But the Swami was still in a tumult over whether to go at all. We have noted what steps he took, when he was at Madras before going to Hyderabad, to force the Mother to tell him directly Her will. Returning to Madras and finding his disciples eager to collect funds and urging him to go to the West, he thought, "Well, their readiness is perhaps the first sign." Then, for some reason, he seems to have passed again through a period of uncertainty, in spite of being convinced of the necessity and utility of going.

The three essentials of Hinduism are belief in God, in the Vedas as revelation, in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration._x000d_ If one studies the Vedas between the lines, one sees a religion of harmony._x000d_ One point of difference between Hinduism and other religions is that in Hinduism we pass from truth to truth--from a lower truth to a higher truth--and never from error to truth._x000d_ The Vedas should be studied through the eye-glass of evolution. They contain the whole history of the progress of religious consciousness, until religion has reached perfection in unity._x000d_ The Vedas are Anadi, eternal. The meaning of the statement is not, as is erroneously supposed by some, that the words of the Vedas are Anadi, but that the spiritual laws inculcated by the Vedas are such. These laws which are immutable and eternal have been discovered at various times by great men or Rishis, though some of them are forgotten now, while others are preserved._x000d_ When a number of people from various angles and distances have a look at the sea, each man sees a portion of it according to his horizon. Though each man may say that what he sees is the real sea, all of them speak the truth, for all of them see portions of the same wide expanse. So the religious scriptures, though they seem to contain varying and conflicting statements, speak the truth, for they are all descriptions of that one infinite Reality._x000d_ When one sees a mirage for the first time, he mistakes it for a reality, and after vainly trying to quench his thirst in it, learns that it is a mirage. But whenever he sees such a phenomenon in future, in spite of the apparent reality, the idea that he sees a mirage always presents itself to him. So is the world of Maya to a Jivanmukta (the liberated in life)._x000d_ Some of the Vedic secrets were known to certain families only, as certain powers naturally exist in some families. With the extinction of these families, those secrets have died away._x000d_ Vedic anatomy was no less perfect than the Ayurvedic. _x000d_ There were many names for many parts of the organs, because they had to cut up animals for sacrifice. The sea is described as full of ships. Sea voyage was prohibited later on, partly because there came the fear that people might thereby become Buddhists._x000d_ Buddhism was the rebellion of newly-formed Kshatriyas against Vedic priestcraft._x000d_ Hinduism threw away Buddhism after taking its sap. The attempt of all the Southern Acharyas was to effect a reconciliation between the two. Shankaracharya's teaching shows the influence of Buddhism. His disciples perverted his teaching and carried it to such an extreme point that some of the later reformers were right in calling the Acharya's followers "crypto-Buddhists"._x000d_ _x000d_ What is Spencer's unknowable? It is our Maya. Western philosophers are afraid of the unknowable, but our philosophers have taken a big jump into the unknown, and they have conquered._x000d_ Western philosophers are like vultures soaring high in the sky, but all the while, with their eye fixed on the carrion beneath. They cannot cross the unknown, and they therefore turn back and worship the almighty dollar._x000d_ There have been two lines of progress in this world--political and religious. In the former the Greeks are everything, the modern political institutions being only the development of the Grecian; in the latter the Hindus are everything._x000d_ My religion is one of which Christianity is an offshoot and Buddhism a rebel child._x000d_ Chemistry ceases to improve when one element is found from which all others are deductible. Physics ceases to progress when one force is found of which all others are manifestations. So religion ceases to progress when unity is reached, which is the case with Hinduism._x000d_ There is no new religious idea preached anywhere which is not found in the Vedas._x000d_ In everything, there are two kinds of development--analytical and synthetical. In the former the Hindus excel other nations. In the latter they are nil. _x000d_ The Hindus have cultivated the power of analysis and abstraction. No nation has yet produced a grammar like that of Panini._x000d_ Ramanuja's important work is the conversion of Jains and Buddhists to Hinduism. He is a great advocate of image-worship. He introduced love and faith as potent means of salvation._x000d_ Even in the Bhagavata, twenty-four Avatars are mentioned corresponding to the twenty-four Tirthankaras of the Jains, the name of Rishabhadeva being common to both._x000d_ The practice of Yoga gives the power of abstraction. The superiority of a Siddha over others consists in his being able to separate attributes from objects and think of them independently, giving them objective reality._x000d_ _x000d_ The opposite extremes always meet and resemble each other. The greatest self-forgotten devotee whose mind is absorbed in the contemplation of the infinite Brahman and the most debased, drunken maniac present the same externals. At times we are surprised with the analogical transition from one to the other._x000d_ Extremely nervous men succeed as religious men. They become fervent over whatever they take into their head._x000d_ "All are mad in this world; some are mad after gold, others after women, and some are after God; if