Nischayananda (11 May 1865 – 22 October 1934) was an Indian monk who worked to help the poor and needy. He was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He, together with Kalyanananda was responsible for setting up and running the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal. He was inspired by Vivekananda's philosophy of serving man as God and dedicated his life to serve poor and downtrodden in the remote areas where no healthcare facility existed. He worked in military service before joining the Ramakrishna Order as a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He met Vivekananda in Madras and decided to become his disciple. After Vivekananda's death, he went for pilgrimage and by chance came to Haridwar where he met his brother disciple Kalyanananda and joined him in carrying out the works of Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Kankhal.
Pre Monastic Life
Nischayananda was born in 1865 in a small village near Janjira in Maharashtra. His pre monastic name was Suraj Rao. He was known as Raoji. He studied for a few years in an English school, but could not complete his study owing to family poverty. He knew several South Indian languages and in later life could also speak fluently in Bengali. After leaving school and not finding any suitable vocation, he joined military service in South Karnataka regiment. As part of his job, he traveled to many places, esp. pilgrimage spots in India. He also traveled abroad to Burma, Siam (Thailand), Gibraltar, Malta etc. He went to Andaman and studied the life of the tribals residing there and collected many information about their way of life. He was a first class shot and secured high rank in shooting competition in the military. He was promoted to the rank of lance corporal. Once, while he was in Raipur, he met Niranjananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. Niranjananda introduced him to spiritual life and instilled in him a desire to meet Vivekananda, who was in West at that time. Suraj Rao went through all news and information that appeared about Vivekananda. In January 1897 when Vivekananda returned to India and was traveling through South India. Suraj Rao was one of the large crowd of villagers who had stopped the train carrying Vivekananda to Madras, to have a glimpse of him. He traveled by foot to Madras and met Vivekananda in Castle Kernan. Because he wanted to renounce the world and follow the footsteps of Vivekananda, which was hindered by his service commitment, Suraj Rao feigned insanity and was discharged from the military service. Immediately upon discharge he traveled to Calcutta and met Vivekananda in 1901. He was subsequently initiated by Vivekananda into monastic life, who gave him the name Nischayananda (Nischaya - determination).
Monastic life
Swami Nischayananda was assigned the responsibility of looking after Swami Vivekananda as his attendant. He discharged his duties and responsibilities as a worship. He used to daily fetch drinking water in a huge vessel for Swami Vivekananda from a tube well from Baranagar on the other side of Ganga. Once when Josephine MacLeod, an American friend of Swami Vivekananda, had advised Swami Nischayananda to assign this task to a servant, the latter was annoyed. Swami Vivekananda, who understood the reason for the dedicated labour, explained to Ms. MacLeod that she had offended the sense of devotion of his disciple because in India it was imperative for a disciple to serve his master in every possible way. On another occasion he was sent to purchase a milch cow for Belur Math and Swami Vivekananda had instructed him not to let go of the rope to which the cow would be tethered. While crossing the river Ganga, the cow had jumped into the river and Nischayananda, in order to not let it go, jumped into the water and dragged the cow to the other bank, risking his own life in the process, but never letting go of the rope. Swami Nischayananda was deeply influenced by both Shivaji and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the two Maharashtrian icons. Tilak had visited Belur Math and met Swami Vivekananda in 1901. Swami Nischayananda affirmed that Tilak was deeply influenced by Swami Vivekananda's point of view about serving the poor with a view to uplift them.