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Total Records Found: 889
19 Jan 1896
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE GOAL & METHODS OF REALISATION at (CW SV 5.291)
18
0
Evening lecture at Oxford Hall, Lynn, MA, for general public (ND 2.38-41, 55)
I
The Holy Mother had understood all this. She always stood behind the boys-her sons. At a later date-in 1890-, the contrast between the wealth of the monastery at Buddha Gaya and the living conditions of her boys was to wring this prayer to Shri Ramakrishna from her: "O Lord, You came in human form, sported with the devotees, and went away! Should every¬thing end with that? What then was the need to come and undergo so much suffering? I saw in Varanasi and Vrindavan many sadhus who get their food by begging, and shift their residence from the shade of one tree to that of another. There is no dearth of sadhus of that type. I cannot any more bear to see my children, who have given up everything for your sake, going from door to door for food. I pray that those who renounce the world in your name may never be in need of at least coarse food and clothing. They will live together, taking your name and holding to your ideas and ideals; and people afflicted with the sufferings of the world will resort to them and get relief by hearing your teachings from them. Was this not what you really came for? I am greatly pained at heart to see them wandering about like this!"
I
The young men's prospect was dark at this critical time, and they became disheartened. But unknown to them, Shri Rama-krishna was making arrangements for the fulfilment of their aspiration. One day, when Surendranath Mitra, a devotee of the Master who used to bear a part of the expenses at the Cossipore garden-house, returned home from office and sat for meditation in his shrine, Shri Ramakrishna appeared before him and said: "Oh! what are you doing? My children are wandering in the streets. Look at their sad plight! Make some arrangement for them without delay." Hearing this command of the Master, Surendra hastened to Narendra's home, which was near by, and with tearful eyes told him what had happened. He said, "Brother, where will you go? Let us rent a house. You will live there and make it our Master's shrine; and we house¬holders shall go there from time to time to share your bliss and pacify our hearts. . . . I used to spend a sum of money for the Master at Cossipore. I shall gladly give it now for your ex¬penses." Narendra was overpowered with emotion on hearing this. (LSV)
I
Thus at Antpur, in still hours, subtle things were happening, knitting the brothers together. It all found expression one night before a huge Dhuni (sacred fire) in the compound. Overhead was the clear night sky, and all around was quiet. Meditation lasted a long time. When a break was made Narendra began to tell the story of Jesus, beginning with the mystery of his birth, through to his death and resurrection. Through his eloquence, the brother-disciples could catch something of the apostolic fervour that had impelled Paul to spread the Christian gospel far and wide in the face of adversities. Narendra charged them to become Christs themselves, and so aid in the redemption of the world; to realize God and to deny themselves as Jesus had done. Standing there before the sacred fire, their faces lit up by the flames, the crackling of the wood the sole disturbing sound, they took the vows of renunciation before God and one another. The very air was vibrant with their ecstatic fervour. Strangely, the monks discovered afterwards that all this had happened on Christmas-eve!
I
of his will. A day was fixed in the third week of January. Early in the morning of that day the young men bathed in the Ganga and then assembled in the shrine-room of the Math, where the Master's photograph and relics were being regularly wor¬shipped. Shashi did the worship of the Master as usual, and then the Viraja homa was performed. Narendra asked Kali to chant the Mantras prescribed for the occasion. The brothers offered the oblations one by one to the fire as the Mantras were chanted. At first Narendranath, and then Rakhal, Niranjan, Sharat, Shashi, Sarada and others repeated the Mantras and offered the oblations. Afterwards Kali did the same. Shri Rama¬krishna had already given them ochre cloths at Cossipore, making them monks: this ceremony was the ritual and tradi¬tional confirmation of that. It is probable that it was on this occasion that Baburam also went through the ceremony. Afterwards Narendranath gave to Rakhal, Baburam, Shashi, Sharat, Niranjan, Kali and Sarada the names Swamis Brahmananda, Premananda, Ramakrishnananda, Saradananda, Niranjanananda, Abhedananda, and Trigunatitananda (or Trigunatita).
I
One morning, after visiting the temple of Mother Durga, the Swami was passing through a place where there were a large tank of water on one side and a high wall on the other. Here he was surrounded by a troop of large monkeys. They were not willing to allow him to pass along that way. They howled and shrieked and clutched at his feet as he strode. As they pressed closer, he began to run; but the faster he ran, the faster came the monkeys, and they began to bite at him. When it seemed impossible for him to escape, he heard an old sannyasi calling out to him: "Face the brutes." The words brought him to his senses. He turned and boldly faced the irate monkeys. As soon as he did that, they fell back and fled. With reverence and gratitude he gave the traditional greeting to the sannyasi, who smilingly responded with the same, and walked away. In a New York lecture years later, the Swami referred to this incident and pointed to its moral: "That is a lesson for all life-face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them. If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us."
I
the spirit of the preacher would take hold of him. Once, when this mood was on him, he said to a brother-monk who was inveighing against lectures and sermons: "Everyone is preaching; what they do unconsciously I will do consciously. Ay, even if you, my brother-monks, stand in my way, I will go and preach among the Pariahs in the lowest slums. Preaching means ex-pression. Because Trailanga Swami remains silent and never talks, do you think he does not preach? His very silence is a sermon! Even trees and plants are preaching!" And that is what happened later on: Swami Vivekananda preached con¬sciously and with soul-stirring eloquence what the saints had hithorto done in silence. At Baranagore, this work commenced, and his first audience was the small group of monks and devotees there. (LSV)
I
About two miles from Vrindavan, he saw a man contentedly smoking a pipe (Chillum) by the wayside. The Swami, weary, felt that a smoke would do him good; so he asked the man to allow him to have a pull or two at the pipe. The smoker shrank back and said diffidently, "It would defile you, sir. I am a Bhangi [a sweeper]". The Swami, conditioned by caste-con¬sciousness, shrank back too, and went his way, After going a short distance, the thought struck him, "What! I have taken the sannyasi's vow and have given up all ideas of caste, family prestige and so forth: yet I fell back into caste ideas when the man told me that he was a sweeper! And I could not smoke the pipe which he had touched! That was due to ages of habit." The thought made him so restless that he turned back and found the man still seated there. Sitting down beside him, he said, "Brother, do prepare me a Chillum of tobacco." But the man humbly expostulated, "Sir, you are a holy man: I am an outcaste!" But the Swami would not listen to his objections and insisted on having a smoke from that pipe. (LSV)
I
While going round the Govardhan Hill, the Swami vowed that he would not beg his food from anyone, that he would eat only what was offered to him without asking. During the first day he became exceedingly hungry at noon. To add to his discomfort, heavy rain began to fall. He grew faint with hunger and with much walking, out still went on and on, without asking for food. Suddenly he heard someone calling him from behind, but he did not answer. Nearer and nearer came the voice, that of a devotee, calling out that he had brought food for him. The Swami began to run as fast as he could, to test this apparent act of Providence. The man, running after him for nearly a mile, overtook him and insisted that he accept the food. The Swami accepted it, saying nothing. Shortly after, the man disappeared among the trees. Ecstatic with devotion at this miraculous act of the Lord, and with tears streaming from his eyes, the Swami cried out, "Glory to Shri Radha! Glory to Shri Krishna!" In the wilderness the Lord had taken care of His devotee. (LSV)
I
From Govardhan the Swami went on to Radhakunda, sacred for its association with Shri Radha. At this time he was wearing only a Kaupin (narrow strip of cloth about the loins). Having no other to wear after his bath, he took it off, washed it, and left it on the side of the tank to dry whilst he was bathing. When he had bathed, he found the Kaupin missing. In his search he chanced to look up in a tree: there he saw a monkey sitting, the Kaupin in its hands. When the monkey refused to surrender it, the Swami was filled with anger against Shri Radha, the presiding deity of the place. He vowed that he would go into the recesses of the forest and starve himself to death. As he advanced into the jungle in pursuance of his plan, a man, who probably had seen the whole incident, came up with a new ochre cloth and some food, which the Swami accepted. The Swami was no doubt astounded; it seemed like a miracle. When he retraced his steps to the tank, to his surprise he found his Kaupin lying just where he had put it to dry. Such incidents convinced him that he was beloved of the Lord and protected by Him wherever he was. (LSV)
I
One day Sharat asked the Swami, "Why do you look so sad?" After a pause the Swami replied, "My son, I have a great mission to Fulfil and I am in despair at the smallness of my capacity. I have an injunction from my Guru to carry out this mission. It is nothing less than the regeneration of my motherland. Spirituality has fallen to a low ebb and starvation stalks the land. India must become dynamic and effect the conquest of the world through her spirituality." Sharat, spellbound at these words, said with all the ardour of his soul, "Here I am, Swamiji; what do you want me to do?" The monk demanded, "Are you prepared to take up the begging bowl and the Kamandalu and work for the great cause? Can you beg from door to door?" "Yes", was the bold reply. The Swami was greatly pleased to see the courage and determination of Sharat. He spent many days at Sharat's house, speaking to groups of devotees and admirers. (LSV)
I
One morning the Swami decided to leave Hathras. He said to Sharat, "I cannot stay here longer. I am a sannyasi and should never remain long in any one place. Besides, I am feeling a sort of attachment for you all. This is also a bondage in spiritual life." To attempts to dissuade him, he only replied, "Don't press me." Sharat became grief-stricken: he had fallen in love with the Swami. "Swamiji, make me your disciple", was his entreaty. The Swami replied, "Why, do not think that everything in spiritual life will be gained by becoming my disciple. Remember that God is in everything; and then whatever you do will make for your progress. I shall come and be with you now and then. For the present I must be going to the Hima¬layas." Sharat repeated his entreaty time and again, until at length he spoke out: "Swamiji, say what you will, wherever you go I shall follow you." Seeing his determination and sincerity, the Swami said, "Can you really follow me? Then take my begging-bowl and go and beg our food from the porters of the station." No sooner was the order given than Sharat went to beg from his own subordinates. Having collected some food he brought it to the Swami, who in turn blessed him heartily, and accepted him as his disciple. (LSV)
I
Still another time, as the Swami and his disciple were moving through the jungle, they came across some bleached human bones, with pieces of rotting ochre cloth lying here and there. "See," said the Swami, "here a tiger has devoured a sannyasi! Are you afraid?" The disciple promptly replied, "Not with you, Swamiji!" Even in those early days when he was an unknown monk, the force of the Swami's character and his power to inspire others could be plainly seen. (LSV)
I
But on one occasion, as though the monk in him had become awakened, he said to Sharat, "You have become a sort of chain on my feet. I was wandering alone so long. You came and became a source of botheration to me. Now I am going my own way. I shall stay here no more." Taking his staff and water-pot, the Swami set out alone on pilgrimage. Sharat was then cooking Khichuri for both of them. He became remorseful and sat silently in one place. After three or Four hours, the Swami returned and, standing behind Sharat, said, "O Sharat, can you give me some-thing to eat? I am terribly hungry." Sharat was very happy to see him back, and said, "Yes, I shall give you something just now." The Swami: "Did you not take your meal?" Sharat: "When you were not here, how could I!" The Swami: "You have really become like a chain round my feet. I had gone a long way, but then I remembered that you were alone here and were such a fool. I could not be sure what you might do. Look, it was for you I had to return." Then the disciple served the Khichuri, and they both ate it with joy. (LSV)
s
After a "quiet and uneventful" voyage, the Empress of India, one of the three new 6,000-ton "Empresses" of the Canadian Pacific line, docked at Vancouver on Tuesday, July 25, at seven o'clock in the evening. (ND 1.16)
0
The story of the six weeks between Swamiji's arrival in Chicago and the opening of the Parliament of Religions on September 11 has been told in the Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples (hereafter called the Life), where it has been largely derived, it would appear, from the first two known letters that he wrote from America to India. The earlier, and more pertinent, of these was written from "Breezy Meadows," Massachusetts, on August 20, and the next from Chicago on November 2. Both were addressed to his Madras disciples through one of their number, Alasinga Peru¬mal. But these letters, even taken together, do not give the full picture of Swamiji's pre-Parliament days in America, and thus the story which has been based upon them is necessarily incomplete. Happily, however, additional material pertaining to this pre-Parliament period has come to light, and it is with this material that the present chapter is primarily concerned. But before presenting it, a brief summary of what has heretofore been known, together with two or three interspersed bits of new information, will be helpful, for the new material will be better understood if seen against the background of the old.(It should be mentioned that two of these bits of information have been taken from early versions of the above-mentioned letters. The versions primarily consulted are handwritten copies, evidently made before the originals were first published, that is, before February of 1905, when the letter of August 20, 1893, was printed in part in the Brahmavadin magazine. These copies, made on stationery bearing the letterhead "Mysore Government," were found among the papers of Mrs. Ole Bull; but who made them is not known--certainly not Mrs. Bull herself, for the handwriting is unquestionably not hers. In any case, they seem to be faithful transcriptions, and inasmuch as they are less abridged than any published versions, I have relied upon them as the best sources of information.) (ND 1.17)
0
From the Life we have known that Swamiji arrived in America with a minimum of luggage (even which minimum was to him, as he wrote from Yokohama, "an awful bothera¬tion"), little money, and no pre arrangements at all. Young, unheard and unheard of, absorbed in God, and as innocent and incapable of worldly ways as a child, he had stepped from the serene and open roads of India, where the sannyasin could sleep beneath a tree or beg his food from door to door, into the midst of the crowded and bewildering hurly-burly of Chicago, where the huge World's Columbian Exposition had been underway for three months and turmoil and confusion were at fever pitch. The shock of this drastic change of scene and atmosphere was surely great, but greater still was the shock of learning that the authorities of the Parliament of Religions required all delegates to produce credentials. Swamiji had no credentials. Moreover, he was, he Found, too late to register as a delegate even if he had had credentials. Thus his hope of speaking before the Parliament vanished almost at once. There remained no chance of his gaining a hearing in America until the late fall, for not until then would people return to the cities and the lecture season begin. But the cost of living in America, and particularly in Chicago, was to Swamiji unexpectedly ex¬orbitant. In the first edition of the Life it is told that, being a total stranger, he wisely stayed, for a time at least, at a first¬ class hotel.2 Since a room in a first-class Chicago hotel was then three dollars and upwards a day, he soon found that his daily expenses came, on the average, to a pound (five dollars), at which rate his small purse could by no means carry him through a freezing American winter, for which he was entirely unprepared. Added to all this was the financial panic that had hit the country that spring: many banks had closed, many businesses had failed, widespread unemployment was setting in, and, despite the glad industrial tidings announced by the Exposition, American generosity was at a low ebb. Indeed, it seemed for a time that mere survival in this country where a sannyasin, as such, counted for nothing, was out of the question and that the trip had been in vain. (ND 1.17)
0
It is true that Swamiji was not altogether friendless. With him was a Mr. C. Lalubhai, who had been a fellow passenger on the Empress of India; further, through a letter of introduction from a Madras friend (Varada Rao) he shortly became acquainted with a Director of the Fair and his wife. Unfortunately, Swamiji does not reveal the name of this couple;" we learn, however, that they belonged as he wrote, "to the highest, Chicago society,"3 and from this we can infer that they were not poor, for while a sizable fortune may not have been the only prerequisite for position in Chicago society, it was inthose days an indispensable one. We learn also that the head of the family and others suggested to Swamiji that he represent India at the Parliament.4 Yet despite this suggestion, which indicates that his gifts were indeed appreciated, no one at this time seems to have invited him to be a house guest, nor, For one reason or another, was anyone able to offer him the financial help which would have made it possible for him to remain in Chicago until the opening of the Parliament, then some five weeks away. "They were so very kind to me," Swamiji wrote to India, appreciative of any goodness. "But here they want to make much of foreigners, [just] for a fun and no farther. When it comes to their pocket they all almost step back, and this is such a bad year here, commercial failures everywhere. So I took my departure from Chicago forthwith and came to Boston."5 (ND 1.18)
0
During the twelve days or so that Swamiji spent in Chicago, he visited the Fair almost every day, for it was a huge and spectacular exhibition of the modern wonders of steam and electricity, and, as he wrote, "one must take at least ten days to go through it "6 (ND 1.19)
0
He himself was a wonder to his fellow spectators, some of whom pushed him and pulled at his turban. Indeed, Swamiji's first welcome to America was less than open¬: armed; while his rich acquaintances made much of him only "for a fun," the man in the street stared and poked at him as at some object of curious and dubious nature. Thus it was in something like despair that he left Chicago for Boston, where, as he had been told, the cost of living was lower. (ND 1)
0
"Mysterious," write his biographers, "are the ways of the Lord!" 7 for it was on the train to Boston that he met an "old lady" who invited him to live at her farm, Breezy Meadows, in Massachusett. It was through this providential woman that Swamiji was to meet, among others, Professor John Henry Wright of Harvard University. (ND 1.19)
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From the Life we know that Professor Wright was at once appreciative of Swamiji's genius and persuaded him of the importance of attending the Parlia¬ment of Religions. Nor did the good professor stop there; he gave him all the necessary assistance; he introduced him by letter to the proper authorities as a superbly well-qualified delegate, one "who is more learned than all our learned pro-fessors put together" and who, as he said, was like the sun, with no need of credentials in order to shine;8 he bought his train ticket back to Chicago, gave him some money, and saw to it that his housing would be arranged for. In short, Pro¬fessor Wright acted as a sort of deus ex machina, without whose timely intervention Swamiji might never have attended the Parliament at all. (ND 1.19)
0
In Boston, however, Swamiji had no outward way of knowing that a preordained plan was unfolding. His money was fast disappearing, the weather, even in August, seemed to him like winter, and his clothes were not only inadequate against the early autumn chill but could incite violence in the streets. The story of one such occasion he told long afterward: "I landed [in Boston] once, [he said] a stranger in a strange land. My coat was like this red one and I wore my turban. I was pro¬ceeding up a street in the busy part of the town when I became aware that I was followed by a great number of men and boys. I hastened my pace and they did too. Then something struck my shoulder and I began to run, dashing around a corner, and up a dark passage, just before the mob in full pursuit swept past-and I was safe!"9 (ND 1.20)
0
The outlook in those days was bleak indeed, but Swamiji was not to be defeated. "All those rosy ideas we had before starting have melted," he wrote in his letter of August 20, "and I have now to fight against impossibilities. A hundred times I had a mind to go out of the country and go back to India. But I am determined, and I have a call from Above; I see no way, but His eyes see.* And I must stick to my guns, life or death."10 (ND 1.20)
0
It was very probably after writing this letter that Swamiji cabled from Boston to Alasinga, in what he later referred to as "a moment's weakness,"11requesting him to send the money that would make his stay in America humanly possible. (ND 1.20)
0
This cable, incidentally, drew forth two responses a world apart in feeling. One of these Swamiji later disclosed in his lecture "My Plan of Campaign," which he delivered in Madras in February of 1897. "The money was small," he said, "and it was all spent before even the Parliament of Religions began. Winter came. I had only thin summer clothes. One day my hands froze. I did not know what to do in that cold, dreary climate, for, if I went to beg in the streets, the result would be my being sent to goal. There was I with the last few dollars in my pocket. I sent a wire to my friends here in Madras. This came to be known to the Theosophists, and I possess a letter written by one of the Theosophists. `Now the devil is going to die; God bless us all: . . . I will show you that letter if you want; I have it in my possession."12 This message, fortunately enough, could not have become known to Swamiji until some time later. (ND 1.20)
0
In the meanwhile another person in Madras who came to know of his cable was his friend Manmathanath Bhattacharya. In Swami Vivekananda-A Forgotten Chapter of His Life by Beni Shanker Sharma, it is said that Mr. Bhattacharya wired on August 30 to the Maharaja of Khetri, informing him of Swa¬miji's difficulties. The Maharaja, always eager to help Swamiji, at once sent five hundred rupees (150 dollars) to Boston via Thomas Cook and Son.13 (ND 1.21)
0
Simultaneously, as one learns from the previously mentioned handwritten copy of Swamiji's letter of November 2, 1893, Alasinga raised three hundred rupees (ninety dollars), which sum he, too, wired to America. (ND 1.21)
0
As it turned out, neither of these amounts reached Swamiji until after September 7, by which time he had found his own way and was no longer in need. (ND 1.21)
0
The little more we have known of Swamiji's life in Massa¬chusetts has come solely from his letter of August 20. We have known, for. instance, that during his stay at Breezy Meadows his hostess showed him oft as "a curio from India," that he was gaped at for his "quaint dress," that he was on this account advised to buy "long coats black coloured," that he was to speak at "a big ladies' club . . . which is helping Ramabai," and that he visited and was deeply impressed by a women's reformatory.14 From the earliest published versions of this letter we learn also that he was to lecture before "a large society of ladies in Salem." To these facts more now can be added, parti¬cularly in regard to the period between August 20 and Sep¬tember 8, which until now has been virtually a blank. (ND 1.21)
0
Wherever Swamiji went he made news, and in my attempt to fill in the gaps in his life's story I assumed that New England was no exception to this rule and that the papers of those towns which he visited in the pre-Parliament days would con¬tain some mention of him. The nearest town to the farm Breezy Meadows is Metcalf, some twenty-five miles west of Boston, but upon making inquiries I found that Metcalf was too small to possess a newspaper. The town next in size is Holliston, still not large enough to support a paper of its own, and the next large is Framingham, a full-sized town, complete with news¬paper office. It was to Framingham, therefore, that I went. In the 1890s the Framingham Tribune, which covered the note¬worthy events of the surrounding country, was a weekly, coming out on Fridays. There being but few papers to look through, it was not difficult to find the following item which, small as it was and in spite of its quaintness, or perhaps because of it, had the impact of reality: Friday, August 25, 1893 Holliston: Miss Kate Sanborn, who has recently re¬turned from the west, last week entertained the Indian Rajah, Swami Vivekananda. Behind a pair of horses fur¬nished by liveryman F. W. Phipps, Miss Sanborn and the Rajah drove through town on Friday [August 18] en route for Hunnewell's. (ND 1.22)
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What a sight that must have been! And who could help mistaking the young monk for a rajah as, in robe and turban, he was regally driven through the quiet New England village behind a pair of trotting horses, the mistress of Breezy Meadows at his side? Swamiji's hostess, Miss Kate Sanborn, whose name we learn for the first time from this news item, was no doubt taking her "curio from India" on a sightseeing trip to Hun¬newell's, a large and beautiful estate, the park like grounds of which were open to the public for strolling. The drive to Hunnewell's would itself have been a lovely one along a country road, past old houses surrounded by wide, elm-shaded lawns, past old churches, stone horse troughs, mellowed villages, and woodsy fields. (ND 1.22)
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While this particular outing may not have been social, there was much else that was, for Miss Sanborn delighted in showing off her "Rajah," and, as Swamiji wrote resignedly, "all this must be borne."15 Indeed, it seemed ordained: Miss Sanborn, amiable, prominent, and gregarious, was precisely the person to act as hostess to Swamiji in those early days, for she not only introduced him to Professor Wright and other men and women of influence, but was instrumental in pro¬viding him with a well-rounded preview of the American scene. (ND 1.23)
0
Further research regarding Miss Sanborn revealed that, aside from being an enthusiastic hostess, she was a lecturer and an author, taking for her topics all the numerous facets of her active life-people, incidents, places. Although Swamiji re¬ferred to her as "an old lady," she was, by American standards, not old when he first knew her. She was fifty-four and very energetic. She was possessed of a lively humor and a warm sympathy for her fellowman, was keenly observant and widely known for her repartee. Even in her correspondence her wit was irrepressible, it being her practice to include in her letters short and apt verses scribbled on cards. One of these, sent to a group of young women, advises: "Though you're bright/And though you're pretty/They'll not love you/If you're witty." A more serious side of her nature is revealed by another card which reads: "Down with the fallacy enshrined in Senator Ingalls' sonnet on the one opportunity. She comes, not alone in the gospel of the `second opportunity,' but she is with you every day and hour waiting for recognition." (ND 1.23)
0
Originally from New Hampshire, Kate Sanborn had bought one of the old abandoned farms of Massachusetts and had pro-ceeded to restore it into Breezy Meadows. Two of her books are devoted to life on the "farm," and it is from these that one learns of the scene that greeted Swamiji. She writes lovingly of the pines and silver birches, the huge elms growing near the house, the natural pond of waterlilies, and the two brooks where forget-me-nots grew along the shaded banks. The house itself was a rambling farmhouse with a vine growing over half the roof. There is a photograph of it in one of her books: a friendly, comfortable house. There is also a picture of Kate Sanborn herself (older than when Swamiji knew her) standing in her front doorway, offering a welcome to one and all. Inside, the house was roomy and warmed by a fireplace, whose chim¬ney, curiously, rose beside the central staircase. More curiously still, on each floor, there was an opening in the housing of the chimney, within which, on either side, was a seat, reached by a tiny stairs-a hidden place to meditate on a cold autumn morning or evening when a fire roared in the fireplace, as was often the case when Swamiji was there. Today Breezy Meadows has changed; part of the property is occupied by a seminary for Xaverian Fathers, and another part is at present being used as a summer day-camp for poor children of Boston. On this latter part, the house where Swamiji made his first home in America still stands, much altered now by fire and the passage of time. (ND 1.23)
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In his letter of August 20 Swamiji mentions, as has been noted, that he is to speak before a women's club that was helping Ramabai, a Hindu woman who had been converted to Christianity. In 1887-1889 Ramabai had been active in forming clubs in America for the purpose of raising funds for Indian child widows, whose plight she had graphically mis¬represented. Unfortunately, no report has been found in the Boston papers of Swamiji's talk before the Boston Ramabai Circle; nor does the 1893 Annual Report of that club mention it. But in the light of subsequent developments to be discussed in a later chapter, we can be reasonably sure that Swamiji gave the women of the Boston Ramabai Circle a true picture of India and of child widows and that it was a picture they did not relish. (ND 1.24)
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The first direct mention of Swamiji in the Boston papers is tucked away in the "Personal" column of the Evening Transcript of August 23, 1893: (ND 1.25)