drowning is to be the fate of man, it is better to be drowned in an ocean of milk than in a pool of dung", a devotee replied who was charged with madness._x000d_ The God of Infinite Love and the object of Love sublime and infinite are painted blue. Krishna is painted blue, so also Solomon's God of Love. It is a natural law that anything sublime and infinite is associated with blue colour. Take a handful of water, it is absolutely colourless. But look at the deep wide ocean; it is as blue as anything. Examine the space near you; it is colourless. But look at the infinite expanse of the sky; it is blue._x000d_ That the Hindus, absorbed in the ideal, lacked in realistic observation is evident from this. Take painting and sculpture. What do you see in the Hindu paintings? All sorts of grotesque and unnatural figures. What do you see in a Hindu temple? A Chaturbhanga Narayana or some such thing. But take into consideration any Italian picture or Grecian statue--what a study of nature you find in them! A gentleman for twenty years sat burning a candle in his hand, in order to paint a lady carrying a candle in her hand._x000d_ The Hindus progressed in the subjective sciences._x000d_ There are as many different conducts taught in the Vedas as there are differences in human nature. What is taught to an adult cannot be taught to a child._x000d_ A Guru should be a doctor of men. He should understand the nature of his disciple and teach him the method which suits him best._x000d_ There are infinite ways of practicing Yoga. Certain methods have produced successful result with certain men. But two are of general importance with all: (1) Reaching the reality by negativing every known experience, (2) Thinking that you are everything, the whole universe. The second method, though it leads to the goal sooner than the first, is not the safest one. It is generally attended with great dangers which may lead a man astray and deter him from obtaining his aim._x000d_ There is this difference between the love taught by Christianity and that taught by Hinduism: Christianity teaches us to love our neighbours as we should wish them to love us; Hinduism asks us to love them as ourselves, in fact to see ourselves in them._x000d_ A mongoose is generally kept in a glass-case with a long chain attached to it, so that it may go about freely. When itscents danger as it wanders about, with one jump it goes into the glass case. So is a Yogi in this world._x000d_ _x000d_ The whole universe is one chain of existence, of which matter forms one pole and God the other; the doctrine of Vishishtadvaitism may be explained by some such ideas._x000d_ The Vedas are full of passages which prove the existence of a Personal God. The Rishis, who through long devotion saw God, had a peep into the unknown and threw their challenge to the world. It is only presumptuous men, who have not walked in the path described by the Rishis and who have not followed their teachings, that criticise them and oppose them. No man has yet come forward who would dare to say that he has properly followed their directions and has not seen anything and that these men are liars. There are men who have been under trial at various times and have felt that they have not been forsaken by God. The world is such that if faith in God does not offer us any consolation, it is better to commit suicide._x000d_ A pious missionary went out on business. All of a sudden his three sons died of cholera. His wife covered the three dead bodies of her beloved children with a sheet and was awaiting her husband at the gate. When he returned, she detained him at the gate and put him the question, "My dear husband, some one entrusts something to you and in your absence suddenly takes it back. Will you feel sorry?" He replied, "Certainly I would not". Then she took him in, removed the sheet and showed the three corpses. He bore this calmly and buried the bodies. Such is the strength of mind of those who hold firm faith in the existence of an all-merciful God who disposes of everything in the universe._x000d_ The Absolute can never be thought of. We can have no idea of a thing unless it is finite. God the infinite can only be conceived and worshipped as the finite._x000d_ John the Baptist was an Essene--a sect of Buddhists. The Christian cross is nothing but the Shivalinga converted into two across. Remnants of Buddhist worship are still to be found among the relics of ancient Rome. _x000d_ In South India, some of the Ragas (tunes) are sung and remembered as independent Ragas, whereas they are derivations of the six primary ones. In their music, there is very little of Murchhana, or oscillating touches of sound. Even the use of the perfect instrument of music is rare. The Vina of the South is not the real Vina. We have no martial music, no martial poetry either. Bhavabhuti is a little martial._x000d_ _x000d_ Christ was a Sannyasin, and his religion is essentially fit for Sannyasins only. His teachings may be summed up as: "Give up"; nothing more--being fit for the favoured few._x000d_ "Turn the other cheek also!"--impossible, impracticable! The Westerners know it. It is meant for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who aim at perfection._x000d_ "Stand on your rights", is the rule for the ordinary men. One set of moral rules cannot be preached to all--Sadhus and householders._x000d_ All sectarian religions take for granted that all men are equal. This is not warranted by science. There is more difference between minds than between bodies. One fundamental doctrine of Hinduism is that all men are different, there being unity in variety. Even for a drunkard, there are some Mantras--even for a man going to a prostitute!