An Incarnation of Nara :- It was a November afternoon of 1881. The vast Kali temple complex, situated about four miles north to the city of Kolkata, standing on the bank of the great river Ganga wore a quiet look. The thuds a horse’s hoofs a long distance were piercing the quiet. It was an indication that some visitors were arriving in a carriage. The sound of the horses’ hoofs became more clearly audible & then it slowed down & came to a stop near the temple courtyard. Nara Narayana? Shiva’s Demon? Having seen Narendra only once at the house of his devotee, Surendra, Shri Ramakrishna & asked the teenager to visit him. In the previous chapter, we have seen Shri Ramakrishna exhibiting a very strange behavior towards the young visitor so much so that the youth thought Shri Ramakrishna to be insane. Naren might not be said to be wrong in his opinion of the Paramahansa of Dakshineshvar for addressing him, Naren who was the son of Vishvanath Datta & Bhuvaneshari Devi, as ‘Nara’ the ‘Incarnation of Narayana.’ But Ramakrishna had his own logic in so talking to the young boy who was yet to be a sophomore at a Calcutta college. His logic was not based on the normal material or intellectual plane. Ramakrishna’s logic was based on the super conscious level, what Shri Aurobindo was to term later on, the supramental level. Growing Up :- Thomas Babington Macaulay had liad the foundation of the Enhlish system of education in India in 1836. He had imposed it. The three universities of Calcutta, Bombay & Madras had came into existence in 1857, the year which witnessed the last unsuccessful effort of the Indian rulers to drive away the British & the formal establishment of the rule of Queen Victoria. Indians, who had cut themselves off from all external contacts & influences, stood on the threshold of a new age. This transformation was to exact its own price. The imposition of the English language & education was accompanied by the open & subtle attack on the religions & culture of the country by the missionaries. During 1861-62 there were 1153 educational institutions run by the missionaries in India, in which more than 1,00,000 students were studying. The great Raja Ram Mohan Roy had the guts to escape from the clutches of the missionaries. But the Raja’s outlook had undergone a lot of transformation. Idol worship, meaningless practices, strict caste rules, untouchability, etc., were attacked by the missionaries & there was hardly anyone capable of challenging the missionaries. The impact of the Western sciences, physical & social, on the minds of those who took higher education was enormous. Some of the people like Michael Madhusudan Datta & Reverend Tilak cast off their ancient religion & converted themselves to Christianity. Others like Raja Ram Mohan Roy gave up traditional practices & started their own sects, which were a hotchpotch of the Hindu religion & Christianity. The Brahmo Samai of Bengal had its echo in the Prarthana Samaj in Bengal & the Western India. More Shocks:- With the conflicting impact of his first encounter at Dakshineshvar, hanging heavily on his mind, Narendra set out to meet Shri Ramakrishna once more. He was very hesitant but he had promised to do so, & the promise had to be kept. He also wanted to understand the truth behind personality of the Paramahansa, whose behavior had exhibited two incomprehensible extremes: Was he a Iunatic? Was he a saint? Shri Ramakrishna & Naren :- One of the reasons which had driven Narendra to Shri Ramakrishna was a social one. His father Vishvanath was a legal luminary & a man of status. His life style apparently indicated his high financial standing. His wife Bhuvaneshvaridevi, apart from being the wife of a leading attorney, was well known for her various qualities, charitable nature & pious disposition. Narendra was their son. Narendra himself had a tall & stout physique, big, bright eyes affable temperament, a brilliant intellect & he had a wide spectrum of interests. Naturally, he was the cynosure of all eyes. He was now an eligible bachelor. And in those days of the nineteenth century, he had started attracting the attention of several fathers who had daughters of ten years of age & over. The girl may or may not be intelligent or attractive, but the dowry offered by the parents acted as a great magnetic power.