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Swami Virckananda of India, a Brahmin monk who is on his way to the parliament of religions to be held at Chicago in September, is the guest of Miss Kate Sanborn at her "abandoned farm" in Metcalf, Mass. Last evening he addressed the inmates of the Sherborn Reformatory for Women upon the manners, customs and mode of living in his country. (ND 1.25)
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The original Women's Reformatory at Sherborn, a small town near Breezy Meadows, still stands-a forbidding structure of red brick. (ND 1.25)
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But grim though its exterior may have been, the Reformatory itself made a highly favorable impression upon Swamiji. "It is the grandest thing I have seen in America," he wrote to Alasinga in his letter of August 20, and went on to compare heartbrokenly the benevolent and rehabilitating treatment of the inmates with the wretched conditions of "the poor, the low, the sinner in India [who] have no friends, no help, (who] cannot rise, try however they may."16 (ND 1.25)
0
Perhaps when Swamiji spoke before the inmates of the Sherborn Reformatory, they thought that he was the grandest thing they had seen in America. At any rate, it is safe to assume that their response was more sympathetic than that of the Ramabai Circle. One cannot know, but the young Hindu monk, in his red robe and yellow turban, must have been like a sunburst in that dismal prison, and the effect in some cases may have been profound and truly transforming. (ND 1.25)
0
The next mention of Swamiji in the Boston papers is found in the "Personal" column of the Evening Transcript of Friday, August 25. It reads in full: (ND 1.25)
0
The Swami Vere Kananda of India, the Brahmin monk who was in this country for the purpose of attending the parliament of religions at Chicago next month, arrived in Boston yesterday, in company with Mr. F. B. Sanborn of Concord. (ND 1.26)
0
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was a cousin of Kate Sanborn, and it was no doubt he to whom Swamiji referred when, in his letter of August 20, he wrote: "A cousin of my lady friend who is coming to-day to see me writes to her, `a real Hindu devotee is an interesting study but I am too old to be cheated by the esoteric Buddhists!' "" But if Franklin Sanborn had his doubts as to whether his cousin's guest was a real Hindu devotee or an "esoteric Buddhist," by which he meant an exponent of Theosophy, those doubts were soon dispelled. There is no question that after meeting Swamiji Mr. Sanborn thought highly of him. Indeed the two must have delighted in each other's company, for Sanborn was at heart an idealist and one of those few-remaining New Englanders whose thought had been molded by the Transcendentalist movement. At the age of fourteen he had discovered Transcendentalism at the tag end of its life and, enchanted, had later become a close friend of Emerson, Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott, whose biographies, among others, he was to write-an undertaking that led to his being called "the Plutarch of the Transcendentalist movement " Apart from being an author, he was extremely active in organizing and promoting works of benevolence. He served as secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Charities-the first of its kind in America-and helped in founding many other charitable institutions. He also was among the founders of the Concord Summer School of Philosophy. (ND 1.26)
0
After meeting Swamiji, Mr. Sanborn invited him to speak at an august convention of the American Social Science Association in Saratoga Springs, New York, the most fashionable resort town of the era and a favorite rendezvous for conventions. (ND 1.26)
0
But before going to Saratoga Springs, Swamiji passed a busy week and a half in Massachusetts. While he was spending Thursday, August 24, with Mr. Sanborn in Boston, Professor John Henry Wright, eager to meet the phenomenal Hindu monk, of whom he had no doubt heard a great deal from the Sanborns, was on his way from Annisquam, a popular and picturesque little seaside resort village on Cape Ann some forty miles northeast of Boston, where the Wright family was spending the summer. Through some misadventure, this meeting did not take place. Yet perhaps this was no misadventure at all; for, not to be deprived of meeting Swamiji, Professor Wright invited him to spend the weekend at Annisquam, and it was during those days that the professor formed the opinion of his guest that was to have such far-reaching consequences. (ND 1.27)
0
It should be noted here that when Professor Wright recommended Swamiji to the Parliament authorities as being "more learned than all our learned professors put together," he knew whereof he spoke. Although his fields were primarily philology, classical archaeology, and Greek history, his range of teaching was by no means confined to these subjects; for his knowledge, as is noted in the Dictionary of American Biography, was "encyclopedic: ' A formidable scholar, he was well qualified to appreciate Swamiji's own encyclopedic learning, and his opinion in this respect was one that carried weight. Swamiji and Professor Wright had long conversations at Annisquam, and the professor was no doubt astounded by the young Hindu monk who proved to be a saint and savant combined. (ND 1.27)
0
Nor was he the only one to be amazed during that Annisquam weekend. A letter written by Mrs. Wright to her mother tells of the occasion: Annisquam,Mass. August 29, 1893 My dear Mother: We have been having a queer time. Kate Sanborn had a Hindoo monk in tow as I believe I mentioned in my last letter. John went down to meet him in Boston and missing him, invited him up here. He came Friday! In a long saffron robe that caused universal amazement. He was a most gorgeous vision. He had a superb carriage of the head, was very handsome in an oriental way, about thirty years old in time, ages in civilization. He stayed until Monday and was one of the most interesting people I have yet come across. We talked all day all night and began again with interest the next morning. The town was in a fume to see him; the boarders at Miss Lane's in wild excitement. They were in and out of the Lodge (the Wright's cottage] constantly and little Mrs. Merrill's eyes were blazing and her cheeks red with excitement. Chiefly we talked religion. It was a kind of revival, I have not felt so wrought up for a long time myself! Then on Sunday John had him invited to speak in the church and they took up a collection for a Heathen college to be carried on strictly heathen principles-whereupon I retired to my corner and laughed until I cried. He is an educated gentleman, knows as much as anybody. Has been a monk since he was eighteen. Their vows are very much our vows, or rather the vows of a Christian monk. Only Poverty with them means poverty. They have no monastery, no property, they cannot even beg; but they sit and wait until alms are given them. Then they sit and teach people. For days they talk and dispute. He is wonderfully clever and clear in putting his arguments and laying his trains (of thought) to a conclusion. You can't trip him up, nor get ahead of him. I have a lot of notes I made as stuff for a possible story -at any rate as something very interesting for future reference. We may see hundreds of Hindoo monks in our lives-and we may not. (ND 1.27)
0
Aside from its importance in opening Swamiji's way to the Parliament of Religions, this weekend lastingly enriched the Wright family-as well it might have, for none fortunate enough to have Swamiji as a guest soon forgot him. The memory of this and later meetings became a part of the Wright family tradition, and Mr. John K. Wright, the younger son of Professor and Mrs. Wright and erstwhile Director of the American Geographical Society, today still speaks in the family idiom of "our Swami," though he was but a child of two when Swamiji first came to Annisquam. (ND 1.28)
0
Through Mr. Wright's kindness a few of his mother's letters, including the one quoted above, and other papers have been made available to us, and in a small diary that had belonged to her one can make out under the date Friday, August 25, 1893, the now faded, almost illegible words: "Rain-Swami Vivekananda came. Went down to Wambaugh's in the evening, his talk mainly political. Very warm: ' (ND 1.29)
0
This "Very warm" might as well refer to Swamiji's talk as to the weather, for, as we learn from the story that Mrs. Wright did indeed compose from her notes, his discourse that evening was a heated, impassioned one. In regard to the manuscript of this story, which has been found among her papers, Mr. Wright tells us that "sometime in or after 1897, she prepared the account from the original notes, which have disappeared. She either typed it herself or had it typed by a stenographer and then thoroughly revised it in ink."19 (ND 1.29)
0
When we first received a copy of this manuscript, it seemed both familiar and new, and on comparing it with material in the Life, we found, to be sure, that some portions of it had already been published. In the Life readers will find an article which is said to have come from a newspaper and which is a very much abridged version of the same story.20 Mr. Wright was not aware that his mother had contributed her article to a newspaper, and it is not known where or when it first appeared; but inasmuch as we are now in possession of the complete manuscript, this is of little importance. The unpublished portions comprise a good half of the original article and are, I believe, of absorbing interest, for they give an intimate picture of Swamiji from the pen of one who well understood that her subject was no ordinary person. (ND 1.29)
0
But perhaps it is a picture that might also prove shocking. Mrs. Wright has caught Swamiji in one of his bursts of fire, hard for some to reconcile with his calm, ah-compassionate, all-loving nature. Fire and compassion, however, are not disparate-indeed they often are as inseparable as the two sides of one coin, Swamiji's heart, one never can forget, was full of unhappiness for the suffering of his motherland, and correspondingly his mind was full of anger against all that contributed to her degradation. In the early days he ascribed a great deal of that degradation to the im¬perialism of the British, and it was only natural that he would lash out against a people who had ruthlessly crushed those whom he loved. It is well known that when Swamiji later met the English people on their home ground he became an ardent admirer of their many noble characteristics; nonetheless he never changed his opinion of British imperialism nor, for that matter, of any oppression of one people by another. He was a thorough student of world history, and whenever in the story of man's life he found injustice and inhumanity he never hesitated to point them out in no uncertain terms. (ND 1.30)
0
However, here are the unpublished portions of Mrs. Wright's article, For the sake of clarity and continuity I have retained certain portions which have already been quoted in the Life, and, for the same reason, I have omitted a word or phrase here and there and made a few minor corrections. (ND 1.30)
0
According to Mrs. Wright's story, the Annisquam villagers and the boarders at Miss Lane's first caught sight of Swamiji as, in company with Professor Wright, he crossed the lawn between the boardinghouse and the professor's cottage. So astonishing a sight did Swamiji present in this quiet little New England village that speculation set in at once as to who this majestic and colorful figure might be. From where had he come? What was his nationality? And so forth. The article continues as follows: (ND 1.30)
0
. . . Finally they decided that he was a Brahmin, and the theory was rudely shattered when that night, at supper, they saw him partake, wonderingly, but evidently with relish, of hash. It was something that needed explanation and they unanimously repaired to the cottage after supper, to hear this strange new being discourse. . . . [Actually, as one learns from the above entry in Mrs. Wright's more ac¬curate diary, it was not to the Wright's tiny cottage that the party repaired after supper, but to that of Professor Eugene Wambaugh of the Harvard Law School, who, with his family, was summering at Annisquam. It was there that Swamiji enthralled and startled the little gathering.] (ND 1.31)
0
"It was the other day," he said, in his musical voice, "only just the other day-not more than four hundred years ago." And then followed tales of cruelty and op¬pression, of a patient race and a suffering people, and of a judgment to come! "Ah, the English," he said, "only just a little while ago they were savages, . . . the vermin crawled on the ladies' bodices, . . . and they scented them¬selves to disguise the abominable odor of their persons. . . . Most hor-r-ible! Even now, they are barely emerging from barbarism." "Nonsense," said one of his scandalized hearers, "that was at least five hundred years ago." "And did I not say `a little while ago'? What are a few hundred years when you look at the antiquity of the human soul?" Then with a turn of tone, quite reasonable and gentle, "They are quite savage," he said. "The frightful cold, the want and privation of their northern climate ", going on more quickly and warmly, "has made them wild. They only think to kill. . . . Where is their religion? They take the name of that Holy One, they claim to love their fellowmen, they civilize-by Christianity!-No! It is their hunger that has civilized them, not their God. The love of man is on their lips, in their hearts there is nothing but evil and every violence. `I love you my brother, I love you!' . . . and all the while they cut his throat! Their hands are red with blood." . . . Then, going on more slowly, his beautiful voice deepening till it sounded like a bell, "But the judgment of God will fall upon them. `Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,' and destruction is coming. What are your Christians? Not one third of the world. Look at those Chinese, millions of them. They are the vengeance of God that will light upon you. There will be another invasion of the Huns," adding, with a little chuckle, "they will sweep over Europe, they will not leave one stone standing upon another. Men, women, children, all will go and the dark ages will come again." His voice was indescribably sad and pitiful; then suddenly and flip-pantly, dropping the seer, "Me; I don't care! The world will rise up better from it, but it is coming. The vengeance of God, it is coming soon." "Soon?" they all asked. "It will not be a thousand years until it is done: ' They drew a breath of relief. It did not seem imminent. (ND 1.31)
0
"And God will have vengeance," he went on. "You may not see it in religion, you may not see it in politics, but you must see it in history, and as it has been, it will come to pass. If you grind down the people, you will suffer. (ND 1.32)
0
We in India are suffering the vengeance of God. Look upon these things. They ground down those poor people for their own wealth, they heard not the voice of distress, they ate from gold and silver when the people cried for bread, and the Mohammedans came upon them slaughtering and killing: slaughtering and killing they overran them. (ND 1.32)
0
India has been conquered again and again for years, and last and worst of all came the Englishman. You look about India, what has the Hindoo left? Wonder¬ful temples, everywhere. What has the Mohammedan left? Beautiful palaces. What has the Englishman left? Nothing but mounds of broken brandy bottles! (ND 1.32)
0
And God has had no mercy upon my people because they had no mercy. By their cruelty they degraded the populace, and when they needed them the common people had no strength to give for their aid. (ND 1.33)
0
If man cannot believe in the Vengeance of God, he certainly cannot deny the Vengeance of History. And it will come upon the English; they have their heels on our necks, they have sucked the last drop of our blood for their own pleasures, they have carried away with them millions of our money, while our people have starved by villages and provinces. And now the Chinaman is the vengeance that will fall upon them; if the Chinese rose today and swept the English into the sea, as they well deserve, it would be no more than justice." (ND 1.33)
0
And then, having said his say, the Swami was silent. A babble of thin-voiced chatter rose about him, to which he listened, apparently unheeding. Occasionally he cast his eye up to the roof and repeated softly, "Shiva! Shiva!" and the little company, shaken and disturbed by the cur¬rent of powerful feelings and vindictive passion which seemed to be flowing like molten lava beneath the silent surface of this strange being, broke up, perturbed. (ND 1.33)
0
He stayed days (actually, a long weekend). . . . All through, his discourses abounded in picturesque illustra¬tions and beautiful legends. . . . (ND 1.33)
0
One beautiful story he told was of a man whose wife reproached him with his troubles, reviled him because of the success of others, and recounted to him all his failures. "Is this what your God has done for you," she said to him, "after you have served Him so many years?" Then the man answered, "Am I a trader in religion? Look at that mountain. What does it do for me, or what have I done for it? And yet I love it because I am so made that I love the beautiful. Thus I love God." . . . (ND 1.33)
0
There was an¬other story he told of a king who offered a gift to a Rishi. The Rishi refused, but the king insisted and begged that he would come with him. When they came to the palace he heard the king praying, and the king begged for wealth, for power, for length of days from God. The Rishi listened, wondering, until at last he picked up his mat and started away. Then the king opened his eyes from his prayers and saw him. "Why are you going?" he said. "You have not asked for your gift." "I," said the Rishi, "ask from a beggar?" (ND 1.33)
0
When someone suggested to him that Christianity was a saving power, he opened his great dark eyes upon him and said, "If Christianity is a saving power in itself, why has it not saved the Ethiopians, the Abyssinians?" He also arraigned our own crimes, the horror of women on the stage, the frightful immorality in our streets, our drunken¬ness, our thieving, our political degeneracy, the murdering in our West, the lynching in our South, and we, remember¬ing his own Thugs, were still too delicate to mention them. . . . (ND 1.34)
0
Often on Swami's lips was the phrase, "They would not dare to do this to a monk." . . . At times he even ex¬pressed a great longing that the English government would take him and shoot him. "It would be the first nail in their coffin," he would say, with a little gleam of his white teeth, "and my death would run through the land like wild fire." . . . (ND 1.34)
0
His great heroine was the dreadful Ranee [the Rani of Jhansi] of the Indian mutiny, who led her troops in person. Most of the old mutineers, he said, had become monks in order to hide themselves, and this accounted very well for the dangerous quality of the monks' opinions. There was one man of them who had lost four sons and could speak of them with composure, but whenever he mentioned the Ranee he would weep, with tears streaming down his face. (ND 1.34)
0
"That woman was a goddess," he said, "a devi. When overcome, she fell on her sword and died like a man." It was strange to hear the other side of the Indian mutiny, when you would never believe that there was another side to it, and to be assured that a Hindoo could not possibly kill a woman. It was probably the Mohammedans that killed the women at Delhi and Cawn¬pore. (ND 1.34)
0
These old mutineers would say to him, "Kill a woman! You know we could not do that"; and so the Mohammedan was made responsible. (ND 1.35)
0
In quoting from the Upanishads his voice was most mu¬sical. He would quote a verse in Sanskrit, with intonations, and then translate it into beautiful English, of which he had a wonderful command. And in his mystical religion he seemed perfectly and unquestionably happy. . . .21 (ND 1.35)
0
It is interesting to compare the prophetic utterances Swamiji made in Annisquam with those reported by Sister Christine in her "Reminiscences": "Sometimes he was in a prophetic mood, as on the day when he startled us by saying: `The next great upheaval which is to bring about a new epoch will come from Russia or China.' "22 And according to tradition, at an¬other time Swamiji made a statement to the effect that if and when the British should leave India there would be a great danger of India's being conquered by the Chinese. Again, in an unpublished letter written on July 16, 1896, from London by John P. Fox, a young disciple, one reads: "[Swamiji] talked much about [Russia] which he said the other evening he exp¬ects to lead the world next."23 I mention these statements of Swamiji's just in passing, for in view of the fact that at the end of the nineteenth century neither Russia nor China was in a position to become a dominating world power, they attest to his foresight and were, at the time, startling indeed. (ND 1.35)
0
On Saturday, Swamiji continued to hold the Wrights, and whoever may have come to their cottage, spellbound. As Mrs. Wright wrote to her mother, "It was a kind of revival." In her diary she noted: "Swami talked all morning all after¬noon." We can know that the talk was of religion, for the entry under Sunday, August 27, reads: "Same thing. Swami talked religion." Yet he also played with the Wright children, delight¬ing, perhaps, as much in this as in long and absorbing con¬versations. "He was wonderfully unspoiled and simple," Mrs. Wright commented in her typed story, "claiming nothing for himself, playing with the children, twirling a stick between his fingers with laughing skill and glee at their inability to equal him." (ND 1.35)
0
The Wrights had three children: Elizabeth, or as she was more often called, Bessie, who was thirteen; Austin, who had just turned ten; and John, the baby, who was two. According to the family memories, it was Austin in whom Swamiji was the most interested, talking with him at some length and later, when he visited the Wrights at Cambridge, buying for him a red heart-shaped box of candy, and on one occasion giving him a copy of The Light of Asia by Edwin Arnold, inscribed "Presented to Austin Wright with love and blessings of Vivek-ananda." (ND 1.36)
0
Austin, on his part, was filled with wonder by Swa¬miji. It was probably at Cambridge in the early part of 1894 that, coming down to breakfast one morning, he found a screen set up in the living room, over which were draped long pieces of colored cloth. Swamiji had arrived late at night and had been put up on a couch, with the screen for privacy."` To the little boy the sight was unexpected and those bright lengths of turban-silk in a familiar living room seemed to him strange and romantic and as redolent of far-off places as Swamiji him¬self. This incident was to remain so long impressed on his mind that the story came down to his daughter, who told me of it. (ND 1.36)
0
An unusual child, Austin Tappan Wright was to become an unusual man, of whom it was said in tribute after his untimely death in 1931 : "There seem to have been no rough angles in his character, no bitterness in him."24 Charming, simple, and direct, he was recognized during his lifetime as "an extra¬ordinary person of deep sympathy, wide intellectual interests and keen critical mind: ''25 "He was a kind of Renaissance man," it was also said of him, "akin to Leonardo in the diversity of his interests, . . . a man with a profound feeling for life in all the factual, poetic, realistic and imaginative wonder of it."26 (ND 1.36)
0
As an adult, Austin Wright lived, in a sense, two lives, both of them richly: one in the United States as a brilliant lawyer and beloved professor of law, and the other as chronicler of Islandia, an imaginary country which he knew perhaps better, and certainly admired more, than his native America. It was perhaps around the time Swamiji visited Annisquam that Austin began inventing Islandia. Other children, it is true, sometimes invent imaginary worlds, but Austin's was no passing thing; it developed as he grew into a full-blown country with a language, traditions, a religion, and a history of its own. Nor did the creator of this Utopia stop there; from time to time he worked quietly, and solely for his own pleasure, on an Islandian novel, which in its finished form ran to twenty-three hundred finely written pages. In 1942, eleven years after his death, the novel, Islandia, was published in much abridged (though not short) form, and the country itself became for hundreds of readers almost as real and absorbing a world as it had been for its creator. (ND 1.37)
0
One cannot attribute the origin of Islandia to Austin Wright's meeting with Swamiji: the penchant for creating imaginary utopian countries was a family trait. Later, John K. Wright, excluded now and then from his elder brother's world, invented a country of his own called Cravay, and even Professor John Henry Wright, from whom the trait seems to have stemmed, had a world of his own devising, the maps and charts of which were found among his papers after his death. But while Austin's instinct toward the utopian seems to have been more or less hereditary, his meeting with Swamiji may have seemed as one of the catalysts that brought Islandia into being. In any case, as the country developed, its details were necessarily woven from his own experience, and here and there one can find in the novel unmistakable echoes of his early encounter with the vital and kindly Hindu. Islandians, for instance, were an ancient agricultural people with an inner life of their own, and among them was a racial type whose members were "big, with massive heads, black hair, black eyebrows, dark eyes, and ruddy skins."27 The novel's bene¬volent and noble hero, who was of this type and who, incident¬ally, parted his hair in the middle, had "magnificently arched eyebrows," "a strong chin slightly cleft," "a mature mouth," "even white teeth," and a clear, strong, and deep voice, which "without being loud filled the room"; and, what is more, he sang to himself "his own odd melodies in an undertone or roar like the sea."28 It would be hard to find as accurate a description of Swamiji as this. Then, in the annals of Islandian history one finds a young, heroic queen who, in the fourteenth century, led her troops in person against the enemy. Had not young Austin been listening entranced to Swamiji's tale of the Rani of Jhansi? Almost all references to Islandian religion have been omitted from the published version of the novel, but Austin Wright's daughter Sylvia (Mrs. Paul J. Mitarchi) has told me that it was a religion "quite without dogma, the Islandian church being called a House of Quiet, where people go to sit quietly and meditate or, occasionally, to talk or listen to another person talk. The Islandian God is called Om, though he is never worshipped as a God in the Christian sense."29 In Islandia one finds a hymn to Om, a specimen of Islandian literature, which reads in part: Om Cannot be seen with eyes Nor heard with ears Nor felt with the hand. Om is great because Om Is what man cannot understand. . . . The goodness and evil of men Is of their own making. They are the rulers of the kingdom of right and wrong. In that kingdom Om does not rule. Does Om bid you do evil? Does Om bid you do good? Evil and Good are alike to Om! Go not to Om for guidance in petty matters. But it is well for men to sit in the halls of Om And, so sitting, to be lost in his darkness Or so sitting, to be dazzled by his brightness. And to know that Om is.30 As will be seen later, Swamiji quoted From the Upanishads to the Wright children and in. a special note to Austin told him, in words that an imaginative child could well understand, of God's immanence. It is possible, of course, that the in¬habitants of Islandia derived their religion from another source, but I myself would hazard the guess that whether they knew it or not, Swamiji's influence had touched Islandian shores and from there had moved inward and taken permanent root. (ND 1.37)
0
But to return to the weekend with the charming Wrights, one learns from Mrs. Wright's diary that on Saturday evening the children gave a play at (one gathers) the Hyatts'. The Hyatts were Professor Alpheus Hyatt, the famous zoologist, and his family, and there cannot be much doubt that after the performance the conversation proceeded at a lively pace. (ND 1.39)
0
The "revival" in the Wright household continued in full force on Sunday also, when Swamiji "talked religion" during the morn¬ing and afternoon. (ND 1.39)
0
That evening he gave his first lecture in an American church, after which the collection was taken that caused Mrs. Wright such fits of laughter. It is small wonder that she laughed: this was undoubtedly the first collection "for a Heathen college to be carried on on strictly heathen prin¬ciples" ever to be solemnly contributed to by a New England congregation; and no one but Swamiji could have brought such a marvel to pass. (ND 1.39)
0
Although this memorable and, as it turned out, history ¬making weekend caused such a stir in Annisquam, the Glou¬cester Daily Times, which covered the Annisquam news, ran on August 28 the following item, typical of New England's verbal economy: Annisquam. Mr. Sivanei Yivcksnanda, a Hindoo monk, gave a fine lecture in the church last evening on the customs and life in India. And on August 29 the Cape Ann Breeze commented: In the evening the church was open and a little of the Orient came to our doors in the person of a gentleman from cathay, a Hindoo monk, the first one, I understand, who ever crossed the ocean to America. He is a guest of Professor Wright at Miss Lane's boarding house and has a musical Indian name, whose intricacies of speaking and pronunciation I have not yet mastered. He spoke in fairly good English, of the manners and customs in his far away land, and his dusky face, picturesque dress, distinctive phraseology, and pleasantly told story was a charming innovation in our matter-of fact Western civilization.31 (ND 1.40)
0
But while this is all the local newspapers had to say about Swamiji's lecture at the Annisquam Universalist Church, there are even today people to whom its main burden is still fresh and to whom Swamiji is still vivid. One woman, a summer resident of the village, writes to me in regard to Swamiji's weekend in Annisquam: "I consider it a great privilege to have known him. He was a striking looking man in appearance and dress. He wore a turban around his head and a long orange robe of heavy woolen cloth with a wide purple sash. He had a charming voice. He began his lecture in the Annisquam village church by saying that the Hindus were taught to have great respect for other people's religions." (ND 1.40)
0
The weather, as Mrs. Wright noted in her diary, had been warm all weekend and, for the most part, clear. But on Monday, August 28, when Swamiji left, it began to rain, and on Tuesday night a storm of cyclonic proportions swept over northeastern Massachusetts. While no damage to speak of was done in New England, this was not a storm to be taken lightly; branches and wires were blown down, ships off the coast were tossed about, and persons found it difficult to stand upright. According to reports, this "miniature hurricane" originated in the West Indies, from where, no miniature, it had rapidly and deter-minedly headed north, raising a mighty commotion en route. This seems, after all, the least the elements could do by way of appropriate comment. The "cyclonic monk," as Swamiji later came to be called, had delivered his first American lec¬ture and was on his way. (ND 1.40)
0