_x000d_ Morality is a relative term. Is there anything like absolute morality in this world? The idea is a superstition. We have no right to judge every man in every age by the same standard._x000d_ Every man, in every age, in every country is under peculiar circumstances. If the circumstances change, ideas also must change. Beef-eating was once moral. The climate was cold, and the cereals were not much known. Meat was the chief food available. So in that age and clime, beef was in a manner indispensable. But beef-eating is held to be immoral now. _x000d_ The one thing unchangeable is God. Society is moving. _x000d_ Jagat (world) means that which is moving. God is Achala (immovable)._x000d_ What I say is not, "Reform", but, "Move on". Nothing is too bad to reform. Adaptability is the whole mystery of life--the principle underneath which serves to unfold it. Adjustment or adaptation is the outcome of the Self pitted against external forces tending to suppress It. He who adjusts himself best lives the longest. Even if I do not preach this, society is changing, it must change. It is not Christianity nor science, it is necessity, that is working underneath, the necessity that people must have to live or starve._x000d_ _x000d_ The best scenery in the world can be seen on the sublime heights of the Himalayas. If one lives there for a time, he is sure to have mental calmness, however restless he might have been before._x000d_ God is the highest form of generalised law. When once this law is known, all others can be explained as being subordinate to it. God is to religion what Newton's law of gravity is to falling bodies._x000d_ Every worship consists of prayer in the highest form. For a man who cannot make Dhyana or mental worship, Puja or ceremonial worship is necessary. He must have the thing concrete._x000d_ The brave alone can afford to be sincere. Compare the lion and the fox. _x000d_ Loving only the good in God and nature--even a child does that. You should love the terrible and the painful as well. A father loves the child, even when he is giving him trouble._x000d_ Shri Krishna was God, incarnated to save mankind. Gopi-Lila (his disport with cowherd maids) is the acme of the religion of love in which individuality vanishes and there is communion. It is in this Lila that Shri Krishna shows what he preaches in the Gita: "Give up every other tie for me." Go and take shelter under Vrindavana-Lila to understand Bhakti. On this subject a great number of books is extant. It is the religion of India. The larger number of Hindus follow Shri Krishna._x000d_ Shri Krishna is the God of the poor, the beggar, the sinner, the son, the father, the wife, and of everyone. He enters intimately into all our human relations and makes everything holy and in the end brings us to salvation. He is the God who hides himself from the philosopher and the learned and reveals himself to the ignorant and the children. He is the God of faith and love and not of learning. With the Gopis, love and God were the same thing--they knew Him to be love incarnate._x000d_ In Dwaraka, Shri Krishna teaches duty; in Vrindavana, love. He allowed his sons to kill each other, they being wicked._x000d_ God, according to the Jewish and Mohammedan idea, is a big Session Judge. Our God is rigorous on the surface, but loving and merciful at heart._x000d_ There are some who do not understand Advaitism and make a travesty of its teachings. They say, "What is Shuddha and Ashuddha (pure and impure)--what is the difference between virtue and vice? It is all human superstition", and observe no moral restraint in their actions. It is downright roguery; and any amount of harm is done by the preaching of such things._x000d_ This body is made up of two sorts of Karma consisting of virtue and vice--injurious vice and non-injurious virtue. A thorn is pricking my body, and I take another thorn to take it out and then throw both away. A man desiring to be perfect takes a thorn of virtue and with it takes off the thorn of vice. He still lives, and virtue alone being left, the momentum of action left to him must be of virtue. A bit of holiness is left to the Jivanmukta, and he lives, but everything he does must be holy. _x000d_ Virtue is that which tends to our improvement, and vice to our degeneration. Man is made up of three qualities--brutal, human, and godly. That which tends to increase the divinity in you is virtue, and that which tends to increase brutality in you is vice. You must kill the brutal nature and become human, that is, loving and charitable. You must transcend that too and become pure bliss, Sachchidananda, fire without burning, wonderfully loving, but without the weakness of human love, without the feeling of misery._x000d_ Bhakti is divided into Vaidhi and Raganuga Bhakti._x000d_ Vaidhi Bhakti is implicit belief in obedience to the teachings of the Vedas. _x000d_ Raganuga Bhakti is of five kinds:_x000d_ (1) Shanta as illustrated by the religion of Christ;_x000d_ (2) Dasya as illustrated by that of Hanuman to Rama;_x000d_ (3) Sakhya as illustrated by that of Arjuna to Shri Krishna;_x000d_ (4) Vatsalya as illustrated by that of Vasudeva to Shri Krishna; _x000d_ (5) Madhura (that of the husband and wife) in the lives of Shri Krishna and the Gopikas._x000d_ Keshab Chandra Sen compared society to an ellipse. God is the central sun. Society is sometimes in the aphelion and sometimes in the perihelion. An Avatar comes and takes it to the perihelion. Then it goes back again. Why should it be so? I cannot say. What necessity for an Avatara? What necessity was there to create? Why did He not create us all perfect? It is Lila (sport), we do not know._x000d_ Men can become Brahman but not God. If anybody becomes God, show me his creation. Vishvamitra's creation is his own imagination. It should have obeyed Vishvamitra's law. If anybody becomes a Creator, there would be an end of the world, on account of the conflict of laws. The balance is so nice that if you disturb the equilibrium of one atom, the whole world will come to an end._x000d_ There were great men--so great that no number nor human arithmetic could state the difference between them and us. But compared with God, they were geometrical points. In comparison with the Infinite, everything is nothing. Compared with God, what is Vishvamitra but a human moth?