A day or two later, as I was coming out of my house intending to pay a visit to Swamiji, I met two of my friends who expressed a wish to accompany me, for they wanted to ask Swamiji something about Pranayama. I had heard that one should not visit a temple or a Sannyasin without taking something as an offering; so we took some fruits and sweets with us and placed them before him. Swamiji took them in his hands, raised them to his head, and bowed to us before even we made our obeisance to him. One of the two friends with me had been a fellow-student of his. Swamiji recognised him at once and asked about his health and welfare. Then he made us sit down by him. There were many others there who had come to see and hear him. After replying to a few questions put by some of the gentlemen, Swamiji, in the course of his conversation, began to speak about Pranayama. First of all, he explained through modern science the origin of matter from the mind, and then went on to show what Pranayama is. All three of us had carefully read beforehand his book called Raja-Yoga. But from what we heard from him that day about Pranayama, it seemed to me that very little of the knowledge that was in him had been recorded in that book. I understand also that what he said was not mere book-learning, for who could explain so lucidly and elaborately all the intricate problems of religion, even with the help of science, without himself realising the Truth?_x000d_ His conversation on Pranayama went on from half past three o'clock till half past seven in the evening. When the meeting dissolved and we came away, my companions asked me how Swamiji could have known the questions that were in their hearts, and whether I had communicated to him their desire for asking those questions._x000d_ A few days after this occasion, I saw Swamiji in the house of the late Priya Nath Mukherjee at Baghbazar. There were present Swami Brahmananda, Swami Yogananda, Mr. G. C. Ghosh, Atul Babu, and one or two other friends. I said, "Well, Swamiji, the two gentlemen who went to see you the other day wanted to ask you some questions about Pranayama, which had been raised in their minds by reading your book on Raja-Yoga some time before you returned to this country, and they had then told me of them. But that day, before they asked you anything, you yourself raised those doubts that had occurred to them and solved them! They were very much surprised and inquired of me if I had let you know their doubts beforehand." Swamiji replied: "Similar occurrences having come to pass many times in the West, people often used to ask me, 'How could you know the questions that were agitating our minds?' This knowledge does not happen to me so often, but with Shri Ramakrishna it was almost always there."_x000d_ In this connection Atul Babu asked him: "You have said in Raja-Yoga that one can come to know all about one's previous births. Do you know them yourself?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, I do._x000d_ Atul Babu: What do you know? Have you any objection to tell?_x000d_ Swamiji: I can know them--I do know them--but I prefer not to say anything in detail.

Our house was very close to Swamiji's, and since we were boys of the same section of the town, I often used to play with him. From my boyhood I had a special attraction for him, and I had a sincere belief that he would become a great man. When he became a Sannyasin we thought that the promise of a brilliant career for such a man was all in vain._x000d_ Afterwards, when he went to America, I read in newspaper reports of his lectures at the Chicago Parliament of Religions and others delivered in various places of America, and I thought that fire can never remain hidden under a cloth; the fire that was within Swamiji had now burst into a flame; the bud after so many years had blossomed._x000d_ After a time I came to know that he had returned to India, and had been delivering fiery lectures at Madras. I read them and wondered that such sublime truths existed in the Hindu religion and that they could be explained so lucidly. What an extraordinary power he had! Was he a man or a god?_x000d_ A great enthusiasm prevailed when Swamiji came to Calcutta, and we followed him to the Sil's garden-house, on the Ganga, at Cossipore. A few days later, at the residence of Raja Radhakanta Dev, the "Calcutta boy" delivered an inspiring lecture to a huge concourse of people in reply to an address of welcome, and Calcutta heard him for the first time and was lost in admiration. But these are facts known to all._x000d_ After his coming to Calcutta, I was very anxious to see him once alone and be able to talk freely with him as in our boyhood. But there was always a gathering of eager inquirers about him, and conversations were going on without a break; so I did not get an opportunity for some time, until one day when we went out for a walk in the garden on the Ganga side. He at once began to talk, as of old, to me, the playmate of his boyhood. No sooner had a few words passed between us than repeated calls came, informing him that many gentlemen had come to see him. He became a little impatient at last and told the messenger, "Give me a little respite, my son; let me speak a few words with this companion of my boyhood; let me stay in the open air for a while. Go and give a welcome to those who have come, ask them to sit down, offer them tobacco, and request them to wait a little."_x000d_ When we were alone again, I asked him, "Well, Swamiji, you are a Sadhu (holy man). Money was raised by subscription for your reception here, and I thought, in view of the famine in this country, that you would wire, before arriving in Calcutta, saying, 'Don't spend a single pice on my reception, rather contribute the whole sum to the famine relief fund'; but I found that you did nothing of the kind. How was that?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Why, I wished rather that a great enthusiasm should be stirred up. Don't you see, without some such thing how would the people be drawn towards Shri Ramakrishna and be fired in his name? Was this ovation done for me personally, or was not his name glorified by this? See how much thirst has been created in the minds of men to know about him! Now they will come to know of him gradually, and will not that be conducive to the good of the country? If the people do not know him who came for the welfare of the country, how can good befall them? When they know what he really was, then men--real men--will be made; and when there will be such men, how long will it take to drive away famines etc. from the land? So I say that I rather desired that there should be some bustle and stir in Calcutta, so that the public might be inclined to believe in the mission of Shri Ramakrishna; otherwise what was the use of making so much fuss for my sake? What do I care for it? Have I become any greater now than when I used to play with you at your house? I am the same now as I was before. Tell me, do you find any change in me?_x000d_ Though I said, "No, I do not find much change to speak of", yet in my mind I thought, "You have now, indeed, become a god."_x000d_ Swamiji continued: "Famine has come to be a constant quantity in our country, and now it is, as it were, a sort of blight upon us. Do you find in any other country such frequent ravages of famine? No, because there are men in other countries, while in ours, men have become akin to dead matter, quite inert. Let the people first learn to renounce their selfish nature by studying Shri Ramakrishna, by knowing him as he really was, and then will proceed from them real efforts trying to stop the frequently recurring famines. By and by I shall make efforts in that direction too; you will see."_x000d_ Myself: That will be good. Then you are going to deliver many lectures here, I presume; otherwise, how will his name be preached?_x000d_ Swamiji: What nonsense! Nothing of the kind! Has anything been left undone by which his name can be known? Enough has been done in that line. Lectures won't do any good in this country. Our educated countrymen would hear them and, at best, would cheer and clap their hands, saying, "Well done"; that is all. Then they would go home and digest, as we say everything they had heard, with their meal! What good will hammering do on a piece of rusty old iron? It will only crumble into pieces. First, it should be made red-hot, and then it can be moulded into any shape by hammering. Nothing will avail in our country without setting a glowing and living example before the people. What we want are some young men who will renounce everything and sacrifice their lives for the country's sake. We should first form their lives and then some real work can be expected._x000d_ Myself: Well, Swamiji, it has always puzzled me that, while men of our country, unable to understand their own religion, were embracing alien religions, such as Christianity, Mohammedanism, etc., you, instead of doing anything for them, went over to England and America to preach Hinduism._x000d_ Swamiji: Don't you see that circumstances have changed now? Have the men of our country the power left in them to take up and practise true religion? What they have is only pride in themselves that they are very Sattvika. Time was when they were Sattvika, no doubt, but now they have fallen very low. The fall from Sattva brings one down headlong into Tamas! That is what has happened to them. Do you think that a man who does not exert himself at all, who only takes the name of Hari, shutting himself up in a room, who remains quiet and indifferent even when seeing a huge amount of wrong and violence done to others before his very eyes, possesses the quality of Sattva? Nothing of the kind, he is only enshrouded in dark Tamas. How can the people of a country practise religion who do not get even sufficient food to appease their hunger? How can renunciation come to the people of a country in whose minds the desires for Bhoga (enjoyment) have not been in the least satisfied? For this reason, find out, first of all, the ways and means by which men may get enough to eat and have enough luxuries to enable them to enjoy life a little; and then gradually, true Vairagya (dispassion) will come, and they will be fit and ready to realise religion in life. The people of England and America, how full of Rajas they are! They have become satiated with all sorts of worldly enjoyment. Moreover, Christianity, being a religion of faith and superstition, occupies the same rank as our religion of the Puranas. With the spread of education and culture, the people of the West can no more find peace in that. Their present condition is such that, giving them one lift will make them reach the Sattva. Then again, in these days, would you accept the words of a Sannyasin clad in rags, in the same degree as you would the words of a white-face (Westerner) who might come and speak to you on your own religion?_x000d_ Myself: Just so, Swamiji! Mr. N. N. Ghosh also speaks exactly to the same effect._x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, when my Western disciples after acquiring proper training and illumination will come in numbers here and ask you, "What are you all doing? Why are you of so little faith? How are your rites and religion, manners, customs, and morals in any way inferior? We even regard your religion to be the highest!"--then you will see that lots of our big and influential folk will hear them. Thus they will be able to do immense good to this country. Do not think for a moment that they will come to take up the position of teachers of religion to you. They will, no doubt, be your Guru regarding practical sciences etc., for the improvement of material conditions, and the people of our country will be their Guru in everything pertaining to religion. This relation of Guru and disciple in the domain of religion will for ever exist between India and the rest of the world._x000d_ Myself: How can that be, Swamiji? Considering the feeling of hatred with which they look upon us, it does not seem probable that they will ever do good to us, purely from an unselfish motive._x000d_ Swamiji: They find many reasons to hate us, and so they may justify themselves in doing so. In the first place, we are a conquered race, and moreover there is nowhere in the world such a nation of mendicants as we are! The masses who comprise the lowest castes, through ages of constant tyranny of the higher castes and by being treated by them with blows and kicks at every step they took, have totally lost their manliness and become like professional beggars; and those who are removed one stage higher than these, having read a few pages of English, hang about the thresholds of public offices with petitions in their hands. In the case of a post of twenty or thirty rupees falling vacant, five hundred B.A.s and M.A.s will apply for it! And, dear me! How curiously worded these petitions are! "I have nothing to eat at home, sir, my wife and children are starving; I most humbly implore you, sir, to give me some means to provide for myself and my family, or we shall die of starvation!" Even when they enter into service, they cast all self-respect to the winds, and servitude in its worst form is what they practise. Such is the condition, then, of the masses. The highly-educated, prominent men among you form themselves into societies and clamour at the top of their voices: "Alas, India is going to ruin, day by day! O English rulers, admit our country-men to the higher offices of the State, relieve us from famines" and so on, thus rending the air, day and night, with the eternal cry of "Give" and "Give"! The burden of all their speech is, "Give to us, give more to us, O Englishmen!" Dear me! What more will they give to you? They have given railways, telegraphs, well-ordered administration to the country--have almost entirely suppressed robbers, have given education in science--what more will they give? What does anyone give to others with perfect unselfishness? Well, they have given you so much; let me ask, what have you given to them in return?_x000d_ Myself: What have we to give, Swamiji? We pay taxes._x000d_ Swamiji: Do you, really? Do you give taxes to them of your own will, or do they exact them by compulsion because they keep peace in the country? Tell me plainly, what do you give them in return for all that they have done for you? You also have something to give them that they have not. You go to England, but that is also in the garb of a beggar--praying for education. Some go, and what they do there at the most is, perchance, to applaud the Westerner's religion in some speeches and then come back. What an achievement, indeed! Why, have you nothing to give them? An inestimable treasure you have, which you can give--give them your religion, give them your philosophy! Study the history of the whole world, and you will see that every high ideal you meet with anywhere had its origin in India. From time immemorial India has been the mine of precious ideas to human society; giving birth to high ideas herself, she has freely distributed them broadcast over the whole world. The English are in India today, to gather those higher ideals, to acquire a knowledge of the Vedanta, to penetrate into the deep mysteries of that eternal religion which is yours. Give those in-valuable gems in exchange for what you receive from them. The Lord took me to their country to remove this opprobrium of the beggar that is attributed by them to us. It is not right to go to England for the purpose of begging only. Why should they always give us alms? Does anyone do so for ever? It is not the law of nature to be always taking gifts with outstretched hands like beggars. To give and take is the law of nature. Any individual or class or nation that does not obey this law never prospers in life. We also must follow that law. That is why I went to America. So great is now the thirst for religion in the people there that there is room enough even if thousands of men like me go. They have been for a long time giving you of what wealth they possess, and now is the time for you to share your priceless treasure with them. And you will see how their feelings of hatred will be quickly replaced by those of faith, devotion, and reverence towards you, and how they will do good to your country even unasked. They are a nation of heroes--never do they forget any good done to them._x000d_ Myself: Well, Swamiji, in your lectures in the West you have frequently and eloquently dwelt on our characteristic talents and virtues, and many convincing proofs you have put forward to show our whole-souled love of religion; but now you say that we have become full of Tamas; and at the same time you are accrediting us as the teachers of the eternal religion of the Rishis to the world! How is that?_x000d_ Swamiji: Do you mean to say that I should go about from country to country, expatiating on your failings before the public? Should I not rather hold up before them the characteristic virtues that mark you as a nation? It is always good to tell a man his defects in a direct way and in a friendly spirit to make him convinced of them, so that he may correct himself--but you should trumpet forth his virtues before others. Shri Ramakrishna used to say that if you repeatedly tell a bad man that he is good, he turns in time to be good; similarly, a good man becomes bad if he is incessantly called so. There, in the West, I have said enough to the people of their shortcomings. Mind, up to my time, all who went over to the West from our country have sung paeans to them in praise of their virtues and have trumpeted out only our blemishes to their ears. Consequently, it is no wonder that they have learnt to hate us. For this reason I have laid before them your virtues, and pointed out to them their vices, just as I am now telling you of your weaknesses and their good points. However full of Tamas you may have become, something of the nature of the ancient Rishis, however little it may be, is undoubtedly in you still--at least the framework of it. But that does not show that one should be in a hurry to take up at once the role of a teacher of religion and go over to the West to preach it. First of all, one must completely mould one's religious life in solitude, must be perfect in renunciation and must preserve Brahmacharya without a break. The Tamas has entered into you--what of that? Cannot the Tamas be destroyed? It can be done in less than no time! It was for the destruction of this Tamas that Bhagavan Shri Ramakrishna came to us._x000d_ Myself: But who can aspire to be like you, Swamiji?_x000d_ Swamiji: Do you think that there will be no more Vivekanandas after I die! That batch of young men who came and played music before me a little while ago, whom you all despise for being addicted to intoxicating drugs and look upon as worthless fellows, if the Lord wishes, each and everyone of them may become a Vivekananda! There will be no lack of Vivekanandas, if the world needs them--thousands and millions of Vivekanandas will appear--from where, who knows! Know for certain that the work done by me is not the work of Vivekananda, it is His work--the Lord's own work! If one governor-general retires, another is sure to be sent in his place by the Emperor. Enveloped in Tamas however much you may be, know all that will clear away if you take refuge in Him by being sincere to the core of your heart. The time is opportune now, as the physician of the world-disease has come. Taking His name, if you set yourself to work, He will accomplish everything Himself through you. Tamas itself will be transformed into the highest Sattva!_x000d_ Myself: Whatever you may say, I cannot bring myself to believe in these words. Who can come by that oratorical power of expounding philosophy which you have?_x000d_ Swamiji: You don't know! That power may come to all. That power comes to him who observes unbroken Brahmacharya for a period of twelve years, with the sole object of realising God. I have practised that kind of Brahmacharya myself, and so a screen has been removed, as it were, from my brain. For that reason, I need not any more think over or prepare myself for any lectures on such a subtle subject as philosophy. Suppose I have to lecture tomorrow; all that I shall speak about will pass tonight before my eyes like so many pictures; and the next day I put into words during my lecture all those things that I saw. So you will understand now that it is not any power which is exclusively my own. Whoever will practise unbroken Brahmacharya for twelve years will surely have it. If you do so, you too will get it. Our Shastras do not say that only such and such a person will get it and not others!_x000d_ Myself: Do you remember, Swamiji, one day, before you took Sannyasa, we were sitting in the house of --, and you were trying to explain the mystery of Samadhi to us. And when I called in question the truth of your words, saying that Samadhi was not possible in this Kali Yuga, you emphatically demanded: "Do you want to see Samadhi or to have it yourself? I get Samadhi myself, and I can make you have it!" No sooner had you finished saying so than a stranger came up and we did not pursue that subject any further._x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, I remember the occasion._x000d_ Later, on my pressing him to make me get Samadhi, he said, "You see, having continually lectured and worked hard for several years, the quality of Rajas has become too predominant in me. Hence that power is lying covered, as it were, in me now. If I leave all work and go to the Himalayas and meditate in solitude for some time, then that power will again come out in me."

It was an evening in July 1898, at the Math, in Nilambar Mukerjee's garden-house, Belur. Swamiji with all his disciples had been meditating, and at the close of the meditation came out and sat in one of the rooms. As it was raining hard and a cold wind was blowing, he shut the door and began to sing to the accompaniment of Tanpura. The singing being over, a long conversation on music followed. Swami Shivananda asked him, "What is Western music like?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Oh, it is very good; there is in it a perfection of harmony, which we have not attained. Only, to our untrained ears, it does not sound well, hence we do not like it, and think that the singers howl like jackals. I also had the same sort of impression, but when I began to listen to the music with attention and study it minutely, I came more and more to understand it, and I was lost in admiration. Such is the case with every art. In glancing at a highly finished painting we cannot understand where its beauty lies. Moreover, unless the eye is, to a certain extent, trained, one cannot appreciate the subtle touches and blendings, the inner genius of a work of art. What real music we have lies in Kirtana and Dhrupada; the rest has been spoiled by being modulated according to the Islamic methods. Do you think that singing the short and light airs of Tappa songs in a nasal voice and flitting like lightning from one note to another by fits and starts are the best things in the world of music? Not so. Unless each note is given full play in every scale, all the science of music is marred. In painting, by keeping in touch with nature, you can make it as artistic as you like; there is no harm in doing that, and the result will be nothing but good. Similarly, in music, you can display any amount of skill by keeping to science, and it will be pleasing to the ear. The Mohammedans took up the different Ragas and Raginis after coming into India. But they put such a stamp of their own colouring on the art of Tappa songs that all the science in music was destroyed._x000d_ Q. Why, Maharaj (sir)? Who has not a liking for music in Tappa?_x000d_ Swamiji: The chirping of crickets sounds very good to some. The Santals think their music also to be the best of all. You do not seem to understand that when one note comes upon another in such quick succession, it not only robs music of all grace, but, on the other hand, creates discordance rather. Do not the permutation and combination of the seven keynotes form one or other of the different melodies of music, known as Ragas and Raginis? Now, in Tappa, if one slurs over a whole melody (Raga) and creates a new tune, and over and above that, if the voice is raised to the highest pitch by tremulous modulation, say, how can the Raga be kept intact? Again, the poetry of music is completely destroyed if there be in it such profuse use of light and short strains just for effect. To sing by keeping to the idea, meant to be conveyed by a song, totally disappeared from our country when Tappas came into vogue. Nowadays, it seems, the true art is reviving a little with the improvement in theatres; but, on the other hand, all regard for Ragas and Raginis is being more and more flung to the winds._x000d_ Accordingly, to those who are past masters in the art of singing Dhrupada, it is painful to hear Tappas. But in our music the cadence, or a duly regulated rise and fall of voice or sound, is very good. The French detected and appreciated this trait first, and tried to adapt and introduce it in their music. After their doing this, the whole of Europe has now thoroughly mastered it._x000d_ Q. Maharaj, their music seems to be pre-eminently martial, whereas that element appears to be altogether absent in ours._x000d_ Swamiji: Oh, no, we have it also. In martial music, harmony is greatly needed. We sadly lack harmony, hence it does not show itself so much. Our music had been improving steadily. But when the Mohammedans came, they took possession of it in such a way that the tree of music could grow no further. The music of the Westerners is much advanced. They have the sentiment of pathos as well as of heroism in their music, which is as it should be. But our antique musical instrument made from the gourd has been improved no further._x000d_ Q. Which of the Ragas and Raginis are martial in tune?_x000d_ Swamiji: Every Raga may be made martial if it is set in harmony and the instruments are tuned accordingly. Some of the Raginis can also become martial._x000d_ The conversation was then closed, as it was time for supper. After supper, Swamiji enquired as to the sleeping arrangements for the guests who had come from Calcutta to the Math to pass the night, and he then retired to his bedroom.

