Q.--How can Vedanta be realised?_x000d_ A.--By "hearing, reflection, and meditation". Hearing must take place from a Sad-guru. Even if one is not a regular disciple, but is a fit aspirant and hears the Sad-guru's words, he is liberated._x000d_ Q.--Who is a Sad-guru?_x000d_ A.--A Sad-guru is one on whom the spiritual power has descended by Guru-parampara, or an unbroken chain of discipleship. _x000d_ To play the role of a spiritual teacher is a very difficult thing. One has to take on oneself the sins of others. There is every chance of a fall in less advanced men. If merely physical pain ensues, then he should consider himself fortunate._x000d_ Q.--Cannot the spiritual teacher make the aspirant fit?_x000d_ A.--An Avatara can. Not an ordinary Guru._x000d_ Q.--Is there no easy way to liberation?_x000d_ A.--"There is no royal road to Geometry"--except for those who have been fortunate enough to come in contact with an Avatara. Paramahamsa Deva used to say, "One who is having his last birth shall somehow or other see me."_x000d_ Q.--Is not Yoga an easy path to that?_x000d_ A.--(Jokingly) You have said well, I see!--Yoga an easy path! If your mind be not pure and you try to follow Yoga, you will perhaps attain some supernatural power, but that will be a hindrance. Therefore purity of mind is the first thing necessary._x000d_ Q.--How can this be attained? _x000d_ A.--By good work. Good work is of two kinds, positive and negative. "Do not steal"--that is a negative mandate, and "Do good to others"--is a positive one._x000d_ Q.--Should not doing good to others be performed in a higher stage, for if performed in a lower stage, it may bind one to the world?_x000d_ A.--It should be performed in the first stage. One who has any desire at first gets deluded and becomes bound, but not others. Gradually it will become very natural._x000d_ Q.--Sir, last night you said, "In you is everything." Now, if I want to be like Vishnu, shall I have to meditate on the form also, or only on the idea?_x000d_ A.--According to capacity one may follow either way._x000d_ Q.--What is the means of realisation?_x000d_ A.--The Guru is the means of realisation. "There is no knowledge without a teacher."_x000d_ Q.--Some say that there is no necessity of practising meditation in a worship-room. How far is it true?_x000d_ A.--Those who have already realised the Lord's presence may not require it, but for others it is necessary. One, however, should go beyond the form and meditate on the impersonal aspect of God, for no form can grant liberation. You may get worldly prosperity from the sight of the form. One who ministers to his mother succeeds in this world; one who worships his father goes to heaven; but the worshipper of a Sadhu (holy man) gets knowledge and devotion._x000d_ Q.--What is the meaning of "{Sanskrit}" etc.--"Even a moment's association with the holy ones serves to take one beyond this relative existence"?_x000d_ A.--A fit person coming in contact with a true Sadhu attains to liberation. True Sadhus are very rare, but their influence is such that a great writer has said, "Hypocrisy is the tribute which vice pays to virtue." But Avataras are Kapalamochanas, that is, they can alter the doom of people. They can stir the whole world. The least dangerous and best form of worship is worshipping man. One who has got the idea of Brahman in a man has realised it in the whole universe. Monasticism and the householder's life are both good, according to different circumstances. Knowledge is the only thing necessary._x000d_ Q.--Where should one meditate--inside the body or outside it? Should the mind be withdrawn inside or held outside?_x000d_ A.--We should try to meditate inside. As for the mind being here or there, it will take a long time before we reach the mental plane. Now our struggle is with the body. When one acquires a perfect steadiness in posture, then and then alone one begins to struggle with the mind. Asana (posture) being conquered, one's limbs remain motionless, and one can sit as long as one pleases._x000d_ Q.--Sometimes one gets tired of Japa (repetition of the Mantra). Should one continue it or read some good book instead?_x000d_ A.--One gets tired of Japa for two reasons. Sometimes one's brain is fatigued, sometimes it is the result of idleness. If the former, then one should give up Japa for the time being, for persistence in it at the time results in seeing hallucinations, or in lunacy etc. But if the latter, the mind should be forced to continue Japa._x000d_ Q.--Sometimes sitting at Japa one gets joy at first, but then one seems to be disinclined to continue the Japa owing to that joy. Should it be continued then?_x000d_ A.--Yes, that joy is a hindrance to spiritual practice, its name being Rasasvadana (tasting of the sweetness). One must rise above that._x000d_ Q.--Is it good to practise Japa for a long time, though the mind may be wandering?_x000d_ A.--Yes. As some people break a wild horse by always keeping his seat on his back. _x000d_ Q.--You have written in your Bhakti-Yoga that if a weak-bodied man tries to practise Yoga, a tremendous reaction comes. Then what to do?_x000d_ A.--What fear if you die in the attempt to realise the Self! Man is not afraid of dying for the sake of learning and many other things, and why should you fear to die for religion?_x000d_ Q.--Can Jiva-seva (service to beings) alone give Mukti?_x000d_ A.--Jiva-seva can give Mukti not directly but indirectly, through the purification of the mind. But if you wish to do a thing properly, you must, for the time being, think that that is all-sufficient. The danger in any sect is want of zeal. There must be constancy (Nishtha), or there will be no growth. At present it has become necessary to lay stress on Karma._x000d_ Q.--What should be our motive in work--compassion, or any other motive?_x000d_ A.--Doing good to others out of compassion is good, but the Seva (service) of all beings in the spirit of the Lord is better._x000d_ Q.--What is the efficacy of prayer?_x000d_ A.--By prayer one's subtle powers are easily roused, and if consciously done, all desires may be fulfilled by it; but done unconsciously, one perhaps in ten is fulfilled. Such prayer, however, is selfish and should therefore be discarded._x000d_ Q.--How to recognise God when He has assumed a human form?_x000d_ A.--One who can alter the doom of people is the Lord. No Sadhu, however advanced, can claim this unique position. I do not see anyone who realises Ramakrishna as God. We sometimes feel it hazily, that is all. To realise Him as God and yet be attached to the world is inconsistent.