_x000d_ Patanjali is the father of the theory of evolution, spiritual and physical._x000d_ Generally the organism is weaker than the environment. It is struggling to adjust itself. Sometimes it over-adjusts itself. Then the whole body changes into another species. Nandi was a man whose holiness was so great that the human body could not contain it. So those molecules changed into a god-body._x000d_ The tremendous engine of competition will destroy everything. If you are to live at all, you must adjust yourself to the times. If we are to live at all, we must be a scientific nation. Intellectual power is the force. You must learn the power of organisation of the Europeans. You must become educated and must educate your women. You must abolish child marriage._x000d_ All these ideas are floating over society. You all know it, yet dare not act. Who is to bell the cat? In the fullness of time a wonderful man will come. Then all the rats will be made bold._x000d_ Whenever a great man comes, the circumstances are ready under his feet. He is the last straw to break the camel's back. He is the spark of the cannon. There is something in the talking--we are preparing for him._x000d_ Was Krishna cunning? No, he was not cunning. He tried his best to prevent war. It was Duryodhana who forced the war. But, when once in the thing, you should not recede--that is the man of duty. Do not run away, it is cowardice. When in the thing, you must do it. You should not budge an inch--of course not for a wrong thing; this was a righteous war. _x000d_ The devil comes in many guises--anger in the form of justice--passion in the form of duty. When it first comes, the man knows and then he forgets. Just as your pleaders' conscience; at first they know it is all Badmashi (roguery), then it is duty to their clients; at last they get hardened._x000d_ Yogis live on the banks of the Narmada--the best place for them, because the climate is very even. Bhaktas live in Vrindavana._x000d_ Sipahis (sepoys) die soon--nature is full of defect--the athletes die soon. The gentlemen class are the strongest, while the poor are the hardiest. Fruit diet may agree with a costive man. Civilised man needs rest for intellectual work. For food he has to take spices and condiments. The savage walks forty or fifty miles a day. He relishes the blandest foods._x000d_ Our fruits are all artificial, and the natural mango is a poor affair. Wheat also is artificial._x000d_ Save the spiritual store in your body by observing continence. _x000d_ The rule for a householder about the expenditure of his income is, one-fourth of the income for his family, one-fourth for charity, one-fourth to be saved, one-fourth for self. _x000d_ Unity in variety is the plan of creation, individuality in universality._x000d_ Why deny the cause only? Deny the effect also. The cause must contain everything that is in the effect._x000d_ Christ's public life extended only over eighteen months, and for this he had silently been preparing himself for thirty-two years. Mohammed was forty years old before he came out._x000d_ _x000d_ It is true that the caste system becomes essential in the ordinary course of nature. Those that have aptitudes for a particular work form a class. But who is to settle the class of a particular individual? If a Brahmin thinks that he has a special aptitude for spiritual culture, why should he be afraid to meet a Shudra in an open field? Will a horse be afraid of running a race with a jade?_x000d_ Refer to the life of the author of Krishna-karnamrita, Vilvamangala--a devotee who plucked his eyes out because he could not see God. His life illustrates the principle that even misdirected love leads in the end to love proper._x000d_ Too early religious advancement of the Hindus and that superfineness in everything which made them cling to higher alternatives, have reduced them to what they are. The Hindus have to learn a little bit of materialism from the West and teach them a little bit of spirituality._x000d_ Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are necessary for them. In matters concerning them, who are you?_x000d_ Who reduced the Bhangis and the Pariahs to their present degraded condition? Heartlessness in our behavior and at the same time preaching wonderful Advaitism--is it not adding insult to injury?_x000d_ Form and formless are intertwined in this world. The formless can only be expressed in form and form can only be thought with the formless. The world is a form of our thoughts. The idol is the expression of religion._x000d_ In God all natures are possible. But we can see Him only through human nature. We can love Him as we love a man--as father, son. The strongest love in the world is that between man and woman, and that also when it is clandestine. This is typified in the love between Krishna and Radha._x000d_ Nowhere is it said in the Vedas that man is born a sinner. To say so is a great libel on human nature._x000d_ It is not an easy task to reach the state of seeing the Reality face to face. The other day one could not find the hidden cat in a whole picture, though it occupied the major portion of the picture._x000d_ _x000d_ You cannot injure anybody and sit quietly. It is a wonderful machinery--you cannot escape God's vengeance._x000d_ Kama (lust) is blind and leads to hell. Prema is love, it leads to heaven._x000d_ There is no idea of lust or sympathy in the love of Krishna and Radha. Radha says to Krishna, "If you place your feet on my heart, all lust will vanish."