It was about two years after the new Math had been constructed and while all the Swamis were living there that I came one morning to pay a visit to my Guru. Seeing me, Swamiji smiled and after inquiring of my welfare etc., said, "You are going to stay today, are you not?"_x000d_ "Certainly", I said, and after various inquiries I asked, "Well, Maharaj, what is your idea of educating our boys?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Guru-griha-vasa--living with the Guru._x000d_ Q. How?_x000d_ Swamiji: In the same way as of old. But with this education has to be combined modern Western science. Both these are necessary._x000d_ Q. Why, what is the defect in the present university system?_x000d_ Swamiji: It is almost wholly one of defects. Why, it is nothing but a perfect machine for turning out clerks. I would even thank my stars if that were all. But no! See how men are becoming destitute of Shraddha and faith. They assert that the Gita is only an interpolation, and that the Vedas are but rustic songs! They like to master every detail concerning things and nations outside of India, but if you ask them, they do not know even the names of their own forefathers up to the seventh generation, not to speak of the fourteenth!_x000d_ Q. But what does that matter? What if they do not know the names of their forefathers?_x000d_ Swamiji: Don't think so. A nation that has no history of its own has nothing in this world. Do you believe that one who has such faith and pride as to feel, "I come of noble descent", can ever turn out to be bad? How could that be? That faith in himself would curb his actions and feelings, so much so that he would rather die than commit wrong. So a national history keeps a nation well-restrained and does not allow it to sink so low. Oh, I know you will say, "But we have not such a history!" No, there is not any, according to those who think like you. Neither is there any, according to your big university scholars; and so also think those who, having travelled through the West in one great rush, come back dressed in European style and assert, "We have nothing, we are barbarians." Of course, we have no history exactly like that of other countries. Suppose we take rice, and the Englishmen do not. Would you for that reason imagine that they all die of starvation, and are going to be exterminated? They live quite well on what they can easily procure or produce in their own country and what is suited to them. Similarly, we have our own history exactly as it ought to have been for us. Will that history be made extinct by shutting your eyes and crying, "Alas! We have no history!" Those who have eyes to see, find a luminous history there, and on the strength of that they know the nation is still alive. But that history has to be rewritten. It should be restated and suited to the understanding and ways of thinking which our men have acquired in the present age through Western education._x000d_ Q. How has that to be done?_x000d_ Swamiji: That is too big a subject for a talk now. However, to bring that about, the old institution of "living with the Guru" and similar systems of imparting education are needed. What we want are Western science coupled with Vedanta, Brahmacharya as the guiding motto, and also Shraddha and faith in one's own self. Another thing that we want is the abolition of that system which aims at educating our boys in the same manner as that of the man who battered his ass, being advised that it could thereby be turned into a horse._x000d_ Q. What do you mean by that?_x000d_ Swamiji: You see, no one can teach anybody. The teacher spoils everything by thinking that he is teaching. Thus Vedanta says that within man is all knowledge--even in a boy it is so--and it requires only an awakening, and that much is the work of a teacher. We have to do only so much for the boys that they may learn to apply their own intellect to the proper use of their hands, legs, ears, eyes, etc., and finally everything will become easy. But the root is religion. Religion is as the rice, and everything else, like the curries. Taking only curries causes indigestion, and so is the case with taking rice alone. Our pedagogues are making parrots of our boys and ruining their brains by cramming a lot of subjects into them. Looking from one standpoint, you should rather be grateful to the Viceroy for his proposal of reforming the university system, which means practically abolishing higher education; the country will, at least, feel some relief by having breathing time. Goodness gracious! What a fuss and fury about graduating, and after a few days all cools down! And after all that, what is it they learn but that what religion and customs we have are all bad, and what the Westerners have are all good! At last, they cannot keep the wolf from the door! What does it matter if this higher education remains or goes? It would be better if the people got a little technical education, so that they might find work and earn their bread, instead of dawdling about and crying for service._x000d_ Q. Yes, the Marwaris are wiser, since they do not accept service and most of them engage themselves in some trade._x000d_ Swamiji: Nonsense! They are on the way to bringing ruin on the country. They have little understanding of their own interests. You are much better, because you have more of an eye towards manufactures. If the money that they lay out in their business and with which they make only a small percentage of profit were utilised in conducting a few factories and workshops, instead of filling the pockets of Europeans by letting them reap the benefit of most of the transactions, then it would not only conduce to the well-being of the country but bring by far the greater amount of profit to them, as well. It is only the Kabulis who do not care for service--the spirit of independence is in their very bone and marrow. Propose to anyone of them to take service, and you will see what follows!_x000d_ Q. Well, Maharaj, in case higher education is abolished, will not the men become as stupid as cows, as they were before?_x000d_ Swamiji: What nonsense! Can ever a lion become a jackal? What do you mean? Is it ever possible for the sons of the land that has nourished the whole world with knowledge from time immemorial to turn as stupid as cows, because of the abolition of higher education by Lord Curzon?_x000d_ Q. But think what our people were before the advent of the English, and what they are now._x000d_ Swamiji: Does higher education mean mere study of material sciences and turning out things of everyday use by machinery? The use of higher education is to find out how to solve the problems of life, and this is what is engaging the profound thought of the modern civilised world, but it was solved in our country thousands of years ago._x000d_ Q. But your Vedanta also was about to disappear?_x000d_ Swamiji: It might be so. In the efflux of time the light of Vedanta now and then seems as if about to be extinguished, and when that happens, the Lord has to incarnate Himself in the human body; He then infuses such life and strength into religion that it goes on again for some time with irresistible vigour. That life and strength has come into it again._x000d_ Q. What proof is there, Maharaj, that India has freely contributed her knowledge to the rest of the world?_x000d_ Swamiji: History itself bears testimony to the fact. All the soul-elevating ideas and the different branches of knowledge that exist in the world are found on proper investigation to have their roots in India._x000d_ Aglow with enthusiasm, Swamiji dwelt at length on this topic. His health was very bad at the time, and moreover owing to the intense heat of summer, he was feeling thirsty and drinking water too often. At last he said, "Dear Singhi, get a glass of iced water for me please, I shall explain everything to you clearly." After drinking the iced water he began afresh._x000d_ Swamiji: What we need, you know, is to study, independent of foreign control, different branches of the knowledge that is our own, and with it the English language and Western science; we need technical education and all else that may develop industries so that men, instead of seeking for service, may earn enough to provide for themselves, and save something against a rainy day._x000d_ Q. What were you going to say the other day about the tol (Sanskrit boarding school) system?_x000d_ Swamiji: Haven't you read the stories from the Upanishads? I will tell you one. Satyakama went to live the life of a Brahmacharin with his Guru. The Guru gave into his charge some cows and sent him away to the forest with them. Many months passed by, and when Satyakama saw that the number of cows was doubled he thought of returning to his Guru. On his way back, one of the bulls, the fire, and some other animals gave him instructions about the Highest Brahman. When the disciple came back, the Guru at once saw by a mere glance at his face that the disciple had learnt the knowledge of the Supreme Brahman. Now, the moral this story is meant to teach is that true education is gained by constant living in communion with nature._x000d_ Knowledge should be acquired in that way, otherwise by educating yourself in the tol of a Pandit you will be only a human ape all your life. One should live from his very boyhood with one whose character is like a blazing fire and should have before him a living example of the highest teaching. Mere reading that it is a sin to tell a lie will be of no use. Every boy should be trained to practise absolute Brahmacharya, and then, and then only, faith--Shraddha--will come. Otherwise, why will not one who has no Shraddha speak an untruth? In our country, the imparting of knowledge has always been through men of renunciation. Later, the Pandits, by monopolising all knowledge and restricting it to the tols, have only brought the country to the brink of ruin. India had all good prospects so long as Tyagis (men of renunciation) used to impart knowledge._x000d_ Q. What do you mean, Maharaj? There are no Sannyasins in other countries, but see how by dint of their knowledge India is laid prostrate at their feet!_x000d_ Swamiji: Don't talk nonsense, my dear, hear what I say. India will have to carry others' shoes for ever on her head if the charge of imparting knowledge to her sons does not again fall upon the shoulders of Tyagis. Don't you know how an illiterate boy, possessed of renunciation, turned the heads of your great old Pandits? Once at the Dakshineswar Temple the Brahmana who was in charge of the worship of Vishnu broke a leg of the image. Pandits were brought together at a meeting to give their opinions, and they, after consulting old books and manuscripts, declared that the worship of this broken image could not be sanctioned according to the Shastras and a new image would have to be consecrated. There was, consequently, a great stir. Shri Ramakrishna was called at last. He heard and asked, "Does a wife forsake her husband in case he becomes lame?" What followed? The Pandits were struck dumb, all their Shastric commentaries and erudition could not withstand the force of this simple statement. If what you say was true, why should Shri Ramakrishna come down to this earth, and why should he discourage mere book-learning so much? That new life-force which he brought with him has to be instilled into learning and education, and then the real work will be done._x000d_ Q. But that is easier said than done._x000d_ Swamiji: Had it been easy, it would not have been necessary for him to come. What you have to do now is to establish a Math in every town and in every village. Can you do that? Do something at least. Start a big Math in the heart of Calcutta. A well-educated Sadhu should be at the head of that centre and under him there should be departments for teaching practical science and arts, with a specialist Sannyasin in charge of each of these departments._x000d_ Q. Where will you get such Sadhus?_x000d_ Swamiji: We shall have to manufacture them. Therefore, I always say that some young men with burning patriotism and renunciation are needed. None can master a thing perfectly in so short a time as the Tyagis will._x000d_ After a short silence Swamiji said, "Singhi, there are so many things left to be done for our country that thousands like you and me are needed. What will mere talk do? See to what a miserable condition the country is reduced; now do something! We haven't even got a single book well suited for the little boys._x000d_ Q. Why, there are so many books of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar for the boys!_x000d_ No sooner had I said this than he laughed out and said: Yes, there you read "Ishvar Nirakar Chaitanya Svarup"--(God is without form and of the essence of pure knowledge); "Subal ati subodh balak"--(Subal is a very good boy), and so on. That won't do. We must compose some books in Bengali as also in English with short stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Upanishads, etc., in very easy and simple language, and these are to be given to our little boys to read._x000d_ It was about eleven o'clock by this time. The sky became suddenly overcast, and a cool breeze began to blow. Swamiji was greatly delighted at the prospect of rain. He got up and said, "Let us, Singhi, have a stroll by the side of the Ganga." We did so, and he recited many stanzas from the Meghaduta of Kalidasa, but the one undercurrent of thought that was all the time running through his mind was the good of India. He exclaimed, "Look here, Singhi, can you do one thing? Can you put a stop to the marriage of our boys for some time?_x000d_ I said, "Well, Maharaj, how can we think of that when the Babus are trying, on the other hand, all sorts of means to make marriage cheaper?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Don't trouble your head on that score; who can stem the tide of time! All such agitations will end in empty sound, that is all. The dearer the marriages become, the better for the country. What a hurry-scurry of passing examinations and marrying right off! It seems as if no one was to be left a bachelor, but it is just the same thing again, next year!_x000d_ After a short silence, Swamiji again said, "if I can get some unmarried graduates, I may try to send them over to Japan and make arrangements for their technical education there, so that when they come back, they may turn their knowledge to the best account for India. What a good thing that would be!_x000d_ Q. Why, Maharaj, is it better for us to go to Japan than to England?_x000d_ Swamiji: Certainly! In my opinion, if all our rich and educated men once go and see Japan, their eyes will be opened._x000d_ Q. How?_x000d_ Swamiji: There, in Japan, you find a fine assimilation of knowledge, and not its indigestion, as we have here. They have taken everything from the Europeans, but they remain Japanese all the same, and have not turned European; while in our country, the terrible mania of becoming Westernised has seized upon us like a plague._x000d_ I said: "Maharaj, I have seen some Japanese paintings; one cannot but marvel at their art. Its inspiration seems to be something which is their own and beyond imitation."_x000d_ Swamiji: Quite so. They are great as a nation because of their art. Don't you see they are Asians, as we are? And though we have lost almost everything, yet what we still have is wonderful. The very soul of_x000d_ the Asian is interwoven with art. The Asian never uses a thing unless there be art in it. Don't you know that art is, with us, a part of religion? How greatly is a lady admired, among us, who can nicely paint the floors and walls, on auspicious occasions, with the paste of rice powder? How great an artist was Shri Ramakrishna himself!_x000d_ Q. The English art is also good, is it not?_x000d_ Swamiji: What a stupid fool you are! But what is the use of blaming you when that seems to be the prevailing way of thinking! Alas, to such a state is our country reduced! The people will look upon their own gold as brass, while the brass of the foreigner is gold to them! This is, indeed, the magic wrought by modern education! Know that since the time the Europeans have come into contact with Asia, they are trying to infuse art into their own life._x000d_ Myself: If others hear you talk like this, Maharaj, they will think that you take a pessimistic view of things._x000d_ Swamiji: Naturally! What else can they think who move in a rut! How I wish I could show you everything through my eyes! Look at their buildings--how commonplace, how meaningless, they are! Look at those big government buildings; can you, just by seeing their outside, make out any meaning for which each of them stands? No, because they are all so unsymbolical. Take again the dress of Westerners: their stiff coats and straight pants, fitting almost tightly to the body, are, in our estimation, hardly decent. Is it not so? And, oh, what beauty, indeed, in that! Now, go all over our motherland and see if you cannot read aright, from their very appearance, the meaning for which our buildings stand, and how much art there is in them! The glass is their drinking vessel, and ours is the metal Ghati (pitcher-shaped); which of the two is artistic? Have you seen the farmers' homes in our villages?_x000d_ Myself: Yes, I have, of course._x000d_ Swamiji: What have you seen of them?_x000d_ I did not know what to say. However, I replied, "Maharaj, they are faultlessly neat and clean, the yards and floors being daily well plastered over"._x000d_ Swamiji: Have you seen their granaries for keeping paddy? What an art is there in them! What a variety of paintings even on their mud walls! And then, if you go and see how the lower classes live in the West, you would at once mark the difference. Their ideal is utility, ours art. The Westerner looks for utility in everything, whereas with us art is everywhere. With the Western education, those beautiful Ghatis of ours have been discarded, and enamel glasses have usurped their place in our homes! Thus the ideal of utility has been imbibed by us to such an extent as to make it look little short of the ridiculous. Now what we need is the combination of art and utility. Japan has done that very quickly, and so she has advanced by giant strides. Now, in their turn, the Japanese are going to teach the Westerners._x000d_ Q. Maharaj, which nation in the world dresses best?_x000d_ Swamiji: The Aryans do; even the Europeans admit that. How picturesquely their dresses hang in folds! The royal costumes of most nations are, to some extent, a sort of imitation of the Aryans'--the same attempt is made there to keep them in folds, and those costumes bear a marked difference to their national style._x000d_ By the by, Singhi, leave off that wretched habit of wearing those European shirts._x000d_ Q. Why, Maharaj?_x000d_ Swamiji: For the reason that they are used by the Westerners only as underwear. They never like to see them worn outside. How mistaken of the Bengalis to do so! As if one should wear anything and everything, as if there was no unwritten law about dress, as if there was no ancestral style to follow! Our people are out-casted by taking the food touched by the lower classes; it would have been very well if the same law applied to their wearing any irregular style of dress. Why can't you adapt your dress in some way to our own style? What sense is there in your adopting European shirts and coats?_x000d_ It began to rain now, and the dinner-bell also rang. So we went in to partake of the Prasada (consecrated food) with others. During the meal, Swamiji said, addressing me: "Concentrated food should be taken. To fill the stomach with a large quantity of rice is the root of laziness." A little while after he said again, "Look at the Japanese, they take rice with the soup of split peas, twice or thrice a day. But even the strongly built take a little at a time, though the number of meals may be more. Those who are well-to-do among them take meat daily. While we stuff ourselves twice a day up to the throat, as it were, and the whole of our energy is exhausted in digesting such a quantity of rice!"_x000d_ Q. Is it feasible for us Bengalis, poor as we are, to take meat?_x000d_ Swamiji: Why not? You can afford to have it in small quantities. Half a pound a day is quite enough. The real evil is idleness, which is the principal cause of our poverty. Suppose the head of a firm gets displeased with someone and decreases his pay; or out of three or four bread-winning sons in a family one suddenly dies; what do they do? Why, they at once curtail the quantity of milk for the children, or live on one meal a day, having a little popped rice or so at night!_x000d_ Q. But what else can they do under the circumstances?_x000d_ Swamiji: Why can't they exert themselves and earn more to keep up their standard of food? But no! They must go to their local Addas (rendezvous) and idle hours away! Oh, if they only knew how they wasted their time!

