Swami Vivekananda's family

                                            Swami Vivekananda's mother Bhuvaneshwari devi



Ramprasad Dutta was vivekananda's great grand father who was an affluent practising lawer. .First he was an associate to an English solicitor then he practised independently.He was living in a palatial house with his family members.

                He had two sons by name Durga Prasad and Kali Prasad. DurgaPrasad's wife was ShyyamaSundari and their son was Viswanath Dutta ' the great Narendra's father. DurgaPrasad was not interested in household life, instead his mind was inclined towards sanyasa life. So he left home and adopted sanyasa life.

                 He was not heard of anymore except for only one time.When Vishwanath was three years old his mother took him on a pilgrimage to Kasi. After taking bath in Ganges she returned to the temple for worship.She was so tired that she fell on the steps.Seeing this a sanyasi came running,helping her to regain her consciousness by sprinkling water on her face.She regained her senses and on opening her eye, to her surprise she saw her husband in sanyasi  attire. Both looked at each other .But least perturbed, the sanyasi muttering "Siva,Siva,all maya"left that place.
ShyamaSundari was such a bold and courageous lady that she did not brood over the absence of her husband. she brought up her child as a single parent in right path and managed the household work efficiently.But unfortunately when Vishwanath was ten years old, she left the child as an orphan and attained the feet of the Lord.

               From then on wards Vishwanath was at the mercy of his uncle KaliPrasad who was a lazy and crooked minded man, squandered the family wealth, without giving any share to Vishwanath. He bore with patience all this cheating. Meanwhile he learnt a lot and became proficient in so many languages like Hindi,Urdu,Persian,English,Bengali and Arabic.

              He worked under an English attorney and passed  the law Examination.He practised at the Calcutta high court and travelled extensively through out north India in the field of his practice.He was so broad minded that he had many Muslim and British friends .In his big house he entertained all relatives to stay on and educated their children .Many were paced in good position.Not only he helped his own people but also  unknown poor and needy people.That is why his people said" helping poor and down trodden was like a disease to him"

              His wife Bhuvaneshwari was the only daughter of a wealthy person NandalalBasu. She was very good at singing and could repeat long passages from RAMAYANA & MAHABHARATH. She was the main force in  Naren life.He used to share all his feelings and doubts with his mother. she also answered all his questions and tamed him intelligently.

              Naren was so fortunate to be the son of the great magnanimous,intelligent parents
Matha Bhuvaneshwari Devi wanted to educate his son well. It was at the lap of  first became aware of the glory the God and Goddesses, the greatnesss of the sages of India that of his ancestors among whom was his grandfather DurgaPrasad.

             Epics were read out at noon at his house and Naren used to listen with rapt
attention and it exerted great influence on his mind .His maternal great grand
mother and his grand mother told many stories from Bhagavatham and
vaishnava lore. The maternal grand mother told many anecdotes from
Bhagavatham. Only these stories were of great help when he gave lectures in the
western countries.

             Naren learnt from his mother how to hold aloft his moral standards, evenwhile
struggling in the eddies of the world and how to take refuse at the feet of
God.
            \Bhuvaneshwaridevi used to say,"Remain pure at your life;guard your own honour
and never transgress the honour of others.Be very tranquil,but when necessary
harden your heart."

             That is why Naren said "I"m indebted to my mother for the efforescence of my knowledge".