_x000d_ When abstraction is reached lust dies and there is only love._x000d_ A poet loved a washerwoman. Hot Dal fell upon the feet of the woman and the feet of the poet were scalded._x000d_ Shiva is the sublime aspect of God, Krishna the beautiful aspect of God. Love crystallises into blueness. Blue colour is expressive of intense love. Solomon saw "Krishna". Here Krishna came to be seen by all._x000d_ Even now, when you get love, you see Radha. Become Radha and be saved. There is no other way, Christians do not understand Solomon's song. They call it prophecy symbolising Christ's love for the Church. They think it nonsense and father some story upon it._x000d_ Hindus believe Buddha to be an Avatara._x000d_ Hindus believe in God positively. Buddhism does not try to know whether He is or not._x000d_ Buddha came to whip us into practice. Be good, destroy the passions. Then you will know for yourself whether Dvaita or Advaita philosophy is true--whether there is one or there are more than one._x000d_ Buddha was a reformer of Hinduism._x000d_ In the same man the mother sees a son, while the wife at the same time sees differently with different results. The wicked see in God wickedness. The virtuous see in Him virtue. He admits of all forms. He can be moulded according to the imagination of each person. Water assumes various shapes in various vessels. But water is in all of them. Hence all religions are true._x000d_ God is cruel and not cruel. He is all being and not being at the same time. Hence He is all contradictions. Nature also is nothing but a mass of contradictions._x000d_ _x000d_ Freedom of the will--it is as you feel you are free to act. But this freedom is a species of necessity. There is one infinite link before, after, and between the thought and the action, but the latter takes the name of freedom--like a bird flitting through a bright room. We feel the freedom and feel it has no other cause. We cannot go beyond consciousness, therefore we feel we are free. We can trace it no further than consciousness. God alone feels the real freedom. Mahapurushas (saints) feel themselves identified with God; hence they also feel the real freedom._x000d_ You may stop the water flowing out of the fountain by closing that part of the stream and gathering it all in the fountain; you have no liberty beyond it. But the source remains unchanged. Everything is predestination--and a part of that predestination is that you shall have such feeling--the feeling of freedom. I am shaping my own action. Responsibility is the feeling of reaction. There is no absolute power. Power here is the conscious feeling of exercising any faculty which is created by necessity. Man has the feeling "I act"; what he means by power of freedom is the feeling. The power is attended with responsibility. Whatever may be done through us by predestination, we feel the reaction. A ball thrown by one, itself feels the reaction._x000d_ But this innate necessity which comes to us as our freedom does not affect also the conscious relations we form with our surroundings. The relativity is not changed. Either everybody is free or everybody is under necessity. That would not matter. The relations would be the same. Vice and virtue would be the same. If a thief pleads that he was under the necessity of stealing, the magistrate would say that he was under the necessity to punish. We are seated in a room, and the whole room is moving--the relation between us is unchanged. To get out of this infinite chain of causation is Mukti (freedom). Muktas (free souls) are not actuated by necessity, they are like god. They begin the chain of cause and effect. God is the only free being--the first source of their will--and is always experienced by them as such._x000d_ The feeling of want is the real prayer, not the words. But you must have patience to wait and see if your prayers are answered._x000d_ You should cultivate a noble nature by doing your duty. By doing our duty we get rid of the idea of duty; and then and then only we feel everything as done by God. We are but machines in His hand. This body is opaque, God is the lamp. Whatever is going out of the body is God's. You do not feel it. You feel "I". This is delusion. You must learn calm submission to the will of God. Duty is the best school for it. This duty is morality. Drill yourself to be thoroughly submissive. Get rid of the "I". No humbuggism. Then you can get rid of the idea of duty; for all is His. Then you go on naturally, forgiving, forgetting, etc._x000d_ Our religion always presents different gradations of duty and religion to different people._x000d_ Light is everywhere visible only in the men of holiness. A Mahapurusha is like crystal glass--full rays of God passing and repassing through. Why not worship a Jivanmukta?_x000d_ Contact with holy men is good. If you go near holy men, you will find holiness overflowing unconsciously in everything there. Resist not evil done to yourself, but you may resist evil done to others._x000d_ If you wish to become a saint, you should renounce all kinds of pleasures. Ordinarily, you may enjoy all, but pray to God for guidance, and He will lead you on._x000d_ The universe fills only a small portion of the heart which craves for something beyond and above the world._x000d_ Selfishness is the devil incarnate in every man. Every bit of self, bit by bit, is devil. Take off self by one side and God enters by the other. When the self is got rid of, only God remains. Light and darkness cannot remain together._x000d_ Forgetting the little "I" is a sign of healthy and pure mind. A healthy child forgets its body._x000d_ Sita--to say that she was pure is a blasphemy. She was purity itself embodied--the most beautiful character that ever lived on earth._x000d_ A Bhakta should be like Sita before Rama. He might be thrown into