Once I went to see Swamiji while he was staying in Calcutta at the house of the late Balaram Basu. After a long conversation about Japan and America, I asked him, "Well, Swamiji, how many disciples have you in the West?"_x000d_ Swamiji: A good many._x000d_ Q. Two or three thousands?_x000d_ Swamiji: Maybe more than that._x000d_ Q. Are they all initiated by you with Mantras?_x000d_ Swamiji: Yes._x000d_ Q. Did you give them permission to utter Pranava (Om)?_x000d_ Swamiji: Yes._x000d_ Q. How did you, Maharaj? They say that the Shudras have no right to Pranava, and none has except the Brahmins. Moreover, the Westerners are Mlechchhas, not even Shudras._x000d_ Swamiji: How do you know that those whom I have initiated are not Brahmins?_x000d_ Myself: Where could you get Brahmins outside India, in the lands of the Yavanas and Mlechchhas?_x000d_ Swamiji: My disciples are all Brahmins! I quite admit the truth of the words that none except the Brahmins has the right to Pranava. But the son of a Brahmin is not necessarily always a Brahmin; though there is every possibility of his being one, he may not become so. Did you not hear that the nephew of Aghore Chakravarti of Baghbazar became a sweeper and actually used to do all the menial services of his adopted caste? Was he not the son of a Brahmin?_x000d_ The Brahmin caste and the Brahmanya qualities are two distinct things. In India, one is held to be a Brahmin by one's caste, but in the West, one should be known as such by one's Brahmanya qualities. As there are three Gunas--Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas--so there are Gunas which show a man to be a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, or Shudra. The qualities of being a Brahmin or a Kshatriya are dying out from the country; but in the West they have now attained to Kshatriyahood, from which the next step is Brahminhood; and many there are who have qualified themselves for that._x000d_ Q. Then you call those Brahmins who are Sattvika by nature._x000d_ Swamiji: Quite so. As there are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas--one or other of these Gunas more or less--in every man, so the qualities which make a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, or Shudra are inherent in every man, more or less. But at times one or other of these qualities predominates in him in varying degrees, and it is manifested accordingly. Take a man in his different pursuits, for example: when he is engaged in serving another for pay, he is in Shudrahood; when he is busy transacting some piece of business for profit, on his own account, he is a Vaishya; when he fights to right wrongs, then the qualities of a Kshatriya come out in him; and when he meditates on God or passes his time in conversation about Him, then he is a Brahmin. Naturally, it is quite possible for one to be changed from one caste into another. Otherwise, how did Vishvamitra become a Brahmin and Parashurama a Kshatriya?_x000d_ Q. What you say seems to be quite right, but why then do not our Pandits and family-Gurus teach us the same thing?_x000d_ Swamiji: That is one of the great evils of our country. But let the matter rest now._x000d_ Swamiji here spoke highly of the Westerners' spirit of practicality, and how, when they take up religion also, that spirit shows itself._x000d_ Myself: True, Maharaj, I have heard that their spiritual and psychic powers are very quickly developed when they practise religion. The other day Swami Saradananda showed me a letter written by one of his Western disciples, describing the spiritual powers highly developed in the writer through the Sadhanas practised for only four months._x000d_ Swamiji: So you see! Now you understand whether there are Brahmins in the West or not. You have Brahmins here also, but they are bringing the country down to the verge of ruin by their awful tyranny, and consequently what they have naturally is vanishing away by degrees. The Guru initiates his disciple with a Mantra, but that has come to be a trade with him. And then, how wonderful is the relation nowadays between a Guru and his disciple! Perchance, the Guru has nothing to eat at home, and his wife brings the matter to his notice and says, "Pray, go once again to your disciples, dear. Will your playing at dice all day long save us from hunger?" The Brahmin in reply says, "Very well, remind me of it tomorrow morning. I have come to hear that my disciple so-and-so is having a run of luck, and, moreover, I have not been to him for a long time." This is what your Kula-Guru system has come to in Bengal! Priestcraft in the West is not so degenerated, as yet; it is on the whole better than your kind!

By the word "Shastras" the Vedas without beginning or end are meant. In matters of religious duty the Vedas are the only capable authority._x000d_ The Puranas and other religious scriptures are all denoted by the word "Smriti". And their authority goes so far as they follow the Vedas and do not contradict them._x000d_ Truth is of two kinds: (1) that which is cognisable by the five ordinary senses of man, and by reasonings based thereon; (2) that which is cognisable by the subtle, supersensuous power of Yoga._x000d_ Knowledge acquired by the first means is called science; and knowledge acquired by the second is called the Vedas._x000d_ The whole body of supersensuous truths, having no beginning or end, and called by the name of the Vedas, is ever-existent. The Creator Himself is creating, preserving, and destroying the universe with the help of these truths._x000d_ The person in whom this supersensuous power is manifested is called a Rishi, and the supersensuous truths which he realises by this power are called the Vedas._x000d_ This Rishihood, this power of supersensuous perception of the Vedas, is real religion. And so long as this does not develop in the life of an initiate, so long is religion a mere empty word to him, and it is to be understood that he has not taken yet the first step in religion._x000d_ The authority of the Vedas extends to all ages, climes and persons; that is to say, their application is not confined to any particular place, time, and persons._x000d_ The Vedas are the only exponent of the universal religion._x000d_ Although the supersensuous vision of truths is to be met with in some measure in our Puranas and Itihasas and in the religious scriptures of other races, still the fourfold scripture known among the Aryan race as the Vedas being the first, the most complete, and the most undistorted collection of spiritual truths, deserve to occupy the highest place among all scriptures, command the respect of all nations of the earth, and furnish the rationale of all their respective scriptures._x000d_ With regard to the whole Vedic collection of truths discovered by the Aryan race, this also has to be understood that those portions alone which do not refer to purely secular matters and which do not merely record tradition or history, or merely provide incentives to duty, form the Vedas in the real sense._x000d_ The Vedas are divided into two portions, the Jnana-kanda (knowledge-portion) and the Karma-kanda (ritual-portion). The ceremonies and the fruits of the Karma-kanda are confined within the limits of the world of Maya, and therefore they have been undergoing and will undergo transformation according to the law of change which operates through time, space, and personality._x000d_ Social laws and customs likewise, being based on this Karma-kanda, have been changing and will continue to change hereafter. Minor social usages also will be recognised and accepted when they are compatible with the spirit of the true scriptures and the conduct and example of holy sages. But blind allegiance only to usages such as are repugnant to the spirit of the Shastras and the conduct of holy sages has been one of the main causes of the downfall of the Aryan race._x000d_ It is the Jnana-kanda or the Vedanta only that has for all time commanded recognition for leading men across Maya and bestowing salvation on them through the practice of Yoga, Bhakti, Jnana, or selfless work; and as its validity and authority remain unaffected by any limitations of time, place or persons, it is the only exponent of the universal and eternal religion for all mankind._x000d_ The Samhitas of Manu and other sages, following the lines laid down in the Karma-kanda, have mainly ordained rules of conduct conducive to social welfare, according to the exigencies of time, place, and persons. The Puranas etc. have taken up the truths imbedded in the Vedanta and have explained them in detail in the course of describing the exalted life and deeds of Avataras and others. They have each emphasised, besides, some out of the infinite aspects of the Divine Lord to teach men about them._x000d_ But when by the process of time, fallen from the true ideals and rules of conduct and devoid of the spirit of renunciation, addicted only to blind usages, and degraded in intellect, the descendants of the Aryans failed to appreciate even the spirit of these Puranas etc. which taught men of ordinary intelligence the abstruse truths of the Vedanta in concrete form and diffuse language and appeared antagonistic to one another on the surface, because of each inculcating with special emphasis only particular aspects of the spiritual ideal--_x000d_ And when, as a consequence, they reduced India, the fair land of religion, to a scene of almost infernal confusion by breaking up piecemeal the one Eternal Religion of the Vedas (Sanatana Dharma), the grand synthesis of all the aspects of the spiritual ideal, into conflicting sects and by seeking to sacrifice one another in the flames of sectarian hatred and intolerance--_x000d_ Then it was that Shri Bhagavan Ramakrishna incarnated himself in India, to demonstrate what the true religion of the Aryan race is; to show where amidst all its many divisions and offshoots, scattered over the land in the course of its immemorial history, lies the true unity of the Hindu religion, which by its overwhelming number of sects discordant to superficial view, quarrelling constantly with each other and abounding in customs divergent in every way, has constituted itself a misleading enigma for our countrymen and the butt of contempt for foreigners; and above all, to hold up before men, for their lasting welfare, as a living embodiment of the Sanatana Dharma, his own wonderful life into which he infused the universal spirit and character of this Dharma, so long cast into oblivion by the process of time._x000d_ In order to show how the Vedic truths--eternally existent as the instrument with the Creator in His work of creation, preservation, and dissolution--reveal themselves spontaneously in the minds of the Rishis purified from all impressions of worldly attachment, and because such verification and confirmation of the scriptural truths will help the revival, reinstatement, and spread of religion--the Lord, though the very embodiment of the Vedas, in this His new incarnation has thoroughly discarded all external forms of learning._x000d_ That the Lord incarnates again and again in human form for the protection of the Vedas or the true religion, and of Brahminhood or the ministry of that religion--is a doctrine well established in the Puranas etc._x000d_ The waters of a river falling in a cataract acquire greater velocity, the rising wave after a hollow swells higher; so after every spell of decline, the Aryan society recovering from all the evils by the merciful dispensation of Providence has risen the more glorious and powerful--such is the testimony of history._x000d_ After rising from every fall, our revived society is expressing more and more its innate eternal perfection, and so also the omnipresent Lord in each successive incarnation is manifesting Himself more and more._x000d_ Again and again has our country fallen into a swoon, as it were, and again and again has India's Lord, by the manifestation of Himself, revivified her._x000d_ But greater than the present deep dismal night, now almost over, no pall of darkness had ever before enveloped this holy land of ours. And compared with the depth of this fall, all previous falls appear like little hoof-marks._x000d_ Therefore, before the effulgence of this new awakening, the glory of all past revivals in her history will pale like stars before the rising sun; and compared with this mighty manifestation of renewed strength, all the many past epochs of such restoration will be as child's play._x000d_ The various constituent ideals of the Religion Eternal, during its present state of decline, have been lying scattered here and there for want of competent men to realise them--some being preserved partially among small sects and some completely lost._x000d_ But strong in the strength of this new spiritual renaissance, men, after reorganising these scattered and disconnected spiritual ideals, will be able to comprehend and practise them in their own lives and also to recover from oblivion those that are lost. And as the sure pledge of this glorious future, the all-merciful Lord has manifested in the present age, as stated above, an incarnation which in point of completeness in revelation, its synthetic harmonising of all ideals, and its promoting of every sphere of spiritual culture, surpasses the manifestations of all past ages._x000d_ So at the very dawn of this momentous epoch, the reconciliation of all aspects and ideals of religious thought and worship is being proclaimed; this boundless, all-embracing idea had been lying inherent, but so long concealed, in the Religion Eternal and its scriptures, and now rediscovered, it is being declared to humanity in a trumpet voice._x000d_ This epochal new dispensation is the harbinger of great good to the whole world, specially to India; and the inspirer of this dispensation, Shri Bhagavan Ramakrishna, is the reformed and remodelled manifestation of all the past great epoch-makers in religion. O man, have faith in this, and lay it to heart._x000d_ The dead never return; the past night does not reappear; a spent-up tidal wave does not rise anew; neither does man inhabit the same body over again. So from the worship of the dead past, O man, we invite you to the worship of the living present; from the regretful brooding over bygones, we invite you to the activities of the present; from the waste of energy in retracing lost and demolished pathways, we call you back to broad new-laid highways lying very near. He that is wise, let him understand._x000d_ Of that power, which at the very first impulse has roused distant echoes from all the four quarters of the globe, conceive in your mind the manifestation in its fullness; and discarding all idle misgivings, weaknesses, and the jealousies characteristic of enslaved peoples, come and help in the turning of this mighty wheel of new dispensation!_x000d_ With the conviction firmly rooted in your heart that you are the servants of the Lord, His children, helpers in the fulfillment of His purpose, enter the arena of work.

A day or two after their arrival they went to see the Swami, who was living in the temporary monastery at Nilambar Mukherjee's garden-house. When he took them to the new site, they saw the old riverside house empty. They said to him, "Swami, can't we use this house?" "It is not in order", he answered. "But we shall put it in order", they said. The Swami gave them permission to do so. At their expense the small house was repaired, whitewashed, and furnished. In the early part of March, Mrs. Bull and Miss MacLeod occupied it. Later, Margaret Noble joined them as their guest till they all left for Kashmir. About their stay here by the Ganga, Josephine MacLeod wrote later: "We stayed there quite two months. It was perhaps the most beautiful time we ever had with Swamiji. He came every morning for early tea which he used to take under the great mango tree.... He would bring all those who came to visit him, to see what a charming home we had made of this house he had thought unhabitable…."_x000d_ The Swami was astonished to see their capacity for adjustment at the riverside cottage-for it was no more than a cottage.

The Swami would spend hours daily with his Western disciples in their riverside cottage. Under the trees beside it, he would reveal the Indian world to them — its history, its folklore, its caste-system, and its customs. The ideals and realities of the Indian religions were interpreted to them in such a vivid, poetic, and dramatic way, said one of his hearers, that India herself became, as it were, "the last and noblest of tail Puranas, uttering itself through his lips". But whatever the subject of his conversation, "it ended always on the note of the Infinite". He showed no mercy to his Western disciples in their wrong notions and prepossessions with regard to India. He would soften nothing in Hinduism that might at first sight be difficult or repellent to the Western mind; he would rather put before them such things in their extreme form, and induce them to enter into the spirit and catch the meaning of what was difficult or repellent. The chief difficulty for the Western disciples was, as might be expected, understanding the Hindu religious ideals and forms of worship, and the Hindu outlook on life' The Swami would speak for hours, making every effort of mind and putting his whole heart into the endeavour to elucidate these matters. Carried along by his enthusiasm, these disciples from the West caught glimpses of the background to which the Hindu thought symbols, so strange to them, pointed. They learned the great ideals and watchwords of the Indian striving till these became their own. Truly, in the Swami, East and West were made one; and in the end his Eastern and Western disciples were able to mingle freely in thought and life. But the distance to be travelled was great. The process that the journey involved called for self-effacement on certain levels of the personality. For the Western disciples to acquire consciously the culture that the Indian disciples had grown up in, a far-reaching reorientation was necessary-and the guidance of a master mind. The Swami was infinitely patient. He did not show the slightest irritation at interruptions in the, flow of his conversation, however frequent and irrelevant they might be, for he knew the difficulties.

The training of those Western disciples of his who came to India was a matter of deep concern to Swami Vivekananda, both as a spiritual teacher and as a Hindu of broad vision. He was alive to the responsibility that rested on him. He knew that for them, coming into close contact with Indians in their homes, coming to know their styles of dress, food, and thought, and having first-hand experience of the deficiencies of the land judged by materialistic standards — he knew that all this would he a test of their faith in the Vedanta and of their power to fathom the Hindu view of life, which he was endeavouring to elucidate for them. But he did not know, perhaps, that the strangest revelation to them was he himself. In the West they had known him as a religious messenger, an apostle of Hinduism, with the mission of voicing the spiritual message, the eternal wisdom, that had been inherited from India's past. His only motive was the liberation of mankind from ignorance and the promotion of brotherly feeling between the different faiths and nations of the world. In India, however, they found him more of a patriot, a worker for the regeneration of his motherland, with all the fret and torment of a lion caught in a cage. Thwarted, just when his power had reached its full, not by the many obstacles that lay in the path of achieving his purpose, but by failing health, he was prone to despair. But shaking off despair like a hero, he made a superhuman effort to see his task through. Forced as he was to live a comparatively retired life, he put his whole soul into the making of workers to carry out his plans and embody his ideas. Among the Western disciples there was one in particular of whom he had great hopes, and to her his discourses were mainly directed. If he had done no more during this period than clear the way for the transformation of Miss Margaret Noble into Sister Nivedita, he could not be said to have spent the time in vain.

The Math at Nilambar Mukherjee's garden-house was full by the time of the Shivaratri (Night of Shiva) festival. This precedes by three days the birth anniversary of Shri Ramakrishna. Swami Saradananda had returned from America; Swami Shivananda had come back from his Vedanta work in Ceylon, and Swami Trigunatita from Dinajpur, after finishing his famine relief work there. The Swami was highly pleased With the work of all of them. He congratulated Swami Brahmananda on the success of the Ramakrishna Mission under his guidance, and Swami Turiyananda for having, in his absence, trained the young sannyasis and Brahmacharis of the Math. At the suggestion of the Swami, the young sannyasis and Brahmacharis prepared, during the afternoon of the Shivaratri day, thanksgiving addresses in English to every one of the senior Swamis, and these were read out to them at a gathering of the Brotherhood held at the Math. The Swami was in the chair. He called upon his brother-monks to reply by turn to the addresses. After Swami Turiyananda had spoken, the Swami remarked, "He has the oratorical voice." Before he himself rose to speak, he said: "It is very difficult to address a parlour meeting. Before a large gathering it is easy to forget oneself in the subject of the discourse, and hence one is able to carry the audience, with him. But this is not possible when only a few men are present. However, let me try." He proceeded to counsel his monastic brothers and his disciples with regard to the line of action they should adopt, both in its individual and community aspect.

After the Upanayana (sacred-thread) ceremony mentioned above, the sannyasis of the monastery, joining mirth with devotion, seized upon the Swami and arrayed him as Shiva. They put shell (according to some, bone) ear-rings in his cars, covered his body with snow-white ashes, placed on his head a mass of matted hair that reached to his knees, put bracelets on his arms, and round his neck hung a long rosary of large Rudraksha beads in three rows. In his left hand they placed the symbolic trident. Then they smeared their own bodies with ashes. "The unspeakable beauty of that form of the Swami dressed as Shiva", writes Sharatchandra Chakravarti, "cannot he described; it is something which has to be seen, to be realized. All present declared afterwards that they felt as if Shiva Himself, of youthful, ascetic form, was before them. And the Swami, with the sannyasis seated round him like so many Bhairavas (the traditional attendant of the Great God), seemed to have brought the exalted atmosphere of Kailasa into the precincts of the Math." The Swami sang a hymn to Shri Rama, and, inebriated with the Lord's name, went on saying again and again, "Rama, Rama, Shri Rama, Rama!" He was as one entranced in the Shiva nature. The sublimity of his facial expression was heightened a hundred-fold. His eyes were half shut; he was seated in Padmasana (lotus posture), while one hand played on the Tanpura (a stringed musical instrument). The whole gathering of monks and devotees was caught up in, and thrilled with, religious ecstasy. Everyone seemed as though intoxicated with draughts of the nectar of the name of Rama issuing from the Swami's lips. For more than half an hour intense stillness prevailed and all sat motionless.

He regarded the coming to India of his Western disciples as a test and experiment. Had they all turned against him he would not have for one moment allowed himself to think unkindly of them. To Marga-ret Noble he had written, on the eve of her departure from London: "I will stand by you unto death whether you work for India or not, whether you give up Vedanta or remain in it. The tusks of the elephant come out, but they never go back. So are the words of a man never retracted." And what father loved his children with a greater love than did he his disciples!

The chanting ended, the Swami sang a song in an ecstatic mood. Then Swami Saradananda followed with "The Hymn of Creation", composed by the Swami, who accompanied him on the drum. Some of the favourite songs of Shri Ramakrishna were also sung. Then, on the spur of the moment, the Swami removed the symbolic decora-tions on himself and put them on Girishbabu after smearing Girish's body with ashes. Finally the Swami robed him in a Gerua (ochre) cloth, with the remark: "Parama-hamsa Deva used to say that G. C. has a little of the Bhairava in him. Ay, there is no difference between him and ourselves!" This brought tears to the eyes of the great dramatist. When asked by the Swami to speak of Shri Ramakrishna to the assembled devotees, Girishbabu could only say, after a long silence, his voice choked with emo-tion: "What shall I say of our all-merciful Lord! I feel that it is by his infinite grace that he has given even an unworthy person like me the privilege of sitting on the same seat with such pure souls as you, who have renounced Kamini-Kanchana (Lust and Gold) even from boyhood!"

