 First English edition | |
| Author | Shankar |
|---|---|
| Original title | অচেনা অজানা বিবেকানন্দ |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali English |
| Genre | Biography |
| Published | 2003 |
Published in English | 2011 |
| Media type | |
The Monk as Man: The Unknown Life of Swami Vivekananda or Achena Ajana Vivekananda is a book about Swami Vivekananda written by Shankar. In this book, Shankar discussed many unknown events of Vivekananda's life. [1] [2] [3]
Swami Vivekananda's personal life's troubles, anxiety, his health, diseases, intimate side of him —these are the main topics of the book. In this book, Shankar portrayed "The Monk" as "a man". The book is divided into five chapters (except "Foreword" and "Acknowledgement")—
The books were first published in Bengali as Achena Ajana Vivekananda in November 2003 by Sahityam. Penguin Books translated and published the book in English in 2011. As of 2011, more than 100,000 copies of the Bengali version of the book were sold. [4] The Bengali version of the book was a best-seller even in March 2014. [5]
Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and the Father of modern Indian nationalism who is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.
Swami Vijnanananda was an Indian monk of Ramakrishna order, born in an upper-class family near Dakshineswar, and was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. He was an engineer and worked as the District Engineer in the erstwhile State of United Provinces, India. He was a great scholar of Sanskrit with expertise in religio-philosophical works, astronomy, civil engineering etc. He spent considerable time in Allahabad (Prayag) centre of Ramakrishna Math. He became the President of Ramakrishna Mission in 1937. It was under his presidency and direct supervision that the Ramakrishna Temple at Belur Math was constructed and consecrated.
Shuddhananda who was the fifth president of the Ramakrishna Order, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1897. He became a trustee of Ramakrishna Math and a member of the governing body of Ramakrishna Mission in May 1903. He also took up the editorship of the Bengali magazine called Udbodhan for sometime. He was appointed as the secretary of the math and the mission in 1927 and as the vice president in 1937. In 1938, he became the president of the order. His tenure was short, as he died in 1938. He is renowned in the literary circles to have translated most of Vivekananda's original works from English to Bengali.
Sister Nivedita was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was engaged to marry a Welsh youth, but he died soon after their engagement.
Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deva had sixteen direct disciples who became monks of the Ramakrishna Order; they are often considered his apostles. In the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement, the apostles have played an important role. Apart from Swami Vivekananda, the direct disciples or apostles of Ramakrishna were as follows.
Sister Gargi, born Marie Louise Burke, was a writer and an eminent researcher on Swami Vivekananda, and a leading literary figure of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement. Gargi was introduced to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement in 1948 by Swami Ashokananda. She is known for her six-volume work, Swami Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries. Her New Discoveries are considered as indispensable for Swami Vivekananda research.
Raja Ajit Singh Bahadur was the ruler of the Shekhawat estate (thikana) of Khetri at Panchpana in Rajasthan between 1870 and 1901. He was born on 16 October 1861 at Alsisar. His father was Thakur Chattu Singh, a resident of Alsisar. Ajit Singh was later adopted to Khetri and after the death of Fateh Singh, he became the eighth king of Khetri in 1870. In 1876, he married Rani Champawatiji Sahiba and the couple had one son and two daughters. He died on 18 January 1901 due to an accident at the tomb of Akbar in Sikandra near Agra and was cremated at Mathura.
Swami Abhedananda, born Kaliprasad Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami Vivekananda sent him to the West to head the Vedanta Society of New York in 1897, and spread the message of Vedanta, a theme on which he authored several books through his life, and subsequently founded the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, in Calcutta and Darjeeling.
Durga Charan Nag better known as Nag Mahasaya, was born in 1846 in the village of Deobhog in East Bengal, now Bangladesh. He was one of the householder disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Sri Ramakrishna called him "a blazing fire" when he first saw him. According to the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, most notable among them being Swami Vivekananda, he was a shining example of renunciation and love for God. He shunned material wealth and regarded every human being as God on earth. He lived on a meager income, but spent most of it on serving the poor, his guests, and monks and ascetics.
Subodhananda, born as Subodh Chandra Ghosh, was a direct monastic disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century saint and mystic from India. The youngest of the direct monastic disciples, he was affectionately known by his brother monks, whose leader was Swami Vivekananda, as "Khoka". He played a pioneering role in establishing the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He was one of the first group of trustees of the Belur Math appointed by Vivekananda in 1901, and was afterwards elected treasurer of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Abhayananda, born Marie Louise, was the first woman initiated into Vivekananda's mission. She was also the first American female and a female Westerner to have become a swami monk.
Josephine MacLeod was an American friend and devotee of Swami Vivekananda. She had a strong attachment to India and was an active participant in the Ramakrishna Vivekananda movement. She was given the nicknames "Tantine" and "Jo Jo" by Vivekananda. She considered Swami Vivekananda to be her friend and helped him with his finances. MacLeod was not a sanyasin, unlike many others such as Sister Nivedita or Sister Christine. She was instrumental in spreading Vivekananda's message on Vedanta in the West. She made many contributions to the initial and the later phases of the development of the order of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. She was a contributor to many causes espoused by Sister Nivedita, the most famous disciple of Vivekananda, including that of contributing financially towards the development of the Indian National Movement especially in Bengal and elsewhere in India.
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) was an Indian Hindu monk and a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world. He was one of the most influential philosophers and social reformers in his contemporary India and the most successful and influential missionaries of Vedanta to the Western world. Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore's suggested to study the works of Vivekananda to understand India. He also told, in Vivekananda there was nothing negative, but everything positive.
Ram Chandra Datta was a householder disciple of Ramakrishna and a writer. Datta was a relative of Indian monk and social reformer Swami Vivekananda. After completing his graduation, he took job of a Government employee and a chemist. He invented an antidote for blood dysentery from an extract of an indigenous medicinal plant and started promoting "modern science".
Sankari Prasad Basu was an Indian scholar, writer and critic who writes mainly in the Bengali language. He is a researcher on Swami Vivekananda and his books on the subject include Sahashya Vivekananda and Bandhu Vivekananda. One of his notable publications is his seven-volume research work Vivekananda o Samakalin Bharatbarsha, for which he won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978.
Nachuk Tahate Shyama,, is a Bengali language poem written by Vivekananda. The poem was originally published in two issues in Vivekodayam in 1904. The poem was later included in the second volume of The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. The long poem relates to one's surrender to the Hindu goddess Shyama or Kali, and is also interpreted as "Let Kali dance there" a poem dedicated to Kali.
Rousing Call to Hindu Nation or Swami Vivekananda's Rousing Call to Hindu Nation (1963) is a compilation of Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda's writings and speeches edited by Eknath Ranade the leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The book was published in 1963, in the birth centenary of Vivekananda. Ranade dedicated the book as a "personal homage to the great patriot-saint" Swami Vivekananda.
Achalananda, popularly known as Kedar Baba, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service, in Varanasi. He initially worked as a policeman, but was then influenced by the ideology of Vivekananda.
Pransakha Vivekananda (2015) is a Bengali biographical novel written by Ranjan Bandyopadhyay. The book has 3 volumes. It was at the first position in Anandabazar Patrika's ten weekly popular books' list in October 2015.
Vishwanath Datta was a Bengali lawyer, philanthropist and novelist. He was the father of Swami Vivekananda, Mahendranath Dutta and Bhupendranath Dutta.
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