The Swami's train arrived at Kathgodam at 5 a.m. on the 29th. With him had come Swamis Shivananda and Sadananda. On hearing of Swami Virajananda's achievement he exclaimed, "That's my man!" Lala Govind Sah pressed the Swami to travel first to Almora; but, on the entreaties of Virajananda, it was decided to go direct to Mayavati. Because the latter was tired after his arduous exertions, and because the Swami himself was feeling feverish, they remained at Kathgodam for a day before facing the hardships of the hill journey.

On the morning of January 18, 1901, the Raja had fallen from an 86 feet high tower of Shikandara, Emperor Akbar’s mausoleum near Agra, and he died instantly. The news appeared in both the English and Hindi newspapers.

The Swami with his party arrived at Mayavati on January 3. When he caught sight of the Ashrama position and its buildings, he was much pleased. Reaching the stream in the canyon below he heard the monastery bell strike twelve. He was so keen to reach, the Ashrama that he mounted a horse and pressed on at full speed. The Ashrama had been :artistically decorated for the occasion with evergreens and flowers. Needless to say, the joy of the disciples there knew no bounds at meeting the Swami after so long a time.

Unfortunately, during most of the Swami's stay, Mayavati was snow-bound, so that he was compelled to remain indoors a great deal of the time; and he could not take long walks, much as he desired to do. He was given a room on the first floor of the Ashrama; but the cold proved too intense for his comfort. From January 9 he stayed in the library-room on the ground floor, which had a big fire place. He remained at Mayavati until the 18th. He was obviously in declining health.; In spite of his high spirits, it was seen that he could not stand any physical strain, and several times he had attacks of asthma which, though not severe, alarmed those with him. For all this, he was only thirty-seven years of age.

On January 5 the weather was clear, though outside everything was snow-covered in the morning. The Swami was feeling better. On this day he told Swami Swarupananda of his ideas about the work that he wished to be carried out at the Ashrama, and charged him to push on with it with zeal and energy. The latter said that as for himself he would do all he could, but without the co-operation of the brother-monks of the Ashrama, and the assurance that they would remain there for at least three consecutive years, the task was beyond his power. The Swami understood, and when all were gathered before him, he broached the subject, asking one after the other if he were willing to stay for three years. All but Swami Virajananda agreed. When his turn came, he humbly but firmly said that he intended to pass some time exclusively in meditation elsewhere, living on alms. The Swami tried to dissuade him saying: "Don't ruin your health by practising austerities, but try to profit by our experience. We have subjected ourselves to extreme austerities, but what has been the result? — the break- down of our health in the prime of manhood, for which we are still suffering. Besides, how can you think of meditating for hours? Enough if you can concentrate your mind for five minutes, or even one minute; for that purpose only certain hours in the morning and evening are needed. The rest of the time you will have to engage yourself in studies or some work for the general good. My disciples must emphasize work more than austerities. Work itself should be a part of their spiritual discipline and their austerities." Swami Virajananda admitted the truth of his Master's words, but respectfully submitted that for all that, austerity was needed to gain strength of character and to conserve the spiritual power, and that both these were imperative if one were to work without attachment. After he had gone out on some duty, the Swami acknowledged that at heart he knew that Virajananda was right and appreciated his feelings, for he himself valued the life of meditation and the freedom of the monk. Recalling his own itinerant days — living on alms and, with the mind fixed on God, having no thought of the world — he declared that they were the happiest and sweetest days of his life, and that he would gladly give anything, in exchange for the obscurity that frees one from the cares and worries of public life.

The' Swami's conversation was a constant source of inspiration to the Mayavati brotherhood. One day in the course of a talk he suddenly got, up from his scat and paced to and fro, his voice raised and eyes aflame with emotion, as if he were lecturing to a huge audience. He was speaking of his Western disciples, of their exemplary devotion and loyalty to him, of their readiness to go into the jaws of death at his command, of how not one or two but dozens would do the same; and of how they had served him lovingly, silently, truly, and were ready to renounce everything at a word from him. "Look at Captain Sevier," cried the Swami, "how he died a martyr to the cause, at Mayavati "

On another occasion, speaking of obedience, he said, "Obedience and respect cannot be enforced by word of command neither can they be exacted. It depends upon the man, upon his loving nature and exalted character. None can resist true love and greatness." At the same time he emphasized the need for loyalty t6 the work undertaken, loyalty to the organization, and loyalty to the man placed in charge of a centre.