After this the Swami briefly addressed those who had received the sacred thread, ask-ing them to repeat the Gayatri daily at least one hundred times. In the meantime Swa-mi Akhandananda arrived at the Math from his orphanage in Murshidabad. Referring to him the Swami said, "Look, what a great Karma-Yogi he is! Without fear, caring for neither life nor death, how he is working with one-pointed devotion for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many!" This led the Swami to speak at length on Karma-Yoga, of how the realization of the Self could be attained by devotedly working for others without attachment, seeing the Self in all. Then he sang a beautiful Bengali song relating to the infant Ramakrishna, composed by Girishbabu ("Dukhini Brahmani Kole"). These lines occur in the song: _x000d_ _x000d_ Lying on the lap of the poor Brahmana's spouse, _x000d_ Who art Thou, 0 Radiant One? _x000d_ Who art Thou, 0 Digambara (Naked One), _x000d_ come to the humble cottage-room? _x000d_ _x000d_ Grieved at the world's sore afflictions, _x000d_ Hast Thou come with Thy heart bleeding for it?

The next period of the Swami's life in India, from the third week of January to October 1898, comprises his stay in Calcutta and at the Math, and an extended sojourn in the Himalayas: first, a stay at Darjeeling; then at Naini Tal and Almora; and afterwards in Kashmir.

On March. 30 he left Calcutta for Darjeeling. On May 3 he was once more in Calcutta, which he again left on May 11 for Almora, in company with some of his brother-monks, and some of his disciples, Eastern and Western. He was at Almora till June 10. On June 20 he and his party were in Kashmir, where they remained till about the middle of October. Returning to the plains, he came with his Western disciples as far as Lahore. From there he travelled direct to Calcutta, which he reached on October 18.

The Math diary records his varied activities and occupations. He would he constantly engaged in visiting devotees, in receiving visitors either at the Math or at Balarambabu's house, or in replying to letters and in other writing work; but the training of the sannyasis and Brahmacharis formed the most important part of his work during this period. He would spend hours with them in meditation, devotional singing, study, or in relating the experiences of the various stages of yoga and spiritual insight. He took regular classes on the scriptures and would often speak on the Upanishads, the Gita, the material sciences, and the history of nations, or answer questions from members of the Math, throwing new light on the problems raised.

Early in the morning I came to Swamiji who was then staying in the house of Balaram Babu at 57 Ramkanta Bose Street, Calcutta. The room was packed full with listeners. Swamiji was saying, "We want Shraddha, we want faith in our own selves. Strength is life, weakness is death. 'We are the Atman, deathless and free; pure, pure by nature. Can we ever commit any sin? Impossible!'--such a faith is needed. Such a faith makes men of us, makes gods of us. It is by losing this idea of Shraddha that the country has gone to ruin."_x000d_ Question: How did we come to lose this Shraddha?_x000d_ Swamiji: We have had a negative education all along from our boyhood. We have only learnt that we are nobodies. Seldom are we given to understand that great men were ever born in our country. Nothing positive has been taught to us. We do not even know how to use our hands and feet! We master all the facts and figures concerning the ancestors of the English, but we are sadly unmindful about our own. We have learnt only weakness. Being a conquered race, we have brought ourselves to believe that we are weak and have no independence in anything. So, how can it be but that the Shraddha is lost? The idea of true Shraddha must be brought back once more to us, the faith in our own selves must be reawakened, and, then only, all the problems which face our country will gradually be solved by ourselves._x000d_ Q. How can that ever be? How will Shraddha alone remedy the innumerable evils with which our society is beset? Besides, there are so many crying evils in the country, to remove which the Indian National Congress and other patriotic associations are carrying on a strenuous agitation and petitioning the British government. How better can their wants be made known? What has Shraddha to do with the matter?_x000d_ Swamiji: Tell me, whose wants are those--yours or the ruler's? If yours, will the ruler supply them for you, or will you have to do that for yourselves?_x000d_ Q. But it is the ruler's duty to see to the wants of the subject people. Whom should we look up to for everything, if not to the king?_x000d_ Swamiji: Never are the wants of a beggar fulfilled. Suppose the government gives you all you need, where are the men who are able to keep up the things demanded? So make men first. Men we want, and how can men be made unless Shraddha is there?_x000d_ Q. But such is not the view of the majority, sir._x000d_ Swamiji: What you call majority is mainly composed of fools and men of common intellect. Men who have brains to think for themselves are few, everywhere. These few men with brains are the real leaders in everything and in every department of work; the majority are guided by them as with a string, and that is good, for everything goes all right when they follow in the footsteps of these leaders. Those are only fools who think themselves too high to bend their heads to anyone, and they bring on their own ruin by acting on their own judgment. You talk of social reform? But what do you do? All that you mean by your social reform is either widow remarriage, or female emancipation, or something of that sort. Do you not? And these again are directed within the confines of a few of the castes only. Such a scheme of reform may do good to a few no doubt, but of what avail is that to the whole nation? Is that reform or only a form of selfishness--somehow to cleanse your own room and keep it tidy and let others go from bad to worse! _x000d_ Q. Then, you mean to say that there is no need of social reform at all?_x000d_ Swamiji: Who says so? Of course there is need of it. Most of what you talk of as social reform does not touch the poor masses; they have already those things--the widow remarriage, female emancipation, etc.--which you cry for. For this reason they will not think of those things as reforms at all. What I mean to say is that want of Shraddha has brought in all the evils among us, and is bringing in more and more. My method of treatment is to take out by the roots the very causes of the disease and not to keep them merely suppressed. Reforms we should have in many ways; who will be so foolish as to deny it? There is, for example, a good reason for inter-marriage in India, in the absence of which the race is becoming physically weaker day by day._x000d_ Since it was a day of a solar eclipse, the gentleman who was asking these questions saluted Swamiji and left saying, "I must go now for a bath in the Ganga. I shall, however, come another day."

It was evening and the occasion of the weekly meeting of the Ramakrishna Mission, at the house of Balaram Babu of Baghbazar. Swami Turiyananda, Swami Yogananda, Swami Premananda, and others had come from the Math. Swamiji was seated in the verandah to the east, which was now full of people, as were the northern and the southern sections of the verandah. But such used to be the case every day when Swamiji stayed in Calcutta._x000d_ Many of the people who came to the meeting had heard that Swamiji could sing well, and so were desirous of hearing him. Knowing this, Master Mahashaya (M.) whispered to a few gentlemen near him to request Swamiji to sing; but he saw through their intention and playfully asked, "Master Mahashaya, what are you talking about among yourselves in whispers? Do speak out." At the request of Master Mahashaya, Swamiji now began in his charming voice the song--"Keep with loving care the darling Mother Shyama in thy heart. . . ." It seemed as if a Vina was playing. At its close, he said to Master Mahashaya, "Well, are you now satisfied? But no more singing! Otherwise, being in the swing of it, I shall be carried away by its intoxication. Moreover, my voice is now spoilt by frequent lecturing in the West. My voice trembles a great deal. . . ."_x000d_ Swamiji then asked one of his Brahmacharin disciples to speak on the real nature of Mukti. So, the Brahmacharin stood up and spoke at some length. A few others followed him. Swamiji then invited discussion on the subject of the discourse, and called upon one of his householder disciples to lead it; but as the latter tried to advocate the Advaita and Jnana and assign a lower place to dualism and Bhakti, he met with a protest from one of the audience. As each of the two opponents tried to establish his own view-point, a lively word-fight ensued. Swamiji watched them for a while but, seeing that they were getting excited, silenced them with the following words:_x000d_ Why do you get excited in argument and spoil everything? Listen! Shri Ramakrishna used to say that pure knowledge and pure Bhakti are one and the same. According to the doctrine of Bhakti, God is held to be "All-Love". One cannot even say, "I love Him", for the reason that He is All-Love. There is no love outside of Himself; the love that is in the heart with which you love Him is even He Himself. In a similar way, whatever attractions or inclinations one feels drawn by, are all He Himself. The thief steals, the harlot sells her body to prostitution, the mother loves her child--in each of these too is He! One world system attracts another--there also is He. Everywhere is He. According to the doctrine of Jnana also, He is realised by one everywhere. Here lies the reconciliation of Jnana and Bhakti. When one is immersed in the highest ecstasy of divine vision (Bhava), or is in the state of Samadhi, then alone the idea of duality ceases, and the distinction between the devotee and his God vanishes. In the scriptures on Bhakti, five different paths of relationship are mentioned, by any of which one can attain to God; but another one can very well be added to them, viz. the path of meditation on the non-separateness, or oneness with God. Thus the Bhakta can call the Advaitins Bhaktas as well, but of the non-differentiating type. As long as one is within the region of Maya, so long the idea of duality will no doubt remain. Space-time-causation, or name-and-form, is what is called Maya. When one goes beyond this Maya, then only the Oneness is realised, and then man is neither a dualist nor an Advaitist--to him all is One. All this difference that you notice between a Bhakta and a Jnani is in the preparatory stage--one sees God outside, and the other sees Him within. But there is another point: Shri Ramakrishna used to say that there is another stage of Bhakti which is called the Supreme Devotion (Parabhakti), i.e. to love Him after becoming established in the consciousness of Advaita and after having attained Mukti. It may seem paradoxical, and the question may be raised here why such a one who has already attained Mukti should be desirous of retaining the spirit of Bhakti? The answer is: The Mukta or the Free is beyond all law; no law applies in his case, and hence no question can be asked regarding him. Even becoming Mukta, some, out of their own free will, retain Bhakti to taste of its sweetness._x000d_ Q. God may be in the love of the mother for her child; but, sir, this idea is really perplexing that God is even in the thieves and the harlots in the form of their natural inclinations to sin! It follows then that God is as responsible for the sin as for all the virtue in this world._x000d_ Swamiji: That consciousness comes in a stage of highest realisation, when one sees that whatever is of the nature of love or attraction is God. But one has to reach that state to see and realise that idea for oneself in actual life._x000d_ Q. But still one has to admit that God is also in the sin!_x000d_ Swamiji: You see, there are, in reality, no such different things as good and evil. They are mere conventional terms. The same thing we call bad, and again another time we call good, according to the way we make use of it. Take for example this lamplight; because of its burning, we are able to see and do various works of utility; this is one mode of using the light. Again, if you put your fingers in it, they will be burnt; that is another mode of using the same light. So we should know that a thing becomes good or bad according to the way we use it. Similarly with virtue and vice. Broadly speaking, the proper use of any of the faculties of our mind and body is termed virtue, and its improper application or waste is called vice._x000d_ Thus questions after questions were put and answered. Someone remarked, "The theory that God is_x000d_ even there, where one heavenly body attracts another, may or may not be true as a fact, but there is no denying the exquisite poetry the idea conveys."_x000d_ Swamiji: No, my dear sir, that is not poetry. One can see for oneself its truth when one attains knowledge._x000d_ From what Swamiji further said on this point, I understood him to mean that matter and spirit, though to all appearances they seem to be two distinct things, are really two different forms of one substance; and similarly, all the different forces that are known to us, whether in the material or in the internal world, are but varying forms of the manifestation of one Force. We call a thing matter, where that spirit force is manifested less; and living, where it shows itself more; but there is nothing which is absolutely matter at all times and in all conditions. The same Force which presents itself in the material world as attraction or gravitation is felt in its finer and subtler state as love and the like in the higher spiritual stages of realisation._x000d_ Q. Why should there be even this difference relating to individual use? Why should there be at all this tendency in man to make bad or improper use of any of his faculties?_x000d_ Swamiji: That tendency comes as a result of one's own past actions (Karma); everything one has is of his own doing. Hence it follows that it is solely in the hands of every individual to control his tendencies and to guide them properly._x000d_ Q. Even if everything is the result of our Karma, still it must have had a beginning, and why should our tendencies have been good or bad at the beginning?_x000d_ Swamiji: How do you know that there is a beginning? The Srishti (creation) is without beginning--this is the doctrine of the Vedas. So long as there is God, there is creation as well._x000d_ Q. Well, sir, why is this Maya here, and whence has it come?_x000d_ Swamiji: It is a mistake to ask "why" with respect to God; we can only do so regarding one who has wants or imperfections. How can there be any "why" concerning Him who has no wants and who is the One Whole? No such question as "Whence has Maya come?" can be asked. Time-space-causation is what is called Maya. You, I, and everyone else are within this Maya; and you are asking about what is beyond Maya! How can you do so while living within Maya?_x000d_ Again many questions followed. The conversation turned on the philosophies of Mill, Hamilton, Herbert Spencer, etc., and Swamiji dwelt on them to the satisfaction of all. Everyone wondered at the vastness of his Western philosophical scholarship and the promptness of his replies._x000d_ The meeting dispersed after a short conversation on miscellaneous subjects.

The same gentleman who was asking questions of Swamiji on Saturday last came again. He raised again the topic of intermarriage and enquired, "How should intermarriage be introduced between different nationalities?"_x000d_ Swamiji: I do not advise our intermarriage with nations professing an alien religion. At least for the present, that will, of a certainty, slacken the ties of society and be a cause of manifold mischief. It is the intermarriage between people of the same religion that I advocate._x000d_ Q. Even then, it will involve much perplexity. Suppose I have a daughter who is born and brought up in Bengal, and I marry her to a Marathi or a Madrasi. Neither will the girl understand her husband's language nor the husband the girl's. Again, the difference in their individual habits and customs is so great. Such are a few of the troubles in the case of the married couple. Then as regards society, it will make confusion worse confounded._x000d_ Swamiji: The time is yet very long in coming when marriages of that kind will be widely possible. Besides, it is not judicious now to go in for that all of a sudden. One of the secrets of work is to go along the line of least resistance. So, first of all, let there be marriages within the sphere of one's own caste-people. Take for instance, the Kayasthas of Bengal. They have several subdivisions amongst them, such as, the Uttar-rarhi, Dakshin-rarhi, Bangaja, etc., and they do not intermarry with each other. Now, let there be intermarriages between the Uttar-rarhis and the Dakshin-rarhis, and if that is not possible at present, let it be between the Bangajas and the Dakshin-rarhis. Thus we are to build up that which is already existing, and which is in our hands to reduce into practice--reform does not mean wholesale breaking down._x000d_ Q. Very well, let it be as you say: but what corresponding good can come of it?_x000d_ Swamiji: Don't you see how in our society, marriage, being restricted for several hundreds of years within the same subdivisions of each caste, has come to such a pass nowadays as virtually to mean marital alliance between cousins and near relations; and how for this very reason the race is getting deteriorated physically, and consequently all sorts of disease and other evils are finding a ready entrance into it? The blood having had to circulate within the narrow circle of a limited number of individuals has become vitiated; so the new-born children inherit from their very birth the constitutional diseases of their fathers. Thus, born with poor blood, their bodies have very little power to resist the microbes of any disease, which are ever ready to prey upon them. It is only by widening the circle of marriage that we can infuse a new and a different kind of blood into our progeny, so that they may be saved from the clutches of many of our present-day diseases and other consequent evils._x000d_ Q. May I ask you, sir, what is your opinion about early marriage?_x000d_ Swamiji: Amongst the educated classes in Bengal, the custom of marrying their boys too early is dying out gradually. The girls are also given in marriage a year or two older than before, but that has been under compulsion--from pecuniary want. Whatever might be the reason for it, the age of marrying girls should be raised still higher. But what will the poor father do? As soon as the girl grows up a little, every one of the female sex, beginning with the mother down to the relatives and neighbours even, will begin to cry out that he must find a bridegroom for her, and will not leave him in peace until he does so! And, about your religious hypocrites, the less said the better. In these days no one hears them, but still they will take up the role of leaders themselves. The rulers passed the Age of Consent Bill prohibiting a man under the threat of penalty to live with a girl of twelve years, and at once all these so-called leaders of your religion raised a tremendous hue and cry against it, sounding the alarm, "Alas, our religion is lost!" As if religion consisted in making a girl a mother at the age of twelve or thirteen! So the rulers also naturally think, "Goodness gracious! What a religion is theirs! And these people lead political agitations and demand political rights!"_x000d_ Q. Then, in your opinion, both men and women should be married at an advanced age?_x000d_ Swamiji: Certainly. But education should be imparted along with it, otherwise irregularity and corruption will ensue. By education I do not mean the present system, but something in the line of positive teaching. Mere book-learning won't do. We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet._x000d_ Q. We have to reform our women in many ways._x000d_ Swamiji: With such an education women will solve their own problems. They have all the time been trained in helplessness, servile dependence on others, and so they are good only to weep their eyes out at the slightest approach of a mishap or danger. Along with other things they should acquire the spirit of valour and heroism. In the present day it has become necessary for them also to learn self-defence. See how grand was the Queen of Jhansi!_x000d_ Q. What you advise is quite a new departure, and it will, I am afraid, take a very long time yet to train our women in that way._x000d_ Swamiji: Anyhow, we have to try our best. We have not only to teach them but to teach ourselves also. Mere begetting children does not make a father; a great many responsibilities have to be taken upon one's shoulders as well. To make a beginning in women's education: our Hindu women easily understand what chastity means, because it is their heritage. Now, first of all, intensify that ideal within them above everything else, so that they may develop a strong character by the force of which, in every stage of their life, whether married, or single if they prefer to remain so, they will not be in the least afraid even to give up their lives rather than flinch an inch from their chastity. Is it little heroism to be able to sacrifice one's life for the sake of one's ideal, whatever that ideal may be? Studying the present needs of the age, it seems imperative to train some women up in the ideal of renunciation, so that they will take up the vow of lifelong virginity, fired with the strength of that virtue of chastity which is innate in their life-blood from hoary antiquity. Along with that they should be taught sciences and other things which would be of benefit, not only to them but to others as well, and knowing this they would easily learn these things and feel pleasure in doing so. Our motherland requires for her well-being some of her children to become such pure-souled Brahmacharins and Brahmacharinis._x000d_ Q. In what way will that conduce to her well-being?_x000d_ Swamiji: By their example and through their endeavours to hold the national ideal before the eyes of the people, a revolution in thoughts and aspirations will take place. How do matters stand now? Somehow, the parents must dispose of a girl in marriage, if she be nine or ten years of age! And what a rejoicing of the whole family if a child is born to her at the age of thirteen! If the trend of such ideas is reversed, then only there is some hope for the ancient Shraddha to return. And what to talk of those who will practise Brahmacharya as defined above--think how much faith in themselves will be theirs! And what a power for good they will be!_x000d_ The questioner now saluted Swamiji and was ready to take leave. Swamiji asked him to come now and then. "Certainly, sir," replied the gentleman, "I feel so much benefited. I have heard from you many new things, which I have not been told anywhere before." I also went home as it was about time for dinner.

