Discipline and Punctuality

If you think discipline and punctuality are practiced only in the armed forces, you will be surprised on reading the following account from the biography of Swami Vivekananda that mentions how he inculcated strict discipline and punctuality at the main branch of Ramakrishna Math at Belur near Calcutta, India.

He kept a stern watch on the practice of daily meditation on the part of the inmates of the monastery. The bell sounded at fixed hours for meals, study, discussion, and meditation. About three months before his death he made it a rule that at four o'clock in the morning a hand-bell should be rung from room to room to awaken the monks. Within half an hour all should be gathered in the chapel to meditate. But he was always before them. He got up at three and went to the chapel, where he sat facing the north, meditating motionless for more than two hours. No one was allowed to leave his seat before the Swami set the example. As he got up, he chanted softly, 'Siva! Siva!' Bowing to the image of Sri Ramakrishna, he would go downstairs and pace the courtyard, singing a song about the Divine Mother or Siva. Naturally his presence in the chapel created an intense spiritual atmosphere. Swami Brahmananda said: 'Ah! One at once becomes absorbed if one sits for meditation in company with Naren! I do not feel this when I sit alone.'

Once, after an absence of several days on account of illness, he entered the chapel and found only two monks there. He became annoyed; in order to discipline the absentees he forbade them to eat their meals at the monastery. They had to go out and beg their food. He did not spare anyone, even a beloved brother disciple for whom he cherished the highest respect and who happened to be absent from the chapel that morning.

Another day, he found a brother disciple, Swami Shivananda, in bed at the hour of meditation. He said to the latter 'Brother! I know you do not need meditation. You have already realized the highest goal through the grace of Sri Ramakrishna. But you should daily meditate with the youngsters in order to set an example to them.'

From that day on, Shivananda, whether ill or well, always communed with God during the early hours of the morning. In his old age, when it became physically impossible for him to go to the chapel, he used to sit on his bed for meditation.

The tradition he set up is followed even today in all branches of Ramakrishna Math. The evening prayer always starts at 7 pm sharp as also the other programs at the Math.