Prabuddha Bharata Office_x000d_ Advaita Ashrama_x000d_ Mayavati (via Almora)_x000d_ Kumaon, Himalayas,_x000d_ 6th January, 1901_x000d_ _x000d_ My dear Mother,*_x000d_ _x000d_ I send you forthwith a translation of the Nasadiya Hymn sent by Dr. Bose through you. I have tried to make it as literal as possible._x000d_ _x000d_ I hope Dr. Bose has recovered his health perfectly by this time.Mrs. Sevier is a strong woman, and has borne her loss quietly and bravely. She is coming over to England in April, and I am going over with her._x000d_ _x000d_ I ought to come to England as early as I can this summer; and as she must go to attend to her husband's affairs, I accompany her._x000d_ _x000d_ This place is very, very beautiful, and they have made it simply exquisite. It is a huge place several acres in area, and is very well kept. I hope Mrs. Sevier will be in a position to keep it up in the future. She wishes it ever so much, of course._x000d_ _x000d_ My last letter from Joe informed me that she was going up the . . . with Mme Calve._x000d_ _x000d_ I am very glad to learn that Margot is leaving her lore for future use. Her book has been very much appreciated here, but the publishers do not seem to make any effort at sale._x000d_ _x000d_ The first day's touch of Calcutta brought the asthma back; and every night I used to get a fit during the two weeks I was there. I am, however, very well in the Himalayas._x000d_ _x000d_ It is snowing heavily here, and I was caught in a blizzard on the way; but it is not very cold, and all this exposure to the snows for two days on my way here seems to have done me a world of good._x000d_ _x000d_ Today I walked over the snow uphill about a mile, seeing Mrs. Sevier's lands; she has made beautiful roads all over. Plenty of gardens, fields, orchards, and large forests, all in her land. The living houses are so simple, so clean, and so pretty, and above all so suited for the purpose._x000d_ _x000d_ Are you going to America soon? If not, I hope to see you in London in three months._x000d_ _x000d_ Kindly give my best wishes to Miss Olcock and kindly convey my undying love to Miss Muller the next time you see her; so to Sturdy. I have seen my mother, my cousin, and all my people in Calcutta._x000d_ _x000d_ Kindly send the remittance you send my cousin to me -- in my name so that I shall cash the cheque and give her the money. Saradananda and Brahmananda and the rest were well in the Math when I last left them._x000d_ _x000d_ All here send love._x000d_ _x000d_ Ever your loving son,_x000d_ _x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ _x000d_ PS. Kali has taken two sacrifices; the cause has already two European martyrs. Now, it is going to rise up splendidly._x000d_ _x000d_ V._x000d_ _x000d_ My love to Alberta and Mrs. Vaughan._x000d_ Sun is bright and glorious, and now in the middle of the day we are sitting outside, reading. And the snow all about us! The winter here is very mild in spite of the snow. The air is dry and balmy, and the water beyond all praise._x000d_ _x000d_ V.

January 6 was a clear day, though the snow had hardened with frost. On this day he received a number of visitors from Champawat,

To return to the account of the Swami's visit to Mayavati. The morning of January 7 was clear. The Swami, with Swamis Sachchidananda, Shivananda, Mrs. Sevier, and others, climbed to Dharamgarh (also known as Dharamghar) early in the day.

The Swami managed the climb fairly well. Of the many views of the snow ranges that one gets at Mayavati, that from Dharamgarh, the highest point (about 7,000 feet) within the Mayavati boundary, is the finest. The Swami was so pleased with the spot and its grand view that he wished to have a hermitage built there, where he could meditate in solitude, undisturbed. His favourite walk was along the lakeside. One day, walking there with Mrs. Sevier and others, he said to her, "In the later part of my life, I shall give up all public work and pass my days in writing books and whistling merry tunes by this lake, free as a child!" A shrine room, with the photograph of Shri Ramakrishna installed in it, had for some time been established at the Ashrama at the earnest desire of some of the inmates. One morning the Swami happened to go into this room. He found that regular worship was being done with flowers, incense' and other offerings., He said nothing at the time, but that evening, when all were gathered about the fireplace, he spoke vehemently, disapproving of ritual worship in an Advaita Ashrama. It should never have been done, he said. There, attention was to be paid only to the subjective side of religion, such as meditation, individual and collective study of the scriptures, and the practice and teaching of the highest spiritual monism, free from any dualistic weakness or dependence. The Ashrama had been dedicated to Advaita and to Advaita alone. He had therefore the right to speak as he did. Though the Swami was emphatic in his criticism of the introduction of ritual worship there, he did not order them to do away with the worship-room. It was not his intention to hurt the feelings of those who were responsible for it: that would have been to use his power. He wanted them to see their mistake and rectify it. His un-compromising attitude in the matter did in fact lead to the discontinuance of the worship, and ultimately to the abolition of the shrine itself from, March 18, 1902. When the Swami returned to Belur Math, in speaking of the above incident, he remarked, "I thought of having one centre at least where the external worship of Shri Ramakrishna would not find a place. But going there I found that the Old Man had already established himself even there! Well, Well!"

Next day Mr. Beadon, a son of a former Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and a tea-planter, came in the afternoon from Chirapani, along with one Pandit Kashiram, on invitation from "Mother" (Mrs. Sevier), to see the Swami. They stopped for the night. In the morning of that day, the 9th, the Swami had gone out for a short walk.