It was to Salem, some fifteen miles southwest, where he was scheduled to speak before the Thought and Work Club, that Swamiji now traveled. The only information we have hitherto had of this lecture engagement is a bare reference in his Breezy Meadows letter. But his stay in Salem was more extended and active than this brief mention indicates, and we have been fortunate enough to find out more about it. In the spring of 1950, an advertisement in a magazine devoted to antiques was brought to the notice of a student of Vedanta. The advertisement, placed by a Mrs. Prince Woods, offered for sale a trunk and a walking stick which had belonged to Swami Vivekananda. Naturally enough, these articles were sent for, and a request was made for further information regard¬ing them. A correspondence ensued between the Vedanta student and Mrs. Woods, in the course of which the following facts came to light. In August, 1893, Swamiji had been invited by Mrs. Kate Tannatt Woods, whom he had evidently met at Miss Sanborn's, to stay in her home at 166 North Street, Salem. He remained there a week, during which time he lectured in the small but famous town, was criticized by the clergy, and became beloved by Mrs. Woods, some nine years a widow, and her son, Prince, a young medical student. At the end of his visit, Swamiji, intending to return, left behind his staff, his trunk, and other luggage. Of his return Mrs. Prince Woods (the wife of Mrs. Woods's son) writes: "He spent two weeks at the Woods home¬stead at one time [actually it was one week] and came back from Chicago for another week [?] and to say `Farewell'. I did not know the family then, but he came with some friends in a carriage and a fine pair of horses just after I met my husband-to-be and was invited there. I just saw him as he said `Goodbye.' "32 On leaving this second time, Mrs. Prince Woods tells in another letter, "he gave his staff, his most precious possession, to Dr. Woods who was at that time a young medical student and the only child of Mrs. Woods. To her he gave his trunk and his blanket, saying to them, `Only my most precious possessions should I give to my friends who have made me at home in this great country.' " Mrs. Prince Woods adds, "This was a most gracious gesture after he had been feted all over the country,"33 and from this one may gather that Swamiji's second visit to the Woods homestead occurred not immediately after the Parliament of Religions, but quite some time thereafter. The staff, trunk, and blanket were cherished by the Woods family as mementos of a great soul and a great friend. Dr. Woods, his wife tells us, refused to sell them, "the British Museum offering $200.00 for it [the trunk] early in 1900. . . ."34 Thus, happily, all three in 1950 were still available. The blanket was actually a large, coarsely woven, dark orange shawl, the kind sometimes worn by wander¬ing monks in India; and the trunk a small steamer trunk, which undoubtedly had accompanied Swamiji halfway around the world. (ND 1.41)
0
From the letters of her daughter-in-law we learn that Mrs. Kate Tannatt Woods, who was fifty-eight when Swamiji was her guest, was, like Miss Kate Sanborn, an energetic lecturer and author. "[She] died July 10, 1910 . . . then 75 years of age, but very youthful in manner and looks, having lectureengagements all over the country. She went to Los Angeles and all over the West Coast not long before she passed on."35 During her lifetime she wrote "many books," among which were Hester Hepworth, a story of the witchcraft delusion, A Fair Maid of Marblehead, Hidden years, and so on. She also wrote and illustrated poetry. Some of her books were for children, toward whom she no doubt felt a special interest, for during Swamiji's visit she arranged for him to speak in her garden to a group of local children and young people.* (ND 1.42)
0
This children's afternoon was by no means due to an under¬estimation of Swamiji's worth. The Woods family, as did all who came into contact with him, reverenced him. ". . . I never saw the Swami," Mrs. Kate Tannatt Woods's daughter-in-law writes (although, as seen above, she had once caught a glimpse of him), "but have felt that I knew him from the many things I have heard of him in the Woods family. My husband . . . spoke of him as . . . of a real Christian gentleman. I have heard that he and Mahatma Gandhi were more Christlike than any the world has known."36 (ND 1.43)
0
Those who had known Swamiji never tired of discussing him and pondering over the new and awakening ideas which he brought into their lives. Two years later Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the celebrated journalist and poet, who was a friend of Mrs. Woods, writes to her of Swamiji in words which were no doubt similar to those often spoken between them. Fortunately, these letters were among those which Mrs. Woods's daughter-in-law had preserved, and although they relate to a time later than the one dealt with in the present chapter, I will include them here not only as giving a new glimpse of Swamiji but also as shedding some light on his hostess to whom they were addressed. May [1895] Dear Mrs. Woods: Vivekananda is [at] 55 W. 33rd street. I know it is Consecration to give out - I was born know-ing that truth, but I think it is a great blot on the Consecra¬tion when we tell of it-and I am always ashamed after I have told of my own good deeds. Vivekananda says he meets many people who can not be led to talk of any subject that they do not drag in their own charitable acts, how they gave away a dime-or helped some one in need. . . .37 May [1895] I was listening to Vivekananda this morning an hour. How honored by fate you must feel to have been allowed to be of service to this Great Soul. I believe him to be the re-incarnation of some great Spirit-perhaps Buddha ¬perhaps Christ. He is so simple-so sincere, so pure, so unselfish. To have listened to him all winter is the greatest privilege life has ever offered me. It would be surprising to me that people could misunderstand or malign such a soul if I did not know how Buddha and Christ were per¬secuted and lied about by small inferiors. His discourse this morning was most uplifting-his mere presence is that. His absolute sinking of self is what I like. I am so tired of people who place the capital `I' before truth-and God. `To do good For good's sake-with no expectation or desire of reward, and never to speak of what we have done-but to keep on working for the love of doing God's work'-is Vivekananda's grand philosophy of life. He always makes me feel ashamed that I have ever thought for one moment I was burdened or that I ever spoke of any good act of my own. . . (ND 1.43)
0
Welcome as was the information regarding Swamiji in Salem, it was incomplete, and in order to add to it, a visit to that city was called for. North Street, Salem, wide and shaded, is lined with old frame houses, most of which were standing in 1893. As I walked along looking for 166, which Mrs. Woods had called "Maple Rest," I felt that this street, unlike those of larger cities, presented the same aspect as it had to Swamiji ¬more worn now, it is true, but substantially the same, quiet and comfortably settled into itself. Soon I came to 166, where Swamiji had stayed. It was a small two-and-a-half story house with a run-down garden at the side and back. Indeed, one could hardly call it a garden; it was a yard with weeds growing in it. But when Swamiji had spoken there, it most likely had been well kept. The house itself, flush with the sidewalk and devoid of the gingerbread of a later period, was in good repair, newly painted and probably but little different in appearance from what it had been when Swamiji left his trunk behind. The name on the front door, however, was not Woods. The Woods family, I learned, had moved away years before, and the present occupant had never heard of a Hindu monk in Salem. (ND 1.44)
0
(That was in 1951. A few years later the house again changed hands, coming into the possession of a Mr. and Mrs. Warren Baughn. From Mrs. Baughn I have learned that the house, built with hand wrought nails and wooden dowels and pro¬tected from the raids of American Indians by inside blinds and shutters, must be at least two hundred years old. It has eleven rooms, three of them in the attic, and originally each had an open fireplace of its own. Mrs. Baughn has provided us with a photograph of this quaint old house in which Swamiji lived, and it is here reproduced.) (ND 1.45)
0
From 166 North Street I found my way to the Essex Institute, where the old Salem newspapers are filed away and where I looked for, found, and copied the following articles from the Salem Evening News of August 24, 1893, and the Salem Evening News and the Daily Gazette of August 29. It would appear either that the same reporter served both papers or that the evening paper lifted copy bodily from that of the morning. In any case, the three articles are given here respectively, along with their original headlines. Salem journalism in 1893 had its own charm: Evening News, August 24, 1893 A MONK FROM INDIA ________ He Will Visit Salem, Monday August 28 and Make an Address (ND 1.45)
0
On Monday next a learned monk from India will speak to the members of the Thought and Work Club, telling something of his land, its religion and customs. Club mem¬bers will meet the rajah at Wesley chapel on North street promptly at four o'clock. Gentlemen and ladies who are not members can obtain tickets through some members of the club. The rajah will wear his native costume. Evening News, August.29, 1893 A MONK FROM INDIA __________ Salem Audience Interested in His Remarks ___________ He has no Faith in Missionaries . ___________ Explains the Bad Condition of Women in His Land (ND 1.46)
0
In spite of the warm weather of yesterday afternoon, a goodly number of members of the Thought and Work club, with guests, gathered in Wesley chapel to meet Swani Vive Kanonda, a Hindoo monk, now travelling in this country and to listen to an informal address from that gentleman, principally upon the religion of the Hindoos as taught by their Vedar or sacred books. He also spoke of caste, as simply a social division and in no way depen¬dent upon their religion. (ND 1.46)
0
The poverty of the majority of the masses was strongly dwelt upon. India with an area much smaller than the United States, contains twenty three hundred millions [sic] of people, and of these, three hundred millions [sic] earn wages, averaging less than fifty cents per month. In some instances the people in whole districts of the country subsist for months and even years, wholly upon flowers, produced by a certain tree which when boiled are edible. In other districts the men eat rice only, the women and children must satisfy their hunger with the water in which the rice is cooked. A failure of the rice crop means famine. Half the people LIVE UPON ONE MEAL A DAY the other half know not whence the next meal will come. According to Swani Vive Kyonda, the need of the people of India is not more religion, or a better one, but as he expresses it, "practicality," and it is with the hope of interesting the American people in this great need of the suffering, starving millions that he has come to this country. (ND 1.46)
0
He spoke at some length of the condition of his people and their religion. In course of his speech he was fre¬quently and closely questioned by Dr. F. A. Gardner and Rev. S. F. Nobbs of the Central Baptist Church. He said the missionaries had fine theories there and started in with good ideas, but had done nothing for the industrial condi¬tion of the people. He said Americans, instead of sending out missionaries to train them in religion, would better send some one out to give them industrial education. Asked whether it was not a fact that Christians assisted the people of India in times of distress, and whether they did not assist in a practical way by training schools, the speaker replied that they did it sometimes, but really it was not to their credit for the law did not allow them to attempt to influence people at such times. (ND 1.47)
0
He explained the BAD CONDITION OF WOMAN in India on the ground that Hindoo men had such respect for woman that it was thought best not to allow her out.The Hindoo women were held in such high esteem that they were kept in seclusion. (ND 1.47)
0
He explained the old custom of women being burned on the death of their husbands, on the ground that they loved them so that they could not live without the husband. They were one in marriage and must be one in death. (ND 1.48)
0
He was asked about the worship of idols and the throw¬ing themselves in front of the juggernaut car, and said one must not blame the Hindoo people for the car business, for it was the act of fanatics and mostly of lepers. (ND 1.48)
0
This afternoon Vive Kanonda will speak on the children of India to any children or young people who may be pleased to listen to him at 166 North street, Mrs. Woods kindly offering her garden for that purpose. (ND 1.48)
0
In person he is a fine looking man, dark but comely, dressed in a long robe of a yellowish red color confined at the waist with a cord, and wearing on his head a yellow turban. Being a monk he has no caste, and may eat and drink with anyone.2 The matter omitted in the following article consists of a word-for-word repetition of sentences in the above. Daily Gazette, August 29, 1893 RAJAH SWANI VIVI KANAUDA __________ Has but Little Faith in the Missionaries Husbands of India Never Lie, Never Persecute His Purpose Here to Organize Monks for Industrial Purposes (ND 1.48)
0
Rajah Swani Vivi Rananda of India was the guest of the Thought and Work Club of Salem yesterday afternoon in the Wesley church. A large number of ladies and gentlemen were present and shook hands, American fashion, with the distinguished monk. He wore an orange colored gown, with red sash, yellow turban, with the end hanging down on one side, which he used for a handkerchief, and congress shoes. . . . (ND 1.48)
0
Speaking at some length of the relations of men and women, he said the husbands of India never lied and never persecuted, and named several other sins they never committed. . . . AS FOR THE WORSHIP OF IDOLS he said he had asked Christians what they thought of when they prayed, and some said they thought of the church others of G-O-D. Now his people thought of the images. For the poor people idols were necessary. (ND 1.49)
0
He said that in ancient times, when their religion first began, women were distinguished for spiritual genius and great strength of mind. In spite of this, as he seemed to acknowledge, the women of the present day had degenerated. They thought of nothing but eating and drinking, gossip and scandal.| The speaker explained his mission in his country to be to organize monks for industrial purposes, that they might give the people the benefit of this industrial education and thus to elevate them and improve their condition. (ND 1.49)
0
Mrs. Kate Tannatt Woods had been one of the founders of the Thought and Work Club in 1891 and was its president for its first eight years. The first literary and cultural women's group in Salem, the club counted among its members and friends many women of outstanding ability as well as social prominence, some of whom took a leading part in the cultural activities of the day. (ND 1.49)
0
According to Mr. David R. Proper (see note for page 43), the club's executive committee had met at Mrs. Wood's home on Thursday, August 24, when Swamiji was still a guest at Breezy Meadows, to plan a special meeting to hear him speak. "It was decided to have post cards sent to the members, announcements read from the local church pulpits on Sunday and twenty-five cents admission charged to non-members attending the meeting."39 (ND 1.49)
0
Among the guests who came to hear Swamiji were Mrs. Francis W. Breed of the North Shore Club in Lynn, Massachusetts, whom he was to know better later on, and Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, a noted leader of women's groups, who would entertain him in Cali¬fornia in 1900. (ND 1.50)
0
The local clergy also came. Nor was the Reverend S. F. Nobbs of the Central Baptist Church, who "frequently and closely questioned" Swamiji, the only one among them who came in no friendly spirit. This we learn from the letters of Mrs. Prince Woods, who writes: "All the ministers were present and none of them appreciated what he said. Several were most critical."40 And again: "I . . . remember that my mother-in¬ law . . . many times spoke of the outspoken, narrow attitude of most of the ministers in Salem who openly criticised him in the Pulpit. She had arranged au open meeting in one of the churches and most of the ministers openly accosted him in the most acrimonious manner while he remained gentle in speech and manner."41 This was, as far as can be known, Swamiji's first encounter with hostile Christian ministers, and while their acrimony left him unperturbed he was no doubt surprised by it. Presumably no collection was taken that day for a heathen college. (It was, incidentally, on the evening of the day follow¬ing this Lecture that the previously mentioned storm struck Salem with a crash.) (ND 1.50)
0
Swamiji spent the following week-August 29 to September 4-at Mrs. Woods's home. On the breezy, prestorm afternoon of Tuesday, August 29, he spoke in the garden to the children, and on the evening of the following Sunday, September 3, he lectured at the East Church, whose minister was apparently one of the few in Salem who were sympathetic. The Salem Evening News of September 1 reported on the first of these events, the Daily Gazette of September 5 on the second. Both reports follow respectively: TO SPEAK AGAIN ____________ SWAMI VIVA KANANDA, The India Monk, at East Church Sunday Evening (ND 1.50)
0
The learned Monk from India who is spending a few days in this city, will speak in the East Church Sunday evening at 7-30. Swami (Rev.) Viva Kananda preached in the Episcopal church [actually the Universalist Church] at Annisquam last Sunday evening, by invitation of the pastor and Professor Wright of Harvard, who has shown him great kindness. (ND 1.51)
0
On Monday night he leaves for Saratoga, where he will address the Social Science association. Later on he will speak before the Congress in Chicago. Like all men who are educated in the higher Universities of India, Viva Kananda speaks English easily and correctly. (ND 1.51)
0
His simple talk to the children on Tuesday last concerning the games, schools, customs and manners of children in India was valuable and most interesting. His kind heart was touched by the statement of a little miss that her teacher had "licked her so hard that she almost broke her finger." "We have no corporal punishment in our schools," he said, "none at all." (ND 1.51)
0
As Viva Kananda, like all monks, must travel over his land preaching the religion of truth, chastity and the brotherhood of man, no great good could pass unnoticed, or terrible wrong escape his eyes. He is extremely generous to all persons of other faiths, and has only kind words for those who differ from him. ____________ SOME SUNDAY SERVICES _____________ Several Ministers Return to September Pulpits Rajah Rananda at the East Church (ND 1.51)
0
Rajah Swani Vivi Rananda of India spoke at the East church Sunday evening, on the religion of India and the poor of his native land. A good audience assembled, but it was not so large as the importance of the subject or the interesting speaker deserved. The monk was dressed in his native costume, and spoke about forty minutes. The great need of India today, which is not the India of fifty years ago, is, he said, missionaries to educate the people industrially and socially and not religiously. The Hindoos have all the religion they want, and the Hindoo religion is the most ancient in the world. The monk is a very pleasant speaker and held the close attention of his audience. (ND 1.51)
0
What a difference of feeling there is in these pre-Parliament of Religions lectures from those that came after! In Swamiji's letters and lectures one can trace his change of attitude through the months in his approach to the American public. He came with the purpose of getting help for India, of telling the American people of his country's real needs and real genius, but he stayed only to give, pouring himself out for the sake of Americans, for not only did he soon find that he could expect little real, immediate help for his Indian work, but he could not see hunger in any form, spiritual or physical, without satisfying it. (ND 1.52)
0
On August 30 Swamiji wrote to Professor Wright in regard to the invitation he had received from Mr. Franklin B. Sanborn to lecture before the American Social Science Association at Saratoga Springs. The following letters were found among Dr. Wright's papers and, together with others written by Swamiji to the professor, have been made available to us by his son, Mr. John K. Wright: Salem 30th Aug '93 Dear Adhyapakji (honorable professor) I am going off from here today. I hope you have received some reply from Chicago. I have received an invitation with full directions from Mr. Sanborn. So I am going to Saratoga on Monday. My respects to your wife. And my love to Austin and all the children. You are a real Mahatma (a great soul) and Mrs. Wright is nonpareil. Yours aflly42 Vivekananda (ND 1.52)
0
Swamiji evidently did not yet know the decision of the offi¬cials of the Parliament of Religions to whom Professor Wright had written. But by September 2, the arrangements were well under way: Saturday Salem [Sept. 2, 1893] Dear Adhyapakji¬ (ND 1.53)
0
I hasten to tender my heartfelt gratitude to you For your letters of introduction. I have received a letter from Mr Theles of Chicago giving me the names of some of the delegates and other things about the Congress. (ND 1.53)
0
Your professor of Sanscrit in his note to Miss Sanborn mistakes me for Purushottama Joshi and states that there is a Sanskrit library in Boston the like of which can scarcely be met with in India. I would be so happy to see it. (ND 1.53)
0
Mr Sanborn has written to me to come over to Saratoga on Monday and I am going accordingly. I would stop there at a boarding house called Sanatorium. If any news come from Chicago in the mean while I hope you will kindly send it over to the Sanatorium Saratoga. (ND 1.53)
0
You and your noble wife and sweet children have made an impression on my brain which is simply indelible and I thought myself so much near to heaven when living with you. May He the giver of all gifts shower on your head His choicest blessings. (ND 1.53)
0
Here are a few lines written as an attempt at poetry. Hoping your love will pardon this infliction. Ever your friend43 Vivekananda Here are a few lines written as an attempt at poetry. Hoping your love will pardon this infliction. Ever your friend43 Vivekananda (ND 1.53)
0
The poem which Swamiji "inflicted" upon Professor Wright was very likely the first poem he had written in the English language, and while it is by no means his best, it contains, I believe, some of his most poignant lines. To judge from the original, he dashed it off on letter paper in the flush of in-spiration and, making only minor corrections here and there, sent it on to his friend. Now published in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (hereafter called the Complete Works), it need be reproduced only in part here: O'r Hill and dale and mountain range In temple church and mosque In Vedas Bible Al Koran I had searched for thee in vain Like a child in the wildest forest lost I have cried and cried alone Where art thou gone my God my love the echo answered gone . . . Years then passed in bitter cry each moment seemed an age till one day midst my cries and groans Some one seemed calling me . . . Again Again it seemed to speak the voice divine to me In rapture all my soul was hushed Entranced enthralled in bliss A flash illumined all my soul the heart of my heart opened wide O joy O bliss what do I find My love my love you are here And you are here my love my all And I was searching thee From all eternity you were there Enthroned in majesty . . . From that day forth where ere I roam I feel him standing by O'er hill and dale high mount and vale Far Far away and nigh . . . Thou wert my God with prophets old All creeds do come from thee The Vedas Bible and Koran bold Sing thee in harmony "Thou art" "Thou art" the Soul of souls in the rushing stream of life "Om tat Sat om" Thou art my God my love I am thine I am thine.44 *Tat Sat means that only real existence. [Swamiji's note] (ND 1.54)
0
Swamiji left for Saratoga Springs on Monday night to speak before the convention of the American Social Science Associa¬tion. Mr. Sanborn was at this time secretary of the Association, which counted among its members eminent and cultured men from all professions, and he no doubt felt that he was offering them a rare treat in the person of Swamiji. Indeed, the fact that he invited a young, unknown Hindu monk to speak before so august an assembly is ample evidence that, like Professor Wright, he highly valued Swamiji's intellectual genius. (ND 1.55)
0
But although Swamiji spoke three times before the convention and twice at a private home he characteristically never mentioned in his letters this honor paid to him during his first weeks in America. This omission was probably due to the fact that since the honor had been paid not to Hinduism or to India but to himself he felt it was not worth mentioning. (ND 1.55)
0
The sessions of the American Social Science Association, held in the Court of Appeals Room of the Town Hall, were of course wholly secular. Chosen at random from various re¬ports in the Daily Saratogian, some of the titles were: "Com¬pulsory Arbitration," "American Colleges and Their Work," "The Educational Value of the Woman's Paper," "The Educa¬tion of Epileptics," "Turkey and Civilization," "The Relative Values of the Factors that Produce Wealth," "The Status of Silver," "Recent Progress in Medicine and Surgery," and so on. But Swamiji was prepared to speak on a variety of subjects, and in keeping with the tone of the convention he chose for his talks: "The Mohammedan Rule in India" (evening of September 5) and "The Use of Silver in India" (morning of September 6). (The silver standard was, at this time, a burning question in American politics.) The title of his third talk, given on the evening of September 6, is now unfortunately unknown, and, more unfortunately, the text of none of his talks was reported upon. Nevertheless, the newspaper articles which carried accounts of his appearances at the convention and at "Dr. Hamilton's" are here reproduced in part. The first two excerpts are taken from the Daily Saratogian of Sep¬tember 6, 1893 ; the third, from the same paper of September 7: THEIR SCIENCE IS SOCIAL __________ A Brainy Gathering Elects Its Officers __________ Able Papers Read at Yesterday's Session-The Education of Epileptics - To Establish Social Science Professorships - The Program for Today is Important. (ND 1.55)
0
The second session of the American Social Science as¬sociation opened in the Court of Appeals room, Town Hall, yesterday morning. . . . (ND 1.56)
0
EVENING SESSION The evening session opened at 8 o'clock, every seat in the room being occupied. The first business on the pro¬gram was the election of officers. . . (ND 1.56)
0
A paper was read by Hon. Oscar S. Strauss of New York on "Turkey and Civilization," in which he most emphatically denied the general reports that Turkey was an uncivilized country. (ND 1.56)
0
The platform was next occupied by Vive Kananda, a Monk of Madras, Hindoostan, who preached throughout India. He is interested in social science and is an intelligent and interesting speaker. He spoke on Mohammedan rule in India. (ND 1.57)
0
The program for today embraces some very interesting topics, especially the paper on "Bimetallism," by Col. Jacob Greene of Hartford. Vive Kananda will again speak, this time on the Use of Silver in India. (ND 1.57)
0
__________ LOCAL GOSSIP Swami Vive Kananda, an educated Hindoo who lately arrived in this country from India, is in attendance on the social science convention this week and has spoken twice to crowded parlors at Dr. Hamilton's on the manners customs and beliefs of the people of that wonderful country. (ND 1.57)
0
He is an entertaining speaker, a highly educated man and his lectures, covering a wide range of topics, were very interesting. He is a striking figure in his oriental costume, and the public are invited to see and hear him at the Institute tonight at seven o'clock sharp. The lecture closes at 7:30. __________ MONEY WAS THE SUBJECT Of the Able Paper at the Social Scientists' Session What President Andrews Said About the Monetary Experiment in India - Other Interesting Papers¬ - The Program for Today. (ND 1.57)
0
The second day's session of the American Social Science association opened auspiciously yesterday morning there being a large gathering. (ND 1.57)
0
The addresses and papers all pertained to finance which, especially at this time, proved very interesting. . . . Col.Jacob L. Greene of Hartford read a paper on "Bimetal¬lism," treating the subject in a very exhaustive manner. A paper by Dr. Charles B. Spahr of New York followed on the status of silver which was attentively listened to. A paper by President E. Benjamin Andrews of Brown University on "The Monetary experiment in India," was a masterpiece for thought and intellectual ability. . . . (ND 1.57)
0
At the conclusion of the reading Vive Kananda, the Hindoo monk addressed the audience in an intelligent and interesting manner, taking for his subject the use of silver in India. (ND 1.58)
0
Within three weeks Swamiji had, as far as we now know, given eleven lectures and talks. He had, moreover, come into contact with a cross section of American life: he had spoken to the Ramabai Circle; he had met members of the clergy, both friendly and hostile; he had talked to the inmates of a prison, to American club women and even to children; and he had met and gained the respect of some of the leading thinkers and educators of the country. He could not have had a better preparation for all that was to come. (ND 1.58)
0
In the Saratogian there ran an advertisement headed "Half Rate to the World's Fair," which recommended "the excellent Chicago train service on the Delaware and Hudson Rail¬road. . . . $26.00 round trip: ' If Swamiji took advantage of this bargain, he would have arrived in Chicago at the hand¬some red brick Dearborn Street Station on the corner of Dearborn and Polk streets on the evening of either Friday, September 8, or Saturday, September 9. (ND 1.58)
0
When he had left the city less than a month earlier, the situation had on its surface seemed hopeless. Now he returned as an accepted delegate to the grand Parliament of Religions, assured of a cordial welcome by the authorities and filled with joy at this clear manifestation of divine protection and guidance. (ND 1.58)
0
There was only one hitch: he did not know where to go from the station; he had lost the address of whatever place he was sup¬posed to present himself. What happened next is well known to everyone familiar with Swamiji's biography, for the story was told in the first edition of the Life and has since been often repeated. Yet it is possible that by the time it was recorded in the Life, twenty years after its occurrence, some of its details may have gone awry; indeed, they do not all stand up under close examination. But however that may be, Swamiji himself had often told the story, and thus we can be certain of the main facts. (ND 1.58)
0
Alone in a large and still strange American city, he could not, for one reason or another, make anyone understand where he wanted to go-indeed, he himself did not know. In this predicament, he did the thing most natural to him-he followed the instincts of the sannyasin-one whose heart sang "the sky thy roof; the grass thy bed; and food, what chance may bring . . ." The equivalent of sky and grass in a Chicago depot and freightyard would have been an empty boxcar (called in India a "goods-wagon")-a traditional American shelter for the homeless and penniless wanderer. Thus in all probability, it was in a boxcar that Swamiji spent the night. (ND 1.59)