all kinds of difficulties. Sita did not mind her sufferings; she centreed herself in Rama._x000d_ _x000d_ Buddhism proves nothing about the Absolute Entity. In a stream the water is changing; we have no right to call the stream one. Buddhist deny the one, and say, it is many. We say it is one and deny the many. What they call Karma is what we call the soul. According to Buddhism, man is a series of waves. Every wave dies, but somehow the first wave causes the second. That the second wave is identical with the first is illusion. To get rid of illusion good Karma is necessary. Buddhists do not postulate anything beyond the world. We say, beyond the relative there is the Absolute. Buddhism accepts that there is misery, and sufficient it is that we can get rid of this Duhkha (misery); whether we get Sukha (happiness) or not, we do not know. Buddha preached not the soul preached by others. According to the Hindus, soul is an entity or substance, and God is absolute. Both agree in this, that they destroy the relative. But Buddhists do not give what is the effect of that destruction of the relative._x000d_ Present-day Hinduism and Buddhism were growths from the same branch. Buddhism degenerated, and Shankara lopped it off!_x000d_ Buddha is said to have denied the Vedas because there is so much Himsa (killing) and other things. Every page of Buddhism is a fight with the Vedas (the ritualistic aspect). But he had no authority to do so._x000d_ Buddha is expressly agnostic about God; but God is everywhere preached in our religion. The Vedas teach God--both personal and impersonal. God is everywhere preached in the Gita. Hinduism is nothing without God. The Vedas are nothing without Him. That is the only way to salvation. Sannyasins have to repeat the following, several times: I, wishing for Mukti, take refuge in God, who created the world, who breathed out the Vedas._x000d_ Buddha, we may say now, ought to have understood the harmony of religions. He introduced sectarianism._x000d_ Modern Hinduism, modern Jainism, and Buddhism branched off at the same time. For some period, each seemed to have wanted to outdo the others in grotesqueness and humbuggism._x000d_ _x000d_ We cannot imagine anything which is not God. He is all that we can imagine with our five senses, and more. He is like a chameleon; each man, each nation, sees one face of Him and at different times, in different forms. Let each man see and take of God whatever is suitable to him. Compare each animal absorbing from nature whatever food is suitable to it._x000d_ The fault with all religions like Christianity is that they have one set of rules for all. But Hindu religion is suited to all grades of religious aspiration and progress. It contains all the ideals in their perfect form. For example, the ideal of Shanta or blessedness is to be found in Vasishtha; that of love in Krishna; that of duty in Rama and Sita; and that of intellect in Shukadeva. Study the characters of these and of other ideal men. Adopt one which suits you best._x000d_ Follow truth wherever it may lead you; carry ideas to their utmost logical conclusions. Do not be cowardly and hypocritical. You must have a great devotion to your ideal, devotion not of the moment, but calm, persevering, and steady devotion, like that of a Chataka (a kind of bird) which looks into the sky in the midst of thunder and lightening and would drink no water but from the clouds. Perish in the struggle to be holy; a thousand times welcome death. Be not disheartened. When good nectar is unattainable, it is no reason why we should eat poison. There is no escape. This world is as unknown as the other._x000d_ Charity never faileth; devotion to an ideal never fails in sympathy, never becomes weary of sympathising with others. Love to enemies is not possible for ordinary men: they drive out others in order to live themselves. Only a very few men lived in the world who practised both. King Janaka was one of them. Such a man is superior even to Sannyasins. Shukadeva, who was purity and renunciation embodied, made Janaka his Guru; and Janaka said to him, "You are a born Siddha; whatever you know and your father taught you, is true. I assure you of this."_x000d_ _x000d_ Individuality in universality is the plan of creation. Each cell has its part in bringing about consciousness. Man is individual and at the same time universal. It is while realising our individual nature that we realise even our national and universal nature. Each is an infinite circle whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere. By practice one can feel universal Selfhood which is the essence of Hinduism. He who sees in every being his own Self is a Pandita (sage)._x000d_ Rishis are discoverers o

When arrangements for sailing had been made by the Swami's disciples at Madras, Munshi Jagmohanlal, the Private Secretary to the Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri unexpectedly appeared on the scene, sometime in the second week of April. His appearance put a stop to preparations for the time being._x000d_ It will be recalled that nearly two years previously when the Swami had been at Khetri, the Raja there had sought his blessings so that a son might be born to him. On January 26, 1893, a son had indeed been born to him, and been named Rajkumar Jaisingh. The Raja, elated that through the blessings of the Swami, there was now an heir to the ancient Raj of Khetri, wished to celebrate the event, and to have the Swami there for the occasion. Having learnt that the Swami was at Madras, and that his disciples were collecting money for his voyage to the West, he sent Jagmohanlal to bring him to Khetri. He also said that if the Swami fell short of funds, he (the Raja) was prepared to contribute from his personal account, since he heartily agreed with the Swami's intention of going to the West.

