Narendra, Life Insurance & Harry Potter

One may wonder how the above three are related. Narendra (Nath Dutt), later to become Swami Vivekananda, was left in impecunious circumstances on his father's death. This may be viewed as the turning point of his life, which pushed him into renouncing worldly life & later become the first Hindu to bring the glories of Hinduism to the world stage in Chicago.

Though he was born with extraordinary mental (& spiritual gifts), these might well have been utilised for wordly success, as even noted by his guru, Sri Ramakrishna. If life insurance was common in his time & his father had the foresight to insure his life, his family would not be thrown into destitution on his death. So Narendra might not have been drawn towards renunciation, but have succeeded in any worldly activity, as befitted his gifts.

To take the analogy further, (followers of Harry Potter may recollect that) at the time of admission to Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat was in a quandary as to whether Harry Potter should be put in Gryffindor or Slytherin, as he had qualities fitted for both houses. Finally it decided to put him into Gryffindor, without which he might not have been "The Chosen One" to defeat Lord Voldemort. 

So Harry's predicament may be considered as the worldly equivalent of the young Narendra's dilemma of choosing a worldly or a spiritual life. For the everlasting glory of Hinduism, Narendra made the right choice as did Harry, to get rid of the world threatening Dark Lord.