A veritable ethnological museum! Possibly, the half-ape skeleton of the recently discovered Sumatra link will be found on search here, too. The Dolmens are not wanting. Flint implements can be dug out almost anywhere. The lake-dwellers--at least the river-dwellers--must have been abundant at one time. The cave-men and leaf-wearers still persist. The primitive hunters living in forests are in evidence in various parts of the country. Then there are the more historical varieties--the Negrito-Kolarian, the Dravidian, and the Aryan. To these have been added from time to time dashes of nearly all the known races, and a great many yet unknown--various breeds of Mongoloids, Mongols, Tartars, and the so-called Aryans of the philologists. Well, here are the Persian, the Greek, the Yunchi, the Hun, the Chin, the Scythian, and many more, melted and fused, the Jews, Parsees, Arabs, Mongols, down to the descendants of the Vikings and the lords of the German forests, yet undigested--an ocean of humanity, composed of these race-waves seething, boiling, struggling, constantly changing form, rising to the surface, and spreading, and swallowing little ones, again subsiding--this is the history of India._x000d_ In the midst of this madness of nature, one of the contending factions discovered a method and, through the force of its superior culture, succeeded in bringing the largest number of Indian humanity under its sway._x000d_ The superior race styled themselves the Aryas or nobles, and their method was the Varnashramachara--the so-called caste._x000d_ Of course the men of the Aryan race reserved for themselves, consciously or unconsciously a good many privileges; yet the institution of caste has always been very flexible, sometimes too flexible to ensure a healthy uprise of the races very low in the scale of culture._x000d_ It put, theoretically at least, the whole of India under the guidance--not of wealth, nor of the sword--but of intellect--intellect chastened and controlled by spirituality. The leading caste in India is the highest of the Aryans--the Brahmins._x000d_ Though apparently different from the social methods of other nations, on close inspection, the Aryan method of caste will not be found so very different except on two points:_x000d_ The first is, in every other country the highest honour belongs to the Kshatriya--the man of the sword. The Pope of Rome will be glad to trace his descent to some robber baron on the banks of the Rhine. In India, the highest honour belongs to the man of peace--the Sharman, the Brahmin, the man of God._x000d_ The greatest Indian king would be gratified to trace his descent to some ancient sage who lived in the forest, probably a recluse, possessing nothing, dependent upon the villagers for his daily necessities, and all his life trying to solve the problems of this life and the life hereafter._x000d_ The second point is, the difference of unit. The law of caste in every other country takes the individual man or woman as the sufficient unit. Wealth, power, intellect, or beauty suffices for the individual to leave the status of birth and scramble up to anywhere he can._x000d_ Here, the unit is all the members of a caste community._x000d_ Here, too, one has every chance of rising from a low caste to a higher or the highest: only, in this birth-land of altruism, one is compelled to take his whole caste along with him._x000d_ In India, you cannot, on account of your wealth, power, or any other merit, leave your fellows behind and make common cause with your superiors; you cannot deprive those who helped in your acquiring the excellence of any benefit therefrom and give them in return only contempt. If you want to rise to a higher caste in India, you have to elevate all your caste first, and then there is nothing in your onward path to hold you back._x000d_ This is the Indian method of fusion, and this has been going on from time immemorial. For in India, more than elsewhere, such words as Aryans and Dravidians are only of philological import, the so-called craniological differentiation finding no solid ground to work upon._x000d_ Even so are the names Brahmin, Kshatriya, etc. They simply represent the status of a community in itself continuously fluctuating, even when it has reached the summit and all further endeavours are towards fixity of the type by non-marriage, by being forced to admit fresh groups, from lower castes or foreign lands, within its pale. _x000d_ Whatever caste has the power of the sword, becomes Kshatriya; whatever learning, Brahmin; whatever wealth, Vaishya._x000d_ The groups that have already reached the coveted goal, indeed, try to keep themselves aloof from the newcomers, by making sub-divisions in the same caste, but the fact remains that they coalesce in the long run. This is going on before our own eyes, all over India._x000d_ Naturally, a group having raised itself would try to preserve the privileges to itself. Hence, whenever it was possible to get the help of a king, the higher castes, especially the Brahmins, have tried to put down similar aspirations in lower castes, by the sword if practicable. But the question is: Did they succeed? Look closely into your Puranas and Upa-puranas, look especially into the local Khandas of the big Puranas, look round and see what is happening before your eyes, and you will find the answer._x000d_ We are, in spite of our various castes, and in spite of the modern custom of marriage restricted within the sub-divisions of a caste (though this is not universal), a mixed race in every sense of the word._x000d_ Whatever may be the import of the philological terms "Aryan" and "Tamilian", even taking for granted that both these grand sub-divisions of Indian humanity came from outside the Western frontier, the dividing line had been, from the most ancient times, one of language and not of blood. Not one of the epithets expressive of contempt for the ugly physical features of the Dasyus of the Vedas would apply to the great Tamilian race; in fact if there be a toss for good looks between the Aryans