In the afternoon I came again to Swamiji and saw quite a good gathering round him. The topic was the Madhura-Bhava or the way of worshipping God as husband, as in vogue with some followers of Shri Chaitanya. His occasional bons mots were raising laughter, when someone remarked, "What is there to make so much fun of about the Lord's doings? Do you think that he was not a great saint, and that he did not do everything for the good of humanity?"_x000d_ Swamiji: Who is that? Should I poke fun at you then, my dear sir! You only see the fun of it, do you? And you, sir, do not see the lifelong struggle through which I have passed to mould this life after his burning ideal of renunciation of wealth and lust, and my endeavours to infuse that ideal into the people at large! Shri Chaitanya was a man of tremendous renunciation and had nothing to do with woman and carnal appetites. But, in later times, his disciples admitted women into their order, mixed indiscriminately with them in his name, and made an awful mess of the whole thing. And the ideal of love which the Lord exemplified in his life was perfectly selfless and bereft of any vestige of lust; that sexless love can never be the property of the masses. But the subsequent Vaishnava Gurus, instead of laying particular stress first on the aspect of renunciation in the Master's life, bestowed all their zeal on preaching and infusing his ideal of love among the masses, and the consequence was that the common people could not grasp and assimilate that high ideal of divine love, and naturally made of it the worst form of love between man and woman._x000d_ Q. But, sir, he preached the name of the Lord Hari to all, even to the Chandalas; so why should not the common masses have a right to it?_x000d_ Swamiji: I am talking not of his preaching, but of his great ideal of love--the Radha-prema, with which he used to remain intoxicated day and night, losing his individuality in Radha._x000d_ Q. Why may not that be made the common property of all?_x000d_ Swamiji: Look at this nation and see what has been the outcome of such an attempt. Through the preaching of that love broadcast, the whole nation has become effeminate--a race of women! The whole of Orissa has been turned into a land of cowards; and Bengal, running after the Radha-prema, these past four hundred years, has almost lost all sense of manliness! The people are very good only at crying and weeping; that has become their national trait. Look at their literature, the sure index of a nation's thoughts and ideas. Why, the refrain of the Bengali literature for these four hundred years is strung to that same tune of moaning and crying. It has failed to give birth to any poetry which breathes a true heroic spirit!_x000d_ Q. Who are then truly entitled to possess that Prema (love)?_x000d_ Swamiji: There can be no love so long as there is lust--even a speck of it, as it were, in the heart. None but men of great renunciation, none but mighty giants among men, have a right to that Love Divine. If that highest ideal of love is held out to the masses, it will indirectly tend to stimulate its worldly prototype which dominates the heart of man--for, meditating on love to God by thinking of oneself as His wife or beloved, one would very likely be thinking most of the time of one's own wife--the result is too obvious to point out._x000d_ Q. Then is it impossible for householders to realise God through that path of love, worshipping God as one's husband or lover and considering oneself as His spouse?_x000d_ Swamiji: With a few exceptions; for ordinary householders it is impossible no doubt. And why lay so much stress on this delicate path, above all others? Are there no other relationships by which to worship God, except this Madhura idea of love? Why not follow the four other paths, and take the name of the Lord with all your heart? Let the heart be opened first, and all else will follow of itself. But know this for certain, that Prema cannot come while there is lust. Why not try first to get rid of carnal desires? You will say, "How is that possible? I am a householder." Nonsense! Because one is a householder, does it mean that one should be a personification of incontinence, or that one has to live in marital relations all one's life? And, after all, how unbecoming of a man to make of himself a woman, so that he may practise this Madhura love!_x000d_ Q. True, sir. Singing God's name in a party (Namakirtana) is an excellent help and gives one a joyous feeling. So say our scriptures, and so did Shri Chaitanya Deva also preach to the masses. When the Khole (drum) is played upon, it makes the heart leap with such a transport that one feels inclined to dance._x000d_ Swamiji: That is all right, but don't think that Kirtana means dancing only. It means singing the glories of God, in whatever way that suits you. That vehement stirring up of feeling and that dancing of the Vaishnavas are good and very catching no doubt; but there is also a danger in practising them, from which you must save yourself. The danger lies here--in the reaction. On the one hand, the feelings are at once roused to the highest pitch, tears flow from the eyes, the head reels as it were under intoxication--on the other hand, as soon as the Sankirtan stops, that mass of feeling sinks down as precipitately as it rose. The higher the wave rises on the ocean, the lower it falls, with equal force. It is very difficult at that stage to contain oneself against the shock of reaction; unless one has proper discrimination, one is likely to succumb to the lower propensities of lust etc. I have noticed the same thing in America also. Many would go to church, pray with much devotion, sing with great feeling, and even burst into tears when hearing the sermons; but after coming out of church, they would have a great reaction and succumb to carnal tendencies._x000d_ Q. Then, sir, do instruct us which of the ideas preached by Shri Chaitanya we should take up as well suited to us, so that we may not fall into errors._x000d_ Swamiji: Worship God with Bhakti tempered with Jnana. Keep the spirit of discrimination along with Bhakti. Besides this, gather from Shri Chaitanya, his heart, his loving kindness to all beings, his burning passion for God, and make his renunciation the ideal of your life._x000d_ The questioner now addressed the Swamiji with folded hands, "I beg your pardon, sir. Now I come to see you are right. Seeing you criticise in a playful mood the Madhura love of the Vaishnavas, I could not at first understand the drift of your remarks; hence I took exception to them."_x000d_ Swamiji: Well, look here, if we are to criticise at all, it is better to criticise God or God-men. If you abuse me I shall very likely get angry with you, and if I abuse you, you will try to retaliate. Isn't it so? But God or God-men will never return evil for evil._x000d_ The gentleman now left, after bowing down at the feet of Swamiji. I have already said that such a gathering was an everyday occurrence when Swamiji used to stay in Calcutta. From early in the morning till eight or nine at night, men would flock to him at every hour of the day. This naturally occasioned much irregularity in the time of his taking his meals; so, many desiring to put a stop to this state of things, strongly advised Swamiji not to receive visitors except at appointed hours. But the loving heart of Swamiji, ever ready to go to any length to help others, was so melted with compassion at the sight of such a thirst for religion in the people, that in spite of ill health, he did not comply with any request of the kind. His only reply was, "They take so much trouble to come walking all the way from their homes, and can I, for the consideration of risking my health a little, sit here and not speak a few words to them?"_x000d_ At about 4 p.m. the general conversation came to a close, and the gathering dispersed, except for a few gentlemen with whom Swamiji continued his talk on different subjects, such as England and America, and so on. In the course of conversation he said:_x000d_ "I had a curious dream on my return voyage from England. While our ship was passing through the Mediterranean Sea, in my sleep, a very old and venerable-looking person, Rishi-like in appearance, stood before me and said, 'Do ye come and effect our restoration. I am one of that ancient order of Theraputtas (Theraputae) which had its origin in the teachings of the Indian rishis. The truths and ideals preached by us have been given out by Christians as taught by Jesus; but for the matter of that, there was no such personality by the name of Jesus ever born. Various evidences testifying to this fact will be brought to light by excavating here.' 'By excavating which place can those proofs and relics you speak of be found?' I asked. The hoary-headed one, pointing to a locality in the vicinity of Turkey, said, 'See here.' Immediately after, I woke up, and at once rushed to the upper deck and asked the Captain, 'What neighbourhood is the ship in just now?' 'Look yonder', the Captain replied, 'there is Turkey and the Island of Crete.'"_x000d_ Was it but a dream, or is there anything in the above vision? Who knows!

To Sister Nivedita_x000d_ Calcutta_x000d_ 30th January 1898_x000d_ My dear Miss Noble,_x000d_ This is to introduce Prof. M. Gupta, who has been already introduced to you on board the boat that brought you over to shore. _x000d_ He has very kindly consented to devote an hour or more every day to teach you Bengali. I need not state that he is a genuine, good and great soul._x000d_ Ever yours in the Lord,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ P.S. I am afraid you felt badly today._x000d_ V.

Swamiji has removed the Math from Alambazar to Nilambar Babu's garden at Belur. He is very glad to have come to these new premises. He said to the disciple when the latter came, "See how the Ganga flows by and what a nice building! I like this place. This is the ideal kind of place for a Math." It was then afternoon._x000d_ In the evening the disciple found Swamiji alone in the upper storey, and the talk went on, on various topics, in the course of which he wanted to know about Swamiji's boyhood days. Swamiji began to say, "From my very boyhood I was a dare-devil sort of fellow. Otherwise, do you think I could make a tour round the world without a single copper in my pocket?"_x000d_ In boyhood Swamiji had a great predilection for hearing the chanting of the Ramayana by professional singers. Wherever such chanting would take place in the neighborhood, he would attend it, leaving sport and all. Swamiji related how, while listening to the Ramayana, on some days, he would be so deeply engrossed in it as to forget all about home, and would have no idea that it was late at night, and that he must return home, and so forth. One day during the chant he heard that the monkey-god Hanuman lived in banana orchards. Forthwith he was so much convinced that when the chant was over, he did not go home straight that night, but loitered in a banana orchard close to his house, with the hope of catching sight of Hanuman, till it was very late in the night. _x000d_ In his student life he used to pass the day-time only in playing and gambolling with his mates, and study at night bolting the doors. And none could know when he prepared his lessons. _x000d_ The disciple asked, "Did you see any visions, sir, during your school-days?"_x000d_ Swamiji: While at school, one night I was meditating within closed doors and had a fairly deep concentration of mind. How long I meditated in that way, I cannot say. It was over, and I still kept my seat, when from the southern wall of that room a luminous figure stepped out and stood in front of me. There was a wonderful radiance on its visage, yet there seemed to be no play of emotion on it. It was the figure of a Sannyasin absolutely calm, shaven-headed, and staff and Kamandalu (a Sannyasin's wooden water-bowl) in hand. He gazed at me for some time and seemed as if he would address me. I too gazed at him in speechless wonder. Then a kind of fright seized me, I opened the door, and hurried out of the room. Then it struck me that it was foolish of me to run away like that, that perhaps he might say something to me. But I have never met that figure since. Many a time and often I have thought that if again I saw him, I would no more be afraid but would speak to him. But I met him no more._x000d_ Disciple: Did you ever think on the matter afterwards?_x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, but I could find no clue to its solution. I now think it was the Lord Buddha whom I saw._x000d_ After a short pause, Swamiji said, "When the mind is purified, when one is free from the attachment for lust and gold, one sees lots of visions, most wonderful ones! But one should not pay heed to them. The aspirant cannot advance further if he sets his mind constantly on them. Haven't you heard that Shri Ramakrishna used to say, 'Countless jewels lie uncared for in the outer courts of my beloved Lord's sanctum'? We must come face to face with the Atman; what is the use of setting one's mind on vagaries like those?"_x000d_ After saying these words, Swamiji sat silent for a while, lost in thought over something. He then resumed:_x000d_ "Well, while I was in America I had certain wonderful powers developed in me. By looking into people's eyes I could fathom in a trice the contents of their minds. The workings of everybody's mind would be potent to me, like a fruit on the palm of one's hand. To some I used to give out these things, and of those to whom I communicated these, many would become my disciples; whereas those who came to mix with me with some ulterior motive would not, on coming across this power of mine, even venture into my presence any more._x000d_ "When I began lecturing in Chicago and other cities, I had to deliver every week some twelve or fifteen or even more lectures at times. This excessive strain on the body and mind would exhaust me to a degree. I seemed to run short of subjects for lectures and was anxious where to find new topics for the morrow's lecture. New thoughts seemed altogether scarce. One day, after the lecture, I lay thinking of what means to adopt next. The thought induced a sort of slumber, and in that state I heard as if somebody standing by me was lecturing--many new ideas and new veins of thought, which I had scarcely heard or thought of in my life. On awaking I remembered them and reproduced them in my lecture. I cannot enumerate how often this phenomenon took place. Many, many days did I hear such lectures while lying in bed. Sometimes the lecture would be delivered in such a loud voice that the inmates of adjacent rooms would hear the sound and ask me the next day, "With whom, Swamiji, were you talking so loudly last night?" I used to avoid the question somehow. Ah, it was a wonderful phenomenon."_x000d_ The disciple was wonder-struck at Swamiji's words and after thinking deeply on the matter said, "Sir, then you yourself must have lectured like that in your subtle body, and sometimes it would be echoed by the gross body also."_x000d_ Swamiji listened and replied, "Well, may be."_x000d_ The topic of his American experiences came up. Swamiji said, "In that country the women are more learned than men. They are all well versed in science and philosophy, and that is why they would appreciate and honour me so much. The men are grinding all day at their work and have very little leisure, whereas the women, by studying and teaching in schools and colleges, have become highly learned. Whichever side you turn your eyes in America, you see the power and influence of women."_x000d_ Disciple: Well, sir, did not the bigoted Christians oppose you?_x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, they did. When people began to honour me, then the Padris were after me. They spread many slanders about me by publishing them in the newspapers. Many asked me to contradict these slanders. But I never took the slightest notice of them. It is my firm conviction that no great work is accomplished in this world by low cunning; so without paying any heed to these vile slanders, I used to work steadily at my mission. The upshot I used to find was that often my slanderers, feeling repentant afterwards, would surrender to me and offer apologies, by themselves contradicting the slanders in the papers. Sometimes it so happened that learning that I had been invited to a certain house, somebody would communicate those slanders to my host, who hearing them, would leave home, locking his door. When I went there to attend the invitation, I found it was deserted and nobody was there. Again a few days afterwards, they themselves, learning the truth, would feel sorry for their previous conduct and come to offer themselves as disciples. The fact is, my son, this whole world is full of mean ways of worldliness. But men of real moral courage and discrimination are never deceived by these. Let the world say what it chooses, I shall tread the path of duty--know this to be the line of action for a hero. Otherwise, if one has to attend day and night to what this man says or that man writes, no great work is achieved in this world. Do you know this Sanskrit Shloka: "Let those who are versed in the ethical codes praise or blame, let Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, come or go wherever she wisheth, let death overtake him today or after a century, the wise man never swerves from the path of rectitude." Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or after a Yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of Truth. How much of tempest and waves one has to weather, before one reaches the haven of Peace! The greater a man has become, the fiercer ordeal he has had to pass through. Their lives have been tested true by the touchstone of practical life, and only then have they been acknowledged great by the world. Those who are faint-hearted and cowardly sink their barks near the shore, frightened by the raging of waves on the sea. He who is a hero never casts a glance at these. Come what may, I must attain my ideal first--this is Purushakara, manly endeavour; without such manly endeavor no amount of Divine help will be of any avail to banish your inertia. _x000d_ Disciple: Is, then, reliance on Divine help a sign of weakness?_x000d_ Swamiji: In the Shastras real self-surrender and reliance on God has been indicated as the culmination of human achievement. But in your country nowadays the way people speak of Daiva or reliance on Divine dispensation is a sign of death, the outcome of great cowardliness; conjuring up some monstrous idea of God- head and trying to saddle that with all your faults and shortcomings. Haven't you heard Shri Ramakrishna's story about "the sin of killing a cow"? In the end the owner of the garden had to suffer for the sin of killing the cow. Nowadays everybody says: "I am acting as I am being directed by the Lord", and thus throws the burden of both his sins and virtues on the Lord. As if he is himself the lotus-leaf in the water (untouched by it)! If everybody can truly live always in this mood, then he is a Free Soul. But what really happens is that for the "good" I have the credit, but the "bad" Thou, God, art responsible! Praise be to such reliance on God! Without the attainment of the fullness of Knowledge or Divine Love, such a state of absolute reliance on the Lord does not come. He who is truly and sincerely reliant on the Lord goes beyond all idea of the duality of good and bad. The brightest example of the attainment of this state among us at the present time is Nag Mahashaya. _x000d_ Then the conversation drifted to the subject of Nag Mahashaya. Swamiji said, "One does not find a second devoted Bhakta like him--Oh, when shall I see him again!"_x000d_ Disciple: He will soon come to Calcutta to meet you, so mother (Nag Mahashaya's wife) has written to me._x000d_ Swamiji: Shri Ramakrishna used to compare him to King Janaka. A man with such control over all the senses one does not hear of even, much less come across. You must associate with him as much as you can. He is one of Shri Ramakrishna's nearest disciples._x000d_ Disciple: Many in our part of the country call him a madcap. But I have known him to be a great soul since the very first day of my meeting him. He loves me much, and I have his fervent blessings._x000d_ Swamiji: Since you have attained the company of such a Mahapurusha (holy soul), what more have you to fear about? As an effect of many lives of Tapasya one is blessed with the company of such a great soul. How does he live at home?_x000d_ Disciple: Sir, he has got no business or anything of the kind. He is always busy in serving the guests who come to his house. Beyond the small sum the Pal Babus give him, he has no other means of subsistence; his expenses, however, are like those in a rich family. But he does not spend a pice for his own enjoyment, all that expense is for the service of others. Service--service of others--this seems to be the great mission of his life. It sometimes strikes me that realising the Atman in all creatures, he is engrossed in serving the whole world as a part and parcel of himself. In the service of others he works incessantly and is not conscious even of his body. I suppose, he always lives on the plane which you, sir, call the superconscious state of the mind. _x000d_ Swamiji: Why should not that be? How greatly was he beloved of Shri Ramakrishna! In your East Bengal, one of Shri Ramakrishna's divine companions has been born in the person of Nag Mahashaya. By his radiance Eastern Bengal has become effulgent.

In the perspective of his vision they saw religious life in a new light and interpreted monastic ideals in original ways. Under his inspiration the desire came upon some to practise intense spiritual disciplines and austerities, upon others to serve the sick and the poor, upon still others to spread ideas among the people. All were saturated with his spirit and patriotism. He, at this time, was a blazing fire of thought and soul. The Vedanta, the ideals of the Gita, and of the different Hindu sects, were the constant subjects of discussion and practice. But in the foreground at all times' was the teaching of the Master. The Baranagore days were often lived again: the same fire, the same intellectual brilliance, the same spiritual fervour.

Among the many functions in which the Swami took part at this time, that of the consecration of the shrine in the newly-built house of Babu' Navagopal Ghosh, in Ramakrishnapore, Howrah, is notable. That householder devotee of Shri Ramakrishna had invited the Swami, accompanied by all the sannyasis and Brahmacharis of the Math to perform the installation ceremony of Shri Ramakrishna's image. His joy knew no bounds when the Swami consented. On February 6, the auspicious full-moon day, the Swami with all the monks arrived by boats at the Ramakrishnapore Ghat. A Sankirtana procession was started. Many devotees joined in as it made its way through the streets. The enthusiasm was tremendous. About the Swami's neck hung a Khol (drum) on which he accompanied a Bengali song relating to the infant Ramakrishna which begins: "Dukhini Brahmani Kole Ke Shuyechhe Alo Kare". Translated, the song runs: "Lying on the lap of the poor Brahmana's spouse, who art Thou, 0 Radiant One?" The Swami himself led the chorus. Hundreds of people crowded the streets to see him as he passed. When they found him dressed in simple ochre cloth like other sannyasis, and going barefoot through the streets, singing, and playing the drum, they cheered him heartily, impressed with his humble yet regal bearing. It was hard for them to believe that this was he who had unfurled the banner of Vedanta in the West.