0
In the Life it has been recorded, through what one cannot but think was a misunderstanding, that he slept that night in "a huge empty box."45 This box has become legendary; even in stories of Swamiji's life written for children one finds drawings of it with him curled up most uncomfortably and implausibly inside. There is, I believe, no way to get rid of this box; engraved now on the minds of innumerable children, it is with us for all time. But the present writer-along with many others who know the general state of things in an American freightyard-is inclined to think that Swamiji very sensibly spent the night in a ready-to-hand and roomy boxcar. But box or boxcar, the next morning he set out, sannyasin like, to beg his food from door to door. (ND 1.59)
0
Dark-skinned, unshaven, wearing what must have been by now a very rumpled orange robe and a strange-looking turban, Swamiji was a matter for alarm. Housewives turned away;servants slammed doors in his face; some verbally insulted him. He walked on. He walked for at least two and a half miles, and at length, weary and hungry, he sat down on the west side of Dearborn Street (on the curbstone perhaps) and resigned himself to God's will. (ND 1.59)
0
In a few moments, the front door of the house opposite opened, and out came a dignified, well-dressed woman, who, it happened, was Mrs. George W. Hale. * Mrs. Hale was not one to Fear a stranger; rather, she was ready to offer help. She was, moreover, evidently perceptive enough to recognize in the oddly dressed young man sitting quietly across the street the look of holiness and princeliness combined. She went up to him and ventured, "Sir, are you a delegate to the Parliament of Religions?" Learning that he was, she at once took him into her house, gave him breakfast, saw to it that his every need was attended to, and no doubt sent for his luggage from the station. Later she took him to the offices of the Parliament, where he was awaited. Thus was Swamiji not only cared for, he was led to the Hale family at the very begin¬ning of his American work-a family that was to become more dear to him than any other he would know in the West. (ND 1.60)
0
Through a news report in the Chicago Record of September 11, we next find him seated (probably on Sunday, September 10) in the parlor of Dr. John H. Barrows, the primary organ¬izer of the Parliament. This report, which contains the first known mention of Swamiji as an accepted delegate, read in part: (ND 1.60)
0
Four leaders of religious thought were sitting in Dr. Barrow's [sic] parlor-the Jain, George Condin [Candlin], the missionary who has passed sixteen years in China, Swami Vivekananda, the learned Brahman Hindoo, and Dr. John H. Barrows, the Chicago Presbyterian. These four talked as if they were brothers of one faith. (ND 1.60)
0
The Hindoo is of smooth countenance. His rather fleshy face is bright and intelligent. He wears an orange turban and a robe of the same color. His English is very good. "Ihave no home," said he. "I travel about from one college to another in India, lecturing to the students. Before start¬ing for America I had been for some time in Madras. Since arriving in this country I have been treated with utmost courtesy and kindness. It is very gratifying to us to be recognized in this Parliament, which may have such an important bearing on the religious history of the world. We expect to learn much and take back some great truths to our 15,000,000 faithful Brahmins:' (ND 1.60)
0
It was with the humility of true greatness that Swamiji ex¬pected to learn much from the Parliament and from the re¬presentatives of religions other than his own, and he was indeed to learn a great deal-but not all of it in accordance with his hopes. (ND 1.61)
0
The primary purpose of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was to bring together the fruits of man's material prog¬ress. Everything imaginable was on exhibit-not only the achievements of Western civilization but, the better to show these off, life-size models of the more backward cultures of the world. (ND 1.66)
0
The Fair, however, would not have been complete without a representation of the world's thought. Neely's History of the Parliament of Religions tells us that "the idea of a series of congresses for the consideration of the greatest themes in which mankind is interested, and so comprehensive as to include re¬presentatives from all parts of the earth originated with Charles Carroll Bonney in the summer of 1889."1 (ND 1.66)
0
Mr. Bonney was a well-known lawyer of that time and the author of many im¬portant constitutional and economic reforms. His voice carrying weight, his idea was given wide publicity and met with general approval. A committee was formed, and on October 30, 1890, the World's Congress Auxiliary of the Columbian Exposition was organized with Mr. Bonney as its president. For the next two and one-half years elaborate and complex plans were made, involving an untold number of letters to and from all corners of the earth. (ND 1.66)
0
The congresses, which finally met be¬tween May 15 and October 28, 1893, were twenty in all and embraced such things as woman's progress, the public press, medicine and surgery, temperance, commerce and finance, music, government and law reform, economic science, Sunday rest, and-"since faith in a Divine Power . . . has been like the sun, a light-giving and fructifying potency in man's intellectual and moral development"2-religion. "So numerous," says Houghton, "were these congresses and so extensive the pro¬ceedings that their programmes bound in one volume constitute an interesting book of 160 pages." (Italics mine.) (ND 1.66)
0
Of these congresses, the Parliament of Religions was by far the most famed and widely heralded. "No one gathering ever assembled," wrote the Reverend John. Henry Barrows in The World's Parliament of Religions, "was awaited with such uni¬versal interest " (ND 1.67)
0
The Parliament was indeed a unique pheno¬menon in the history of religions. It is true that throughout the history of India meetings of different religions had taken place; it is also true that before 1893 there had been from time to time ecumenical conventions of Christians and also of Moham¬medans. But it can be correctly said that never before had the representatives of the world's great religions been brought together in one place, where they might without fear tell of their respective beliefs to thousands of people. (ND 1.67)
0
It was an un¬paralleled meeting, and when first proposed in that day of intolerance and materialism it seemed to many impossible of human achievement. To even a casual observer it might almost appear that some superhuman force was propelling it forward, and one is not surprised to learn that Swamiji, before embarking for America, had said to Swami Turiyananda, "The Parlia¬ment of Religions is being organized for this", (pointing to himself). "My mind tells me so. You will see it verified at no distant date." (ND 1.67)
0
That, however, was a motive for organizing the Parliament which had never entered the minds of those who were most instrumental in bringing the religions of the world together. Whatever the divine motives may have been, the human motives lying behind the organization were mixed. Swamiji later wrote in a letter: "The Parliament of Religions was organized with the intention of proving the superiority of the Christian religion. 6 And again, during the course of an interview, he said, "The Parliament of Religions, as it seems to me, was intended for a `heathen show' before the world” (ND 1.67)
0
It has sometimes been thought that Swamiji may have been unfair in this judgment of the Congress which introduced him to the Western world, but a reading of the accounts of both the preparations and the proceedings leaves one without a doubt that the Parliament was permeated with Christian preju¬dice. That Christianity would gloriously and unequivocally prove its superiority was a foregone conclusion in the minds of many of its promoters. (ND 1.67)
0
On the other hand, there were some connected with the Parliament who, having no religious commitments---no reli¬gious axe to grind--conceived of it in broader and more realistic terms. To them it was an unprecedented opportunity for promoting understanding and good will among all seekers of truth. (ND 1.68)
0
One of these was President Bonney, of whom Swamiji wrote: "Think of that mind that planned and carried out with great success that gigantic undertaking, and he, no clergyman, a lawyer presiding over the dignitaries of all the churches, the sweet, learned, patient Mr. Bonney with all his soul speaking through his bright eyes . . ." (ND 1.68)
0
Bonney himself described his dream of what the Parliament might accomplish: "I became acquainted with the great religious systems of the world in my youth, and have enjoyed an intimate association with leaders of many churches during my maturer years. I was thus led to believe that if the great religious faiths could be brought into relations of friendly intercourse, many points of sympathy and union would be found, and the coming unity of mankind in the love of God and the service of man be greatly facilitated and advanced." (ND 1.68)
0
But although it was Bonney's in¬spiration that lay behind the Parliament, it was actually not he but the Reverend John Henry Barrows, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, who was Chairman of the General Committee and responsible for carrying out the elaborate preparations. (ND 1.68)
0
The work of the Committee was voluminous. More than 10,000 letters and 40,000 documents were sent out, and answers from all parts of the globe were received by the bushel. Barrows writes pridefully: "For thirty months nearly all the railroads and steamship lines of the world were unconsciously working for the Parliament of Religions. The post-office clerks at Chicago handled great bundles of letters which had previously passed through the brown fingers of the postal clerks in Madras, Bombay and Tokyo." (ND 1.68)
0
Advisory Councilors were selected from all parts of the world, their number finally reaching 3,000. Among the Councilors chosen from India were G. S. Iyer, editor of the Madras Hindu, B. B. Nagarkar of Bombay, and P. C. Mazumdar of Calcutta, the last two of whom re¬presented the Brahmo Samaj at the Parliament. The Com¬mittee was also in communication with H. Dharmapala, the General Secretary of the Maha-Bodhi Society in Calcutta, who later became the delegate for the Southern Buddhists of Ceylon, and Muni Atmaramji, High Priest of the Jain com¬munity of Bombay. (ND 1.69)
0
This abundance of correspondence was not all: articles, lectures, sermons, and editorials were written, which either extravagantly praised or bitterly condemned the attempt to bring together all the religions of the world. It was through articles in the Hindu by its editor, G. S. Iyer, that the plans of the Parliament were made generally known in India, and it is probably through this channel that Swamiji, not being affiliated with any sect or organization, came to learn of what was afoot in America. (ND 1.69)
0
The task of assembling this unprecedented gathering had its delicate as well as its cumbersome aspects. The initial action of the Committee, which was appointed in the spring of 1891 and was formed largely of zealous Protestant ministers, was to advise religious leaders of the proposed objectives of the Parliament, which were in brief: "1. To bring together in conference, For the first time in history, the leading representatives of the great Historic Religions of the world. 2. To show to men, in the most impressive way, what and how many important truths the various Religions hold and teach in common. . . . 4. To set forth, by those most competent to speak, what are deemed the important distinctive truths held and taught by each Religion, and by the various chief branches of Christendom. . . . 7. To inquire what light each Religion has afforded, or may afford, to the other Religions of the world. . . . 9. To discover, from competent men, what light Religion has to throw on the great problems of the present age, especially the important questions connected with Temperance, Labor, Education, Wealth and Poverty. 10. To bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly Fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace." (ND 1.69)
0
There was nothing to detain Swamiji there for more than one night, and he most probably boarded the train the following morning. He then traveled second class through the wonderfully scenic country of southwest Canada, where, as he later wrote, snow lay on even the lower mountains. (ND 1.16)
0
The Canadian Pacific Railway's daily "Atlantic Express" had left hours earlier for points east, and thus Swamiji, together with his fellow eastbound travelers, had, perforce, to spend the night in Vancouver, then a ramshackle frontier town, newly, but not well, built on the ashes of a fire that had swept it out of existence in 1886. (ND 1.16)
0
At Winnipeg, which he reached on Friday night, he transferred to another train that carried him down to the United States and through the lake splashed hills and farms of Minnesota to St. Paul.
0
From St. Paul, a third train would carry him some four hundred miles farther east to Chicago, where, if all went according to schedule, he arrived on Sunday, July 30, around eleven o'clock at night.
0
At Winnipeg, which he reached on Friday night. (ND 1.16)
0
He transferred to another train that carried him down to the United States and through the lake -splashed hills and farms of Minnesota to St. Paul. (ND 1.16)
0
From St. Paul, a third train would carry him some four hundred miles farther east to Chicago, where, if all went according to schedule, he arrived on Sunday, July 30, around eleven o'clock at night. (ND 1.16)
0
Shivanandaji returned to the math from Kankhal
0
Mother worshipped Thakur in the shrine room of Belur math.
0
My idea is first of all to bring out the gems of spirituality that are stored up in our books and in the possession of a few only, hidden, as it were, in monasteries and in forests--to bring them out; to bring the knowledge out of them, not only from the hands where it is hidden, but from the still more inaccessible chest, the language in which it is preserved, the incrustation of centuries of Sanskrit words. In one word, I want to make them popular. I want to bring out these ideas and let them be the common property of all, of every man in India, whether he knows the Sanskrit language or not. (CW SV 3.290)
0
The great difficulty in the way is the Sanskrit language--the glorious language of ours; and this difficulty cannot be removed until--if it is possible--the whole of our nation are good Sanskrit scholars. You will understand the difficulty when I tell you that I have been studying this language all my life, and yet every new book is new to me. How much more difficult would it then be for people who never had time to study the language thoroughly! (CW SV 3.290)
0
Therefore the ideas must be taught in the language of the people; at the same time, Sanskrit education must go on along with it, because the very sound of Sanskrit words gives a prestige and a power and a strength to the race. (CW SV 3.290)
0
Even the great Buddha made one false step when he stopped the Sanskrit language from being studied by the masses. He wanted rapid and immediate results, and translated and preached in the language of the day, Pali. That was grand; he spoke in the language of the people, and the people understood him. That was great; it spread the ideas quickly and made them reach far and wide. But along with that, Sanskrit ought to have spread. Knowledge came, but the prestige was not there, culture was not there. (CW SV 3.291)
0
It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge. You can put a mass of knowledge into the world, but that will not do it much good. There must come culture into the blood. We all know in modern times of nations which have masses of knowledge, but what of them? They are like tigers, they are like savages, because culture is not there. Knowledge is only skin-deep, as civilisation is, and a little scratch brings out the old savage. Such things happen; this is the danger. Teach the masses in the vernaculars, give them ideas; they will get information, but something more is necessary; give them culture. Until you give them that, there can be no permanence in the raised condition of the masses. There will be another caste created, having the advantage of the Sanskrit language, which will quickly get above the rest and rule them all the same. (CW SV 3.291)
0
The only safety, I tell you men who belong to the lower castes, the only way to raise your condition is to study Sanskrit, and this fighting and writing and frothing against the higher castes is in vain, it does no good, and it creates fight and quarrel, and this race, unfortunately already divided, is going to be divided more and more. The only way to bring about the levelling of caste is to appropriate the culture, the education which is the strength of the higher castes. That done, you have what you want. (CW SV 3.291)
0
In connection with this I want to discuss one question which has a particular bearing with regard to Madras. There is a theory that there was a race of mankind in Southern India called Dravidians, entirely differing from another race in Northern India called the Aryans, and that the Southern Indian Brahmins are the only Aryans that came from the North, the other men of Southern India belong to an entirely different caste and race to those of Southern India Brahmins. (CW SV 3.291)
0
Now I beg your pardon, Mr. Philologist. This is entirely unfounded. The only proof of it is that there is a difference of language between the North and the South. I do not see any other difference. We are so many Northern men here, and I ask my European friends to pick out the Northern and Southern men from this assembly. Where is the difference? A little difference of language. But the Brahmins are a race that came here speaking the Sanskrit language! Well then, they took up the Dravidian language and forgot their Sanskrit. Why should not the other castes have done the same? Why should not all the other castes have come one after the other from Northern India, taken up the Dravidian language, and so forgotten their own? That is an argument working both ways. Do not believe in such silly things. There may have been a Dravidian people who vanished from here, and the few who remained lived in forests and other places. It is quite possible that the language may have been taken up, but all these are Aryans who came from the North. The whole of India is Aryan, nothing else. (CW SV 3.292)
0
Then there is the other idea that the Shudra caste are surely the aborigines. What are they? They are slaves. They say history repeats itself. The Americans, English, Dutch, and the Portuguese got hold of the poor Africans and made them work hard while they lived, and their children of mixed birth were born in slavery and keep in that condition for a long period. (CW SV 3.292)
0
From that wonderful example, the mind jumps back several thousand years and fancies that the same thing happened here, and our archaeologist dreams of India being full of dark-eyed aborigines, and the bright Aryan came from--the Lord knows where. (CW SV 3.292)
0
According to some, they came from Central Tibet, others will have it that they came from Central Asia. There are patriotic Englishmen who think that the Aryans were all red-haired. Others, according to their idea, think that they were all black-haired. If the writer happens to be a black-haired man, the Aryans were all black-haired. Of late, there was an attempt made to prove that the Aryans lived on the Swiss lakes. I should not be sorry if they had been all drowned there, theory and all. Some say now that they lived at the North Pole. Lord bless the Aryans and their habitations! As for the truth of these theories, there is not one word in our scriptures, not one, to prove that the Aryan ever came from anywhere outside of India, and in ancient India was included Afghanistan. There it ends. (CW SV 3.293)
0
And the theory that the Shudra caste were all non-Aryans and they were a multitude, is equally illogical and equally irrational. It could not have been possible in those days that a few Aryans settled and lived there with a hundred thousands slaves at their command. These slaves would have eaten them up, made "chutney" of them in five minutes. (CW SV 3.293)
0
The only explanation is to be found in the Mahabharata, which says that in the beginning of the Satya Yuga there was one caste, the Brahmins, and then by difference of occupations they went on dividing themselves into different castes, and that is the only true and rational explanation that has been given. And in the coming Satya Yuga all the other castes will have to go back to the same condition. (CW SV 3.293)
0
The solution of the caste problem in India, therefore, assumes this form, not to degrade the higher castes, not to crush out the Brahmin. The Brahminhood is the ideal of humanity in India, as wonderfully put forward by Shankaracharya at the beginning of his commentary on the Gita, where he speaks about the reason for Krishna's coming as a preacher for the preservation of Brahminhood, of Brahminness. That was the great end. (CW SV 3.293)
0
This Brahmin, the man of God, he who has known Brahman, the ideal man, the perfect man, must remain; he must not go. And with all the defects of the caste now, we know that we must all be ready to give to the Brahmins this credit, that from them have come more men with real Brahminness in them than from all the other castes. That is true. That is the credit due to them from all the other castes. We must be bold enough, must be brave enough to speak of their defects, but at the same time we must give the credit that is due to them. Remember the old English proverb, "Give every man his due". (CW SV 3.294)
0
Therefore, my friends, it is no use fighting among the castes. What good will it do? It will divide us all the more, weaken us all the more, degrade us all the more. The days of exclusive privileges and exclusive claims are gone, gone for ever from the soil of India, and it is one of the great blessings of the British Rule in India. Even to the Mohammedan Rule we owe that great blessing, the destruction of exclusive privilege. (CW SV 3.294)
0
That Rule was, after all, not all bad; nothing is all bad, and nothing is all good. The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have become Mohammedans. It was not the sword that did it all. It would be the height of madness to think it was all the work of sword and fire. (CW SV 3.294)
0
And one-fifth--one-half--of your Madras people will become Christians if you do not take care. Was there ever a sillier thing before in the world than what I saw in the Malabar country? The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums, and that they are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their manners and know better. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed; their own children are allowed to die of starvation, but as soon as they take up some other religion they are well fed. There ought to be no more fight between the castes. (CW SV 3.294)
0
The solution is not by bringing down the higher, but by raising the lower up to the level of the higher. And that is the line of work that is found in all our books, in spite of what you may hear from some people whose knowledge of their own scriptures and whose capacity to understand the mighty plans of the ancients are only zero. They do not understand, but those do that have brains, that have the intellect to the grasp the whole scope of the work. They stand aside and follow the wonderful procession of national life through the ages. They can trace it step by step through all the books, ancient and modern. (CW SV 3.295)
0
What is the plan? The ideal at one end is the Brahmin and the ideal at the other end is the Chandala, and the whole work is to raise the Chandala up to the Brahmin. Slowly and slowly you find more and more privileges granted to them. (CW SV 3.295)
0
There are books where you read such fierce words as these: "If the Shudra hears the Vedas, fill his ears with molten lead, and if he remembers a line, cut his tongue out. If he says to the Brahmin, `You Brahmin', cut his tongue out". This is diabolical old barbarism no doubt; that goes without saying; but do not blame the law-givers, who simply record the customs of some section of the community. Such devils sometimes arose among the ancients. There have been devils everywhere more or less in all ages. (CW SV 3.295)
0
Accordingly, you will find that later on, this tone is modified a little, as for instance, "Do not disturb the Shudras, but do not teach them higher things". (CW SV 3.295)
0
Then gradually we find in other Smritis, especially in those that have full power now, that if the Shudras imitate the manner and customs of the Brahmins they do well, they ought to be encouraged. Thus it is going on. (CW SV 3.295)
0
I have no time to place before you all these workings, nor how they can be traced in detail; but coming to plain facts, we find that all the castes are to rise slowly and slowly. There are thousands of castes, and some are even getting admission into Brahminhood, for what prevents any caste from declaring they are Brahmins? Thus caste, with all its rigour, has been created in that manner. Let us suppose that there are castes here with ten thousand people in each. If these put their heads together and say, we will call ourselves Brahmins, nothing can stop them; I have seen it in my own life. Some castes become strong, and as soon as they all agree, who is to say nay? Because whatever it was, each caste was exclusive of the other. It did not meddle with others' affairs; even the several divisions of one caste did not meddle with the other divisions, and those powerful epoch-makers, Shankaracharya and others, were the great caste-makers. I cannot tell you all the wonderful things they fabricated, and some of you may resent what I have to say. But in my travels and experiences I have traced them out, and have arrived at most wonderful results. They would sometimes get hordes of Baluchis and at once make them Kshatriyas, also get hold of hordes of fishermen and make them Brahmins forthwith. They were all Rishis and sages, and we have to bow down to their memory. So, be you all Rishis and sages; that is the secret. More or less we shall all be Rishis. (CW SV 3.296)
0
What is meant by a Rishi? The pure one. Be pure first, and you will have power. Simply saying, "I am a Rishi", will not do; but when you are a Rishi you will find that others obey you instinctively. Something mysterious emanates from you, which makes them follow you, makes them hear you, makes them unconsciously, even against their will, carry out your plans. That is Rishihood. (CW SV 3.296)
0
Now as to the details, they of course have to be worked out through generations. But this is merely a suggestion in order to show you that these quarrels should cease. Especially do I regret that in modern times there should be so much dissension between the castes. This must stop. (CW SV 3.297)
0
It is useless on both sides, especially on the side of the higher caste, the Brahmin, because the day for these privileges and exclusive claims is gone. The duty of every aristocracy is to dig its own grave, and the sooner it does so, the better. The more it delays, the more it will fester and the worse death it will die. It is the duty of the Brahmin, therefore, to work for the salvation of the rest of mankind in India. If he does that, and so long as he does that, he is a Brahmin, but he is no Brahmin when he goes about making money. (CW SV 3.297)
0
You on the other hand should give help only to the real Brahmin who deserves it; that leads to heaven. But sometimes a gift to another person who does not deserve it leads to the other place, says our scripture. You must be on your guard about that. He only is the Brahmin who has no secular employment. Secular employment is not for the Brahmin but for the other castes. (CW SV 3.297)
0
To the Brahmins I appeal, that they must work hard to raise the Indian people by teaching them what they know, by giving out the culture that they have accumulated for centuries. It is clearly the duty of the Brahmins of India to remember what real Brahminhood is. As Manu says, all these privileges and honours are given to the Brahmin, because "with him is the treasury of virtue". He must open that treasury and distribute its valuables to the world. (CW SV 3.297)
0
It is true that he was the earliest preacher to the Indian races, he was the first to renounce everything in order to attain to the higher realisation of life before others could reach to the idea. It was not his fault that he marched ahead of the other castes. Why did not the other castes so understand and do as he did? Why did they sit down and be lazy, and let the Brahmins win the race? (CW SV 3.297)
0
But it is one thing to gain an advantage, and another thing to preserve it for evil use. Whenever power is used for evil, it becomes diabolical; it must be used for good only. So this accumulated culture of ages of which the Brahmin has been the trustee, he must now give to the people at large, and it was because he did not give it to the people that the Mohammedan invasion was possible. It was because he did not open this treasury to the people from the beginning, that for a thousand years we have been trodden under the heels of every one who chose to come to India. It was through that we have become degraded, and the first task must be to break open the cells that hide the wonderful treasures which our common ancestors accumulated; bring them out and give them to everybody, and the Brahmin must be the first to do it. There is an old superstition in Bengal that if the cobra that bites, sucks out his own poison from the patient, the man must survive. Well then, the Brahmin must suck out his own poison. (CW SV 3.298)
0
To the non-Brahmin castes I say, wait, be not in a hurry. Do not seize every opportunity of fighting the Brahmin, because, as I have shown, you are suffering from your own fault. Who told you to neglect spirituality and Sanskrit learning? What have you been doing all this time? Why have you been indifferent? Why do you now fret and fume because somebody else had more brains, more energy, more pluck and go, than you? Instead of wasting your energies in vain discussions and quarrels in the newspapers, instead of fighting and quarrelling in your own homes--which is sinful--use all your energies in acquiring the culture which the Brahmin has, and the thing is done. Why do you not become Sanskrit scholars? Why do you not spend millions to bring Sanskrit education to all the castes of India? That is the question. The moment you do these things, you are equal to the Brahmin. That is the secret of power in India. (CW SV 3.298)
0
Sanskrit and prestige go together in India. As soon as you have that, none dares say anything against you. That is the one secret; take that up. The whole universe, to use the ancient Advaitist's simile, is in a state of self-hypnotism. It is will that is the power. It is the man of strong will that throws, as it were, a halo round him and brings all other people to the same state of vibration as he has in his own mind. Such gigantic men do appear. And what is the idea? When a powerful individual appears, his personality infuses his thoughts into us, and many of us come to have the same thoughts, and thus we become powerful. (CW SV 3.299)
0