and Tamilians, no sensible man would dare prognosticate the result._x000d_ The super-arrogated excellence of birth of any caste in India is only pure myth, and in no part of India has it, we are sorry to say, found such congenial soil, owing to linguistic differences, as in the South._x000d_ We purposely refrain from going into the details of this social tyranny in the South, just as we have stopped ourselves from scrutinising the genesis of the various modern Brahmins and other castes. Sufficient for us to note the extreme tension of feeling that is evident between the Brahmins and non-Brahmins of the Madras Presidency._x000d_ We believe in Indian caste as one of the greatest social institutions that the Lord gave to man. We also believe that though the unavoidable defects, foreign persecutions, and, above all, the monumental ignorance and pride of many Brahmins who do not deserve the name, have thwarted, in many ways, the legitimate fructification of this most glorious Indian institution, it has already worked wonders for the land of Bharata and is destined to lead Indian humanity to its goal._x000d_ We earnestly entreat the Brahmins of the South not to forget the ideal of India--the production of a universe of Brahmins, pure as purity, good as God Himself; this was at the beginning, says the Mahabharata, and so will it be in the end._x000d_ Then anyone who claims to be a Brahmins should prove his pretensions, first by manifesting that spirituality, and next by raising others to the same status. On the face of this, it seems that most of them are only nursing a false pride of birth; and any schemer, native or foreign, who can pander to this vanity and inherent laziness by fulsome sophistry, appears to satisfy most._x000d_ Beware, Brahmins, this is the sign of death! Arise and show your manhood, your Brahminhood, by raising the non-Brahmins around you--not in the spirit of a master--not with the rotten canker of egotism crawling with superstitions and the charlatanry of East and West--but in the spirit of a servant. For verily he who knows how to serve knows how to rule._x000d_ The non-Brahmins also have been spending their energy in kindling the fire of caste hatred--vain and useless to solve the problem--to which every non-Hindu is only too glad to throw on a load of fuel._x000d_ Not a step forward can be made by these inter-caste quarrels, not one difficulty removed; only the beneficent onward march of events would be thrown back, possibly for centuries, if the fire bursts out into flames._x000d_ It would be a repetition of Buddhistic political blunders._x000d_ In the midst of this ignorant clamour and hatred, we are delighted to find Pandit D. Savariroyan pursuing the only legitimate and the only sensible course. Instead of wasting precious vitality in foolish and meaningless quarrels, Pandit Savariroyan has undertaken in his articles on the "Admixture of the Aryan with Tamilian" in the Siddhanta Deepika, to clear away not only a lot of haze, created by a too adventurous Western philology, but to pave the way to a better understanding of the caste problem in the South._x000d_ Nobody ever got anything by begging. We get only what we deserve. The first step to deserve is to desire; and we desire with success what we feel ourselves worthy to get._x000d_ A gentle yet clear brushing off of the cobwebs of the so-called Aryan theory and all its vicious corollaries is therefore absolutely necessary, especially for the South, and a proper self-respect created by a knowledge of the past grandeur of one of the great ancestors of the Aryan race--the great Tamilians._x000d_ We stick, in spite of Western theories, to that definition of the word "Arya" which we find in our sacred books, and which includes only the multitude we now call Hindus. This Aryan race, itself a mixture of two great races, Sanskrit-speaking and Tamil-speaking, applies to all Hindus alike. That the Shudras have in some Smritis been excluded from this epithet means nothing, for the Shudras were and still are only the waiting Aryas--Aryas in novitiate._x000d_ Though we know Pandit Savariroyan is walking over rather insecure ground, though we differ from many of his sweeping explanations of Vedic names and races, yet we are glad that he has undertaken the task of beginning a proper investigation into the culture of the great mother of Indian civilisation--if the Sanskrit-speaking race was the father._x000d_ We are glad also that he boldly pushes forward the Accado-Sumerian racial identity of the ancient Tamilians. And this makes us proud of the blood of the great civilisation which flowered before all others--compared to whose antiquity the Aryans and Semites are babies._x000d_ We would suggest, also, that the land of Punt of the Egyptians was not only Malabar, but that the Egyptians as a race bodily migrated from Malabar across the ocean and entered the delta along the course of the Nile from north to south, to which Punt they have been always fondly looking back as the home of the blessed._x000d_ This is a move in the right direction. Detailed and more careful work is sure to follow with a better study of the Tamilian tongues and the Tamilian elements found in the Sanskrit literature, philosophy, and religion. And who are more competent to do this work than those who learn the Tamilian idioms as their mother-tongue?_x000d_ As for us Vedantins and Sannyasins, we are proud of our Sanskrit-speaking ancestors of the Vedas; proud of our Tamil-speaking ancestors whose civilisation is the oldest yet known; we are proud of our Kolarian ancestors older than either of the above--who lived and hunted in forests; we are proud of our ancestors with flint implements--the first of the human race; and if evolution is true, we are proud of our animal ancestors, for they antedated man himself. We are proud that we are descendants of the whole universe, sentient or insentient. Proud that we are born, and work, and suffer--prouder still that we die when the task is finished and enter for ever the realm where there is no more delusion.