Arrived at the host's residence, the Swami and his party were received with reverence, amid the blowing of conchs and beating of gongs. After a while he was taken to the worship-room. It had a marble floor and was beautifully fitted. On the throne was a picture in porcelain of Shri Ramakrishna. The Swami was delighted with the room and the arrangements for worship. The lady of the house, on being congratulated by him, said with great humility that she and her family were too poor and unworthy to serve the Lord properly. She asked the Swami to bless them. He replied: "Dear mother, our Lord never in his life lived in such a marble-floored room. Born in a rustic, thatched hut, he spent his days in the simplest way. And", he added in his witty way, "if he does not live here, with all these services of devoted hearts, I do not know where else he will!"

Then, having covered himself with ashes, the Swami sat on the worshipper's scat and invoked the presence of Shri Ramakrishna, while his disciple, Swami Prakashananda, recited the prescribed Mantras. It was on this occasion that the Swami initiated the use of the special "Salutation to Shri Ramakrishna". Sitting before the image in meditation after it had been ceremonially installed, he composed the following Sanskrit verse: _x000d_ Swapkay c xmRSy svRxmRSvêip[e,_x000d_ Avtarviróay ramk«:[ay te nm>._x000d_ _x000d_ "Salutation to Thee, 0 Ramakrishna, the Reinstator of Religion, the Embodiment of all Religions, the Greatest of all Incarnations!"

It came about, however, that this training was not confined to them, for, through the able pen of Sister Nivedita, the ideas they received were passed on to numerous readers of both West and East. Through her writings also, some of the more learned aspects of the Swami's message to India as a whole were scattered broadcast. Thus while teaching the small group of his Western disciples, the Swami was at the same time speaking to an immense audience; and the ideas communicated in these days were, through Sister Nivedita, to act as a powerful impetus to the development of a national consciousness.

"Today, however, we [Miss Muller and Miss Noble] have been out house-hunting, and for the first time we have come to a clear consideration of plans and activities, outside the merely personal range.... Now as to the work here: the Swami's great care now is the establishment of a monastic college for the training of young men for the work of education—not only in India, but also in the West."

On February 13, 1898, the Math was moved from Alambazar to Nilambar Mukherjee's garden-house on the west bank of the Ganga, in the village of Belur. This was necessary for two reasons: first, the old building at Alambazar had received an "awful shaking" from the great earthquake of June 12, 1897, and had been damaged; second, and more pressingly, there was the need to be near the newly-purchased plot. The garden-house to which the monks moved was about a furlong away.

On February 14 Swami Saradananda, accompanied by Mrs. Bull and Josephine MacLeod, arrived in Calcutta. Swami Saradananda had come back at the Swami's call, to share the responsibility of running the new organization. He had handed over charge of the Vedanta Society of New York to Swami Abhedananda in August 1897. The Western ladies had come with him to see India. For some time they stayed in a hotel in Calcutta.

The actual birth anniversary ceremony (Tithi-puja) of Shri Ramakrishna, as distinct from its public celebration, took place at the monastery this year on February 22 under the supervision of the Swami himself. Swami Shuddhananda acted as the chief priest for the special worship that was offered to; Shri Ramakrishna. At the time of the evening Aratrika (waving of light) "Khandana-bhavabandhana. . .", a song newly composed by the Swami, was sung. It, is now sung daily in the Ashramas of the Order where formal worship is performed.

For this occasion the Swami ordered a lot of sacred threads to be brought to the monastery. As one after another of the lay disciples of Shri Ramakrishna or of himself came, he let it be known that those of them who were not Brahmanas, but belonged to. the other two twice-born castes, were on that day to he invested with the sacred thread. To his Brahmana disciple Sharatchandra Chakravarti, whom he appointed to perform the ceremony, he said: "The children of our Lord are, indeed, Brahmanas. Besides, the Vedas themselves say that every one of the twice-born castes has the right to be invested with the sacred thread. They have no doubt become Vratyas, that is, fallen from their own ritualistic rights, but by performing the ceremony of expiation they are entitled to their own original caste rights again. This is the birthday of Shri Ramakrishna. Everyone will be purified by taking his name. Therefore this is the best occasion to give the Bhaktas the sacred thread. Give all those who come the appropriate Gayatri Mantra according as they are Kshatriyas or Vaishyas. All these must be gradually raised to the status of the Brahmana. All Hindus are brothers. It is we Hindus who have degraded some of our brothers by saying for centuries, 'We won't touch you! We won't touch you!' No wonder the whole country is reduced to the verge of humiliation, cowardice, and stupidity! You must raise them by preaching to them the gospel of hope and cheer. Say to them, 'You are men like ourselves. you have the same rights that we have."'

As a result, more than fifty devotees on that day received the Gayatri Mantra and the sacred thread, after having bathed in the Ganga and bowed down before the image of Shri Ramakrishna. No doubt this procedure was at variance with the orthodox view; but the Swami was determined to impress his ideas boldly on the public by practical means. The initiates were naturally ridiculed by their neighbours, who said that these devotees had raised themselves to the status of the twice-born.

Though the Swami was hold in his attack on contemporary orthodoxy, he did not usu-ally advocate drastic reforms. He was in favour of reforms that were a constructive growth from what was potential in the tradition. The reforms that he purposed there-fore conformed to and fulfilled the Shastras (scriptures). He penetrated into the spirit and meaning of the Shastras and adapted them to the needs of the time, for the good of the race and its religion. He was in favour of having the time-honoured religious institutions and ceremonies strictly observed by the Order. Thus, at the time of the Shivaratri festival, he was pained to find that no one at the Math had fasted, as is the custom among devout Hindus.

I_x000d_ [Place: Belur, the rented Math premises. Year: 1898.]_x000d_ Swamiji was staying at the time at the rented garden-house of Nilambar Babu where the Math had been removed from Alambazar. Arrangements had been made for Shri Ramakrishna's Tithipuja (Nativity) on a grand scale. On the morning of the auspicious day, Swamiji personally inspected the preliminaries of the worship. The inspection over, Swamiji asked the disciple, "Well, you have brought the holy threads, I hope?"_x000d_ Disciple: Yes, sir, I have. Everything is ready, as you desired. But, sir, I can't make out why so many holy threads are in requisition. _x000d_ Swamiji: Every Dwijati (twice-born) has a right to investiture with the holy thread. The Vedas themselves are authority in this matter. Whoever will come here on this sacred birthday of Shri Ramakrishna, I shall invest him with the holy thread. These people have fallen from their true status, and the scriptures say that after proper expiation, those fallen in the way earn the right to investiture with the holy thread. This is the great day of Shri Ramakrishna's nativity, and men will be purified by taking his name. So the assembled devotees are to be invested with the holy thread today; do you now understand? _x000d_ Disciple: I have collected, Sir, quite a good number of holy threads according to your instructions, and after the worship I shall with your permission invest the Bhaktas with them. _x000d_ Swamiji: To the Bhaktas who are not Brahmins, give this Mantra of Gayatri (here Swamiji communicated to the disciple the special Gayatris for them.) By degrees all the people of the land have to be lifted to the position of Brahmins, not to speak of the Bhaktas of Shri Ramakrishna. Each Hindu, I say, is a brother of every other, and it is we who have degraded them by our outcry, "Don't touch, don't touch!" And so the whole country has been plunged to the utmost depths of meanness, cowardice, and ignorance. These men have to be uplifted; words of hope and faith have to be proclaimed to them. We have to tell them, "You are men like us, and you have all the rights that we have." Do you understand?_x000d_ Disciple: Yes, sir, it should be so._x000d_ Swamiji: Now, ask those who will take the holy thread to finish their bath in the Ganga. Than after prostration before Shri Ramakrishna, they will have their investiture._x000d_ About forty to fifty Bhaktas then duly received the Gayatri from the disciple and were invested with the holy thread. When receiving them, Swamiji's face beamed with profound delight. A little after this, Shri Girish Chandra Ghosh arrived at the Math from Calcutta._x000d_ Now arrangements for music were made at the desire of Swamiji, and Sannyasins of the Math decorated Swamiji as a Yogin._x000d_ Swamiji now chanted with the sweetest intonation to the accompaniment of the Tanpura, the Sanskrit hymn beginning with {Sanskrit} ("repeating in a low tone the name of Rama" etc.), and when the chanting came to a close, he went on repeating with exquisite charm the holy words "Rama, Rama, Shri Rama, Rama". His eyes were half-closed, and the natural sublimity of his countenance seemed today to have deepened a hundredfold. Everybody remained spelled for over a half an hour._x000d_ After the chanting of Shri Rama's name, Swamiji continued to sing a song of Tulsidas on Shri Ramachandra in the same intoxicated strain of mind. Then other music followed. _x000d_ After this, Swamiji suddenly took to putting off all the decorations he had on his person and began to dress Girish Babu with them. Then he declared, "Paramahamsa-deva used to say our brother is the incarnation of Bhairava. There's no distinction between him and us." Girish Babu sat speechless all the time. A piece ofgerua cloth was also brought, and he was draped in it and uttered no word of remonstrance. For he had merged his self fully today in the wishes of his brother disciples. Swamiji now said, "Well, G. C., you are to speak to us today about Thakur (Lord). And all of you (turning all round himself) sit quiet and attentive." Even then, Girish Babu sat motionless, voiceless like marble, absolutely lost in joy. And when at last he opened his lips, he did so to say, "Ah, what can this humble self speak of our Lord of unbounded mercy! Verily in this alone I realise his mercy, that to me, this lowly creature, He has extended the privilege of sitting and mixing on the same footing with you Sannyasins, pure from your childhood, who have renounced all lust and lucre." While speaking thus, the words choked in his throat, and he could not speak anything more._x000d_ After this, some pieces of Hindu music were rendered by Swamiji. The devotees were now called to partake of refreshments. After refreshments, Swamiji came and took his seat in the parlour on the ground-floor, and all the many visitors sat round him. Accosting a house-holder friend who had his investiture with the holy thread that day, Swamiji said, "Really you all belong to the twice-born castes, only it is long since you lost your status. From this day again you become the twice- born. Repeat the Gayatri at least a hundred times daily, won't you?" The householder expressed his assent._x000d_ Meanwhile Srijut Mahendranath Gupta (Master Mahashaya [Venerable], or "M") appeared on the scene. Swamiji cordially received him and made him take his seat. "Master Mahashaya," said Swamiji, "this is the anniversary of Shri Ramakrishna's birthday. So you shall have to relate to us something about him." Master Mahashaya bent his head down smilingly in reply._x000d_ Just then it was announced that Swami Akhandananda had come from Murshidabad with two Pantuas which weighed one maund and a half! All of us hurried out to see these prodigious Pantuas. When they were shown to Swamiji, he said, "Take them up to the chapel for offering."_x000d_ Making Swami Akhandananda the subject of his remarks, Swamiji said to the disciple, "Mark you, what a great hero he is in work! Of fear, death and the like he has no cognisance--doggedly going on doing his own work--'work for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many'."_x000d_ Disciple: Sir, that power must have come to him as the result of a good deal of austerities._x000d_ Swamiji: True, power comes of austerities; but again, working for the sake of others itself constitutes Tapasya (practice of austerity). The karma-yogins regard work itself as part of Tapasya. As on the one hand the practice of Tapasya intensifies altruistic feelings in the devotee and actuates him to unselfish work, so also the pursuit of work for the sake of others carries the worker to the last fruition of Tapasya, namely the purification of the heart, and leads him thus to the realisation of the supreme Atman (Self)._x000d_ Disciple: But, sir, how few of us can work whole-heartedly for the sake of others from the very outset! How difficult it is for such broad-mindedness to come at all as will make men sacrifice the desire for their own happiness and devote their lives for others!_x000d_ Swamiji: And how many have their minds going after Tapasya? With the attraction for lust and lucre working the other way, how many long for the realisation of God? In fact, disinterested work is quite as difficult as Tapasya. So you have no right to say anything against those who go in for work in the cause of others. If you find Tapasya to be to your liking, well, go on with it. Another may find work as congenial to himself, and you have no right to make a prohibition in his case. You seem to have the settled idea in your mind that work is no Tapasya at all!_x000d_ Disciple: Yes, sir, before this I used to mean quite a different thing by Tapasya._x000d_ Swamiji: As by continuing our religious practices we gradually develop a certain determined tendency for it, so by performing disinterested work over and over again, even unwillingly, we gradually find the will merging itself in it. The inclination to work for others develops in this way, do you see? Just do some such work even though unwillingly, and then see if the actual fruit of Tapasya is realised within or not. As the outcome of work for the sake of others, the angularities of the mind get smoothed down, and men are gradually prepared for sincere self-sacrifice for the good of others._x000d_ Disciple: But, sir, what is the necessity at all for doing good to others?_x000d_ Swamiji: Well, it is necessary for one's own good. We become forgetful of the ego when we think of the body as dedicated to the service of others--the body with which most complacently we identify the ego. And in the long run comes the consciousness of disembodiness. The more intently you think of the well-being of others, the more oblivious of self you become. In this way, as gradually your heart gets purified by work, you will come to feel the truth that your own Self is pervading all beings and all things. Thus it is that doing good to others constitutes a way, a means of revealing one's own Self or Atman. Know this also to be one of the spiritual practices, a discipline for God-realisation. Its aim also is Self-realisation. Exactly as that aim is attained by Jnana (knowledge), Bhakti (devotion) and so on, also by work for the sake of others._x000d_ Disciple: But, sir, if I am to keep thinking of others day and night, when shall I contemplate on the Atman? If I rest wholly occupied with something particular and relative, how can I realise the Atman which is Absolute?_x000d_ Swamiji: The highest aim of all disciplines, all spiritual paths, is the attainment of the knowledge of Atman. If you, by being devoted to the service of others and by getting your heart purified by such work, attain to the vision of all beings as the Self, what else remains to be attained in the way of Self-realisation? Would you say that Self-realisation is the state of existing as inert matter, as this wall or as this piece of wood, for instance?_x000d_ Disciple: Though that is not the meaning, yet what the scriptures speak of as the withdrawal of the Self into Its real nature consists in the arresting of all mind-functions and all work._x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, this Samadhi of which the scriptures speak is a state not at all easy to attain. When very rarely it appears in somebody, it does not last for long; so what will he keep himself occupied with? Thus it is that after realising that state described in the scriptures, the saint sees the Self in all beings and in that consciousness devotes himself to service, so that any Karma that was yet left to be worked out through the body may exhaust itself. It is this state which has been described by the authors of the Shastras (scriptures) as Jivanmukti, "Freedom while living"._x000d_ Disciple: So after all it comes about, sir, that unless this state of Jivanmukti is attained, work for the sake of others can never be pursued in the truest sense of the term._x000d_ Swamiji: Yes, that is what the Shastras say, but they also say that work or service for the good of others leads to this state of Jivanmukti. Otherwise there would be no need on the part of the Shastras to teach a separate path of religious practice, called the Karma-Yoga._x000d_ The disciple now understood the point and became silent, and Swamiji giving up the point commenced rendering in a voice of superhuman sweetness the song composed by Babu Girish Chandra Ghosh to commemorate Shri Ramakrishna's Nativity, and beginning:_x000d_ "Who art Thou lying on the lap of the poor Brahmin matron."

Math, Belur_x000d_ Howrah P.O._x000d_ 25th February, 1898_x000d_ My Dear Shashi {Ramakrishnananda},_x000d_ Our congratulations for the successful carrying out of the Mahotsava in Madras. Hope you had a good gathering and plenty of spiritual food. We are all so glad that you have girded yourself to teach more of spirituality to the Madras people than those finger twistings and kling phat you are so fond of. Really your lecture on Shriji was splendid. I could only catch a report in the Madras Mail in Kandwa, and the Math people have not had any. Why don't you send us over a copy?_x000d_ I learn that you complain about my silence, is it? I have written you more letters, however, than you ever wrote me, from Europe and America even. You ought to give me all the news you can from Madras every week. Simplest way is to put down a few lines and a few items of news every day on a sheet._x000d_ My health has not been all right of late; at present it is much better. Calcutta is unusually cool just now, and the American friends who are here are enjoying it ever so much. Today we take possession of the land we have bought, and though it is not practicable to have the Mahotsava on it just now, I must have something on it on Sunday. Anyhow, Shriji's relics must be taken to our place for the day and worshipped. Gangadhar is here and asks me to write to you that though he has succeeded in getting some subscriptions for the Brahmavadin, the delivery being very irregular, he is afraid of losing them also soon. I received your letter of recommendation for the young man with the old story of "having nothing to eat, Your Honour"; only added in the Madras edition: "got a number of children too", for generating whom no recommendation was needed! I would be very glad to help him, but the fact is, I have no money; every cent I had I have made over to Raja, as they all say I am a spendthrift and are afraid of keeping money with me. I have, however, sent the letter to Rakhal if he can find the way to help your friend, the young man, in having some more children. He writes that the Christians will help him out if he becomes a convert, but he won't. Perhaps he is afraid that his conversion will make Hindu India lose one of her brightest jewels and Hindu society the benefit of his propagating power to eternal misery!_x000d_ The boys here are rather seedy owing to the unusual amount of pure and cool air they are made to breathe in and live on the bank of the Ganga in the new Math. Sarada has his malaria brought over from Dinajpur. I made him eat a dose of opium the other day without much benefit to him except his brain which progressed for some hours towards its natural direction, namely, idiocy. Hari also has a touch; I hope it will take off a good bit of their avoirdupois. By the by, we have once more started the dancing business here, and it would make your heart glad to see Hari and Sarada and my own good self in a waltz. How we keep balance at all is a wonder to me._x000d_ Sharat has come and is hard at work as usual. We have got some good furniture now, and a big jump from the old Chatai (mat) in the old Math to nice tables and chairs and three Khats (cots), mind you. We have curtailed the Puja (worship) work a good deal, and the amount of pruning your klings and phats and svahas have undergone would make you faint. The puja occupied only the day, and they slept soundly all night. How are Tulsi and Khoka? Are they more tractable with you than under Rakhal? You may run in to Calcutta for a few days giving charge to Tulsi, but it is so expensive, and then you must go back, as Madras has to be thoroughly worked up . I am going to America again with Mrs. Bull in a few months._x000d_ Give my love to Goodwin and tell him that we are going to see him at any rate on our way to Japan. Shivananda is here, and I have toned down a bit his great desire to go to the Himalayas for food ! Is Tulsi contemplating the same? The bandicoot-hole will be a sufficient cave for him, I suppose._x000d_ So the Math here is a fait accompli, and I am going over to get more help. . . . Work on with energy. India is a rotten corpse inside and outside. We shall revive it by the blessings of Shri Maharaj. With all love,_x000d_ Ever yours in the Lord,_x000d_ Vivekananda

The Math, Belur_x000d_ 25th February, 1898_x000d_ My Dear Rajaji {Raja Pyari Mohan Mukherjee},_x000d_ My gratitude for your very kind invitation to speak. I had a talk with Mr. Bhattacharya on the subject a few days back, and I am trying my best as a result to find time for your Society. I also promised to let them know the result on Sunday._x000d_ A friend to whom I owe much is here, presumably, to take me to his place in Darjeeling. _x000d_ There are some American friends come, and every spare moment is occupied in working for the new Math and several organisations therein, and I expect to leave India next month for America._x000d_ Believe me, I am trying my best to be able to take advantage of this invitation of yours and shall communicate the result to you on Sunday through Mr. Bhattacharya._x000d_ Yours with love and blessings,_x000d_ Vivekananda

This year, 1898, the public celebration of Shri Ramakrishna's birth anniversary posed a problem. The festival had been started by Surendranath Mitra and other devotees in 1881, while the Master was still alive, and had been celebrated annually at Dakshineswar. It had continued each year since then, and had given everybody an opportunity to gather in one place for a shared purpose, with brotherly feelings. But in 1898 the Trustees of the Kali temple at Dakshineswar raised the objection that the place would be defiled if the foreign disciples of the Swami attended the festival. Under these circumstances the monks would have preferred to have had the celebrations on the newly-acquired ground of the Math itself; but this was too uneven for the purpose. Ultimately the sixty-fifth birth anniversary of Shri Ramakrishna was celebrated on Sunday, February 27, at the Radha Ramanji Thakurbari of Purnachandra Daw. This was at Bally, on the same bank of the Ganga as Belur, but slightly up the river. Arrangements were made for steamers to ply between Calcutta and the Thakurbari Ghat; and the celebration took place with its usual impressiveness and fervour.