Why is it that organisations are so powerful? Do not say organisation is material. Why is it, to take a case in point, that forty millions of Englishmen rule three hundred millions of people here? What is the psychological explanation? These forty millions put their wills together and that means infinite power, and you three hundred millions have a will each separate from the other. Therefore to make a great future in India, the whole secret lies in organisation, accumulation of power, co-ordination of wills. (CW SV 3.299)
0
Already before my mind rises one of the marvellous verses of the Rig-Veda Samhita which says, "Be thou all of one mind, be thou all of one thought, for in the days of yore, the gods being of one mind were enabled to receive oblations." That the gods can be worshipped by men is because they are of one mind. Being of one mind is the secret of society. And the more you go on fighting and quarrelling about all trivialities such as "Dravidian" and "Aryan", and the question of Brahmins and non-Brahmins and all that, the further you are off from that accumulation of energy and power which is going to make the future India. For mark you, the future India depends entirely upon that. That is the secret--accumulation of will-power, co-ordination, bringing them all, as it were, into one focus. Each Chinaman thinks in his own way, and a handful of Japanese all think in the same way, and you know the result. That is how it goes throughout the history of the world. You find in every case, compact little nations always governing and ruling huge unwieldy nations, and this is natural, because it is easier for the little compact nations to bring their ideas into the same focus, and thus they become developed. And the bigger the nation, the more unwieldy it is. Born, as it were, a disorganised mob, they cannot combine. All these dissensions must stop. (CW SV 3.299)
0
There is yet another defect in us. Ladies, excuse me, but through centuries of slavery, we have become like a nation of women. You scarcely can get three women together for five minutes in this country or any other country, but they quarrel. Women make big societies in European countries, and make tremendous declarations of women's power and so on; then they quarrel, and some man comes and rules them all. All over the world they still require some man to rule them. We are like them. Women we are. If a woman comes to lead women, they all begin immediately to criticise her, tear her to pieces, and make her sit down. If a man comes and gives them a little harsh treatment, scolds them now and then, it is all right, they have been used to that sort of mesmerism. The whole world is full of such mesmerists and hypnotists. (CW SV 3.300)
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In the same way, if one of our countrymen stands up and tries to become great, we all try to hold him down, but if a foreigner comes and tries to kick us, it is all right. We have been used to it, have we not? And slaves must become great masters! So give up being a slave. (CW SV 3.300)
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For the next fifty years this alone shall be our keynote--this, our great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from our minds. This is the only god that is awake, our own race--"everywhere his hands, everywhere his feet, everywhere his ears, he covers everything." All other gods are sleeping. What vain gods shall we go after and yet cannot worship the god that we see all round us, the Virat? When we have worshipped this, we shall be able to worship all the other gods. (CW SV 3.300)
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Before we can crawl half a mile, we want to cross the ocean like Hanuman! It cannot be. Everyone going to be a Yogi, everyone going to meditate! It cannot be. The whole day mixing with the world with Karma Kanda, and in the evening sitting down and blowing through your nose! Is it so easy? Should Rishis comes flying through the air, because you have blown three times through the nose? Is it a joke? It is all nonsense. (CW SV 3.301)
0
What is needed is Chittashuddhi, purification of the heart. And how does that come? The first of all worship is the worship of the Virat--of those all around us. Worship It. Worship is the exact equivalent of the Sanskrit word, and no other English word will do. These are all our gods--men and animals; and the first gods we have to worship are our countrymen. These we have to worship, instead of being jealous of each other and fighting each other. It is the most terrible Karma for which we are suffering, and yet it does not open our eyes! (CW SV 3.301)
0
Well, the subject is so great that I do not know where to stop, and I must bring my lecture to a close by placing before you in a few words the plans I want to carry out in Madras. We must have a hold on the spiritual and secular education of the nation. Do you understand that? You must dream it, you must talk it, you must think it, and you must work it out. Till then there is no salvation for the race. (CW SV 3.301)
0
The education that you are getting now has some good points, but it has a tremendous disadvantage which is so great that the good things are all weighed down. (CW SV 3.301)
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In the first place it is not a man-making education, it is merely and entirely a negative education. A negative education or any training that is based on negation, is worse than death. The child is taken to school, and the first thing that he learns is that his father is a fool, the second thing that his grandfather is a lunatic, the third thing that all his teachers are hypocrites, the fourth that all the sacred books are lies! By the time he is sixteen he is a mass of negation, lifeless and boneless. And the result is that fifty years of such education has not produced one original man in the three Presidencies. Every man of originality that has been produced has been educated elsewhere, and not in this country, or they have gone to the old universities once more to cleanse themselves of superstitions. (CW SV 3.301)
0
Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library. {Sanskrit}--"The ass carrying its load of sandalwood knows only the weight and not the value of the sandalwood." If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world, and encyclopaedias are the Rishis. (CW SV 3.302)
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The ideal, therefore, is that we must have the whole education of our country, spiritual and secular, in our own hands, and it must be on national lines, through national methods as far as practical. (CW SV 3.302)
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Of course this is a very big scheme, a very big plan. I do not know whether it will ever work out. But we must begin the work. But how? Take Madras, for instance. We must have a temple, for with Hindus religion must come first. Then, you may say, all sects will quarrel about it. But we will make it a non-sectarian temple, having only "Om" as the symbol, the greatest symbol of any sect. If there is any sect here which believes that "Om" ought not to be the symbol, it has not right to call itself Hindu. All will have the right to interpret Hinduism, each one according to his own sect ideas, but we must have a common temple. You can have your own images and symbols in other places, but do not quarrel here with those who differ from you. Here should be taught the common grounds of our different sects, and at the same time the different sects should have perfect liberty to come and teach their doctrines, with only one restriction, that is, not to quarrel with other sects. Say what you have to say, the world wants it; but the world has no time to hear what you think about other people; you can keep that to yourselves. (CW SV 3.302)
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Secondly, in connection with this temple there should be an institution to train teachers who must go about preaching religion and giving secular education to our people; they must carry both. As we have been already carrying religion from door to door, let us along with it carry secular education also. That can be easily done. Then the work will extend through these bands of teachers and preachers, and gradually we shall have similar temples in other places, until we have covered the whole of India. That is my plan. It may appear gigantic, but it is much needed. (CW SV 3.303)
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You may ask, where is the money. Money is not needed. Money is nothing. For the last twelve years of my life, I did not know where the next meal would come from; but money and everything else I want must come, because they are my slaves, and not I theirs; money and everything else must come. Must--that is the word. (CW SV 3.303)
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Where are the men? That is the question. Young men of Madras, my hope is in you. Will you respond to the call of your nation? Each one of you has a glorious future if you dare believe me. Have a tremendous faith in yourselves, like the faith I had when I was a child, and which I am working out now. Have that faith, each one of you, in yourself--that eternal power is lodged in every soul--and you will revive the whole of India. Ay, we will then go to every country under the sun, and our ideas will before long be a component of the many forces that are working to make up every nation in the world. We must enter into the life of every race in India and abroad; we shall have to work to bring this about. (CW SV 3.303)
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Now for that, I want young men. "It is the young, the strong, and healthy, of sharp intellect that will reach the Lord", say the Vedas. This is the time to decide your future--while you possess the energy of youth, not when you are worn out and jaded, but in the freshness and vigour of youth. Work--this is the time; for the freshest, the untouched, and unsmelled flowers alone are to be laid at the feet of the Lord, and such He receives. Rouse yourselves, therefore, for life is short. There are greater works to be done than aspiring to become lawyers and picking quarrels and such things. A far greater work is this sacrifice of yourselves for the benefit of your race, for the welfare of humanity. What is in this life? You are Hindus, and there is the instinctive belief in you that life is eternal. (CW SV 3.304)
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Sometimes I have young men come and talk to me about atheism; I do not believe a Hindu can become an atheist. He may read European books, and persuade himself he is a materialist, but it is only for a time. It is not in your blood. You cannot believe what is not in your constitution; it would be a hopeless task for you. Do not attempt that sort of thing. I once attempted it when I was a boy, but it could not be.
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Life is short, but the soul is immortal and eternal, and one thing being certain, death, let us therefore take up a great ideal and give up our whole life to it. Let this be our determination, and may He, the Lord, who "comes again and again for the salvation of His own people", to quote from our scriptures--may the great Krishna bless us and lead us all to the fulfilment of our aims! (CW SV 3.304)
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The problem of life is becoming deeper and broader every day as the world moves on. The watchword and the essence have been preached in the days of yore when the Vedantic truth was first discovered, the solidarity of all life. One atom in this universe cannot move without dragging the whole world along with it. There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming every day clearer that the solution of any problem can never be attained on racial, or national, or narrow grounds. Every idea has to become broad till it covers the whole of this world, every aspiration must go on increasing till it has engulfed the whole of humanity, nay, the whole of life, within its scope. (CW SV 3.269)
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This will explain why our country for the last few centuries has not been what she was in the past. We find that one of the causes which led to this degeneration was the narrowing of our view, narrowing the scope of our actions. (CW SV 3.269)
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Two curious nations there have been--sprung of the same race, but placed in different circumstances and environments, working out the problems of life each in its own particular way. I mean the ancient Hindu and the ancient Greek. (CW SV 3.269)
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The Indian Aryan--bounded on the north by the snow-caps of the Himalayas, with fresh-water rivers like rolling oceans surrounding him in the plains, with eternal forests which, to him, seemed to be the end of the world--turned his vision inward; and given the natural instinct, the superfine brain of the Aryan, with this sublime scenery surrounding him, the natural result was that he became introspective. The analysis of his own mind was the great theme of the Indo-Aryan. (CW SV 3.269)
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With the Greek, on the other hand, who arrived at a part of the earth which was more beautiful than sublime, the beautiful islands of the Grecian Archipelago, nature all around him generous yet simple--his mind naturally went outside. It wanted to analyse the external world. (CW SV 3.270)
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And as a result we find that from India have sprung all the analytical sciences, and from Greece all the sciences of generalisation. The Hindu mind went on in its own direction and produced the most marvellous results. Even at the present day, the logical capacity of the Hindus, and the tremendous power which the Indian brain still possesses, is beyond compare. We all know that our boys pitched against the boys of any other country triumph always. (CW SV 3.270)
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At the same time when the national vigour went, perhaps one or two centuries before the Mohammedan conquest of India, this national faculty became so much exaggerated that it degraded itself, and we find some of this degradation in everything in India, in art, in music, in sciences, in everything. (CW SV 3.270)
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In art, no more was there a broad conception, no more the symmetry of form and sublimity of conception, but the tremendous attempt at the ornate and florid style had arisen. The originality of the race seemed to have been lost. (CW SV 3.270)
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In music no more were there the soul-stirring ideas of the ancient Sanskrit music, no more did each note stand, as it were, on its own feet, and produce the marvellous harmony, but each note had lost its individuality. The whole of modern music is a jumble of notes, a confused mass of curves. That is a sign of degradation in music. (CW SV 3.270)
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So, if you analyse your idealistic conceptions, you will find the same attempt at ornate figures, and loss of originality. (CW SV 3.270)
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And even in religion, your special field, there came the most horrible degradations. (CW SV 3.270)
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What can you expect of a race which for hundreds of years has been busy in discussing such momentous problems as whether we should drink a glass of water with the right hand or the left? What more degradation can there be than that the greatest minds of a country have been discussing about the kitchen for several hundreds of years, discussing whether I may touch you or you touch me, and what is the penance for this touching! (CW SV 3.270)
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The themes of the Vedanta, the sublimest and the most glorious conceptions of God and soul ever preached on earth, were half-lost, buried in the forests, preserved by a few Sannyasins, while the rest of the nation discussed the momentous questions of touching each other, and dress, and food. (CW SV 3.271)
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The Mohammedan conquest gave us many good things, no doubt; even the lowest man in the world can teach something to the highest; at the same time it could not bring vigour into the race. (CW SV 3.271)
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Then for good or evil, the English conquest of India took place. Of course every cnquest is bad, for conquest is an evil, foreign government is an evil, no doubt; but even through evil comes good sometimes, and the great good of the English conquest is this: England, nay the whole of Europe, has to thank Greece for its civilisation. It is Greece that speaks through everything in Europe. Every building, every piece of furniture has the impress of Greece upon it; European science and art are nothing but Grecian. Today the ancient Greek is meeting the ancient Hindu on the soil of India. Thus slowly and silently the leaven has come; the broadening, the life-giving and the revivalist movement that we see all around us has been worked out by these forces together. A broader and more generous conception of life is before us; and although at first we have been deluded a little and wanted to narrow things down, we are finding out today that these generous impulses which are at work, these broader conceptions of life, are the logical interpretation of what is in our ancient books. They are the carrying out, to the rigorously logical effect, of the primary conceptions of our own ancestors. To become broad, to go out, to amalgamate, to universalise, is the end of our aims. And all the time we have been making ourselves smaller and smaller, and dissociating ourselves, contrary to the plans laid down in our scriptures. (CW SV 3.271)
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Several dangers are in the way, and one is that of the extreme conception that we are the people in the world. With all my love for India, and with all my patriotism and veneration for the ancients, I cannot but think that we have to learn many things from other nations. We must be always ready to sit at the feet of all, for, mark you, every one can teach us great lessons. Says our great law-giver Manu: "Receive some good knowledge even from the low-born, and even from the man of lowest birth learn by service the road to heaven." We, therefore, as true children of Manu, must obey his commands and be ready to learn the lessons of this life or the life hereafter from any one who can teach us. (CW SV 3.272)
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At the same time we must not forget that we have also to teach a great lesson to the world. We cannot do without the world outside India; it was our foolishness that we thought we could, and we have paid the penalty by about a thousand years of slavery. That we did not go out to compare things with other nations, did not mark the workings that have been all around us, has been the one great cause of this degradation of the Indian mind. We have paid the penalty; let us do it no more. All such foolish ideas that Indians must not go out of India are childish. They must be knocked on the head; the more you go out and travel among the nations of the world, the better for you and for your country. If you had done that for hundreds of years past, you would not be here today at the feet of every nation that wants to rule India. (CW SV 3.272)
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The first manifest effect of life is expansion. You must expand if you want to live. The moment you have ceased to expand, death is upon you, danger is ahead. I went to America and Europe, to which you so kindly allude; I have to, because that is the first sign of the revival of national life, expansion. This reviving national life, expanding inside, threw me off, and thousands will be thrown off in that way. Mark my words, it has got to come if this nation lives at all. (CW SV 3.272)
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This question, therefore, is the greatest of the signs of the revival of national life, and through this expansion our quota of offering to the general mass of human knowledge, our contribution to the general upheaval of the world, is going out to the external world. (CW SV 3.273)
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Again, this is not a new thing. Those of you who think that the Hindus have been always confined within the four walls of their country through all ages, are entirely mistaken; you have not studied the old books, you have not studied the history of the race aright if you think so. Each nation must give in order to live. When you give life, you will have life; when you receive, you must pay for it by giving to all others; and that we have been living for so many thousands of years is a fact that stares us in the face, and the solution that remains is that we have been always giving to the outside world, whatever the ignorant may think. (CW SV 3.273)
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But the gift of India is the gift of religion and philosophy, and wisdom and spirituality. And religion does not want cohorts to march before its path and clear its way. Wisdom and philosophy do not want to be carried on floods of blood. Wisdom and philosophy do not march upon bleeding human bodies, do not march with violence but come on the wings of peace and love, and that has always been so. (CW SV 3.273)
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Therefore we had to give. I was asked by a young lady in London, "What have you Hindus done? You have never even conquered a single nation." That is true from the point of view of the Englishman, the brave, the heroic, the Kshatriya--conquest is the greatest glory that one man can have over another. That is true from his point of view, but from ours it is quite the opposite. If I ask myself what has been the cause of India's greatness, I answer, because we have never conquered. That is our glory. You are hearing every day, and sometimes, I am sorry to say, from men who ought to know better, denunciations of our religion, because it is not at all a conquering religion. To my mind that is the argument why our religion is truer than any other religion, because it never conquered, because it never shed blood, because its mouth always shed on all, words of blessing, of peace, words of love and sympathy. (CW SV 3.273)
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It is here and here alone that the ideals of toleration were first preached. And it is here and here alone that toleration and sympathy have become practical; it is theoretical in every other country; it is here and here alone, that the Hindu builds mosques for the Mohammedans and churches for the Christians. (CW SV 3.274)
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So, you see, our message has gone out to the world many a time, but slowly, silently, unperceived. It is on a par with everything in India. The one characteristic of Indian thought is its silence, its calmness. At the same time the tremendous power that is behind it is never expressed by violence. It is always the silent mesmerism of Indian thought. (CW SV 3.274)
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If a foreigner takes up our literature to study, at first it is disgusting to him; there is not the same stir, perhaps, the same amount of go that rouses him instantly. Compare the tragedies of Europe with our tragedies. The one is full of action, that rouses you for the moment, but when it is over there comes the reaction, and everything is gone, washed off as it were from your brains. Indian tragedies are like the mesmerist's power, quiet, silent, but as you go on studying them they fascinate you; you cannot move; you are bound; and whoever has dared to touch our literature has felt the bondage, and is there bound for ever. Like the gentle dew that falls unseen and unheard, and yet brings into blossom the fairest of roses, has been the contribution of India to the thought of the world. Silent, unperceived, yet omnipotent in its effect, it has revolutionised the thought of the world, yet nobody knows when it did so. (CW SV 3.274)
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It was once remarked to me, "How difficult it is to ascertain the name of any writer in India", to which I replied, "That is the Indian idea." Indian writers are not like modern writers who steal ninety per cent of their ideas from other authors, while only ten per cent is their own, and they take care to write a preface in which they say, "For these ideas I am responsible". Those great master minds producing momentous results in the hearts of mankind were content to write their books without even putting their names, and to die quietly, leaving the books to posterity. Who knows the writers of our philosophy, who knows the writers of our Puranas? They all pass under the generic name of Vyasa, and Kapila, and so on. They have been true children of Shri Krishna. They have been true followers of the Gita; they practically carried out the great mandate, "To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof." (CW SV 3.274)
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Thus India is working upon the world, but one condition is necessary. Thoughts like merchandise can only run through channels made by somebody. Roads have to be made before even thought can travel from one place to another, and whenever in the history of the world a great conquering nation has arisen, linking the different parts of the world together, then has poured through these channels the thought of India and thus entered into the veins of every race. (CW SV 3.275)
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Before even the Buddhists were born, there are evidences accumulating every day that Indian thought penetrated the world. Before Buddhism, Vedanta had penetrated into China, into Persia, and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago. (CW SV 3.275)
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Again when the mighty mind of the Greek had linked the different parts of the Eastern world together there came Indian thought; and Christianity with all its boasted civilisation is but a collection of little bits of Indian thought. Ours is the religion of which Buddhism with all its greatness is a rebel child, and of which Christianity is a very patchy imitation. (CW SV 3.275)
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One of these cycles has again arrived. There is the tremendous power of England which has linked the different parts of the world together. English roads no more are content like Roman roads to run over lands, but they have also ploughed the deep in all directions. From ocean to ocean run the roads of England. Every part of the world has been linked to every other part, and electricity plays a most marvelous part as the new messenger. Under all these circumstances we find again India reviving and ready to give her own quota to the progress and civilisation of the world. And that I have been forced, as it were, by nature, to go over and preach to America and England is the result. Every one of us ought to have seen that the time had arrived. Everything looks propitious, and Indian thought, philosophical and spiritual, must once more go over and conquer the world. (CW SV 3.275)
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The problem before us, therefore, is assuming larger proportions every day. It is not only that we must revive our own country--that is a small matter; I am an imaginative man--and my idea is the conquest of the whole world by the Hindu race. (CW SV 3.276)
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There have been great conquering races in the world. We also have been great conquerors. The story of our conquest has been described by that noble Emperor of India, Ashoka, as the conquest of religion and of spirituality. Once more the world must be conquered by India. This is the dream of my life, and I wish that each one of you who hear me today will have the same dream in your minds, and stop not till you have realised the dream. (CW SV 3.276)
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They will tell you every day that we had better look to our own homes first and then go to work outside. But I will tell you in plain language that you work best when you work for others. The best work that you ever did for yourselves was when you worked for others, trying to disseminate your ideas in foreign languages beyond the seas, and this very meeting is proof how the attempt to enlighten other countries with your thoughts is helping your own country. One-fourth of the effect that has been produced in this country by my going to England and America would not have been brought about, had I confined my ideas only to India. (CW SV 3.276)
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This is the great ideal before us, and every one must be ready for it--the conquest of the whole world by India--nothing less than that, and we must all get ready for it, strain every nerve for it. Let foreigners come and flood the land with their armies, never mind. Up, India, and conquer the world with your spirituality! Ay, as has been declared on this soil first, love must conquer hatred, hatred cannot conquer itself. Materialism and all its miseries can never be conquered by materialism. Armies when they attempt to conquer armies only multiply and make brutes of humanity. (CW SV 3.276)
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Spirituality must conquer the West. Slowly they are finding out that what they want is spirituality to preserve them as nations. They are waiting for it, they are eager for it. Where is the supply to come from? Where are the men ready to go out to every country in the world with the messages of the great sages of India? Where are the men ready to go out to every country in the world with the messages of the great sages of India? Where are the men who are ready to sacrifice everything, so that this message shall reach every corner of the world? Such heroic souls are wanted to help the spread of truth. Such heroic workers are wanted to go abroad and help to disseminate the great truths of Vedanta. The world wants it; without it the world will be destroyed. (CW SV 3.277)
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The whole of the Western world is on a volcano which may burst tomorrow, go to pieces tomorrow. They have searched every corner of the world and have found no respite. They have drunk deep of the cup of pleasure and found it vanity. Now is the time to work so that India's spiritual ideas may penetrate deep into the West. (CW SV 3.277)
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Therefore young men of Madras, I specially ask you to remember this. We must go out, we must conquer the world through our spirituality and philosophy. There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, of awakened and vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought. (CW SV 3.277)
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At the same time we must not forget that what I mean by the conquest of the world by spiritual thought is the sending out of life-giving principles, not the hundreds of superstitions that we have been hugging to our breasts for centuries. These have to be weeded out even on this soil, and thrown aside, so that they may die for ever. These are the causes of the degradation of the race and will lead to the softening of the brain. That brain which cannot think high and noble thoughts, which has lost all power of originality, which has lost all vigour, that brain which is always poisoning itself with all sorts of little superstitions passing under the name of religion, we must beware of. (CW SV 3.277)