On January I0 the sky was clear, and there was a grand view of the snows. In the afternoon and evening the Swami wrote an article, "Aryans and Tamilians", for Prabuddha Bharata. In this article he points out that virtually every known race, at almost every stage of social development, has poured into India. He writes. "Whatever may be the import of the philological terms 'Aryans and 'Tamilians', even taking for granted that both these grand sub-divisions of Indian humanity came from outside the western frontier, the dividing line had been, from the most ancient times, one of the language and not of blood."

While at Mayavati the Swami was invited by Lala Badri Sah to be his guest at Almora, but he had to decline the invitation. Instead, he asked the old gentleman to come to Mayavati if he could. Lala Badri Sah gladly agreed, and, with his youngest brother, Lala Mohanlal Sah, met the Swami there on January I0. Lala Govind Sah was already there.

He had made a large, delicious block of it with the help of the thick ice that often covers the lake in winter. The Swami relished this favourite preparation of his. Towards evening he felt unwell; but in spite of it, he sang some songs.

"God created the native, God created the European, but somebody else created the mixed breed"--we heard a horribly blasphemous Englishman say._x000d_ Before us lies the inaugural address of Mr. Justice Ranade, voicing the reformatory zeal of the Indian Social Conference. In it there is a huge array of instances of inter-caste marriages of yore, a good deal about the liberal spirit of the ancient Kshatriyas, good sober advice to students, all expressed with an earnestness of good-will and gentleness of language that is truly admirable._x000d_ The last part, however, which offers advice as to the creation of a body of teachers for the new movement strong in the Punjab, which we take for granted is the Arya Samaj, founded by a Sannyasin, leaves us wondering and asking ourselves the question:_x000d_ It seems God created the Brahmin, God created the Kshatriya, but who created the Sannyasin?_x000d_ There have been and are Sannyasins or monks in every known religion. There are Hindu monks, Buddhist monks, Christian monks, and even Islam had to yield its rigorous denial and take in whole orders of mendicant monks._x000d_ There are the wholly shaved, the partly shaved, the long hair, short hair, matted hair, and various other hirsute types._x000d_ There are the sky-clad, the rag-clad, the ochre-clad, the yellow-clad (monks), the black-clad Christian, and the blue-clad Mussulman. Then there have been those that tortured their flesh in various ways, and others who believed in keeping their bodies well and healthy. There was also, in old days in every country, the monk militant. The same spirit and similar manifestations have run in parallel lines with women, too--the nuns. Mr. Ranade is not only the President of the Indian Social Conference but a chivalrous gentleman also: the nuns of the Shrutis and Smritis seem to have been to his entire satisfaction. The ancient celibate Brahmavadinis, who travelled from court to court challenging great philosophers, do not seem to him to thwart the central plan of the Creator--the propagation of the species; nor did they seem to have lacked in the variety and completeness of human experience, in Mr. Ranade's opinion, as the stronger sex following the same line of conduct seem to have done._x000d_ We therefore dismiss the ancient nuns and their modern spiritual descendants as having passed muster._x000d_ The arch-offender, man alone, has to bear the brunt of Mr. Ranade's criticism, and let us see whether he survives it or not._x000d_ It seems to be the consensus of opinion amongst savants that this world-wide monastic institution had its first inception in this curious land of ours, which appears to stand so much in need of "social reform"._x000d_ The married teacher and the celibate are both as old as the Vedas. Whether the Soma-sipping married Rishi with his "all-rounded" experience was the first in order of appearance, or the lack-human-experience celibate Rishi was the primeval form, is hard to decide just now. Possibly Mr. Ranade will solve the problem for us independently of the hearsay of the so-called Western Sanskrit scholars; till then the question stands a riddle like the hen and egg problem of yore._x000d_ But whatever be the order of genesis, the celibate teachers of the Shrutis and Smritis stand on an entirely different platform from the married ones, which is perfect chastity, Brahmacharya._x000d_ If the performance of Yajnas is the corner-stone of the work-portion of the Vedas, as surely is Brahmacharya the foundation of the knowledge-portion._x000d_ Why could not the blood-shedding sacrificers be the exponents of the Upanishads--why?_x000d_ On the one side was the married Rishi, with his meaningless, bizarre, nay, terrible ceremonials, his misty sense of ethics, to say the least; on the other hand, the celibate monks tapping, in spite of their want of human experience, springs of spirituality and ethics at which the monastic Jinas, the Buddhas, down to Shankara, Ramanuja, Kabir, and Chaitanya, drank deep and acquired energy to propagate their marvellous spiritual and social reforms, and which, reflected third-hand, fourth-hand from the West, is giving our social reformers the power even to criticise the Sannyasins._x000d_ At the present day, what support, what pay, do the mendicants receive in India, compared to the pay and privilege of our social reformers? And what work does the social reformer do, compared to the Sannyasin's silent selfless labour of love?_x000d_ But they have not learnt the modern method of self-advertisement!!_x000d_ The Hindu drank in with his mother's milk that this life is as nothing--a dream! In this he is at one with the Westerners; but the Westerner sees no further and his conclusion is that of the Charvaka--to "make hay while the sun shines". "This world being a miserable hole, let us enjoy to the utmost what morsels of pleasure are left to us." To the Hindu, on the other hand, God and soul are the only realities, infinitely more real than this world, and he is therefore ever ready to let this go for the other._x000d_ So long as this attitude of the national mind continues, and we pray it will continue for ever, what hope is there in our anglicised compatriots to check the impulse in Indian men and women to renounce all "for the good of the universe and for one's own freedom"?_x000d_ And that rotten corpse of an argument against the monk--used first by the Protestants in Europe, borrowed by the Bengali reformers, and now embraced by our Bombay brethren--the monk on account of his celibacy must lack the realisation of life "in all its fullness and in all its varied experiences!" We hope this time the corpse will go for good into the Arabian Sea, especially in these days of plague, and notwithstanding the filial love one may suppose the foremost clan of Brahmins there may have for ancestors of great perfume, if the Pauranika accounts are of any value in tracing their ancestry._x000d_ By the bye, In Europe, between the monks and nuns, they have brought up and educated most of the children, whose parents, though married people, were utterly unwilling to taste of the "varied experiences of life". _x000d_ Then, of course, every faculty has been given to us by God for some use. Therefore the monk is wrong in not propagating the race--a sinner! Well, so also have been given us the faculties of anger, lust, cruelty, theft, robbery, cheating, etc., every one of these being absolutely necessary for the maintenance of social life, reformed or unreformed. What about these? Ought they also to be maintained at full steam, following the varied-experience-theory or not? Of course the social reformers, being in intimate acquaintance with God Almighty and His purposes, must answer the query in the positive. Are we to follow Vishvamitra, Atri, and others in their ferocity and the Vasishtha family in particular in their "full and varied experience" with womankind? For the majority of married Rishis are as celebrated for their liberality in begetting children wherever and whenever they could, as for their hymn-singing and Soma-bibbing; or are we to follow the celibate Rishis who upheld Brahmacharya as the sine qua non of spirituality?_x000d_ Then there are the usual backsliders, who ought to come in for a load of abuse--monks who could not keep up to their idea--weak, wicked._x000d_ But if the ideal is straight and sound, a backsliding monk is head and shoulders above any householder in the land, on the principle, "It is better to have loved and lost."_x000d_ Compared to the coward that never made the attempt, he is a hero._x000d_ If the searchlight of scrutiny were turned on the inner workings of our social reform conclave, angels would have to take note of the percentage of backsliders as between the monk and the householder; and the recording angel is in our own heart._x000d_ But then, what about this marvellous experience of standing alone, discarding all help, breasting the storms of life, of working without any sense of recompense, without any sense of putrid duty? Working a whole life, joyful, free--not goaded on to work like slaves by false human love or ambition?_x000d_ This the monk alone can have. What about religion? Has it to remain or vanish? If it remains, it requires its experts, its soldiers. The monk is the religious expert, having made religion his one metier of life. He is the soldier of God. What religion dies so long as it has a band of devoted monks?_x000d_ Why are Protestant England and America shaking before the onrush of the Catholic monk?_x000d_ Vive Ranade and the Social Reformers!--but, O India! Anglicised India! Do not forget, child, that there are in this society problems that neither you nor your Western Guru can yet grasp the meaning of--much less solve!

