disciple he declared, 'I shall not return until I gain such realization that my very touch
will transform a man.' He prayed to the Holy Mother that he might not return before
attaining the highest Knowledge, and she blessed him in the name of Sri Ramakrishna.
Then she asked whether he would not like to take leave of his earthly mother. 'Mother,'
Naren replied, 'you are my only mother.'
Accompanied by Swami Akhandananda, Naren left Calcutta and set out for Northern
India. The two followed the course of the Ganga, their first halting-place being
Bhagalpur. To one of the people who came to visit him there Naren said that whatever
of the ancient Aryan knowledge, intellect, and genius remained, could be found mostly
in those parts of the country that lay near the banks of the Ganga. The farther one
departed from the river, the less one saw of that culture. This fact, he believed,
explained the greatness of the Ganga as sung in the Hindu scriptures. He further
observed: 'The epithet "mild Hindu" instead of being a word of reproach, ought really
to point to our glory, as expressing greatness of character. For see how much moral and
spiritual advancement and how much development of the qualities of love and
compassion have to be acquired before one can get rid of the brutish force of one's
nature, which impels a man to slaughter his brother men for self-aggrandizement!'
He spent a few days in Varanasi and left the city with the prophetic words: 'When I
return here the next time, I shall burst upon society like a bomb-shell, and it will follow
me like a dog.'
After visiting one or two places, Naren and Akhandananda arrived at Nainital, their
destination being the sacred Badrikashrama, in the heart of the Himalayas. They
decided to travel the whole way on foot, and also not to touch money. Near Almora
under an old peepul tree by the side of a stream, they spent many hours in meditation.
Naren had a deep spiritual experience, which he thus jotted down in his note-book:
In the beginning was the Word, etc.
The microcosm and the macrocosm are built on the same plan. Just as the individual
soul is encased in a living body, so is the Universal Soul, in the living prakriti (nature),
the objective universe. Kali is embracing Siva. This is not a fancy. This covering of the
one (Soul) by the other (nature) is analogous to the relation between an idea and the
word expressing it. They are one and the same, and it is only by a mental abstraction
that one can distinguish them. Thought is impossible without words. Therefore in the
beginning was the Word, etc.
This dual aspect of the Universal Soul is eternal. So what we perceive or feel is the
combination of the Eternally Formed and the Eternally Formless.
Thus Naren realized, in the depths of meditation, the oneness of the universe and man,
who is a universe in miniature. He realized that, all that exists in the universe also
exists in the body, and further, that the whole universe exists in the atom.