it.”
Swamiji didn’t even lift his eyes, did not move. Then taking the paper, he quietly read it, saying: “It is for you to thank me”. That was all. This was Rockefeller’s first large donation to the public welfare.
(Translated from Bengali) (From the Diary of a Disciple)
( Complete Works, Vol. V.) [Place: Calcutta. year: 1897.]
Swamiji was asked this Question by Girsh Chandra Ghosh
অমুকের বাড়ীর কুলস্ত্রীকে গুণ্ডাগুলো অত্যাচার করে মেরে ফেলেছে
Excerpt
Swamiji was now in a sort of deep reverie, ( স্বামীজী অনযমনা হইয়া লক ভালবখতলেখিন) when Girish Babu suddenly called out to him and said:
Well, hear me, please. A good deal of study you have made in the Vedas and Vedanta, but say, did you find anywhere in them any way for us out of all these profound miseries in the country,
All these wailings of grief, all this starvation, all these crimes of adultery, and the many horrible sins? Saying this he painted over and over again the horrid pictures of society.
কিন্তু এই যে দেশে ঘোর হাহাকার, অন্নাভাব, ব্যভিচার, ভ্রুণহত্যা, মহাপাতকাদি চোখের সামনে দিনরাত ঘুরছে, এর উপায় তোমার বেদে কিছু বলেছে?
ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীর গিন্নী, এককালে যার বাড়ীতে রোজ পঞ্চাশখানি পাতা পড়ত, সে আজ তিন দিন হাঁড়ি চাপায়নি; ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীর কুলস্ত্রীকে গুণ্ডাগুলো অত্যাচার করে মেরে ফেলেছে;
ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীতে ভ্রুণহত্যা হয়েছে,
অমুক জোচ্চোরি করে বিধবার সর্বস্ব হরণ করেছে-এ- সকল রহিত করবার কোন উপায় তোমার বেদে আছে কি?’
Swamiji remained perfectly quiet and speechless, while at the thought of the sorrows and miseries of his fellow men, tears began to flow out
of his eyes, and seemingly to hide his feelings from us, he rose and left the room.
Meanwhile, addressing the disciple, Girish Babu said: Did you see, Bângâl? What a great loving heart! I don’t honour your Swamiji simply for being a Pundit versed in the Vedas; but I honour him for that great heart of his which just made him retire weeping at the sorrows of his fellow beings. The disciple and Girish Babu then went on conversing with each other, the latter proving that knowledge and love were ultimately the same.
Vivekananda, Swami; Yogananda, Paramahansa . Complete Collection of Swami Vivekananda – 9 Volumes (With Bonus of Autobiography by a Yogi) (p. 3405). Ageless Reads. Kindle Edition.
page 19
স্বামী-শিষ্য-সংবাদ | শরৎ চন্দ্র চক্রবর্তী |
1897 In House of Balram Bose
Swamiji was asked this Question by Girsh Chandra Ghosh
অমুকের বাড়ীর কুলস্ত্রীকে গুণ্ডাগুলো অত্যাচার করে মেরে ফেলেছে
Excerpt
স্বামীজী অন্যমনা হইয়া কি ভাবিতেছিলেন, ইতোমধ্যে গিরিশবাবু বলিয়া উঠিলেন, ‘হাঁ, হে নরেন, একটা কথা বলি। বেদবেদান্ত তো ঢের পড়লে,
কিন্তু এই যে দেশে ঘোর হাহাকার, অন্নাভাব, ব্যভিচার, ভ্রুণহত্যা, মহাপাতকাদি চোখের সামনে দিনরাত ঘুরছে, এর উপায় তোমার বেদে কিছু বলেছে?
ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীর গিন্নী, এককালে যার বাড়ীতে রোজ পঞ্চাশখানি পাতা পড়ত, সে আজ তিন দিন হাঁড়ি চাপায়নি; ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীর কুলস্ত্রীকে গুণ্ডাগুলো অত্যাচার করে মেরে ফেলেছে;
ঐ অমুকের বাড়ীতে ভ্রুণহত্যা হয়েছে,
অমুক জোচ্চোরি করে বিধবার সর্বস্ব হরণ করেছে-এ- সকল রহিত করবার কোন উপায় তোমার বেদে আছে কি?’
গিরিশবাবু এইরূপে সমাজের বিভীষিকাপ্রদ ছবিগুলি উপর্যুপরি অঙ্কিত করিয়া দেখাইতে আরম্ভ করিলে স্বামীজী নির্বাক হইয়া রহিলেন। জগতের দুঃখকষ্টের কথা ভাবিতে ভাবিতে স্বামীজীর চক্ষে জল আসিল। তিনি তাঁহার মনের ঐরূপ ভাব আমাদের জানিতে দিবেন না বলিয়াই যেন উঠিয়া বাহিরে চলিয়া গেলেন।
ইতোমধ্যে গিরিশবাবু শিষ্যকে লক্ষ্য করিয়া বলিলেন,
‘দেখলি বাঙাল, কত বড় প্রাণ!
তোর স্বামীজীকে কেবল বেদজ্ঞ পণ্ডিত বলে মানি না;
কিন্তু ঐ যে জীবের দুঃখে কাঁদতে কাঁদতে বেরিয়ে গেল, মহাপ্রাণতার জন্য মানি।
চোখের সামনে দেখলি তো মানুষের দুঃখকষ্টের কথাগুলো শুনে করুণায় হৃদয় পূর্ণ হয়ে স্বামীজীর বেদ-বেদান্ত সব কোথায় উড়ে গেল!’
Page19 of this Book
https://bengaliebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/স্বামী-শিষ্য-সংবাদ.pdf
…………..
FIRST MEETING WITH JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
(An excerpt from Madame Verdier’s journal quoted in the New Discoveries, Vol. 1, pp. 487-88.)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 9/Conversations and Interviews
[As told by Madame Emma Calvé‚ to Madame Drinette Verdier]
Mr. X, in whose home Swamiji was staying in Chicago, was a partner or an associate in some business with John D. Rockefeller. Many times John D. heard his friends talking about this extraordinary and wonderful Hindu monk who was staying with them, and many times he had been invited to meet Swamiji but, for one reason or another, always refused. At that time Rockefeller was not yet at the peak of his fortune, but was already powerful and strong-willed, very difficult to handle and a hard man to advise.
But one day, although he did not want to meet Swamiji, he was pushed to it by an impulse and went directly to the house of his friends, brushing aside the butler who opened the door and saying that he wanted to see the Hindu monk.
The butler ushered him into the living room, and, not waiting to be announced, Rockefeller entered into Swamiji’s adjoining study and was much surprised, I presume, to see Swamiji behind his writing table not even lifting his eyes to see who had entered.
After a while, as with Calvé, Swamiji told Rockefeller much of his past that was not known to any but himself, and made him understand that the money he had already accumulated was not his, that he was only a channel and that his duty was to do good to the world — that God had given him all his wealth in order that he might have an opportunity to help and do good to people.
Rockefeller was annoyed that anyone dared to talk to him that way and tell him what to do. He left the room in irritation, not even saying goodbye. But about a week after, again without being announced, he entered Swamiji’s study and, finding him the same as before, threw on his desk a paper which told of his plans to donate an enormous sum of money toward the financing of a public institution.
“Well, there you are”, he said. “You must be satisfied now, and you can thank me for it.”
Swamiji didn’t even lift his eyes, did not move. Then taking the paper, he quietly read it, saying: “It is for you to thank me”. That was all. This was Rockefeller’s first large donation to the public welfare.