40 Biography of a YogiVivekananda’s Raja Yoga (1896), it would not strain the imagination that when
Atkinson refers to true Yogis, he is referring quite pointedly to Vivekananda.
Vivekananda
It is important to note that Emerson actually thought the Bhagavad Gītā was
a Buddhist text. Historically speaking, Yogis certainly need not be Hindu.
However, Emerson’s and the general American public’s confusion had little to
do with the historical lack of boundaries between different forms of Indian yogic
practice and much more to do with the historical lack of knowledge about Asian
religions in nineteenth- century America. Consequently, it is not surprising that
Vivekananda was frequently referred to by the press as a “Buddhist priest,” even
following his lectures. This is likely attributable both to the popularity of Arnold’s
Light of Asia and to Vivekananda’s own frequent allusions to the Buddha.^46 To
bring the matter full circle, it is likely that Vivekananda’s penchant for mention-
ing the Buddha stemmed from his own admiration of Arnold’s text, to which he
would occasionally allude, and it is even conceivable that Arnold’s rendition of
the Oriental sage had a formative effect on Vivekananda’s public persona,^47 yield-
ing a self- reinforcing image of the Yogi.
Vikekananda’s childhood biography appears to be somewhat conflated with
that of his guru, Ramakrishna. Vivekananda himself recounted to Margaret
Noble, who would eventually become Sister Nivedita, that he had begun prac-
ticing meditation at the age of seven and had successfully attained samādhi by
eight.^48 However, Vivekananda’s participation in the Brahmo Samāj appears to
have been prompted more by seeking a venue for his musical expertise than any
intense spiritual thirst, or even interest in the message of social reform as he him-
self claimed. Vivekananda, who was then Narendra Nath Datta, fancied himself
an intellectual, and was originally skeptical of the illiterate mystic Ramakrishna,
who would later become his guru. The mystic, on the other hand, was utterly
enchanted with the talented youth.^49 After the untimely death of Vivekananda’s
father, Ramakrishna, having survived not one but two similar losses with the pass-
ing of his father and elder brother, must have been a source of significant psy-
chological support. However, even accounting for the close emotional bond, it is
questionable how much Vivekananda would have gleaned from his teacher in the
realm of yogic practice. Before his father’s death in 1884, Vivekananda’s visits to
Ramakrishna’s community at Dakshineshwar were very irregular, and afterwards
financial difficulties within the family consumed much of his time.
Vivekananda’s spiritual exercises, as far as can be ascertained, involved basic
meditation. When Ramakrishna fell ill shortly after the intensification of their