Swami Vivekananda as a wondering monk

For a time after the Master’s passing away, outwardly it appeared as if all was over;
but the seed of renunciation sown by the Master and the hankering for God-realization, that
he had generated in the young hearts, were too enduring to be easily lost in the maze of the
world. A monastery soon came into being, though in a dilapidated house, at Baranagore
with the kind munificence of Surendranath Mitra, an ardent devotee of the Master. The
young men gathered there plunged themselves in spiritual practices and scriptural studies.
Days and months passed in this way. The fire of vairagya kindled by the Master kept on
burning steadily and unabated, and Narendranath played a great part in this process. He
engaged them in talks of the days they had spent with the Master, revivifying their memories
with the ecstatic joy of those days and urging them on in their spiritual practices, even
though he himself was passing through a tornado of difficulties at his own home. When he

had settled the affairs of the family at home and put the monastery in a shape, the urge to
wander alone, depending solely on God, came upon him.
During his peregrinations he came in contact with the real India; India of the villages, the pure, simple, innocent folk, industrious yet grovelling in poverty, living in dirt and squalor, bearing their hard lot with a patience that was beyond imagination. This naked picture of penury and illiteracy pained him deeply, and stirred the very depths of his being.
A stern resolve to do something to alleviate their misery goaded him from place to place. Having failed to rouse the sympathy of the rich of the country in their cause, he thought of seeking it elsewhere. Just at this time he heard of the Parliament of Religions that was being convened at Chicago and thought it the best medium through which he could approach and rouse the interest of the people of America in the masses of India. With the aid of a few friends he crossed over to America.