Swami Vivekananda
Osho – It is reported that Vivekananda started his disciplehood and then one day he attained the first glimpse. You can call it SATORI, the zen word for SAMADHI, because it is a GLIMPSE, not a permanent thing.
It is just as if clouds are not there in the sky — the sky is clear and from a distance of one thousand miles you have a glimpse of Everest in all its glory, but then the sky becomes cloudy and the glimpse is again lost. It is not attainment, you have not reached Everest, you have not reached the top; from thousands of miles you had a glimpse — that is satori. Satori is a glimpse of samadhi. Vivekananda had a satori.
In Ramakrishna’s ashram there were many people, many people were working. One man, his name was Kalu, a very simple man, a very innocent man, was also working in his own way — and Ramakrishna accepted EVERY way. He was a rare man; he accepted every technique, every method, and he said everybody has to find his own way, there is no superway. And this is good, otherwise there would be such a traffic jam!
So it is good, you can walk on your own path. Nobody else is there to create any trouble or make it crowded. That Kalu was a very simple man. He had at least one hundred gods — as Hindus are lovers of many gods, one is not enough for them. So they will put in their worship place this god, that god, whatsoever they can find; they will even put calendars there.
There is nothing wrong in it; if you love it, it is okay. But Vivekananda was a logician, a very keen intellect. He always argued with this innocent man and he could not answer. Vivekananda said, ‘Why this nonsense? One is enough, and the scriptures say that he is one, so why these one hundred and one gods?’
And they were all sorts of shapes, and Kalu had to work with these gods at least three hours in the morning and three in the evening — the whole day was gone, because with every god he had to work, and however fast he worked it took three hours in the morning and three in the evening. But he was a very very silent man and Ramakrishna loved him.
Vivekananda always argued, ‘Throw these gods!’ When he had a glimpse of satori he felt very powerful. Suddenly the idea came to him that in this power, if he simply sent a telepathic message to Kalu — he was worshipping in his room, this was time for worship — to take all his gods to the Ganges and throw them, it would happen.
He simply sent a message. Kalu was really a simple man. He gathered all his gods into a bed sheet and carried them towards the Ganges. From the Ganges Ramakrishna was coming, and he said, ‘Wait! This is not you who is going to throw them. Go back to your room and put them in their place.’ But Kalu said, ‘Enough! Finished!’
Ramakrishna said, ‘Wait and come with me!’ He knocked at Vivekananda’s door. Vivekananda opened the door and Ramakrishna said, ‘What have you done? This is not good and this is not the right moment for you. So I will take your key of meditation and will keep it with me.
When the right moment comes I will give it to you.’ And for his whole life Vivekananda tried in millions of ways to attain, but he couldn’t get that glimpse again. Just before he died, three days before, Ramakrishna appeared in a dream and he gave him the key. He said, ‘Now you can take the key. Now the right moment is here and you can open the door.’
And the next day in the morning he had the second glimpse. A master knows when it is the right time. He helps you, prepares you for the right moment, and he will give you the key when the right moment is there; then you simply open the door and the divine enters — because if you open the door and darkness enters it will look like death, not like life. Nothing is wrong in this but you will get scared, and you can get so scared that you may carry that fear for ever and ever.