The Swami wrote about the Theosophists under the heading "Stray Remarks on Theosophy", and then began the article "The Social Conference Address", both for Prabuddha Bharata. In the former there is sincere criticism. The latter is a reply to Mr. justice Ranade's Presidential Address at the Indian Social Conference of 1900. While admitting the liberalism and patriotism of the great Marathi leader, the Swami in this article denounces his criticism of the sannyasis. It is a passionate defence of Indian monasticism and an affirmation of its value as shown by Indian history. Besides this writing he made a translation of the "Nasadiya-Sukta" of the Rig-Veda at the request of a friend, a distinguished man of science.

The Theosophists are having a jubilee time of it this year, and several press-notices are before us of their goings and doings for the last twenty-five years._x000d_ Nobody has a right now to say that the Hindus are not liberal to a fault. A coterie of young Hindus has been found to welcome even this graft of American Spiritualism, with its panoply of taps and raps and hitting back and forth with Mahatmic pellets._x000d_ The Theosophists claim to possess the original divine knowledge of the universe. We are glad to learn of it, and gladder still that they mean to keep it rigorously a secret. Woe unto us, poor mortals, and Hindus as that, if all this is at once let out on us! Modern Theosophy is Mrs. Besant. Blavatskism and Olcottism seem to have taken a back seat. Mrs. Besant means well at least--and nobody can deny her perseverance and zeal._x000d_ There are, of course, carping critics. We on our part see nothing but good in Theosophy--good in what is directly beneficial, good in what is pernicious, as they say, indirectly good as we say--the intimate geographical knowledge of various heavens, and other places, and the denizens thereof; and the dexterous finger work on the visible plane accompanying ghostly communications to live Theosophists--all told. For Theosophy is the best serum we know of, whose injection never fails to develop the queer moths finding lodgment in some brains attempting to pass muster as sound._x000d_ We have no wish to disparage the good work of the Theosophical or any other society. Yet exaggeration has been in the past the bane of our race and if the several articles on the work of the Theosophical Society that appeared in the Advocate of Lucknow be taken as the temperamental gauge of Lucknow, we are sorry for those it represents, to say the least; foolish depreciation is surely vicious, but fulsome praise is equally loathsome._x000d_ This Indian grafting of American Spiritualism--with only a few Sanskrit words taking the place of spiritualistic jargon--Mahatma missiles taking the place of ghostly raps and taps, and Mahatmic inspiration that of obsession by ghosts._x000d_ We cannot attribute a knowledge of all this to the writer of the articles in the Advocate, but he must not confound himself and his Theosophists with the great Hindu nation, the majority of whom have clearly seen through the Theosophical phenomena from the start and, following the great Swami Dayananda Sarasvati who took away his patronage from Blavatskism the moment he found it out, have held themselves aloof._x000d_ Again, whatever be the predilection of the writer in question, the Hindus have enough of religious teaching and teachers amidst themselves even in this Kali Yuga, and they do not stand in need of dead ghosts of Russians and Americans._x000d_ The articles in question are libels on the Hindus and their religion. We Hindus--let the writer, like that of the articles referred to, know once for all--have no need nor desire to import religion from the West. Sufficient has been the degradation of importing almost everything else._x000d_ The importation in the case of religion should be mostly on the side of the West, we are sure, and our work has been all along in that line. The only help the religion of the Hindus got from the Theosophists in the West was not a ready field, but years of uphill work, necessitated by Theosophical sleight-of-hand methods. The writer ought to have known that the Theosophists wanted to crawl into the heart of Western Society, catching on to the skirts of scholars like Max Muller and poets like Edwin Arnold, all the same denouncing these very men and posing as the only receptacles of universal wisdom. And one heaves a sigh of relief that this wonderful wisdom is kept a secret. Indian thought, charlatanry, and mango-growing fakirism had all become identified in the minds of educated people in the West, and this was all the help rendered to Hindu religion by the Theosophists._x000d_ The great immediate visible good effect of Theosophy in every country, so far as we can see, is to separate, like Prof. Koch's injections into the lungs of consumptives, the healthy, spiritual, active, and patriotic from the charlatans, the morbids, and the degenerates posing as spiritual beings.