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In our sight, here in India, there are several dangers. Of these, the two, Scylla and Charybdis, rank materialism and its opposite arrant superstition, must be avoided. (CW SV 3.278)
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There is the man today who after drinking the cup of Western wisdom, thinks that he knows everything. He laughs at the ancient sages. All Hindu thought to him is arrant trash--philosophy mere child's prattle, and religion the superstition of fools. (CW SV 3.278)
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On the other hand, there is the man educated, but a sort of monomaniac, who runs to the other extreme and wants to explain the omen of this and that. He has philosophical and metaphysical, and Lord knows what other puerile explanations for every superstition that belongs to his peculiar race, or his peculiar gods, or his peculiar village. Every little village superstition is to him a mandate of the Vedas, and upon the carrying out of it, according to him, depends the national life. (CW SV 3.278)
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You must beware of this. I would rather see every one of you rank atheists than superstitious fools, for the atheist is alive and you can make something out of him. But if superstition enters, the brain is gone, the brain is softening, degradation has seized upon the life. Avoid these two. (CW SV 3.278)
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Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. (CW SV 3.278)
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There is no mystery in religion. Is there any mystery in the Vedanta, or in the Vedas, or in the Samhitas, or in the Puranas? What secret societies did the sages of yore establish to preach their religion? What sleight-of-hand tricks are there recorded as used by them to bring their grand truths to humanity? Mystery mongering and superstition are always signs of weakness. These are always signs of degradation and of death. Therefore beware of them; be strong, and stand on your own feet. (CW SV 3.278)
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Great things are there, most marvellous things. We may call them supernatural things so far as our ideas of nature go, but not one of these things is a mystery. It was never preached on this soil that the truths of religion were mysteries or that they were the property of secret societies sitting on the snow-caps of the Himalayas. I have been in the Himalayas. You have not been there; it is several hundred miles from your homes. I am a Sannyasin, and I have been for the last fourteen years on my feet. These mysterious societies do not exist anywhere. Do not run after these superstitions. Better for you and for the race that you become rank atheists, because you would have strength, but these are degradation and death. Shame on humanity that strong men should spend their time on these superstitions, spend all their time in inventing allegories to explain the most rotten superstitions of the world. Be bold; do not try to explain everything that way. (CW SV 3.279)
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The fact is that we have many superstitions, many bad spots and sores on our body--these have to be excised, cut off, and destroyed--but these do not destroy our religion, our national life, our spirituality. Every principle of religion is safe, and the sooner these black spots are purged away, the better the principles will shine, the more gloriously. Stick to them. (CW SV 3.279)
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You hear claims made by every religion as being the universal religion of the world. Let me tell you in the first place that perhaps there never will be such a thing, but if there is a religion which can lay claim to be that, it is only our religion and no other, because every other religion depends on some person or persons. All the other religions have been built round the life of what they think a historical man; and what they think the strength of religion is really the weakness, for disprove the historicity of the man and the whole fabric tumbles to the ground. Half the lives of these great founders of religions have been broken into pieces, and the other half doubted very seriously. As such, every truth that had its sanction only in their words vanishes into air. (CW SV 3.279)
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But the truths of our religion, although we have persons by the score, do not depend upon them. The glory of Krishna is not that he was Krishna, but that he was the great teacher of Vedanta. If he had not been so, his name would have died out of India in the same way as the name of Buddha has done. Thus our allegiance is to the principles always, and not to the persons. Persons are but the embodiments, the illustrations of the principles. If the principles are there, the persons will come by the thousands and millions. If the principle is safe, persons like Buddha will be born by the hundreds and thousands. But if the principle is lost and forgotten and the whole of national life tries to cling round a so-called historical person, woe unto that religion, danger unto that religion! Ours is the only religion that does not depends on a person or persons; it is based upon principles. At the same time there is room for millions of persons. There is ample ground for introducing persons, but each one of them must be an illustration of the principles. We must not forget that. These principles of our religion are all safe, and it should be the life-work of every one of us to keep them safe, and to keep them free from the accumulating dirt and dust of ages. (CW SV 3.280)
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It is strange that in spite of the degradation that seized upon the race again and again, these principles of the Vedanta were never tarnished. No one, however wicked, ever dared to throw dirt upon them. Our scriptures are the best preserved scriptures in the world. Compared to other books there have been no interpolations, no text-torturing, no destroying of the essence of the thought in them. It is there just as it was first, directing the human mind towards the ideal, the goal. (CW SV 3.280)
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You find that these texts have been commented upon by different commentators, preached by great teachers, and sects founded upon them; and you find that in these books of the Vedas there are various apparently contradictory ideas. There are certain texts which are entirely dualistic, others are entirely monistic. The dualistic commentator, knowing no better, wishes to knock the monistic texts on the head. Preachers and priests want to explain them in the dualistic meaning. The monistic commentator serves the dualistic texts in a similar fashion. (CW SV 3.281)
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Now this is not the fault of the Vedas. It is foolish to attempt to prove that the whole of the Vedas is dualistic. It is equally foolish to attempt to prove that the whole of the Vedas is non-dualistic. They are dualistic and non-dualistic both. We understand them better today in the light of newer ideas. These are but different conceptions leading to the final conclusion that both dualistic and monistic conceptions are necessary for the evolution of the mind, and therefore the Vedas preach them. In mercy to the human race the Vedas show the various steps to the higher goal. Not that they are contradictory, vain words used by the Vedas to delude children; they are necessary not only for children, but for many a grown-up man. (CW SV 3.281)
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So long as we have a body and so long as we are deluded by the idea of our identity with the body, so long as we have five senses and see the external world, we must have a Personal God. For if we have all these ideas, we must take, as the great Ramanuja has proved, all the ideas about God and nature and the individualised soul; when you take the one you have to take the whole triangle--we cannot avoid it. (CW SV 3.281)
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Therefore as long as you see the external world, to avoid a Personal God and a personal soul is arrant lunacy. But there may be times in the lives of sages when the human mind transcends as it were its own limitations, when man goes even beyond nature, to the realm of which the Shruti declares, "whence words fall back with the mind without reaching it"; "There the eyes cannot reach nor speech nor mind"; "We cannot say that we know it, we cannot say that we do not know it". There the human soul transcends all limitations, and then and then alone flashes into the human soul the conception of monism: I and the whole universe are one; I and Brahman are one. (CW SV 3.281)
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And this conclusion you will find has not only been reached through knowledge and philosophy, but parts of it through the power of love. You read in the Bhagavata, when Krishna disappeared and the Gopis bewailed his disappearance, that at last the thought of Krishna became so prominent in their minds that each one forgot her own body and thought she was Krishna, and began to decorate herself and to play as he did. We understand, therefore, that this identity comes even through love. (CW SV 3.282)
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There was an ancient Persian Sufi poet, and one of this poems said, "I came to the Beloved and beheld the door was closed; I knocked at the door and from inside a voice came, `Who is there?' I replied, `I am'. The door did not open. A second time I came and knocked at the door and the same voice asked, `Who is there?' `I am so-and-so.' The door did not open. A third time I came and the same voice asked, `Who is there?' `I am Thyself, my Love', and the door opened." (CW SV 3.282)
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There are, therefore, many stages, and we need not quarrel about them even if there have been quarrels among the ancient commentators, whom all of us ought to revere; for there is no limitation to knowledge, there is no omniscience exclusively the property of any one in ancient or modern times. (CW SV 3.282)
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If there have been sages and Rishis in the past, be sure that there will be many now. If there have been Vyasas and Valmikis and Shankaracharyas in ancient times, why may not each one of you become a Shankaracharya? (CW SV 3.282)
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This is another point of our religion that you must always remember, that in all other scriptures inspiration is quoted as their authority, but this inspiration is limited to a very few persons, and through them the truth came to the masses, and we have all to obey them. Truth came to Jesus of Nazareth, and we must all obey him. But the truth came to the Rishis of India--the Mantra-drashtas, the seers of thought--and will come to all Rishis in the future, not to talkers, not to book-swallowers, not to scholars, not to philologists, but to seers of thought. (CW SV 3.282)
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The Self is not to be reached by too much talking, not even by the highest intellects, not even by the study of the scriptures. The scriptures themselves say so. Do you find in any other scripture such a bold assertion as that--not even by the study of the Vedas will you reach the Atman? You must open your heart. Religion is not going to church, or putting marks on the forehead, or dressing in a peculiar fashion; you may paint yourselves in all the colours of the rainbow, but if the heart has not been opened, if you have not realised God, it is all vain. If one has the colour of the heart, he does not want any external colour. That is the true religious realisation. We must not forget that colours and all these things are good so far as they help; so far they are all welcome. But they are apt to degenerate and instead of helping they retard, and a man identifies religion with externalities. Going to the temple becomes tantamount to spiritual life. Giving something to a priest becomes tantamount to religious life. These are dangerous and pernicious, and should be at once checked. Our scriptures declare again and again that even the knowledge of the external senses is not religion. That is religion which makes us realise the Unchangeable One, and that is the religion for ever one. He who realises transcendental truth, he who realises the Atman in his own nature, he who comes face to face with God, sees God alone in everything, has become a Rishi. And there is no religious life for you until you have become a Rishi. Then alone religion begins for you, now is only the preparation. Then religion dawns upon you, now you are only undergoing intellectual gymnastics and physical tortures. (CW SV 3.283)
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We must, therefore, remember that our religion lays down distinctly and clearly that every one who wants salvation must pass through the stage of Rishihood--must become a Mantra-drashta, must see God. That is salvation; that is the law laid down by our scriptures. Then it becomes easy to look into the scripture with our own eyes, understand the meaning for ourselves, to analyse just what we want, and to understand the truth for ourselves. This is what has to be done. (CW SV 3.284)
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At the same time we must pay all reverence to the ancient sages for their work. They were great, these ancients, but we want to be greater. They did great work in the past, but we must do greater work than they. They had hundreds of Rishis in ancient India. We will have millions--we are going to have, and the sooner every one of you believes in this, the better for India and the better for the world. (CW SV 3.284)
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Whatever you believe, that you will be. If you believe yourselves to be sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you. For if there is one common doctrine that runs through all our apparently fighting and contradictory sects, it is that all glory, power, and purity are within the soul already; only according to Ramanuja, the soul contracts and expands at times, and according to Shankara, it comes under a delusion. Never mind these differences. All admit the truth that the power is there--potential or manifest it is there--and the sooner you believe that, the better for you. (CW SV 3.284)
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All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do anything and everything without even the guidance of any one. All power is there. Stand up and express the divinity within you. (CW SV 3.284)
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It goes without saying that a certain amount of good work has been done to India by the Society; as such every Hindu is grateful to it, and especially to Mrs. Besant; for though I know very little of her, yet what little I know has impressed me with the idea that she is a sincere well-wisher of this motherland of ours, and that she is doing the best in her power to raise our country. For that, the eternal gratitude of every true-born Indian is hers, and all blessings be on her and hers for ever. (CW SV 3.208)
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But that is one thing--and joining the Society of the Theosophists is another. Regard and estimation and love are one thing, and swallowing everything any one has to say, without reasoning, without criticising, without analysing, is quite another. (CW SV 3.208)
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There is a report going round that the Theosophists helped the little achievements of mine in America and England. I have to tell you plainly that every word of it is wrong, every word of it is untrue. (CW SV 3.208)
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We hear so much tall talk in this world, of liberal ideas and sympathy with differences of opinion. That is very good, but as a fact, we find that one sympathises with another only so long as the other believes in everything he has to say, but as soon as he dares to differ, that sympathy is gone, that love vanishes. (CW SV 3.208)
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I would not have mentioned this now; but, as my countrymen wanted to know, it must come out. For three years I have not opened my lips about these things; silence has been my motto; but today the thing has come out. (CW SV 3.208)
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I had a great respect for Mr. Judge. He was a worthy man, open, fair, simple, and he was the best representative the Theosophists ever had. I have no right to criticise the dispute between him and Mrs. Besant when each claims that his or her Mahatma is right. And the strange part of it is that the same Mahatma is claimed by both. Lord knows the truth: He is the Judge, and no one has the right to pass judgment when the balance is equal. (CW SV 3.209)
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Thus they prepared the way for me all over America! (CW SV 3.210)
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They joined the other opposition--the Christian missionaries. There is not one black lie imaginable that these latter did not invent against me. They blackened my character from city to city, poor and friendless though I was in a foreign country. They tried to oust me from every house and to make every man who became my friend my enemy. They tried to starve me out; and I am sorry to say that one of my own countrymen took part against me in this. (CW SV 3.210)
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He is the leader of a reform party in India. This gentleman is declaring every day, "Christ has come to India." Is this the way Christ is to come to India? Is this the way to reform India? And this gentleman I knew from my childhood; he was one of my best friends; when I saw him--I had not met for a long time one of my countrymen--I was so glad, and this was the treatment I received from him. The day the Parliament cheered me, the day I became popular in Chicago, from that day his tone changed; and in an underhand way, he tried to do everything he could to injure me. Is that the way that Christ will come to India? Is that the lesson that he had learnt after sitting twenty years at the feet of Christ? Our great reformers declare that Christianity and Christian power are going to uplift the Indian people. Is that the way to do it? Surely, if that gentleman is an illustration, it does not look very hopeful. (.210)
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One word more: I read in the organ of the social reformers that I am called a Shudra and am challenged as to what right a Shudra has to become a Sannyasin. (CW SV 3.211)
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To which I reply: I trace my descent to one at whose feet every Brahmin lays flowers when he utters the words--{Sanskrit}--and whose descendants are the purest of Kshatriyas. If you believe in your mythology or your Pauranika scriptures, let these so-called reformers know that my caste, apart from other services of the past, ruled half of India for centuries. If my caste is left out of consideration, what will there be left of the present-day civilisation of India? In Bengal alone, my blood has furnished them with their greatest philosopher, the greatest poet, the greatest historian, the greatest archaeologist, the greatest religious preacher; my blood has furnished India with the greatest of her modern scientists. (CW SV 3.211)
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These detractors ought to have known a little of our own history, and to have studied our three castes, and learnt that the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, and the Vaishya have equal right to be Sannyasins: the Traivarnikas have equal right to the Vedas. (CW SV 3.211)
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This is only by the way. I just refer to this, but I am not at all hurt if they call me a Shudra. It will be a little reparation for the tyranny of my ancestors over the poor. If I am a Pariah, I will be all the more glad, for I am the disciple of a man, who--the Brahmin of Brahmins--wanted to cleanse the house of a Pariah. Of course the Pariah would not allow him; how could he let this Brahmin Sannyasin come and cleanse his house! And this man woke up in the dead of night, entered surreptitiously the house of this Pariah, cleansed his latrine, and with his long hair wiped the place, and that he did day after day in order that he might make himself the servant of all. I bear the feet of that man on my head; he is my hero; that hero's life I will try to imitate. (CW SV 3.211)
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By being the servant of all, a Hindu seeks to uplift himself. That is how the Hindus should uplift the masses, and not by looking for any foreign influence. Twenty years of occidental civilisation brings to my mind the illustration of the man who wants to starve his own friend in a foreign land, simply because this friend is popular, simply because he thinks that this man stands in the way of his making money. And the other is the illustration of what genuine, orthodox Hinduism itself will do at home. Let any one of our reformers bring out that life, ready to serve even a Pariah, and then I will sit at his feet and learn, and not before that. One ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. (CW SV 3.212)
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Now I come to the reform societies in Madras. They have been very kind to me. They have given me very kind words, and they have pointed out, and I heartily agree with them, that there is a difference between the reformers of Bengal and those of Madras. Many of you will remember what I have very often told you, that Madras is in a very beautiful state just now. It has not got into the play of action and reaction as Bengal has done. Here there is steady and slow progress all through; here is growth, and not reaction. In many cases, and to a certain extent, there is a revival in Bengal; but in Madras it is not a revival, it is a growth, a natural growth. As such, I entirely agree with what the reformers point out as the difference between the two peoples; but there is one difference which they do not understand. (CW SV 3.212)
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Some of these societies, I am afraid, try to intimidate me to join them. That is a strange thing for them to attempt. A man who has met starvation face to face for fourteen years of his life, who has not known where he will get a meal the next day and where to sleep, cannot be intimidated so easily. A man, almost without clothes, who dared to live where the thermometer registered thirty degrees below zero, without knowing where the next meal was to come from, cannot be so easily intimidated in India. (CW SV 3.212)
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This is the first thing I will tell them--I have a little will of my own. I have my little experience too; and I have a message for the world which I will deliver without fear and without care for the future. (CW SV 3.213)
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To the reformers I will point out that I am a greater reformer than any one of them. They want to reform only little bits. I want root-and-branch reform. (CW SV 3.213)
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Where we differ is in the method. Theirs is the method of destruction, mine is that of construction. I do not believe in reform; I believe in growth. I do not dare to put myself in the position of God and dictate to our society, "This way thou shouldst move and not that." I simply want to be like the squirrel in the building of Rama's bridge, who was quite content to put on the bridge his little quota of sand-dust. That is my position. (CW SV 3.213)
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This wonderful national machine has worked through ages, this wonderful river of national life is flowing before us. Who knows, and who dares to say, whether it is good and how it shall move? Thousands of circumstances are crowding round it, giving it a special impulse, making it dull at one time and quicker at another. (CW SV 3.213)
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Who dares command its motion? Ours is only to work, as the Gita says, without looking for results. Feed the national life with the fuel it wants, but the growth is its own; none can dictate its growth to it. (CW SV 3.213)
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Evils are plentiful in our society, but so are there evils in every other society. Here the earth is soaked sometimes with widows' tears; there in the West, the air is rent with the sighs of the unmarried. Here poverty is the great bane of life; there the life-weariness of luxury is the great bane that is upon the race. Here men want to commit suicide because they have nothing to eat; there they commit suicide because they have so much to eat. Evil is everywhere; it is like chronic rheumatism. Drive it from the foot, it goes to the head; drive it from there, it goes somewhere else. It is a question of chasing it from place to place; that is all. (CW SV 3.213)
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Ay, children, to try to remedy evil is not the true way. Our philosophy teaches that evil and good are eternally conjoined, the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. If you have one, you must have the other; a wave in the ocean must be at the cost of a hollow elsewhere. Nay, all life is evil. No breath can be breathed without killing some one else; not a morsel of food can be eaten without depriving some one of it. This is the law; this is philosophy. Therefore the only thing we can do is to understand that all this work against evil is more subjective than objective. The work against evil is more educational than actual, however big we may talk. (CW SV 3.214)
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This, first of all, is the idea of work against evil; and it ought to make us calmer, it ought to take fanaticism out of our blood. The history of the world teaches us that wherever there have been fanatical reforms, the only result has been that they have defeated their own ends. (CW SV 3.214)
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No greater upheaval for the establishment of right and liberty can be imagined than the war for the abolition of slavery in America. You all know about it. And what has been its results? The slaves are a hundred times worse off today than they were before the abolition. Before the abolition, these poor negroes were the property of somebody, and, as properties, they had to be looked after, so that they might not deteriorate. Today they are the property of nobody. Their lives are of no value; they are burnt alive on mere pretences. They are shot down without any law for their murderers; for they are niggers, they are not human beings, they are not even animals; and that is the effect of such violent taking away of evil by law or by fanaticism. Such is the testimony of history against every fanatical movement, even for doing good. (CW SV 3.214)
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I have seen that. My own experience has taught me that. Therefore I cannot join any one of these condemning societies. Why condemn? There are evils in every society; everybody knows it. Every child of today knows it; he can stand upon a platform and give us a harangue on the awful evils in Hindu society. Every uneducated foreigner who comes here globe-trotting takes a vanishing railway view of India and lectures most learnedly on the awful evils in India. We admit that there are evils. (CW SV 3.214)
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Everybody can show what evil is, but he is the friend of mankind who finds a way out of the difficulty. Like the drowning boy and the philosopher--when the philosopher was lecturing him, the boy cried, "Take me out of the water first"--so our people cry: "We have had lectures enough, societies enough, papers enough; where is the man who will lend us a hand to drag us out? Where is the man who really loves us? Where is the man who has sympathy for us?" Ay, that man is wanted. (CW SV 3.215)
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That is where I differ entirely from these reform movements. For a hundred years they have been here. What good has been done except the creation of a most vituperative, a most condemnatory literature? Would to God it was not here! They have criticised, condemned, abused the orthodox, until the orthodox have caught their tone and paid them back in their own coin; and the result is the creation of a literature in every vernacular which is the shame of the race, the shame of the country. Is this reform? Is this leading the nation to glory? Whose fault is this? (CW SV 3.215)
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There is, then, another great consideration. Here in India, we have always been governed by kings; kings have made all our laws. Now the kings are gone, and there is no one left to make a move. The government dare not; it has to fashion its ways according to the growth of public opinion. It takes time, quite a long time, to make a healthy, strong, public opinion which will solve its own problems; and in the interim we shall have to wait. (CW SV 3.215)
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The whole problem of social reform, therefore, resolves itself into this: where are those who want reform? Make them first. Where are the people? The tyranny of a minority is the worst tyranny that the world ever sees. A few men who think that certain things are evil will not make a nation move. Why does not the nation move? First educate the nation, create your legislative body, and then the law will be forthcoming. First create the power, the sanction from which the law will spring. The kings are gone; where is the new sanction, the new power of the people? Bring it up. Therefore, even for social reform, the first duty is to educate the people, and you will have to wait till that time comes. (CW SV 3.216)
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Most of the reforms that have been agitated for during the past century have been ornamental. Every one of these reforms only touches the first two castes, and no other. The question of widow marriage would not touch seventy per cent of the Indian women, and all such questions only reach the higher castes of Indian people who are educated, mark you, at the expense of the masses. Every effort has been spent in cleaning their own houses. But that is no reformation. You must go down to the basis of the thing, to the very root of the matter. That is what I call radical reform. Put the fire there and let it burn upwards and make an Indian nation. And the solution of the problem is not so easy, as it is a big and vast one. Be not in a hurry, this problem has been known several hundred years. (CW SV 3.216)
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Today it is the fashion to talk of Buddhism and Buddhistic agnosticism, especially in the South. Little do they dream that this degradation which is with us today has been left by Buddhism. This is the legacy which Buddhism has left to us. (CW SV 3.216)
