Swami Vivekananda met his first disciple at Hathras Junction

The monk was none other than Narendranath Dutta who later became Swami Vivekananda. And the ASM of Hathras Jn was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a Bengali gentleman, who, after getting his sanyas vows, was called Swami Sadananda of the Ramakrishna Mission.

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News

This article is written by Soma Mookherjee, City Editor at The Statesman

Swami Sadananda

Hathras town in Western UP is in news presently for all the wrong reasons. It is also a town which has four railway stations with the word Hathras in it. (City, Jn, Kila, Road)

But Hathras is remembered for another reason.

More than 130 years back, a wandering penniless monk was sitting on a bench of Hathras Junction station. He was travelling partly on foot, partly by train, partly by bullock cart, as Providence would provide. 

Suddenly, the Assistant Station Master of the station spotted this sanyasi "with striking features, a sharp nose and wide eyes”, sitting on the bench.

He went up to the monk and struck up a conversation. Impressed by his knowledge, the ASM requested the monk to be his guest that night and took him to his quarters behind the station. 

After spending a day or two, the monk wished to bid goodbye but the ASM told him to wait he rushed to the station, submit his resignation and leave with the monk as his disciple which he did and became the monk's first disciple.

The monk was none other than Narendranath Dutta who later became Swami Vivekananda. And the ASM of Hathras Jn was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a Bengali gentleman, who, after getting his sanyas vows, was called Swami Sadananda of the Ramakrishna Mission.

It's a fascinating story of a monk and his disciple. "The Life of Swami Vivekananda, by his Eastern and Western Disciples", Advaita Ashrama (1989 edition), pages 220-224. 

Swami Vivekananda and Swami Sadananda (seated in the ground)

The story states, before accepting him as his disciple, Vivekananda gave his begging bowl to Sharat and asked him to beg food from the porters and khalasis of the station. This was his way of testing his disciple's earnestness. 

“Without waiting for a moment, Sharat went to the station and begged for food from those very people who were his subordinates till just the previous day. He came back to Swamiji with the alms collected and partook of them along with his Guru."

That proved that his ego was after his renunciation. Incidentally, he was a good friend of Dr. Boshi Sen who later became a world renowned plant/agricultural scientist and lived in Almora. Sharat Chandra Gupta or Swami Sadananda, the erstwhile Asst. Station Master of Hathras Jn., though a Bengali, belonged to Jaunpur. He died in 1911.