Arrived at Madras, Jagmohanlal learnt that the Swami was the guest of Manmathanath Bhattacharya. After much effort he found the residence of this gentleman, but the Swami was not at home. His first question to Mr. Bhattacharya's servant was, "Where is Swamiji?" The man answered, "He has gone to the sea." "What! Has he left for the West, then? What do you mean?" cried Jagmohanlal in despair; but the next moment his eyes fell on the Swami's ochre robes hanging on a peg, and he thought, "He cannot have gone." Jagmohan had not understood the servant's meaning. Just then a carriage drew up at the front of the residence, and to his delight he saw the Swami alighting from it: he had gone for an afternoon drive to the beach with his host. Instantly the devoted Jagmohanlal prostrated himself full length on the ground. The Swami was surprised to meet him so unexpectedly. After having the matter explained to him he said, "Dear Jagmohan, I am making preparations to embark for America on May 3lst, and hardly a month and a half is left. How can I go to see the Maharaja now?" But the envoy persisted, saying, "Swamiji, you must come to Khetri, even if only for a day. Rajaji will be overwhelmed with disappointment if you fail to come. You need not trouble yourself further about making arrangements for your going to the West. The Maharaja himself will see to it. You simply must come with me." The Swami at length consented, and after some discussion it was decided that he should sail from Bombay.

When plans for going to the West were taking shape, the Swami became disturbed in mind as a result of a dream he had. Narrating the incident to a disciple five years later, he said:_x000d_ Once while I was putting up at Manmathababu's place, I dreamt one night that my mother had died. My mind became much distracted. Not to speak of corresponding with anybody at home, I used to send no letters in those days even to our Math. The dream being disclosed to Manmatha, he sent a wire to Calcutta to ascertain the facts of the matter. For the dream had made my mind uneasy, on the one hand; and on the other, our Madras Friends, with all arrangements ready, were insisting on my departing for America immediately: yet I felt rather unwilling to leave before getting any news of my mother. So Manmatha, who discerned this state of my mind, suggested our repairing to a man [named Govinda Chetti] living some distance from the town, who, having acquired mystic powers over spirits, could tell fortunes and read the past and future of a man's life. So at Manmatha's request, and to get rid of my mental suspense, I agreed to go to this man. Covering the distance partly by railway and partly on foot, we four of us-Manmatha, Alasinga, myself and another managed to reach the place. There, what met our eyes was a man with a ghoulish, haggard, soot-black appearance, sitting dose to a cremation ground. His attendants used some jargon of a South Indian dialect to explain to us that this was a man with perfect power over ghosts. At first the man took absolutely no notice of us; and then, when we were about to retire from the place, he requested us to wait. Our Alasinga was acting as interpreter, and he explained the request to us. Next the man commenced drawing some figures with a pencil, and presently I found him becoming perfectly still in mental concentration. Then he began to give out my name, my genealogy, the history of my long line of forefathers, and said that Shri Ramakrishna was keeping close to me all through my wanderings, intimating to me also good news about my mother. Furthermore, he foretold that I should have to go very soon to far off lands to preach religion._x000d_ Receiving the good news about his mother, the Swami, with his party, returned to Madras. After arrival there, a wire came from Calcutta saying that his mother was doing well.

In this state of mind the Swami prayed again to the Mother and to his Master for guidance. He felt assured that he ought to go, but he demanded actual vision: he wanted the direct command. Several days later, as he lay half asleep one night, the command did come, in a symbolic dream. He saw the figure of his Master, Shri Ramakrishna, walking from the seashore into the waters of the ocean, and beckoning him to follow. Peace and joy filled his whole being as he became fully awake: the order "go" had been impressed on his mind, as it were. The vision convinced him. He knew it to be a divine command. His doubts and misgivings were dispelled.

When the Swami returned to Madras, he was accorded an ovation at the station by his many disciples. He seemed more self confident. He had tested his oratorical powers before the assembly at the Mahaboob College and found that he could sway large assemblies as well as small gatherings. At Belgaum, it will be remembered, he had told Haripada Mitra that a large audience draws out the powers of a speaker; and this is what had happened on the above occasion.

Back in Madras the Swami continued his religious discourses and his conversations on a wide variety of subjects. Each day brought new disciples and devotees. He became more and more engrossed with the idea of going to America. Sometimes he felt that in America he would be handicapped; at other times he would thrill with the anticipation of extending the field of his work, and with eagerness for new experience. He had at times an intuition of the opportunity and success that awaited him, and he would talk with his disciples about his mission to the West. Those who gave money for the voyage were moved to do so not only by devotion to him, but also by the conviction that he was destined to accomplish great things. They did not know of Shri Ramakrishna's prophecies concerning the Swami's future greatness, for he never spoke of them to these people.