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You read in books written by men who had never studied the rise and fall of Buddhism that the spread of Buddhism was owing to the wonderful ethics and the wonderful personality of Gautama Buddha. I have every respect and veneration for Lord Buddha, but mark my words, the spread of Buddhism was less owing to the doctrines and the personality of the great preacher, than to the temples that were built, the idols that were erected, and the gorgeous ceremonials that were put before the nation. Thus Buddhism progressed. The little fire-places in the houses in which the people poured their libations were not strong enough to hold their own against these gorgeous temples and ceremonies; but later on the whole thing degenerated. It became a mass of corruption of which I cannot speak before this audience; but those who want to know about it may see a little of it in those big temples, full of sculptures, in Southern India; and this is all the inheritance we have from the Buddhists. (CW SV 3.216)
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Then arose the great reformer Shankaracharya and his followers, and during these hundreds of years, since his time to the present day, there has been the slow bringing back of the Indian masses to the pristine purity of the Vedantic religion. These reformers knew full well the evils which existed, yet they did not condemn. They did not say, "All that you have is wrong, and you must throw it away." It can never be so. (CW SV 3.217)
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Today I read that my friend Dr. Barrows says that in three hundreds years Christianity overthrew the Roman and Greek religious influences. That is not the word of a man who has seen Europe, and Greece, and Rome. The influence of Roman and Greek religion is all there, even in Protestant countries, only with changed names--old gods rechristened in a new fashion. They change their names; the goddesses become Marys and the gods become saints, and the ceremonials become new; even the old title of Pontifex Maximus is there. (CW SV 3.217)
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So sudden changes cannot be and Shankaracharya knew it. So did Ramanuja. The only way left to them was slowly to bring up to the highest ideal the existing religion. If they had sought to apply the other method, they would have been hypocrites, for the very fundamental doctrine of their religion is evolution, the soul going towards the highest goal, through all these various stages and phases, which are, therefore, necessary and helpful. And who dares condemn them? (CW SV 3.217)
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It has become a trite saying that idolatry is wrong, and every man swallows it at the present time without questioning. I once thought so, and to pay the penalty of that I had to learn my lesson sitting at the feet of a man who realised everything through idols; I allude to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If such Ramakrishna Paramahamsas are produced by idol-worship, what will you have--the reformer's creed or any number of idols? I want an answer. Take a thousand idols more if you can produce Ramakrishna Paramahamsas through idol-worship, and may God speed you! Produce such noble natures by any means you can. (CW SV 3.218)
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Yet idolatry is condemned! Why? Nobody knows. Because some hundreds of years ago some man of Jewish blood happened to condemn it? That is, he happened to condemn everybody else's idols except his own. If God is represented in any beautiful form or any symbolic form, said the Jew, it is awfully bad; it is sin. But if He is represented in the form of a chest, with two angels sitting on each side, and a cloud hanging over it, it is the holy of holies. If God comes in the form of a dove, it is holy. But if He comes in the form of a cow, it is heathen superstition; condemn it! That is how the world goes. (CW SV 3.218)
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That is why the poet says, "What fools we mortals be!" How difficult it is to look through each other's eyes, and that is the bane of humanity. That is the basis of hatred and jealousy, of quarrel and of fight. (CW SV 3.218)
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Boys, moustached babies, who never went out of Madras, standing up and wanting to dictate laws to three hundred millions of people with thousands of traditions at their back! Are you not ashamed? Stand back from such blasphemy and learn first your lessons! Irreverent boys, simply because you can scrawl a few lines upon paper and get some fool to publish them for you, you think you are the educators of the world, you think you are the public opinion of India! Is it so? This I have to tell to the social reformers of Madras that I have the greatest respect and love for them. I love them for their great hearts and their love for their country, for the poor, for the oppressed. But what I would tell them with a brother's love is that their method is not right; it has been tried a hundred years and failed. Let us try some new method. (CW SV 3.218)
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Did India ever stand in want of reformers? Do you read the history of India? Who was Ramanuja? Who was Shankara? Who was Nanak? Who was Chaitanya? Who was Kabir? Who was Dadu? Who were all these great preachers, one following the other, a galaxy of stars of the first magnitude? Did not Ramanuja feel for the lower classes? Did he not try all his life to admit even the Pariah to his community? Did he not try to admit even Mohammedans to his own fold? Did not Nanak confer with Hindus and Mohammedans, and try to bring about a new state of things? They all tried, and their work is still going on. (CW SV 3.219)
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The difference is this. They had not the fanfaronade of the reformers of today; they had no curses on their lips as modern reformers have; their lips pronounced only blessings. They never condemned. They said to the people that the race must always grow. They looked back and they said, "O Hindus, what you have done is good, but, my brothers, let us do better." They did not say, "You have been wicked, now let us be good." They said, "You have been good, but let us now be better." That makes a whole world of difference. (CW SV 3.219)
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We must grow according to our nature. Vain is it to attempt the lines of action that foreign societies have engrafted upon us; it is impossible. Glory unto God, that it is impossible, that we cannot be twisted and tortured into the shape of other nations. I do not condemn the institutions of other races; they are good for them, but not for us. What is meat for them may be poison for us. This is the first lesson to learn. With other sciences, other institutions, and other traditions behind them, they have got their present system. We, with our traditions, with thousands of years of Karma behind us, naturally can only follow our own bent, run in our own grooves; and that we shall have to do. (CW SV 3.219)
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What is my plan then? My plan is to follow the ideas of the great ancient Masters. I have studied their work, and it has been given unto me to discover the line of action they took. They were the great originators of society. They were the great givers of strength, and of purity, and of life. They did most marvellous work. We have to do most marvellous work also. Circumstances have become a little different, and in consequence the lines of action have to be changed a little, and that is all. (CW SV 3.220)
0
I see that each nation, like each individual, has one theme in this life, which is its centre, the principal note round which every other note comes to form the harmony. In one nation political power is its vitality, as in England, artistic life in another, and so on. In India, religious life forms the centre, the keynote of the whole music of national life; and if any nation attempts to throw off its national vitality--the direction which has become its own through the transmission of centuries--that nation dies if it succeeds in the attempt. And, therefore, if you succeed in the attempt to throw off your religion and take up either politics, or society, or any other things as your centre, as the vitality of your national life, the result will be that you will become extinct. (CW SV 3.220)
0
To prevent this you must make all and everything work through that vitality of your religion. Let all your nerves vibrate through the backbone of your religion. I have seen that I cannot preach even religion to Americans without showing them its practical effect on social life. I could not preach religion in England without showing the wonderful political changes the Vedanta would bring. So, in India, social reform has to be preached by showing how much more spiritual a life the new system will bring; and politics has to be preached by showing how much it will improve the one thing that the nation wants--its spirituality. (CW SV 3.220)
0
Every man has to make his own choice; so has every nation. We made our choice ages ago, and we must abide by it. And, after all, it is not such a bad choice. Is it such a bad choice in this world to think not of matter but of spirit, not of man but of God? That intense faith in another world, that intense hatred for this world, that intense power of renunciation, that intense faith in God, that intense faith in the immortal soul, is in you. I challenge anyone to give it up. You cannot. You may try to impose upon me by becoming materialists, by talking materialism for a few months, but I know what you are; if I take you by the hand, back you come as good theists as ever were born. How can you change your nature? (CW SV 3.221)
0
So every improvement in India requires first of all an upheaval in religion. Before flooding India with socialistic or political ideas, first deluge the land with spiritual ideas. The first work that demands our attention is that the most wonderful truths confined in our Upanishads, in our scriptures, in our Puranas must be brought out from the books, brought out from the monasteries, brought out from the forests, brought out from the possession of selected bodies of people, and scattered broadcast all over the land, so that these truths may run like fire all over the country from north to south and east to west, from the Himalayas to Comorin, from Sindh to the Brahmaputra. Everyone must know of them, because it is said, "This has first to be heard, then thought upon, and then meditated upon." (CW SV 3.221)
0
Let the people hear first, and whoever helps in making the people hear about the great truths in their own scriptures cannot make for him-self a better Karma today. Says our Vyasa, "In the Kali Yuga there is one Karma left. Sacrifices and tremendous Tapasyas are of no avail now. Of Karma one remains, and that is the Karma of giving." And of these gifts, the gift of spirituality and spiritual knowledge is the highest; the next gift is the gift of secular knowledge; the next is the gift of life; and the fourth is the gift of food. (CW SV 3.221)
0
Look at this wonderfully charitable race; look at the amount of gifts that are made in this poor, poor country; look at the hospitality where a man can travel from the north to the south, having the best in the land, being treated always by everyone as if he were a friend, and where no beggar starves so long as there is a piece of bread anywhere! (CW SV 3.222)
0
In this land of charity, let us take up the energy of the first charity, the diffusion of spiritual knowledge. And that diffusion should not be confined within the bounds of India; it must go out all over the world. This has been the custom. Those that tell you that Indian thought never went outside of India, those that tell you that I am the first Sannyasin who went to foreign lands to preach, do not know the history of their own race. Again and again this phenomenon has happened. Whenever the world has required it, this perennial flood of spirituality has overflowed and deluged the world. (CW SV 3.222)
0
Gifts of political knowledge can be made with the blast of trumpets and the march of cohorts. Gifts of secular knowledge and social knowledge can be made with fire and sword. But spiritual knowledge can only be given in silence like the dew that falls unseen and unheard, yet bringing into bloom masses of roses. This has been the gift of India to the world again and again. (CW SV 3.222)
0
Whenever there has been a great conquering race, bringing the nations of the world together, making roads and transit possible, immediately India arose and gave her quota of spiritual power to the sum total of the progress to the world. (CW SV 3.222)
0
This happened ages before Buddha was born, and remnants of it are still left in China, in Asia Minor, and in the heart of the Malayan Archipelago. This was the case when the great Greek conqueror united the four corners of the then known world; then rushed out Indian spirituality, and the boasted civilisation of the West is but the remnant of that deluge. (CW SV 3.222)
0
Now the same opportunity has again come; the power of England has linked the nations of the world together as was never done before. English roads and channels of communication rush from one end of the world to the other. Owing to English genius, the world today has been linked in such a fashion as has never before been done. Today trade centres have been formed such as have never been before in the history of mankind. And immediately, consciously or unconsciously, India rises up and pours forth her gifts of spirituality; and they will rush through these roads till they have reached the very ends of the world. (CW SV 3.223)
0
That I went to America was not my doing or your doing; but the God of India who is guiding her destiny sent me, and will send hundreds of such to all the nations of the world. No power on earth can resist it. This also has to be done. You must go out to preach your religion, preach it to every nation under the sun, preach it to every people. This is the first thing to do. (CW SV 3.223)
0
And after preaching spiritual knowledge, along with it will come that secular knowledge and every other knowledge that you want; but if you attempt to get the secular knowledge without religion, I tell you plainly, vain is your attempt in India, it will never have a hold on people. Even the great Buddhistic movement was a failure, partially on account of that. (CW SV 3.223)
0
Therefore, my friends, my plan is to start institutions in India, to train our young men as preachers of the truths of our scriptures in India and outside India. (CW SV 3.223)
0
Men, men, these are wanted: everything else will be ready, but strong, vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone, are wanted. A hundred such and the world becomes revolutionised. The will is stronger than anything else. Everything must go down before the will, for that comes from God and God Himself; a pure and a strong will is omnipotent. Do you not believe in it? (CW SV 3.223)
0
Preach, preach unto the world the great truths of your religion; the world waits for them. For centuries people have been taught theories of degradation. They have been told that they are nothing. The masses have been told all over the world that they are not human beings. They have been so frightened for centuries, till they have nearly become animals. Never were they allowed to hear of the Atman. Let them hear of the Atman--that even the lowest of the low have the Atman within, which never dies and never is born--of Him whom the sword cannot pierce, nor the fire burn, nor the air dry--immortal, without beginning or end, the all-pure, omnipotent, and omnipresent Atman! (CW SV 3.224)
0
Let them have faith in themselves, for what makes the difference between the Englishman and you? Let them talk their religion and duty and so forth. I have found the difference. The difference is here, that the Englishman believes in himself and you do not. He believes in his being an Englishman, and he can do anything. That brings out the God within him, and he can do anything he likes. You have been told and taught that you can do nothing, and nonentities you are becoming every day. What we want is strength, so believe in yourselves. (CW SV 3.224)
0
We have become weak, and that is why occultism and mysticism come to us--these creepy things; there may be great truths in them, but they have nearly destroyed us. Make your nerves strong. What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel. We have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. (CW SV 3.224)
0
It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. (CW SV 3.224)
0
And here is the test of truth--anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison; there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all-knowledge; truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating. (CW SV 3.224)
0
These mysticisms, in spite of some grains of truth in them, are generally weakening. Believe me, I have a lifelong experience of it, and the one conclusion that I draw is that it is weakening. I have travelled all over India, searched almost every cave here, and lived in the Himalayas. I know people who lived there all their lives. I love my nation, I cannot see you degraded, weakened any more than you are now. Therefore I am bound for your sake and for truth's sake to cry, "Hold!" and to raise my voice against this degradation of my race. Give up these weakening mysticisms and be strong. Go back to your Upanishads--the shining, the strengthening, the bright philosophy--and part from all these mysterious things, all these weakening things. Take up this philosophy; the greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence. The truths of the Upanishads are before you. Take them up, live up to them, and the salvation of India will be at hand. (CW SV 3.225)
0
One word more and I have finished. They talk of patriotism. I believe in patriotism, and I also have my own ideal of patriotism. Three things are necessary for great achievements. First, feel from the heart. What is in the intellect or reason? It goes a few steps and there it stops. But through the heart comes inspiration. Love opens the most impossible gates; love is the gate to all the secrets of the universe. Feel, therefore, my would-be reformers, my would-be patriots! Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next-door neighbors to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you restless? Does it make you sleepless? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming consonant with your heartbeats? Has it made you almost mad? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? Have you done that? That is the first step to become a patriot, the very first step. (CW SV 3.225)
0
I did not go to America, as most of you know, for the Parliament of Religions, but this demon of a feeling was in me and within my soul. I travelled twelve years all over India, finding no way to work for my countrymen, and that is why I went to America. Most of you know that, who knew me then. Who cared about this Parliament of Religions? Here was my own flesh and blood sinking every day, and who cared for them? This was my first step. (CW SV 3.226)
0
You may feel, then; but instead of spending your energies in frothy talk, have you found any way out, any practical solution, some help instead of condemnation, some sweet words to soothe their miseries, to bring them out of this living death? (CW SV 3.226)
0
Yet that is not all. Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right? If your wives and children are against you, if all your money goes, your name dies, your wealth vanishes, would you still stick to it? Would you still pursue it and go on steadily towards your own goal? As the great King says, "Let the sages blame or let them praise; let the goddess of fortune come or let her go wherever she likes; let death come today, or let it come in hundreds of years; he indeed is the steady man who does not move one inch from the way of truth." Have you got that steadfastness? (CW SV 3.226)
0
If you have these three things, each one of you will work miracles. You need not write in the newspapers, you need not go about lecturing; your very face will shine. If you live in a cave, your thoughts will permeate even through the rock walls, will go vibrating all over the world for hundreds of years, maybe, until they will fasten on to some brain and work out there. Such is the power of thought, of sincerity, and of purity of purpose. (CW SV 3.226)
0
I am afraid I am delaying you, but one word more. This national ship, my countrymen, my friends, my children--this national ship has been ferrying million and millions of souls across the waters of life. For scores of shining centuries it has been plying across this water, and through its agency, millions of souls have been taken to the other shore, to blessedness. But today, perhaps through your own fault, this boat has become a little damaged, has sprung a leak; and would you therefore curse it? Is it fit that you stand up and pronounce malediction upon it, one that has done more work than any other thing in the world? If there are holes in this national ship, this society of ours, we are its children. Let us go and stop the holes. Let us gladly do it with our hearts' blood; and if we cannot, then let us die. We will make a plug of our brains and put them into the ship, but condemn it never. Say not one harsh word against this society. I love it for its past greatness. I love you all because you are the children of gods, and because you are the children of the glorious forefathers. How then can I curse you! Never. All blessings be upon you! (CW SV 3.227)
0
I have come to you, my children, to tell you all my plans. If you hear them I am ready to work with you. But if you will not listen to them, and even kick me out of India, I will come back and tell you that we are all sinking! I am come now to sit in your midst, and if we are to sink, let us all sink together, but never let curses rise to our lips. (CW SV 3.227)
Writing
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF PAVHARI BABA (CW SV 4.283)
Writing
INDIA`S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD (CW SV 4.308)
Poem
HOLD ON YET A WHILE, BRAVE HEART (CW SV 4.389)
Poem
NIRVANASHATKAN OR SIX STANZAS ON NIRVANA (CW SV 4.391)
Poem
TO A FRIEND (CW SV 4.493)
Poem
THE HYMN OF CREATION (CW SV 4.497)
Poem
THE HYMN OF SAMADHI (CW SV 4.498)
Poem
A HYMN TO THE DIVINE MOTHER (Amba Stotram) (CW SV 4.498)
Poem
A HYMN TO SHIVA (shiva Stotram) (CW SV 4.501)
Poem
A HYMN TO THE DIVINITY OF SHRI RAMAKRISHNA (Khandana) (CW SV 4.504)
Poem
AND LET SHYAMA DANCE THERE (CW SV 4.506)
Poem
A SONG I SING TO THEE (CW SV 4.511)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON FANATICISM (see CW 1.79) (CW SV 5.242)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SADHANAS OR PREPARATIONS FOR HIGHER LIFE at (CW SV 5.249)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE COSMOS & THE SELF at (CW SV 5.255)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture WHO IS A REAL GURU? at (CW SV 5.257)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON ART at (CW SV 5.258)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON LANGUAGE at (CW SV 5.259)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE SANNYASIN & THE HOUSEHOLDER at Boston (CW SV 5.260)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE EVILS OF ADHIKARIVADA at (CW SV 5.262)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture BUDDHISM & VEDANTA at (CW SV 5.279)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture WORLD-WIDE UNITY at (CW SV 5.293)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE AIM OF RAJA-YOGA at (CW SV 5.293)
Questions & Answers
Belur Math- SELECTIONS FROM MATH DIARY (ALL QUESTION ANSWERS) (CW SV 5.314-25)
Questions & Answers
YOGA , VAIRAGYA , TAPASYA , LOVE (CW SV 5.319)
Questions & Answers
GURU , AVATARA ,YOGA ,JAPA ,SEVA (CW SV 5.322)
Sayings
SAYING AND UTTERANCES (CW SV 5.409)
Writing
REASON , FAITH AND LOVE (CW SV 5.425)
Writing
SIX SANSKRIT MOTTOES (CW SV 5.427)
Writing
THE MESSAGE OF DIVINE WISDOM (1. WISDOM 2.BONDAGE 3. THE LAW) These three chapters were discovered among Swami Vivekananda's papers. He evidently intended to write a book and jotted down some points for the work. (CW SV 5.428)
Writing
THE EAST AND THE WEST (CW SV 5.441)
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture THE NATURE OF THE SOUL & ITS GOAL at (CW SV 6.018)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture UNSELFISH WORK IS TRUE RENUNCIATION (CW SV 6.083)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture FREEDOM OF THE SELF at (CW SV 6.084)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture HINDU & GREEK at (CW SV 6.085)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SOUL & GOD at (CW SV 6.093)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE GOAL at (CW SV 6.094)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON PROOF OF RELIGION at (CW SV 6.095)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE DESIGN THEORY at (CW SV 6.097)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture CONCENTRATION at (CW SV 6.123)
Writing
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF INDIA (CW SV 6.157)
Writing
THE STORY OF THE BOY GOPALA (CW SV 6.168)
Poem
THE CUP (CW SV 6.177)
Poem
THE HYMN OF CREATION (CW SV 6.178)
Writing
MATTER FOR SERIOUS THOUGHT (CW SV 6.191)
Writing
SHIVA`S DEMON (CW SV 6.197)
Conversations & dialogues
SHRI PRIYA NATH SINHA (CW SV 7.268)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON MUSIC (CW SV 7.407)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON MANTRA & MANTRA - CHAITANYA (CW SV 7.407)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON CONCEPTIONS OF GODHEAD (CW SV 7.408)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON FOOD (CW SV 7.409)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON SANNYASA & FAMILY LIFE (CW SV 7.409)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON QUESTIONING THE CONPETENCY OF GURU (CW SV 7.410)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SHRI RAMAKRISHNA : THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS LIFE &TEACHINGS (CW SV 7.411)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON SHRI RAMAKRISHNA & HIS VIEW (CW SV 7.413)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SHRI RAMAKRISHNA : THE NATION'S IDEAL (CW SV 7.414)
Writing
STRUGGLE FOR EXPANSION (CW SV 8.145)
Writing
THE BIRTH OF RELIGION (CW SV 8.148)
Writing
FOUR PATHS OF YOGA (CW SV 8.152)
Writing
CYCLIC REST & CHANGE (CW SV 8.156)
Poem
TO SHRI KRISHNA (original in Hindi) (CW SV 8.171)
Poem
A HYMN TO SHRI RAMAKRISHNA (Om Hrim Ritam) (CW SV 8.172)
Poem
A HYMN TO SHRI RAMAKRISHNA (Aachandalaya pratihatarayo) (CW SV 8.173)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE DIVINE INCARNATION OR AVATARA at (CW SV 8.190)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture PRANAYAMA at (CW SV 8.192)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE ESSENCE OF RELIGION (USA) at (CW SV 8.254)
0
Gangadhar Mj's letter to Swamiji from Kashmir
0
7-chaitr-1328 Sarat Mj.'s letter to N from Calcutta (PMS 1.3)
0
111111
0
0
(cw sv)
0
After referring to the views of the Mohammedans, the Buddhists and other religious schools of India, the speaker said that the Hindoos received their religion through the revelations of the Vedas, who teach that creation is without beginning or end. They teach that man is a spirit living in a body. The body will die, but the man will not. The spirit will go on living. The soul was not created from nothing for creation means a combination and that means a certain future dissolution. If then the soul was created it must die. Therefore, it was not created. He might be asked how it is that we do not remember anything of our past lives. This could be easily explained. Consciousness is the name only of the surface of the mental ocean, and within its depths are stored up all our experiences. The desire was to find out something that was stable. The mind, the body, all nature, in fact, is changing. This question of finding something that was infinite had long been discussed. One school of which the modern Buddhists are the representatives, teach that everything that could not be solved by the five senses was nonexistent. That every object is dependent upon all others, that it is a delusion that man is an independent entity. The idealists, on the other hand, claim that each individual is an independent body. The true solution of this problem is that nature is a mixture of dependence and independence, of reality and idealism. There is a dependence which is proved by the fact that the movements of our bodies are controlled by our minds, and our minds are controlled by the spirit within us, which Christians call the soul. Death is but a change. Those who have passed beyond and are occupying high positions there are but the same as those who remain here, and those who are occupying lower positions there are the same as others here. Every human being is a perfect being. If we sit down in the dark and lament that it is so dark it will profit us nothing, but if we procure matches and strike a light, the darkness goes out immediately. So, if we sit down and lament that our bodies are imperfect, that our souls are imperfect, we are not profited. When we call in the light of reason, then this darkness of doubt will disappear. The object of life is to learn. Christians can learn from the Hindus, and the Hindus from Christians. He could read his Bible better after reading ours. "Tell your children," he said, "that religion is a positive something, and not a negative something. It is not the teachings of men, but a growth, a development of something higher within our nature that seeks outlet. Every child born into the world is born with a certain accumulated experience. The idea of independence which possesses us shows there is something in us besides mind and body. The body and mind are dependent. The soul that animates us is an independent factor that creates this wish for freedom. If we are not free how can we hope to make the world good or perfect? We hold that we are makers of ourselves, that what we have we make ourselves. We have made it and we can unmake it. We believe in God, the Father of us all, the Creator and Preserver of His children, omnipresent and omnipotent. We believe in a personal God, as you do, but we go further. We believe that we are He. We believe in all the religions that have gone before, in all that now exist and in all that are to come. The Hindu bows down to the all religion [sic] for in this world the idea is addition, not subtraction. We would make up a bouquet of all beautiful colors for God, the Creator, who is a personal God. We must love God for love's sake, we must do our duty to Him for duty's sake, and must work for Him for work's sake and must worship Him for worship's sake. "Books are good but they are only maps. Reading a book by direction of a man I read that so many inches of rain fell during the year. Then he told me to take the book and squeeze it between my hands. I did so and not a drop of water came from it. It was the idea only that the book conveyed. So we can get good from books, from the temple, from the church, from anything, so long as it leads us onward and upward. Sacrifices, genuflections, rumblings and mutterings are not religion. They are all good if they help us to come to a perception of the perfection which we shall realize when we come face to face with Christ. These are words or instructions to us by which we may profit. Columbus, when he discovered this continent, went back and told his countrymen that he had found the new world. They would not believe him, or some would not, and he told them to go and search for themselves. So with us, we read these truths and come in and find the truths for ourselves and then we have a belief which no one can take from us." After the lecture an opportunity was given those present to question the speaker on any point on which they wished to have his views. Many of them availed themselves of this offer.
