Early Monastic Days
Narendranath was an authentic theoretician of music. A compilation of songs with a treatise on music, entitled Sangita-Kalpataru, in Bengali, published by Shri Chandicharan Basak in 1887 was said to be mainly compiled by Narendranath, and later completed by Vaishnavcharan Basak.
In its Introduction (which may have been written by Naren), aspects of the science and art of vocal and instrumental Indian music are discussed.
The major part of the book named Sangita-Sangraha contains devotional and inspirational songs composed in various languages of India. In the appendix, biographical information is provided about the composers of the songs. .
Although Narendra and his family were facing dire poverty, it has been suggested that he helped compile this book solely to assist the struggling publisher and without remuneration.
- www.vivekananda.net edited by Frank Parlato Jr.