Math, Belur_x000d_ (Howrah),_x000d_ March, 1898_x000d_ My Dear Shashi {Ramakrishnananda},_x000d_ I forgot to write you about two things. 1. That Tulsi ought to learn shorthand from Goodwin, at least the beginning. 2. I had to write a letter almost every mail to Madras while I was out of India. I have in vain written for a copy of those letters. Send me all those letters. I want to write out my travels. Do not fail, and I shall send them back as soon as they have been used up. The Dawn can manage with 200 subscribers to come out regularly on Rs. 40/- an issue expenditure. This is a great fact to know. The P.B. (Prabuddha Bharata ) seems to be very disorganised; try best to organise it. Poor Alasinga, I am sorry for him. Only thing I can do is to make him entirely free for a year so that he may devote all his energy to the Brahmavadin work. Tell him not to worry; I have him always in mind, poor child; his devotion I can never repay._x000d_ I am thinking of going to Kashmir again with Mrs. Bull and Miss MacLeod. (I) return to Calcutta and start for America from here._x000d_ Miss Noble is really an acquisition. She will soon surpass Mrs. Besant as a speaker, I am sure. Do look after Alasinga. I have an idea that he is breaking himself with work. Tell him, the best work is only done by alternate repose and work. Give him all my love. We had two public lectures in Calcutta, one from Miss Noble and the other from our Sharat. Both of them did very well indeed; there was great enthusiasm, which shows that the Calcutta public has not forgotten us. Some of the members of the Math had a touch of influenza. They are all right now. The thing is working nicely. Shri (Holy) Mother is here, and the European and American ladies went the other day to see her, and what do you think, Mother ate with them even there ! Is not that grand? The Lord is watching over us; there is no fear; do not lose your nerves, keep your health and take things easy. It is always good to give a few strong strokes and rest on your oars. Rakhal is living with the new land and buildings. I was not satisfied with the Mahotsava this year. What it should be is a grand mixture of all the different phases here. We shall try it next year--I shall send instructions. With love to all of you there and blessings._x000d_ Vivekananda

There was much work to be done on the newly-bought property. Fortunately, Hariprasanna, the disciple of the Master, had by then resigned his post as an Executive Engineer in the service of the North-Western Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) Government, and had joined the monastery as a Brahmachari. In August 1899 he took the vows of monasticism and was named Swami Vijnanananda. The supervision of the building work naturally devolved on him, while Swami Advaitananda assisted him by supervising the preparatory work such as the levelling of the ground. This was uneven, since the area had formerly been used as a sort of dockyard for the repair of small craft. There was a one-storey building for dwelling purposes, with two rooms on the northern side and another on the southern, connected by a veranda opening on the Ganga. For servants there was also a separate block. The place was scarcely habitable. Swami Vijnanananda's task was to remodel the main building by adding some more rooms above, as well as one on the southern side. Another building, with a couple of rooms above to serve as a shrine and prayer-hall, and with a kitchen, store, and refectory below, had to be completed before the monastery could he moved there. All this took a year. A handsome contribution from Mrs. Bull made the building of the shrine possible, and also enabled the Swami to make an endowment for the monastery. Her help put the monastery on a sound financial basis, much to the Swami's relief. The total expenditure, and the amount of the endowment, came to more than Rs. 100,000. The monastery came to be known as the Belur Math.

She. as we already know, was a devoted friend and admirer of the Swami. She had met him both in America and England, on his first visit to the West; and it was she who, together with Mr. and Mrs. Sevier and Mr. E. T. Sturdy, met the expenses of his work in England. Though possessed of ample means, she was of an ascetic bent of mind. Being also liberal and spiritual in her outlook, she found in the Swami's personality and teaching the essentials needed for the spiritual quest. Once, she even decided to give up the world; but the Swami persuaded her not to do so: rather, to help the world as much as she could, by remaining in it and living a selfless life.

Mrs. Ole Bull, as we have seen, had met the Swami at the beginning of his American work and had assisted him in a large way financially. She was well known in America for her philanthropy, her culture, and her social position as the wife of the celebrated violinist of that name. The Swami had often been her guest at Cambridge, near Boston, Massachusetts, and had been the chief attraction on many occasions at her salons, to which she used to invite some of the most distinguished scholars of the day. _x000d_ The purchase of this site at Belur, on the bank of the Ganga, was in a way the fulfilment of the Swami's prophecy; for, long before he went to the West, he said to some of his brother-disciples, while standing on the Baranagore ghat, and when there was yet no thought of buying a site for the monastery, "Something tells me that our permanent Math will be in this neighbourhood across the river." Though the property was acquired at the beginning of 1898, it did not become the permanent headquarters of the monks until January 1899. From every point of view the purchase was a success. That the monastery was on the other side of the river, and four miles by road from the centre of the metropolis, made it slightly secluded.

Math, Belur_x000d_ Howrah District_x000d_ Bengal, India_x000d_ 2nd March, 1898_x000d_ My Dear Mary {Hale},_x000d_ You have news of me already, I hope, through the letter I wrote to Mother Church. You are all so kind, the whole family, to me, I must have belonged to you in the past, as we Hindus say. My only regret is that the millionaires do not materialise: and I want them so badly just now that I am growing decrepit and old and hot in the midst of building and organising. Though Harriet has got one of a million virtues, a few millions of cash virtue would have made it more shining, I am sure; so you do not commit the same mistake._x000d_ A certain young couple had everything favourable to make them man and wife except that the bride's father was determined not to give his daughter to anyone who had not a million. The young people were in despair when a clever matchmaker came to the rescue. He asked the bridegroom whether he was willing to part with his nose on payment of a million--which he refused. The matchmaker then swore before the bride's father that the bridegroom had in store goods worth several millions, and the match was completed. Don't you take like millions._x000d_ Well, well, you could not get the millionaire, so I could not get the money; so I had to worry a good deal and work hard to no purpose; so I got the disease. It requires brains like mine to find out the true cause--I am charmed with myself! _x000d_ Well, it was in Southern India, when I came from London and when the people were feting and feasting and pumping all the work out of me, that an old hereditary disease made its appearance. The tendency was always there, and excess of mental work made it "express" itself. Total collapse and extreme prostration followed, and I had to leave Madras immediately for the cooler North; a day's delay meant waiting for a week in that awful heat for another steamer. By the by, I learnt afterwards that Mr. Barrows arrived in Madras next day and was very much chagrined at not finding me as he expected, though I helped getting up an address for him and arranged for his reception. Poor man, he little knew I was at death's door then._x000d_ I have been travelling in the Himalayas all through last summer; and a cold climate, I found immediately, brought me round; but as soon as I come into the heat of the plains I am down again. From today the heat in Calcutta is becoming intense, and I will soon have to fly. This time to cool America as Mrs. Bull and Miss MacLeod are here. I have bought a piece of land for the institution on the river Ganga near Calcutta, on which is a little house where they are living now; within a stone's throw is the house where the Math is situated at present in which we live._x000d_ So I see them every day and they are enjoying it immensely a L'Inde . They intend making a trip to Kashmir in a month, and I am going with them as a guide and friend and philosopher perhaps, if they are willing. After that we all sail for the land of freedom and scandal._x000d_ You need not be alarmed with me as the disease will take two or three years at worst to carry me off. At best it may remain a harmless companion. I am content. Only I am working hard to set things all right and always so that the machine moves forward when I am off the stage. Death I have conquered long ago when I gave up life. My only anxiety is the work , and even that to the Lord I dedicate, and He knows best._x000d_ Ever yours in the Lord,_x000d_ Vivekananda

The Indian Mirror gave a report of it on March 3: "Last Sunday [February 27] Lower Bengal witnessed a Hindu religious festival, the importance, grandeur and solemnity of which could better be imagined than described. … Swami Vivekananda, who being pressed by the crowd, delivered a short address suited for the occasion, with his fascinating appearance and charming lustrous eyes, always drew a great multitude of people around him ……”

In March 1898 the Swami bought a piece of land, over seven acres in extent, together with a building, on the west bank of the Ganga at Belur, and almost opposite the Baranagore bathing ghat. An agreement had been entered into on February 3, and on March 4 the plot was actually secured.

To Sister Christine_x000d_ The Math, Beloor, Howrah Dist.,_x000d_ Bengal, India,_x000d_ 11th March 1898._x000d_ My dear Christina,_x000d_ I simply wonder what has become of you. It is an age [that] I did not hear from you, and I expected so much after Sturdy's visit to Detroit. How did you like the man? What about Baby and the Devendorfs? How is Mrs. Funkey [Funke]? What are you going to do this summer? Take rest, dear Christina; I am sure you require it badly._x000d_ Mrs. Bull of Boston and Miss MacLeod of New York are now in India. We have changed our Math from the old, nasty house to a house on the banks of the Ganges. This is much more healthy and beautiful. We have also got a good piece of land very near on the same side where Mrs. Bull and Miss MacLeod are putting up now. It is wonderful how they accommodate themselves to our Indian life of privation and hardship! My, these Yanks can do anything! After the luxuries of Boston and New York, to be quite content and happy in this wretched little house!! We intend to travel a bit together in Kashmir, and then I come to America with them and am sure to get a hearty welcome from my friends. What do you think? Is it welcome news to you? Of course, I cannot undergo the same amount of work as before; that, dear Christina, I am sorry, I will no more be able to do. I will do a little work and [take] a good deal of rest. No more getting crowds and making noise, but quiet, silent, per¬sonal work will be all I intend to do._x000d_ This time I will quietly come and quietly go away, seeing only my old friends, and no noise._x000d_ Write soon, as I am so anxious._x000d_ Ever yours in the Lord,_x000d_ Vivekananda._x000d_ "There are two sorts of persons__one sort has the heart of water, the other of stone. The one easily takes an impression, and as easily throws it off; the other seldom takes an impres¬sion, but once it takes, it is there for ever. Nay, the more they struggle to cast it off, the more it cuts deep into the stone soul."__R. K. [Ramakrishna] Paramahamsa

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,_x000d_ When I was travelling through the Eastern parts of Asia, one thing especially struck me--that is the prevalence of Indian spiritual thought in Eastern Asiatic countries. You may imagine the surprise with which I noticed written on the walls of Chinese and Japanese temples some well-known Sanskrit Mantras, and possibly it will please you all the more to know that they were all in old Bengali characters, standing even in the present day as a monument of missionary energy and zeal displayed by our forefathers of Bengal._x000d_ Apart from these Asiatic countries, the work of India's spiritual thought is so widespread and unmistakable that even in Western countries, going deep below the surface, I found traces of the same influence still present. It has now become a historical fact that the spiritual ideas of the Indian people travelled towards both the East and the West in days gone by. Everybody knows now how much the world owes to India's spirituality, and what a potent factor in the present and past of humanity have been the spiritual powers of India. These are things of the past. I find another most remarkable phenomenon, and that is that the most stupendous powers of civilisation, and progress towards humanity and social progress, have been effected by that wonderful race--I mean the Anglo-Saxon. I may go further and tell you that had it not been for the power of the Anglo-Saxons we should not have met here today to discuss, as we are doing, the influence of our Indian spiritual thought. And coming back to our own country, coming from the West to the East, I see the same Anglo-Saxon powers working here with all their defects, but retaining their peculiarly characteristic good features, and I believe that at last the grand result is achieved. The British idea of expansion and progress is forcing us up, and let us remember that the civilisation of the West has been drawn from the fountain of the Greeks, and that the great idea of Greek civilisation is that of expression. In India we think--but unfortunately sometimes we think so deeply that there is no power left for expression. Gradually, therefore, it came to pass that our force of expression did not manifest itself before the world, and what is the result of that? The result is this--we worked to hide everything we had. It began first with individuals as a faculty of hiding, and it ended by becoming a national habit of hiding--there is such a lack of expression with us that we are now considered a dead nation. Without expression, how can we live? The backbone of Western civilisation is--expansion and expression. This side of the work of the Anglo-Saxon race in India, to which I draw your attention, is calculated to rouse our nation once more to express itself, and it is inciting it to bring out its hidden treasures before the world by using the means of communication provided by the same mighty race. The Anglo-Saxons have created a future for India, and the space through which our ancestral ideas are now ranging is simply phenomenal. Ay, what great facilities had our forefathers when they delivered their message of truth and salvation? Ay, how did the great Buddha preach the noble doctrine of universal brotherhood? There were even then great facilities here, in our beloved India, for the attainment of real happiness, and we could easily send our ideas from one end of the world to the other. Now we have reached even the Anglo-Saxon race. This is the kind of interaction now going on, and we find that our message is heard, and not only heard but is being responded to. Already England has given us some of her great intellects to help us in our mission. Every one has heard and is perhaps familiar with my friend Miss Muller, who is now here on this platform. This lady, born of a very good family and well educated, has given her whole life to us out of love for India, and has made India her home and her family. Every one of you is familiar with the name of that noble and distinguished Englishwoman who has also given her whole life to work for the good of India and India's regeneration--I mean Mrs. Besant. Today, we meet on this platform two ladies from America who have the same mission in their hearts; and I can assure you that they also are willing to devote their lives to do the least good to our poor country. I take this opportunity of reminding you of the name of one of our countrymen--one who has seen England and America, one in whom I have great confidence, and whom I respect and love, and who would have been present here but for an engagement elsewhere--a man working steadily and silently for the good of our country, a man of great spirituality--I mean Mr. Mohini Mohan Chatterji. And now England has sent us another gift in Miss Margaret Noble, from whom we expect much. Without any more words of mine I introduce to you Miss Noble, who will now address you._x000d_ After Sister Nivedita had finished her interesting lecture, the Swami rose and said:_x000d_ I have only a few words to say. We have an idea that we Indians can do something, and amongst the Indians we Bengalis may laugh at this idea; but I do not. My mission in life is to rouse a struggle in you. Whether you are an Advaitin, whether you are a qualified monist or dualist, it does not matter much. But let me draw your attention to one thing which unfortunately we always forget: that is--"O man, have faith in yourself." That is the way by which we can have faith in God. Whether you are an Advaitist or a dualist, whether you are a believer in the system of Yoga or a believer in Shankaracharya, whether you are a follower of Vyasa or Vishvamitra, it does not matter much. But the thing is that on this point Indian thought differs from that of all the rest of the world. Let us remember for a moment that, whereas in every other religion and in every other country, the power of the soul is entirely ignored--the soul is thought of as almost powerless, weak, and inert--we in India consider the soul to be eternal and hold that it will remain perfect through all eternity. We should always bear in mind the teachings of the Upanishads. _x000d_ Remember your great mission in life. We Indians, and especially those of Bengal, have been invaded by a vast amount of foreign ideas that are eating into the very vitals of our national religion. Why are we so backward nowadays? Why are ninety-nine per cent of us made up of entirely foreign ideas and elements? This has to be thrown out if we want to rise in the scale of nations. If we want to rise, we must also remember that we have many things to learn from the West. We should learn from the West her arts and her sciences. From the West we have to learn the sciences of physical nature, while on the other hand the West has to come to us to learn and assimilate religion and spiritual knowledge. We Hindus must believe that we are the teachers of the world. We have been clamouring here for getting political rights and many other such things. Very well. Rights and privileges and other things can only come through friendship, and friendship can only be expected between two equals. When one of the parties is a beggar, what friendship can there be? It is all very well to speak so, but I say that without mutual co-operation we can never make ourselves strong men. So, I must call upon you to go out to England and America, not as beggars but as teachers of religion. The law of exchange must be applied to the best of our power. If we have to learn from them the ways and methods of making ourselves happy in this life, why, in return, should we not give them the methods and ways that would make them happy for all eternity? Above all, work for the good of humanity. Give up the so-called boast of your narrow orthodox life. Death is waiting for every one, and mark you this--the most marvellous historical fact--that all the nations of the world have to sit down patiently at the feet of India to learn the eternal truths embodied in her literature. India dies not. China dies not. Japan dies not. Therefore, we must always remember that our backbone is spirituality, and to do that we must have a guide who will show the path to us, that path about which I am talking just now. If any of you do not believe it, if there be a Hindu boy amongst us who is not ready to believe that his religion is pure spirituality, I do not call him a Hindu. I remember in one of the villages of Kashmir, while talking to an old Mohammedan lady, I asked her in a mild voice, "What religion is yours?" She replied in her own language, "Praise the Lord! By the mercy of God, I am a Mussalman." And then I asked a Hindu, "What is your religion?" He plainly replied, "I am a Hindu." I remember that grand word of the Katha Upanishad--Shraddha or marvellous faith. An instance of Shraddha can be found in the life of Nachiketa. To preach the doctrine of Shraddha or genuine faith is the mission of my life. Let me repeat to you that this faith is one of the potent factors of humanity and of all religions. First, have faith in yourselves. Know that though one may be a little bubble and another may be a mountain-high wave, yet behind both the bubble and the wave there is the infinite ocean. Therefore there is hope for every one. There is salvation for every one. Every one must sooner or later get rid of the bonds of Maya. This is the first thing to do. Infinite hope begets infinite aspiration. If that faith comes to us, it will bring back our national life as it was in the days of Vyasa and Arjuna--the days when all our sublime doctrines of humanity were preached. Today we are far behindhand in spiritual insight and spiritual thoughts. India had plenty of spirituality, so much so that her spiritual greatness made India the greatest nation of the then existing races of the world; and if traditions and hopes are to be believed, those days will come back once more to us, and that depends upon you. You, young men of Bengal, do not look up to the rich and great men who have money. The poor did all the great and gigantic work of the world. You, poor men of Bengal, come up, you can do everything, and you must do everything. Many will follow your example, poor though you are. Be steady, and, above all, be pure and sincere to the backbone. Have faith in your destiny. You, young men of Bengal, are to work out the salvation of India. Mark that, whether you believe it or not, do not think that it will be done today or tomorrow. I believe in it as I believe in my own body and my own soul. Therefore my heart goes to you--young men of Bengal. It depends upon you who have no money; because you are poor, therefore you will work. Because you have nothing, therefore you will be sincere. Because you are sincere, you will be ready to renounce all. That is what I am just now telling you. Once more I repeat this to you. This is your mission in life, this is my mission in life. I do not care what philosophy you take up; only I am ready to prove here that throughout the whole of India, there runs a mutual and cordial string of eternal faith in the perfection of humanity, and I believe in it myself. And let that faith be spread over the whole land.

