( video)Narendranath and Ramakrishna

Narendra had heard of Sri Ramakrishna from Principal William Hastie of his college. One of Narendra's relatives, Dr. Ramchandra Datta suggested that Narendra should visit Dakhineshwar and meet Sri Ramakrishna. Narendra met his Master, Sri Ramakrishna at Surendranath Mitra's house where Narendra was asked to sing religious songs on a day of Sri Ramakrishna's visit there. After hearing the song, Sri Ramakrishna observed Narendra and made some inquiries about him and invited him to visit Dakshineswar. In November 1881, Narendra accompanied by Surendranath Mitra visited Sri Ramakrishna.
Difficult Situations : After a few years two events took

place which caused Narendra considerable distress. One was

 the sudden death of his father in 1884. This left the family

 penniless, and Narendra had to bear the burden of

 supporting his mother, brothers and sisters. The second

 event was the illness of Sri Ramakrishna which was

 diagnosed to be cancer of the throat. In September 1885 Sri

 Ramakrishna was moved to a house at Shyampukur, and a

 few months later to a rented villa at Cossipore. In these

 two places the young disciples nursed, headed by

 Narendranath, the Master with devoted care.  Narendra

 joined the group as its leader, in spite of his poverty at

 home and inability to find a job for himself and his family.