Mayavati_x000d_ Himalayas,_x000d_ 15th January, 1901_x000d_ _x000d_ My dear Sturdy,_x000d_ _x000d_ I learn from Saradananda that you have sent over Rs. 1,529-5-5 to the Math being the money that was in hand for work in England. I am sure it will be rightly used._x000d_ _x000d_ Capt. Sevier passed away about three months ago. They have made a fine place here in the mountains and Mrs. Sevier means to keep it up. I am on a visit to her, and I may possibly come over to England with her._x000d_ _x000d_ I wrote you a letter from Paris. I am afraid you did not get it._x000d_ _x000d_ So sorry to learn the passing away of Mrs. Sturdy. She has been a very good wife and good mother, and it is not ordinarily one meets with such in this life._x000d_ _x000d_ This life is full of shocks, but the effects pass away anyhow, that is the hope._x000d_ _x000d_ It is not because of your free expression of opinion in your last letter to me that I stopped writing. I only let the wave pass, as is my wont. Letters would only have made a wave of a little bubble._x000d_ _x000d_ Kindly tender my regards and love to Mrs. Johnson and other friends if you meet them._x000d_ _x000d_ And I am ever yours in the Truth,_x000d_ _x000d_ Vivekananda.

He also wrote a letter to Mr. Sturdy saying: "So sorry to learn the passing away of Mrs. Sturdy. She has been a very good wife and good mother, and it is not ordinarily one meets with such in this life. The life is full of shocks, but the effects pass away anyhow, that is the hope. . . ."

The 16th was cloudy in the morning, and very chilly. In the evening the Swami went for a walk with Mother Sevier. She wrote and sent a message to the Tahsildar, and in the evening he sent his horse for the Swami. Being confined indoors most of the time, the latter became impatient to go down to the plains. But it was difficult to secure coolies even at high rates, since they were not willing to make the long journey through snow. This only added to his restlessness.

Early on the 18th Swami Swarupananda went to Chirapani to bring coolies from Mr. Beadon's tea estate, and sent them to Mayavati by 11.30 a.m. But by this time the man who had been sent from Mayavati two or three days before to engage coolies in the nearby villages, had returned with the required number. So those collected by Swarupananda had to he dismissed with sufficient recompense. The Swami left Mayavati by noon, and met Swarupananda on the way. The latter accompanied him and his party as far as Champawat, where they stopped for the night in the dak bungalow. The Tahsildar called in the evening.

Next morning the party left for Deuri, fifteen miles off, while Swami Swarupananda returned to Mayavati. The Swami had made Swami Virajananda the leader of the party, he being a man of cool nerves. They reached Deuri at I p.m. and halted in a dak bungalow to cook their meal. With the Swami, besides Virajananda, were Swamis Shivananda and Sadananda, and Lala Govind Sah.

Once Virajananda, who was seeing to the cooking, was in difficulty because of having too much rice in the pot. The rice was threatening to boil over before it was half cooked. To add to his difficulty the Swami was sending one person or another to enquire whether the meal was ready, since it was getting late, and he was very hungry. Virajananda was thinking of taking out some of the rice and adding water, when the Swami himself appeared on the scene. Seeing his disciple's plight, he said: "You need do no such thing. Take my advice. Pour some ghee over the rice and put the lid upside down. You will presently find that the rice, is nicely cooked, and it will be more palatable too!" The disciple did as he was told, with the result that the party found a most palatable dish served them that afternoon. Everyone did justice to it.

Swami Sadananda chose for himself what seemed the most spirited horse. He spurred it on, with the result that it went off at full gallop. When the Swami and party had gone a mile or more from Tanakpur, he became anxious for Sadananda. Enquiring of a. passer-by, they learnt that the horse had bolted, going across the field just ahead. All immediately dismounted and went in that direction. They found the missing monk. He was leading the horse, which had now become tired and submissive. It had thrown Sadananda into a ditch, but fortunately he came out of the escapade unhurt.

In the course of the ensuing conversation the subject of meat-eating was. touched on. Joshiji argued respectfully against it; but the Swami adduced facts and authorities from the Vedas and said that even the Vedic Rishis ate beef and enjoined the eating of it upon others. Joshiji listened in respectful silence. The station staff had gathered round, deeply interested in every word that fell from the Swami's lips.