The speaker was Margaret Noble, and her subject "The Influence of Indian Spiritual Thought in England". Introducing her to the audience, the Swami called her "another gift of England to India" — the others being Mrs. Besant and Miss Muller, all of whom, he said, had consecrated their lives to the good of India. In the course of her talk, Miss Noble said: ". . . You have the ingenuity of six thousand years of conservatism. But yours is the conservatism of a people who have through that long period been able to preserve the greatest spiritual treasures for the world, and it is for this reason that I have come to India to serve her with our burning passion for service. . . ."

In the course of her talk, Miss Noble said: ". . . You have the ingenuity of six thousand years of conservatism. But yours is the conservatism of a people who have through that long period been able to preserve the greatest spiritual treasures for the world, and it is for this reason that I have come to India to serve her with our burning passion for service. . . ."

Mrs. Bull said that the literature of India had become a living one to Western minds, and that the works of Swami Vivekananda especially had become household books of the Americans. Miss Muller was hailed with applause when she addressed the audience as "My dear friends and fellow-countrymen". She and the other Western disciples of the Swami felt, she said, that in coming to India they had come to their home — a home not only of spiritual enlightenment and religious wisdom, but the dwelling- place of their own kindred.

To Sister Nivedita_x000d_ Math, Belur._x000d_ Howrah, Bengal._x000d_ 16th March 1898._x000d_ My dear Margaret,_x000d_ It is needless to let you know, you have fulfilled all my expectations in your last lecture._x000d_ It appears to me that the platform is the great field where you will be of great help to me, apart from your educational plans. I am glad to learn that Miss [Henrietta] Müller is going to have a place on the river. Are you also going to Darjeeling? So you will all the better work after a trip up there! Next season I am planning a series of lectures for you all over India._x000d_ Ever yours with all love and blessings,_x000d_ [Stamp with Swamiji's portrait]_x000d_ The Calcutta Boy.

We landed at the garden and Thakurbari of Babu Purnachandra Daw, at Bally, where the festival … was being held. So dense was the crowd that it was a matter of considerable difficulty to pilot our way through them to the garden-house, where we could add our congratulations to the Swami Vivekananda's letters and telegrams, and be presented also to the host of the day…. _x000d_ In Another part of the grounds, the monks, attended by their Brahmin cook, were busily engaged in feeding the people…. Hundreds of poor recipients sat on the grounds in rows to enjoy the simple fare — consisting of curried-rice, some vegetable, and a couple of sweetmeats, served on dried leaves — which was being distributed. … But the great attraction was a shrine on a little height where a sort of altar had been erected before the portrait of Shri Ramakrishna….

This ceremony was a significant event for Margaret Noble. Another event that was a sign of the increasing contact between West and East fostered by the Swami, was the receiving of his Western women disciples by the Holy Mother, the spouse of Bhagavan Shri Ramakrishna, and an orthodox Brahmana lady. The meeting was a touching one. She addressed her visitors as "My children". Afterwards, they brought back with them to their cottage for a few hours an aged lady, Gopaler Ma, who had been regarded by Shri Ramakrishna as Mother in a special sense. They won over this most orthodox of Brahmana widows, even to eating with them and a week later, to living with them for three days.

Swami Saradananda delivered a most interesting and, at the same time, a most instructive lecture on "Hindu Mission in America" on the stage of the Emerald Theatre last evening before a very large, intelligent, and appreciative audience under the presidency of Swami Vivekananda and in the presence of Miss Noble, Miss [sic] Bull, Babu Mohini Mohan Chatterji, Dr. J. C. Bose, and the Hon'ble Rai A. Charlu Bahadur of Madras. The President introduced the speaker as one who was taught and moved about here, and who made a short sojourn in America, the land discovered by Columbus, and/before him by the Chinese and ages before them by the Scandinavians.... After the concluding speech of the President, the meeting dissolved.

"Miss Noble is really an acquisition. She will soon surpass Mrs. Besant as a speaker, I am sure.... We had two public lectures in Calcutta, one from Miss Noble and the other from our Sharat [Saradananda]. Both of them did very well indeed; there was great enthusiasm, which shows that the Calcutta public has not forgotten us."

At the forty-second meeting of the Ramakrishna Mission held at the premises No. 57 Ramkanta Bose Street, Baghbazar, Calcutta, on the 20th March, 1898, Swami Vivekananda gave an address on "Work without Motive", and spoke to the following effect:_x000d_ When the Gita was first preached, there was then going on a great controversy between two sects. One party considered the Vedic Yajnas and animal sacrifices and such like Karmas to constitute the whole of religion. The other preached that the killing of numberless horses and cattle cannot be called religion. The people belonging to the latter party were mostly Sannyasins and followers of Jnana. They believed that the giving up of all work and the gaining of the knowledge of the Self was the only path to Moksha. By the preaching of His great doctrine of work without motive, the Author of the Gita set at rest the disputes of these two antagonistic sects._x000d_ Many are of opinion that the Gita was not written at the time of the Mahabharata, but was subsequently added to it. This is not correct. The special teachings of the Gita are to be found in every part of the Mahabharata, and if the Gita is to be expunged, as forming no part of it, every other portion of it which embodies the same teachings should be similarly treated._x000d_ Now, what is the meaning of working without motive? Nowadays many understand it in the sense that one is to work in such a way that neither pleasure nor pain touches his mind. If this be its real meaning, then the animals might be said to work without motive. Some animals devour their own offspring, and they do not feel any pangs at all in doing so. Robbers ruin other people by robbing them of their possessions; but if they feel quite callous to pleasure or pain, then they also would be working without motive. If the meaning of it be such, then one who has a stony heart, the worst of criminals, might be considered to be working without motive. The walls have no feelings of pleasure or pain, neither has a stone, and it cannot be said that they are working without motive. In the above sense the doctrine is a potent instrument in the hands of the wicked. They would go on doing wicked deeds, and would pronounce themselves as working without a motive. If such be the significance of working without a motive, then a fearful doctrine has been put forth by the preaching of the Gita. Certainly this is not the meaning. Furthermore, if we look into the lives of those who were connected with the preaching of the Gita, we should find them living quite a different life. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona in battle, but withal, he sacrificed all his self-interest and desires and his lower self millions of times._x000d_ Gita teaches Karma-Yoga. We should work through Yoga (concentration). In such concentration in action (Karma-Yoga), there is no consciousness of the lower ego present. The consciousness that I am doing this and that is never present when one works through Yoga. The Western people do not understand this. They say that if there be no consciousness of ego, if this ego is gone, how then can a man work? But when one works with concentration, losing all consciousness of oneself the work that is done will be infinitely better, and this every one may have experienced in his own life. We perform many works subconsciously, such as the digestion of food etc., many others consciously, and others again by becoming immersed in Samadhi as it were, when there is no consciousness of the smaller ego. If the painter, losing the consciousness of his ego, becomes completely immersed in his painting, he will be able to produce masterpieces. The good cook concentrates his whole self on the food-material he handles; he loses all other consciousness for the time being. But they are only able to do perfectly a single work in this way, to which they are habituated. The Gita teaches that all works should be done thus. He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit. Such a performance of work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. Those who work thus never do anything for themselves._x000d_ The result of every work is mixed with good and evil. There is no good work that has not a touch of evil in it. Like smoke round the fire, some evil always clings to work. We should engage in such works as bring the largest amount of good and the smallest measure of evil. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona; if this had not been done Duryodhana could not have been conquered, the force of evil would have triumphed over the force of good, and thus a great calamity would have fallen on the country. The government of the country would have been usurped by a body of proud unrighteous kings, to the great misfortune of the people. Similarly, Shri Krishna killed Kamsa, Jarasandha, and others who were tyrants, but not a single one of his deeds was done for himself. Every one of them was for the good of others. We are reading the Gita by candle-light, but numbers of insects are being burnt to death. Thus it is seen that some evil clings to work. Those who work without any consciousness of their lower ego are not affected with evil, for they work for the good of the world. To work without motive, to work unattached, brings the highest bliss and freedom. This secret of Karma-Yoga is taught by the Lord Shri Krishna in the Gita.

Then came a memorable day for Margaret Noble-the day of her first initiation. She had come to stay as the guest of Mrs. Ole Bull and Miss MacLeod in the new Math compound. On the morning of March 25 the Christian Feast of the Annunciation, the Swami went to the cottage that they were occupying and brought them to the temporary Math in Nilambarbabu's garden-house. There, he took Miss Noble to the shrine-room. First, he taught her the worship of Shiva; then, he went through a simple ritual of initiation. She was made a Brahmacharini and given the name "Nivedita", meaning “one who is dedicated ” — a name most appropriate for one who had resolved to dedicate her life to the service of India and to the Swami's work. 'This, as we have already noted, was Margaret Noble's resolve. It was to be as Sister Nivedita that she became widely known in India and abroad.

After the ceremony, the Western disciples were taken upstairs. The Swami put on the ashes, bone ear-rings, and matted locks of a Shiva-yogi, and then sang for them and played Indian music for an hour or so. The ideal he put before those whom he made his own, and the spirit in which the dedication ceremony was conducted, can to some extent he gathered from the Sister's words:

May one of them never forget a certain day of consecration, in the chapel at the mon-astery, when, as the opening step in a lifetime, so to speak, he first taught her to per-form the worship of Shiva, and then made the whole culminate in an offering of flow-ers at the feet of the Buddha! "Go thou," he said, as if addressing, in one person each separate soul that would ever come to him for guidance, "and follow Him who was born and gave His life for others five hundred times before He attained the vision of the Buddha!"

Another event at this time was the initiation into Sannyasa of Swamis Swarupananda and Sureshwarananda on March 29. The former, on his third or fourth visit to the Math, was so deeply impressed with the long conversation he had with the Swami that then and there he decided to give up the world and lead the life of practical spirituality under the Swami's guidance. The friends who had accompanied him were startled when he asked them to carry the news to his relatives that he did not mean to return home again — a decision to which he firmly adhered. For several years he had been thinking on the problems of life and death, of how he could break the dream, as it were, and be of service to the world. Though he had been married in his youth, he had eschewed marital relations. Living a life of strict Brahmacharya under his parental roof, he was consumed with the desire to help his brother-men. On meeting the Swami it took him no time to see, as he said in later years, that joining the Order would provide him with the best opportunity of putting into effect his own ideas, which coincided with those of the Swami. He said as much to the latter, who exultantly told a brother-disciple, "We have made an acquisition today!" Much later he said to a friend, "To get an efficient worker like Swarupananda is of greater gain than receiving thousands of gold coins." Such was the Swami's faith in this highly-qualified disciple that, in contrast with the general practice of the Order, he was initiated into Sannyasa after only a few days' stay at the Math. Within a few months he was made editor of the magazine Prabuddha Bharata; and when Advaita Ashrama was founded by the Swami in the Himalayas in the early part of the following year, he was made its President. All this shows his guru's great confidence in him.

He had come to see Mrs. Ole Bull, then living in the old cottage on the recently-purchased Math grounds, and had stopped first at the monastery to ask the Swami to accompany him. It was raining in torrents. After waiting for an hour the Swami and Dharmapala, with a few others, decided to start. Their way lay across very uneven and muddy ground, particularly in the compound of the new Math, which was being levelled. Drenched with rain, his feet slipping in the mud, the Swami enjoyed himself like a boy, shouting with laughter and merriment. Dharmapala was the only one who was not bare-footed. At one place his foot sank so deep in the mud that he could not extricate himself. The Swami, seeing his plight, lent his shoulder for support and, putting his arm round the visitor's waist, helped him out. Both, laughing, walked linked together the rest of the way.

On reaching the cottage, all went to wash their feet. ' When the Swami saw Dharmapala take a pitcher of water for that purpose, he seized it from him, saying, "You are my guest, and I must have the privilege of serving you!" With these words he was about to wash his guest's feet when there was a loud protest from Dharmapala. In India, to wash another's feet is considered an act of the humblest service. All those who witnessed the scene were amazed at the Swami's humility.

Within a couple of days of her arrival, he had arranged with Mahendranath Gupta, the disciple of Shri Ramakrishna, that he should teach her Bengali. In his talks with her and the others at the riverside cottage at Belur, he instilled into her mind the Indian consciousness, for he felt that a European who was to work in his cause for India should do so in the Indian way, strictly observing Hindu customs, manners, and etiquette, even to the detail. He demanded that such a person adopt the food, clothes, language, and general habits of Hindus. Bearing in mind that Nivedita was to take charge of the education of Hindu women, he held up before her as a model the life of Brahmacharya led by the orthodox Brahmana widow: only, he enlarged the scope of her activities by substituting selfless service rendered to the Indian people for loving service to the family. "You have to set yourself", he said to her, "to Hinduize your thoughts, your needs, your conceptions, and your habits. Your life, internal and external, has to become all that an orthodox Brahmana Brahmacharini's ought to be. The method will come to you, if only you desire it sufficiently. But you have to forget your own past and to cause it to be forgotten. You have to lose even its memory." Such a line of self-discipline was regarded as the best means of assimilating the new consciousness aimed at. The Swami even insisted that feelings and prejudices that might appear crude to her, must be reverently approached and studied, not ignored or despised. "We shall speak to all men", he said, "in terms of their own orthodoxy!"

'He was ready to beat down mercilessly any other than a live and open-minded interest in everything connected with the peoples of his land, and thundered against the least hint of patronizing. He would turn upon the Western disciples if they found fault without justification. He demanded that India be viewed in a spiritual perspective. He refuted any notion of his country's being effete. Only a youthful nation, he often said, could so readily have assimilated the ideas of a foreign culture, as India had done. He showed them that, seen in the light of her ideals and standards, she was young, vital, and full of potentiality. In her religious vision she was one. He enabled them to see that India's culture was incomparable, having been developed through thousands of years of experimentation till it had attained the highest level ever reached by humanity: consequently, it possessed an unparalleled stability and strength.

He disclosed to them the why of every Indian custom. They were able to see that, though poor, India was clean; that, in a land where religion was identified with renunciation, it was natural that poverty should be honoured; and that here poverty was not associated with vice, as it so often was in the West. To the Swami, all that was Indian was sacred and wonderful. Later on, as he moved with his disciples from city to city and province to province, he would recount to them the glories and beauties of the land. He was anxious that his Western disciples make an impartial study of Indian problems. They were not to see the glories only, but to have also a clear understanding of the problems, and to bring the ideals and methods of Western science and civilization to bear on the task of finding solutions. Often he contrasted East with West, bringing out the merits and defects of the civilizations of the world. Above all, he gave them the spirit of India, initiated them into its values, and demonstrated its worth.

for instance, by calling his Western disciples true Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, and eating or drinking after them, or eating in public food that they had cooked for him, and even making his brother-monks do the same, he gave them a social standing unacceptable to the orthodox Hindu. In contravening longstanding traditions when there was need to do so, he showed his indifference to criticism and his fearless sincerity. His aim was to make his disciples one in a real brotherhood. In this way he united the ends of the earth, as it were, and brought together people of diverse temperaments.

It hardly needs saying that in this training of Western disciples the Swami took into consideration their own tendencies and aspirations, for to go against them would have been to court disaster. Moreover it was not his way to interfere with the liberty of his disciples. He left them free to observe, to gain experience, even at the cost of making mistakes. Sometimes, however, he imposed on them long periods of restraint. "Struggle to realize yourselves", he would say, "without a trace of emotion!" Or in talking of future work he would say: "Mind! No loaves and fishes! No glamour of the world! All this must be cut out. It must be rooted out. It is sentimentality —the overflow of the senses. It comes to you in colour, sight, sound, and associations. Cut if off. Learn to hate it. It is utter poison!"

It was filled with humorous as well as solemn hours. Certainly it was an arduous task for him. For them, of course, there were inconveniences and difficulties enough in getting used to Indian manners and food. Blunders were made, but the Swami would always set matters right. The training shaped their lives irrevocably, and made them apostles, on a personal level, and some Also on the public level, of the greatness of Hinduism and India. All alike instinctively followed out the passionate request that he made to one who had asked, "Swamiji, how can I best help you?" "Love India!" had been his answer.

Beautiful have been the days of this year. In them the Ideal has become the Real. First, in our riverside cottage at Belur; then, in the Himalayas, at Naini Tal and Almora; afterwards, wandering here and there through Kashmir; — everywhere have come hours never to be forgotten, words that will echo through our lives for ever, and once at least, a glimpse of the Beatific Vision. _x000d_ It has been all play. _x000d_ We have seen a love that would he one with the humblest and most ignorant, seeing the world for the moment through his eyes, as if criticism were not; we have laughed over the colossal caprice of genius; we have warmed ourselves at heroic fires; and we have been present, as it were, at the awakening of the Holy Child. _x000d_ But there has beer! nothing grim or serious about any of these things. Pain has come close to all of us. Solemn anniversaries have been and gone. But sorrow was lifted into a golden light, where it was made radiant, and did not destroy. _x000d_ Fain, if I could, would I describe our journeys. Even as I write, I see the irises in bloom at Baramulla; the young rice beneath the poplars at Islamabad; starlight scenes in Himalayan forests; and the royal beauties of Delhi and the Taj. One longs to attempt some memorial of these. It would be worse than useless. Not, then, in words, but in the light of memory, they are enshrined for ever, together with the kindly and gentle folk who dwell among them, and whom we trust always to have left the gladder for our coming. _x000d_ We have learnt something of the mood in which new faiths are born, and of the Persons who inspire such faiths. For we have been with one who drew all men to him — listening to all, feeling with all, and refusing none. We have known a humility that wiped out all littleness, a renunciation that would die for scorn of oppression and pity of the oppressed, a love that would bless even the oncoming feet of torture and of death. We have joined hands with that woman who washed the feet of the Lord with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. We have lacked, not the occasion. But her passionate unconsciousness of self. _x000d_ Seated under a tree in the garden of dead emperors, there came to us a vision of all the rich and splendid things of Earth, offering themselves as a shrine for the great of soul. The storied windows—of cathedrals, and the jewelled thrones of kings, the banners of great captains, and the vestments of the priests, the pageants of cities, and the retreats of the proud — all came, and all were rejected. _x000d_ In the garments of the beggar, despised by the alien, worshipped by the people, we have seen him; and only the bread of toil, the shelter of cottage-roofs, and the common road across the cornfields seem real enough for the background to this life…. Amongst his own, the ignorant loved him as much as scholars and statesmen. The boatmen watched the river, in his absence, for his return, and servants disputed with guests to do him service. And through it all, the veil of playfulness was never dropped. "They played with the Lord," and instinctively they knew it. _x000d_ To those who have known such hours, life is richer and sweeter; and in the long nights, even the wind in the palm-trees seems to cry — _x000d_ "Mahadeva! Mahadeva! Mahadeva!"