##12 (Vivekananda) The Guru And The Disciple (Ii) Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

One day, Guru Ramakrishna
Told his disciple, Narendra,
“I shall now transfer
To you my spiritual power.”

Narendra got puzzled then,
And asked him, in turn,
“Will it help me in any way
To realize God from this day? ”

Guru replied, “No, it will not,
But in your work, it will assist.”
Naren said, “In that event,
Let me realize God first, ”

“I may misuse my power,
Forgetting God forever,
And if I use it for myself,
It may end in my grief.”

It pleased Guru more
When he rejected power
And preferred God first,
Willingly o’er the rest.

Still in his rational mind,
He was trying to find,
What, in fact, was real?
What then was unreal?

The existing social differences,
Against odd religious practices,
Were the compelling forces,
That disturbed his thoughts.

The new Western culture
Over the old Indian culture,
Influenced the youth more
As a source of glamour.

He was no exception
To this prevailing situation.
He studied English literature
As well as their culture.

The Western philosophy
Their side of history,
And science, in particular,
He studied, over and over.

How the brain acted,
Also the spinal cord,
When one was in trance,
He studied at a glance.

All these steps he did,
They had only increased
Deeply his inner turmoil
And stirred his mind as usual..