Spirituality

When Swami Vivekananda Destroyed the Caste System

This GuruPurnima, we bring to you insights from the lives of some of the greatest Gurus who walked the path of spirituality and left treasures of knowledge for us. In this series of 7 blogs, the second blog is about an event that occurred in the life of Swami Vivekananda. 

Swami Vivekananda was the student of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission. He was a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world. He became world famous for his historic speech in 1893 at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in America. 

Swami Vivekananda was a true Sanyasi (a free soul). He was always on the move like a river and wasn’t employed or tied down to any place or person. As a result, sometimes he even spent his days and nights at train stations. Train stations he would reach because someone bought a ticket for him. Such was his detachment with wealth, and such was his involvement with spirituality. 

In one such incident, he was living at a railway station in Rajasthan (India). When the natives learned of his presence there, flocks of them started gathering every day to ask him questions about religion, spirituality, and many more things. Swami Vivekananda was tireless in answering the questions mainly due to his love of spreading knowledge and the work of his Guru – Ramakrishna Paramhansa. 

Three days went by and Swami Vivekananda kept answering questions without even drinking a drop of water or eating a morsel of food. The people coming to meet him were also so engrossed and mesmerized, that they forgot to ask him if he has eaten anything. On the third night, after all the visitors had left, a cobbler came to him and said that he has been observing him for the past three days and it pains him greatly to see that he hasn’t eaten or drank anything. 

Swami Vivekananda felt that God himself has come to meet him when he met this man. Daridra Narayana was a term coined by Swamiji himself, which meant service to the poor was equal to service to God. And here, he felt God is standing right in front of him. So Swamiji looked at him and asked “Will you give me something to eat”. This was a time when the caste system was prevalent in India and the man being a cobbler by profession said that he would love to give him some bread but since he has touched it, he can’t. In those times, it was prohibited for Sanyasis or people belonging to “upper castes” to eat food even touched by someone that belonged to a lower caste than them. 

The cobbler instead offered to bring Swamiji raw food which he could cook. Swamiji however, insisted on the man giving him bread. The cobbler was first frightened, but then his devotion and love for Swamiji took over, he raced back to his house and brought freshly baked bread for Swamiji. His compassion and kindness, along with his selfless love brought tears in Swamiji’s eyes. This man didn’t have a question for Swamiji, he didn’t want anything in return. He just saw someone who was hungry and thirsty and brought them food and water. 

When people learned of this incident, they went to Swami Vivekananda and told him it was improper for him to accept food given by a cobbler. He listened to them patiently and told them “You people made me talk without respite for the past three days, but you did not even care to enquire if I had taken any food and rest. You claim you are gentlemen and boast of your higher caste; what is more shameful, you condemn this man for being of low caste. Can you overlook the humanity he has just shown and despise him without feeling ashamed?”

This is the power of compassion and selfless love. This is the power of Karma without the care of its fruits. The cobbler was blessed by one of the greatest Sanyasis of all times because what he portrayed was true Karma and Dharma without thinking of the fruits and consequences of it. 

We hope you enjoyed this incident and got to learn a little about compassion and selfless love from this story. Stay tuned for more such insights on other Gurus. Tell us what you feel about this one in the comments section.