Notes
ON ART (CW SV 7.407)
Lecture
The Religion of India (ND 2.145 2.155)
Letter
Letters I (1886 - 1893) (CW SV)
Letter
Letters II (1893 - 1896) - Part 1 (CW SV)
Letter
Letters II (1893 - 1896) - Part 2 (CW SV)
Letter
Letters III (1897 - 1902) (CW SV)
Writing
THE EATHER (ND 3.055-59)
Notes
IDEAL OF MOTHERHOOD IN INDIA (ND 2.411)
News reports
UNPUBLISHED INDIAN NEWS PAPER REPORTS (UNPUBL)
News reports
UNPUBLISHED AMERICAN NEWS PAPER REPORTS (UNPUBL)
Writing
NOTES : An undated and untitled, one page manuscript in Swamiji's own handwriting (CW SV 9.289 ND 3.440)
Poem
AN UNTITLED POEM ON SRI RAMAKRISHNA (CW SV 9.304)
Notes
MARRIAGE: From Josephine MacLeod's Feb 1908 letter to Mary Hale, in which she described Swamiji's response to Alberta Sturges's question (CW SV 9.328 ND 5.138)
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture VILVAMANGALA (MISS WALDO'S PAPER) at New York (CW SV 1.485)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture WHEN WILL CHRIST COME AGAIN ? at (CW SV 8.179)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN & CHRIST at (CW SV 8.179)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ARE CHRIST & BUDDHA IDENTICAL ? at (CW SV 8.180)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SALVATION FROM SIN at (CW SV 8.181)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture COMING BACK TO THE DIVINE MOTHER at (CW SV 8.181)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture NO INDIVIDUALITY APART FROM GOD at (CW SV 8.181)
Sayings
SAYING AND UTTERANCES (58) (CW SV 8.261)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture ON RAJA - YOGA (CW SV 6.089)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to K from Calcutta (PMS 1.7)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.8)
Letter
2-Agra-1326 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.12)
Letter
14-Jyest-1320 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Shashi niketan, Puri (PMS 1.13)
Letter
17-Ashadh-1320 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Shashi niketan, Puri (PMS 1.14)
Letter
26-Magh-1320 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.15)
Letter
15-Ashwin-1323 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.16)
Letter
30-Shrav-1325 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.17)
Letter
9-Bhadr-1325 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.19)
Letter
2-vaishakh-1326 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.23)
Letter
18-falgun-1928 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.26)
Letter
15-shrav Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.30)
Letter
(21/5) Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.37)
Letter
26-Agr-1238 Sarat Mj.'s letter to shrimati from Calcutta (PMS 1.36)
Letter
(20/5) Sarat Mj.'s letter to from Calcutta (PMS 1.43)
Letter
(26-Shrav-1323) Sarat Mj.'s letter to from Calcutta (PMS 1.43)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.52)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.54)
Letter
(31-shravan-30) Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.60)
Letter
(25-agrahayan) Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.62)
Letter
(25-paush-1328) Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.68)
Letter
(10-shrauan-30) Sarat Mj.'s letter to shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.68)
Letter
(31 Ashadh) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shrimati S from Calcutta (PMS 1.75)
Letter
(4-magh-1329) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shrimati S from Calcutta (PMS 1.76)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to Bhagavanananda from Calcutta (PMS 1.83)
Letter
(25-agr) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.89)
Letter
(5-fal-1328) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.95)
Letter
(9-shr-1329) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.96)
Letter
(16-agr-1331) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Bhuvaneshwar (PMS 1.97)
Letter
(22-pau-1321) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.100)
Letter
(9-bha-1322) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Shashi Niketan, Puri (PMS 1.100)
Letter
(31-shr-1327) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.103)
Letter
(19-agr-1327) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.103)
Letter
(25-ash-1328) Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.103)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to Swami Megheshwarananda & Br.Buddhachaitanya (PMS 2.181)
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to Sri Taraknath Roychoudhury (PMS 2.183)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from Belur Math (SPP.48)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from ?? (SPP.91)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to sri from SriRamakrishna Advaitya Ashrama,Banaras (SPP.110)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from Banaras during 'Makar Sankranti (SPP.111)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from Belur Math (SPP.112)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from Belur Math (SPP.113)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from Belur Math (SPP.130)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri Surendra from ?? (SPP.131)
Letter
Baburam Mj.'s letter to Swami Ramakrishnananda Maharaj(Sashi Mj.) (SPP.139)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Thampi from ?(probably Madras) (SRS 520)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Thampi from ?(Probably Chennai) (SRS 520)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Br. Rudra Chaitanya from ? (SRS 539)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Brahmachari Rudra Chaitanya from Calcutta (Probably) (SRS 540)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Lalaji from Triplicane,Madras (SRS 549)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Ramu from ? (SRS 552)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Baburam Mj. From Alambazar Math(?). (SRS 419)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Akshaya Kumar Sen(C/o Sj.Ramchandra Dutta @Yogodyana,15 Kankurgachhi,East of Calcutta)from Triplicane,Madras (SRS 422)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to His prodigal father Sri Ishwar Chandra Bhattacharya from Triplicane,Madras (SRS 488)
Letter
Shashi Mj.'s letter to Sri Ayangar from Triplicane,Madras (SRS 513)
Letter
Hemendra's letter to Sri Rajen Babu(Address ?) from ?** **[This letter was found along with the previous letter by Mother.Date and the recipient's address could not be retrieved.] (MC 73)
Letter
Brahmachari Gyanananda's(Gyan Maharaj probably) letter to Manada Sankar Das Gupta(Probably) from Joyrambati(Probably) ** ** Date and recipient's address obscured (MC 84)
Letter
Mother's letter to His Holiness Swami Ramakrishnananda, Ice House, Triplicane, Madras from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 6th of Ashwin (MC 149)
Letter
Mother's Letter to ? From 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 3rd of Falgun (MC 150)
Letter
Mother's letter to His Holiness Swami Ramakrishnananda Ice House, Triplicane, Madras from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati (MC 150)
Letter
Mother's letter to ? From ? (MC 151)
Letter
Mother's letter to ? From kolikata(Calcutta) on 7th of Bhadro (MC 151)
Letter
Mother's letter to Swami Shantananda from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 20th of Ashwin (MC 152)
Letter
Mother's letter to Swami Virajananda, Mayavati Advaita Ashrama on 8th of Kartik (MC 152)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Rajlakshmi Devi (Granddaughter of Sri Balaram Bose) from Kolikata(Calcutta) on 27th of Magh (MC 153)
Letter
Mother's Letter to Srimati Kamala Sengupta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 16th of Poush (MC 154)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Kamala Sengupta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 2nd of Falgun (MC 154)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Kamala Sengupta from ? (MC 155)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Kamala Sengupta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati (MC 156)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Sarajubala Devi from Kolikata(Calcutta) (MC 156)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Sarajubala Devi from Kolikata(Calcutta) on 28th of Kartik (MC 157)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Sarajubala Devi from 1,Mukherjee Lane,Calcutta on 5th of Poush (MC 157)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Sarajubala Devi from Kolikata(Calcutta) on 5th of Falgun (MC 158)
Letter
Mother's Letter to Srimati Sarajubala Devi from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 19th of Falgun (MC 158)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Surama Roy, C/o Sri Kalipada Roy from Kolikata(Calcutta) on 7th of Bhadro (MC 159)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Kalipada Roy from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati, P.O. Desrhra on 13th of Ashwin (MC 159)
Letter
Mother's letter to ? From Kolikata(Calcutta) on 7th of Bhadro (MC 160)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendra Nath Gupta (Master Mahashay) from 'Punyodham' Kamarpukur (MC 160)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Indubala Devi, Dhaka from Kolikata(Calcutta) on 12th of Joishtho (MC 161)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Indubala Devi, PO: Kalma, Dhaka from Baghbazar, Calcutta on 1st of Poush (MC 162)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Hemchandra Dutta on Wednesday, 29th of Boishakh, 1324 Bongabdo (MC 162)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Hemchandra Dutta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 27th of Aghrahayan,1324 Bongabdo (MC 163)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 15th of Kartik (MC 163)
Letter
Mother's letter to Mahendranath Gupta (MC 169)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 6th of Bhadro,1301 Bongabdo (MC 171)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 7th of Boishakh,1316 Bongabdo from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati (MC 173)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Nikunjo Devi on 24th of Shrabon (MC 173)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 31st of Shrabon (MC 174)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 31st of Shrabon (MC 174)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta (MC 175)
Letter
Mother's Letter to Sister Devamata (Miss Laura Glenn) (MC 177)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata(Miss Laura Glenn) from Srikhetra, Puri Dham (MC 178)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata (Miss Laura Glenn) (MC 178)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata (Miss Laura Glenn) from Baghbazar, Kolikata (Calcutta), Bharat (MC 179)
Letter
Mother's letter to (MC 179)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata from Sundar Bilas,Madras, India (MC 179)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati (Hooghly District)** ** Probably at that time the Holy Mother did not either know or may be she was not aware that Joyrambati was not under the Hooghly District. Another probable explanation can be that at that time demarcation of lands was not done with that efficiency for which may be such confusions are quite palpable and most of the rural dwellers were unlettered for which clear idea about such demarcation was not in vogue. (MC 180)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata (MC 181)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sister Devamata (MC 181)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Mahendranath Gupta on 21th of Ashar,1304 Bongabdo (MC 182)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Akshaykumar Sen on 13th of Falgun, 1302 Bongabdo (MC 183)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Akhsaykumar Sen from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on Monday,28th of Joishtho,1302 Bongabdo (MC 183)
Letter
Mother's letter to Swami Shivananda(Tarak Maharaj), Belur Math, Howrah from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati (Probably) (MC 184)
Letter
Mother's letter to Swami Bimalananda, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 15th of Bhadro,1309 Bongabdo (MC 185)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Nishikanto Majumdar from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on Monday (MC 194)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Nishikanto Majumdar from Udbodhan Office, 12,13 Gopal Chandra Neogi Lane, Bagbazar, P.O.Kolikata(Calcutta) on 28th of Magh (MC 195)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Rajbala Sengupta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 9th of Falgun, 1324 Bongabdo (MC 197)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Jatindranath Ghosh on 4th of Shrabon (MC 198)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Jatindranath Ghosh on 8th of Poush, 1324 Bongabdo (MC 200)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Jatindranath Ghosh on 1st of Falgun,1324 Bongabdo (MC 200)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Jatindranath Ghosh from Sri Sri Jagadambashram,Koalpara,Kotulpur, PO: Bankura District on 10th of Boishakh, 1326 Bongabdo (MC 201)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Chandramohan Dutta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 3rd of Falgun,1325 Bongabdo (MC 203)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Chandramohan Dutta from Koalpara on 15th of Falgun, 1325 Bongabdo (MC 204)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Chandramohan Dutta from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 15th of Choitro (MC 204)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Taralabal Sengupta from Kolikata(Calcutta on 3rd of Kartik) (MC 208)
Letter
Mother's letter to Srimati Fulorani Sen Majumdar from Bagbazar, Calcutta on 7th of Boishakh (MC 209)
Letter
Mother's letter to Sri Labanyakumar Chakraborty from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 16th of Poush (MC 209)
Letter
Mother's letter to Unknown Devotee from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 23rd of Choitro (MC 210)
Letter
Mother's letter to Unknown Devotee from 'Punyotirtho' Joyrambati on 16th of Ashar (MC 210)
17 Jun
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to Shri from Calcutta (PMS 1.84)
16 Sep
Letter
Sarat Mj.'s letter to Swami Brahmanandaji (PMS 2.180)
20 Aug 1888
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From VRINDAVAN (CW SV 6.201)
1889
Writing
A PREFACE TO THE IMITATION OF CHRIST (CW SV 8.159)
4 Feb 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.203)
7 Feb 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GUPTA MAHENDRANATH From ANTPUR (CW SV 6.204)
22 Feb 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 8.283)
21 Mar 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 8.284)
26 Jun 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.204)
4 Jul 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 6.205)
14 Jul 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From SIMLA, CALCUTTA (CW SV 8.284)
7 Aug 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.208)
17 Aug 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.209)
2 Sep 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 6.214)
3 Dec 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 6.214)
13 Dec 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.215)
26 Dec 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAIDYANATH (CW SV 6.216)
30 Dec 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From Allahabad. (CW SV 6.216)
30 Dec 1889
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From Allahabad (CW SV 7.443)
5 Jan 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BHATTACHARYA YAJNESHWAR From ALLAHABAD (CW SV 5.003)
5 Jan 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAM, KRISHNAMAI & INDU From ALLAHABAD (CW SV 5.003)
5 Jan 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From ALLAHABAD (CW SV 6.217)
21 Jan 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.219)
30 Jan 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 7.443)
Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.224)
6 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 9.003)
7 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.221)
11 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 9.004)
14 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.223)
14 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 7.445)
14 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SADANANDA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 7.446)
19 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.223)
20 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 9.004)
25 Feb 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.229)
Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.233)
3 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.229)
Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.234)
8 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.232)
12 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 9.005)
15 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BOSE BALARAM From GAZIPUR (CW SV 7.447)
15 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GHOSE ATULCHANDRA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 7.448)
31 Mar 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.236)
2 Apr 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ABHEDANANDA From GAZIPUR (CW SV 6.237)
10 May 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BARAHNAGAR (CW SV 6.238)
26 May 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 6.239)
4 Jun 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 8.285)
6 Jul 1890
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SARADANANDA From BAGBAZAR (CW SV 6.242)
14 Apr 1891
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SAHAYA GOVINDLALA From AJMER (CW SV 6.244)
30 Apr 1891
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SAHAYA GOVINDLALA From Mount Abu (CW SV 6.244)
Apr 1891
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SAHAYA GOVINDLALA From MOUNT ABU (CW SV 6.245)
26 Apr 1892
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From BARODA (CW SV 8.286 LSV 1.300)
15 Jun 1892
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From PUNE (CW SV 8.287)
Jun 1892
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From MUMBAI (CW SV 8.287)
22 Aug 1892
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From MUMBAI (CW SV 8.288 LSV 1.305)
20 Sep 1892
Letter
Swamiji's letter to PANDIT SHANKARLAL From MUMBAI (CW SV 5.004)
11 Feb 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From HYDERABAD (CW SV 8.291LSV 1.373)
27 Apr 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAO DR.NANJUNDA From KHETRI (CW SV 6.245)
28 Apr 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From KHETRI (CW SV 8.292)
May 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From KETRI (CW SV 8.293)
22 May 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From MUMBAI (CW SV 8.296)
23 May 1893
Writing
Swamiji's letter to BALAJIRAO D R From MUMBAI (CW SV 4.354)
24 May 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA INDUMATI From MUMBAI (CW SV 6.246)
10 Jul 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From YOKOHAMA (CW SV 5.005)
20 Aug 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From MASSACHUSETTS (CW SV 5.011)
2 Oct 1893
Letter
Swamiji's letter to WRIGHT PROF.JOHN H From CHICAGO (CW SV 7.453)
22 Mar 1894
0
Swamiji's
30 Mar 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From DETROIT (CW SV 8.304 ND 1.449 LSV 1.471)
Sep 1894
Writing
Swamiji's reply to the Madras Address (CW SV 4.331 ND 2.182)
12 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BOSTON. (CW SV 9.039 ND 2.180)
13 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BOSTON (CW SV 9.039 ND 2.181 LSV 1.513)
13 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From BOSTON (CW SV 8.321 ND 2.180 ND 2.181)
13 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LANDSBERG LEON-KRIPANANDA From BOSTON (CW SV 8.320)
Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to Desai Haridas Viharidas from Chicago. (CW SV 8.323)
19 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From BOSTON (CW SV 6.267 ND 2.183)
19 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BOSTON (CW SV 9.041 ND 2.181)
21 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From USA (CW SV 5.043 ND 2.182 ND 2.187)
21 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MUDLIAR SINGARVELU(KIDI) From USA (CW SV 5.045)
24 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BOSTON (CW SV 9.042)
25 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From NEW YORK (CW SV 6.268 ND 2.182)
26 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From BOSTON (CW SV 6.277 ND 2.183)
26 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MCKINDLEY ISABELLE From BOSTON (CW SV 5.045)
27 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From USA (CW SV 5.046 LSV 1.505 ND 2.187)
27 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BOSTON (CW SV 9.042)
29 Sep 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From USA (CW SV 5.047)
5 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From MASSACHUSETTS (CW SV 9.043)
10 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From MASSACHUSETTS (CW SV 9.044 ND 2.188)
Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From BALTIMORE (CW SV 8.323 ND 2.207)
17 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From BALTIMORE (CW SV 9.045 ND 2.208)
22 Oct 1894
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Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From BALTIMORE (CW SV 6.278)
23 Oct 1894
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Swamiji's letter to CHAND VAHEMIYA From WASHINGTON (CW SV 5.048)
26 Oct 1894
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Swamiji's letter to THURSBY EMMA From WASHINGTON DC (CW SV 9.046 ND 2.213)
26 Oct 1894
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Swamiji's letter to MCKINDLEY ISABELLE From WASHINGTON (CW SV 5.049 ND 2.214)
27 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From WASHINGTON (CW SV 6.279 ND 2.214)
27 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From WASHINGTON DC (CW SV 9.046 ND 2.215)
27 Oct 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From WASHINGTON (CW SV 5.050 ND 2.215 LSV 1.513)
Nov 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to DESAI HARIDAS BIHARIDAS From CHICAGO (CW SV 8.328)
Nov 1894
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ABHEDANANDA From USA (CW SV 7.477)
30 Dec 1894
Questions & Answers
Brooklyn - AT THE BROOKLYN ETHICAL SOCIETY BROOKLYN USA (CW SV 5.312)
11 Jan 1895
Letter
Swamiji's letter to NARSINGACHARIAR G G From CHICAGO (CW SV 5.064)
1895
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture INDIAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT in the Art Gallery of the Pouch Mansion, Clinton Avenue , Brooklyn, (USA) (CW SV 4.188)
May 1895
Writing
IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL ? (CW SV 4.253)
4 Oct 1895
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ENGLAND (CW SV 6.344)
Feb 1896
Poem
AN UNFINISHED POEM (CW SV 9.304)
21 Mar 1896
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE SANNYASIN at Boston (CW SV 5.260)
22 Mar 1896
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture LAW & FREEDOM (22/24 Mar) (CW SV 5.286)
28 Mar 1896
Questions & Answers
Boston - AT THE 20 th CENTURY CLUB OF BOSTON (CW SV 5.310)
20 Apr 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE SISTERS From READING (CW SV 8.377)
26 Apr 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From LONDON (CW SV 9.084 ND 4.140)
27 Apr 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MEMBERS OF ALAMBAZAR MATH From READING (CW SV 7.491)
Apr 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From LONDON (CW SV 8.376)
8 May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 9.085 ND 4.148)
16 May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to WRIGHT PROF.JOHN H From LONDON (CW SV 7.500)
30 May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 6.362)
30 May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From LONDON (CW SV 8.378)
May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURGES ALBERTA From LONDON (CW SV 7.498)
May 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From READING (CW SV 7.499)
5 Jun 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 6.363)
24 Jun 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From READING (CW SV 6.364 LSV 2.104)
Jul 1896
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture LESSONS ON RAJA - YOGA at London (CW SV 6.128)
3 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From READING (CW SV 6.364)
6 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LEGGETT FRANCIS From LONDON (CW SV 6.365 LSV 2.105)
6 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LEWIS DR.I.JANES From LONDON (CW SV 7.502)
6 Jul 1896
Letter
Regarding transfer of Power of Attorney, Swamiji's letter to LEGGETT FRANCIS From LONDON. (CW SV 9.086 ND 4.150)
6 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 9.086 ND 4.151)
7 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE SISTERS From LONDON (CW SV 8.379)
7 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MRS.G W From LONDON (CW SV 9.087 LSV 2.110 ND 4.237)
8 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 6.367 ND 4.236)
11 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to EDITOR OF "LIGHT" From LONDON (CW SV 9.087)
14 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAO DR.NANJUNDA From ENGLAND (CW SV 5.108)
18 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From LONDON (CW SV 9.088 ND 4.240)
25 Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 6.368)
Jul 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.380 ND 4.271)
5 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 9.089 ND 4.270)
5 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.380 ND 4.273)
5 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHAH LALABADRI From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 6.368)
6 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 5.109)
Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LANDSBERG LEON-KRIPANANDA From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.381)
8 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ALASINGA PERUMAL From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 5.111 ND 4.274)
8 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GOODWIN J J From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.383)
8 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.386)
12 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 8.387)
23 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 6.369)
23 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 6.370)
23 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From LUCERNE (CW SV 5.112)
26 Aug 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAO DR.NANJUNDA From SWITZERLAND (CW SV 5.113)
10 Sep 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From Kiel (CW SV 8.388)
17 Sep 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From WIMBLEDON (CW SV 8.389)
17 Sep 1896
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE HARRIET From WIMBLEDON (CW SV 6.372)
15 Jan 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MADRAS COMMITTEE From COLOMBO (CW SV 9.091)
16 Jan 1897
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture FIRST PUBLIC LECTURE IN THE EAST (COLOMBO) at Colombo (CW SV 3.103 LSV 2. 171)
30 Jan 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From RAMNAD (CW SV 6.387)
14 Feb 1897
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture THE FUTURE OF INDIA at Harmston Circus Pavilion, Madras in the evening. (CW SV 3.285 LSV 2. 207)
25 Feb 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From ALAMBAZAR (CW SV 6.388)
16 Mar 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From DARJEELING (CW SV 9.092)
19 Mar 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to CHAKRAVARTI SHARATCHANDRA From DARJEELING (CW SV 7.503)
26 Mar 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From DARJEELING (CW SV 9.093 LSV 2.241 ND 5.043)
Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SAMJAMI PANDIT RAM RAM From DARJEELING (CW SV 9.094)
3 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From DARJEELING (CW SV 9.095 LSV 2.241)
6 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GHOSHAL SARALA From DARJEELING (CW SV 5.126)
7 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHAH LALABADRI From DARJEELING (CW SV 9.095)
20 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From DARJEELING (CW SV 8.397)
24 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GHOSHAL SARALA From DARJEELING (THE EDUCATION THAT INDIA NEEDS) (CW SV 4.481)
28 Apr 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From DARJEELING (CW SV 6.389 LSV 2.256)
5 May 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From ALAMBAZAR (CW SV 7.505 LSV 2.256 LSV 2. 274)
5 May 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALAMBAZAR (CW SV 8.399)
29 May 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GHOSH DR. SHASHIBHUSHAN From Dewaldhar, Almora (CW SV 5.128 LSV 2.258)
30 May 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA PRAMADADAS From ALMORA (CW SV 6.392)
1 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to ? From ALMORA (CW SV 5.130)
1 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHUDDHANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.396)
2 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALBOISTER MARY From ALMORA (CW SV 8.403)
3 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.398)
14 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.399)
15 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.400 LSV 2.259)
20 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.401)
20 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 8.405)
20 Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LEGGETT FRANCIS From ALMORA (CW SV 9.096)
Jun 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHAH LALABADRI From ALMORA (CW SV 9.096)
3 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to CHAKRAVARTI SHARATCHANDRA From ALMORA (CW SV 5.132)
4 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 8.407)
9 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From ALMORA (CW SV 5.134 LSV 2.267)
9 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHIVANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 9.097)
10 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.402)
10 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From ALMORA (CW SV 8.408)
11 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHUDDHANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 7.507)
13 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 8.410)
23 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 7.509)
24 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.404)
25 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALBOISTER MARY From ALMORA (CW SV 8.412)
28 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to LEGGETT MRS. From ALMORA (CW SV 5.138)
29 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 7.511 LSV 2.278)
29 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 8.416)
30 Jul 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.405)
11 Aug 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From MATH (CW SV 5.139)
19 Aug 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From (CW SV 6.407 LSV 2.281)
19 Aug 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From AMBALA (CW SV 8.417)
2 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From AMRITSAR (CW SV 8.418)
13 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.419)
15 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHUDDHANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.422)
30 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.424)
30 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.424)
30 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.426)
30 Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.427)
Sep 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA HARIPADA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.423)
1 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.428)
1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA INDUMATI (CW SV 6.408)
10 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to TRIGUNATITANANDA From MURREE (CW SV 6.409)
10 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to AKHANDANANDA From MURREE (CW SV 6.409)
10 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From MURREE (CW SV 6.411)
11 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to JAGMOHANLAL MUNSHI From MURREE (CW SV 5.139)
11 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From MURREE (CW SV 8.430)
12 Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From MURREE (CW SV 8.433)
Oct 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GUPTA MAHENDRANATH From RAWALPINDI (CW SV 6.412)
3 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From JAMMU (CW SV 8.434)
11 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From LAHORE (CW SV 8.435)
15 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From LAHORE (CW SV 8.436)
15 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA INDUMATI From LAHORE (CW SV 6.413)
24 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA INDUMATI From DEHRADUN (CW SV 6.414)
24 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to GUPTA MAHENDRANATH From DEHRADUN (CW SV 5.140)
24 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to PREMANANDA From DEHRADUN (CW SV 8.437)
30 Nov 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From DELHI (CW SV 8.437)
8 Dec 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA from DELHI (CW SV 8.438)
13 Dec 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From KHETRI (CW SV 9.099 LSV 2.298)
14 Dec 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From KHETRI (CW SV 8.440)
27 Dec 1897
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SHIVANANDA From JAIPUR (CW SV 8.440)
1898
Writing
THE BELUR MATH : AN APPEAL (CW SV 5.434)
25 Feb 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MUKHERJEE PYARIMOHAN RAJA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 8.441)
25 Feb 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 8.442)
2 Mar 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From BELUR MATH (CW SV 8.445)
Mar 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 8.447)
18 Apr 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From DARJEELING (CW SV 8.448 LSV 2.327)
23 Apr 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From DARJEELING (CW SV 8.449 LSV 2.352)
29 Apr 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From DARJEELING (CW SV 8.450)
20 May 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From ALMORA (CW SV 8.451)
20 May 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From ALMORA (CW SV 6.415)
9 Jun 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MAHARAJA OF KHETRI From ALMORA (CW SV 5.140)
10 Jun 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HUSEN SARFARAZ MOHAMMAD From ALMORA (CW SV 6.415 LSV 2.333)
3 Jul 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From KASHMIR (CW SV 8.453)
17 Jul 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.454)
1 Aug 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.456)
25 Aug 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From KASHMIR (CW SV 6.416)
28 Aug 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.457 LSV 2.377)
Sep 1898
Poem
KALI THE MOTHER (CW SV 4.384)
1 Sep 1898
Poem
ANGLES UNAWARES I-III (CW SV 4.385)
17 Sep 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA HARIPADA From SRINAGAR (CW SV 8.459 LSV 2.378)
17 Sep 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MAHARAJA OF KHETRI From KASHMIR (CW SV 5.141 LSV 2.378)
16 Oct 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MAHARAJA OF KHETRI From LAHORE (CW SV 5.142 LSV 2.388)
16 Oct 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MITRA HARIPADA From LAHORE (CW SV 8.460)
26 Oct 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MAHARAJA OF KHETRI From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.143)
Nov 1898
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MAHARAJA OF KHETRI From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.143)
1899
Conversations & dialogues
SHRI SURENDRA NATH DAS GUPTA (CW SV 5.329)
Jun 1899
Writing
MEMOIRS OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL (CW SV 7.297)
Jun 1899
Conversations & dialogues
SHRI PRIYA NATH SINHA (CW SV 7.271)
14 Jul 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From SUEZ (CW SV 9.116 LSV 2.463)
3 Aug 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From WIMBLEDON (CW SV 8.464 ND 5.069)
6 Aug 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From WIMBLEDON (CW SV 9.118 ND 5.070)
10 Aug 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From LONDON (CW SV 8.468)
31 Aug 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MCKINDLEY ISABELLE From NEW YORK (CW SV 9.119 ND 5.114)
2 Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to Sister Christine From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 5.150 ND 5.120 LSV 2.484)
4 Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 6.418)
4 Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 8.470 ND 5.083)
14 Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 8.470 LSV 2.416)
Sep 1899
Poem
PEACE (CW SV 4.395)
20 Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 9.120)
Sep 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 8.472)
3 Oct 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 8.475)
Oct 1899
Letter
Swamiji's letter to STURDY E T From RIDGELY MANOR (CW SV 8.478 ND 5.090)
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture FRAGMENTARY NOTES ON THE RAMAYANA at (CW SV 6.102)
1900
Poem
WHO KNOWS HOW MOTHER PLAYS ! (CW SV 5.439)
4 Mar 1900
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture RELIGION & SCIENCE at (CW SV 6.081)
8 Mar 1900
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture THE REALITY & SHADOW at (CW SV 6.092)
20 Mar 1900
Lecture
Swamiji's lecture NATURE & MAN (CW SV 6.033)
26 May 1900
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture SPIRIT & NATURE at (CW SV 6.098)
Jun 1900
Notes
Notes of Swamiji's lecture MOTHER WORSHIP (CW SV 6.145)
22 Sep 1900
Poem
A BENEDICTION (Composed for Sister Nivedita at peroz guirec, Brittanee, France) (CW SV 6.178)
Nov 1900
Poem
ON THE SEA`S BOSOM (Written around mediterranean sea during the return voyage to India after his second visit to the West.) (CW SV 6.180)
Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.164)
3 Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to RAMAKRISHNANANDA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.160)
3 Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HANSBROUGH ALICE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.158 ND 5. 286)
14 Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.162)
18 Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.164)
18 Jun 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to OKAKURA KAKUZO From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.159)
5 Jul 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.165)
6 Jul 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.167)
6 Aug 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.160)
27 Aug 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HALE MARY From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.167)
27 Aug 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.161)
29 Aug 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BANERJEE M N From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.169)
2 Sep 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.162)
7 Sep 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BANERJEE M N From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.170)
7 Sep 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 6.442)
25 Sep 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.165)
8 Oct 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.166)
14 Oct 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.166)
8 Nov 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 5.171)
12 Nov 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.167 LSV 2.416)
12 Nov 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.168)
25 Nov 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.170)
27 Nov 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.171)
12 Dec 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.171)
18 Dec 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.173)
25 Dec 1901
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.175)
23 Jan 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER CHRISTINE From BELUR MATH (CW SV 9.176)
7 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BENARAS (CW SV 9.177)
9 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SWARUPANANDA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.172)
10 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BULL MRS.OLE From BENARAS (CW SV 5.173)
12 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.175)
12 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.176)
14 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to MACLEOD JOSEFINE From BENARAS (CW SV 9.178)
14 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to HANSBROUGH ALICE From BENARAS (CW SV 9.179)
18 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.176)
21 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.177)
24 Feb 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to BRAHMANANDA From BENARAS (CW SV 5.178)
4 Mar 1902
Letter
Swamiji's letter to SISTER NIVEDITA From BENARAS (CW SV 9.180)
Letter
(16,Ashwin,1917?) Baburam Mj.'s letter to Sri from 57,Ramkanta Basu Street,Bagbazar,Calcutta (SPP.115)
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