At Belur Math Vijnanananda lived in a small room close to Swamiji’s room. Once at two o’clock in the morning, Vijnanananda saw Swamiji pacing on the eastern veranda. Concerned, he got up and asked Swamiji why he could not sleep. Swamiji replied: “Peshan, I was sleeping nicely; but suddenly I felt a jolt, and my sleep broke. It seems to me that there must be a disaster somewhere and many people are suffering.” That night Vijnanananda could not make sense of this statement. However, he later narrated: “The next morning I saw in the newspaper that at the same time Swamiji awakened, there had been a terrible volcanic eruption near the Fiji Islands, and many people were killed. I was surprised to read this news, and then I realized that Swamiji’s nervous system was more responsive to human misery than a seismograph.”
Once in the dead of night at Belur Math, Vijnanananda heard a pathetic cry from Vivekananda’s room. He thought that perhaps Swamiji cried out because he was sick. Vijnanananda silently entered Swamiji’s room and asked, “Swamiji, are you not well?” Immediately Swamiji became quiet and replied, “Oh, Peshan, I thought you were sleeping.” When asked the cause of his cry, Swamiji tearfully said: “Brother, thinking of the poverty and suffering of the people, I cannot sleep. My mind is restless with pain. So I am praying to the Master, ‘Let good befall our people and let their suffering go away.’” Vijnanananda then consoled Swamiji and asked him to sleep. That night Vijnanananda was deeply moved to see how intensely Swamiji felt for his countrymen. (Source: God Lived with Them)