During March and April the Swami's disciples in Madras took definite steps to raise subscriptions for his passage to America. Some went even to Mysore, Ramnad and Hyderabad for the purpose. They visited those whom the Swami had made his disciples, or who were his avowed admirers. Those who had organized themselves into a subscription committee, had, as their leader, Alasinga Perumal, a devoted follower of the Swami. He did not hesitate to beg from door to door. It was he and the young men under him who collected the major portion of the funds. They went for the most part to the middle classes, for the Swami had told them, "If it is the Mother's will that I go, then let me receive the money from the people! Because it is for the people of India that I am going to the West-for the people and the poor!"_x000d_ From the Swami's letter of May 1893 to the Dewan of Junagadh, it is clear that by the middle of April the people of Madras, in conjunction with the Maharaja of Mysore and the Raja of Ramnad, had contributed the money to send him to Chicago. We know from a letter of Swami Shivananda dated February 13, 1894, that the Swami's Madrasi disciples "collected through subscription about Rs.4,000". Swami Shivananda also told one of his disciples years later (January 1925): "Subramanya and Manmathababu paid Rs.500 each, and then started collecting from other people." He further said that when the Raja of Ramnad saw that many big Govern¬ment officials were contributing, he also sent Rs.500 at the request of Manmathababu.

Even as, when he had first set out on the wandering life, he had sought the blessings of the Holy Mother, Sarada Devi, so now he yearned for her blessings on this longer journey. _x000d_ Accordingly, he wrote to her for them, requesting her at the same time to be silent about his plans. The feelings of the Holy Mother, when she received her "Naren's" letter, may well be imagined. For many, many months she had not heard from him who had been the most beloved disciple of the Master, and for whom she cherished a special affection. Moreover, she had had a vision regarding him after the passing away of the Master, in which she saw the form of Shri Ramakrishna entering into the body of Narendra, signifying that the Master would thenceforth work in and through his chief disciple. The maternal instinct of the Holy Mother prompted her to prevent the Swami's going to un¬known lands: at the same time she recognized that it was the will of the Master. She therefore set her personal feelings aside and sent him her blessings together with loving counsel. She also informed him of the above-mentioned vision that she had had._x000d_ When the Swami received the Holy Mother's letter, he alternately danced and wept with joy. He went into his room to conceal his elation, and later on, to the seashore. He said to himself, "Ah! It is all right now. It is the will of the Mother!" When he returned to the house of Manmathababu, he was radiant. Just then quite a number of his disciples had assembled as usual to hear him discourse on religious topics. When the Swami entered, they were surprised to hear him saying, "Yes, now it is the West, the West! Now I am ready. Let us go to work in right earnest. The Mother Herself has spoken!" The disciples were fired with his enthusiasm and eagerly continued their efforts to raise money, As we have noted they had collected a substantial amount.

During his stay in Madras the Swami spoke at least twice at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society. The news that appeared in The Theosophist of March 1893, though it contains a few factual errors, shows that the Swami was making an impression on the educated people of Madras, The report, written by W. R. Old, runs as follows:_x000d_ During the absence of the President-Founder and Mr. Edge, the monotony of routine work has been agreeably broken by several gatherings of Theosophists and friends upon various occasions. The arrival of Sannyasi Sachchidananda Swami in Madras, and his subsequent visits to the Headquarters of the .T.S. [Theosophical Society] has [have] been the cause of much local interest. The sannyasi is possessed of great versatility, a thorough knowledge of Pali [sic], Sanskrit, English, French [sic] and Hebrew [sic] being among his many accomplishments. He is also an M.A. [sic] of the Calcutta University. To these Nature has added a fine stalwart physique and dignified presence. He has travelled a great deal and, among other places, has visited Lhassa and other cities in Thibet [sic]. In his teaching he follows Sri Sankaracharya. But what sets him off from all others of his Holy Order, is the fact that he travels far and wide, mixing freely with the people, holding public meetings and discussions upon religious philosophy. The Sannyasi has had audiences from among the highest intellects in Madras, and has shown himself to be equally facile with arguments from Western philosophy and well versed in modern science._x000d_ Sachchidananda expressed himself pleased with some experiments in "localization" and "impression reading" conducted at Head quarters. . .

In anticipation of his visit to America, the Swami approached Colonel Olcott, the leader of the Theosophical Society there, for a letter of introduction. This is the account the Swami gave later:_x000d_ Four years ago, when I, a poor, unknown, friendless sannyasin, was going to America, going beyond the waters to America without any introductions or friends there, I called on the leader of the Theosophical Society. Naturally I thought he, being an American and a lover of India, perhaps would give me a letter of introduction to somebody there. He asked me, "Will you join my Society?" "No," I replied, "how can I? For I do not believe in most of your doctrines." "Then, I am sorry, I cannot do anything for you", he answered.

When all was ready for him to start for Khetri, there was a touching farewell scene. His Madras disciples fell prostrate before him and sought his blessings. They went with him to the railway station. As the train started, the name of the Lord, issuing from scores of devotees, rent the air. They saw him standing at the carriage door with his right hand raised in benediction.