Meanwhile, the Dewan of Junagadh, Sri Haridas Viharidas Desai (a letter from whom Swamiji had sent to Professor Wright as a sort of affidavit), wrote of his own accord to Mr. Hale. His letter arrived in America in the early days of September. Swamiji forwarded it to the Hales, together with some news paper clippings from India and (the next day) "an autograph letter of H.H. the Maharaja of Mysore, the chief Hindu King in India."26 Although Mr. and Mrs. Hale had no need of certificates regarding Swamiji's probity, he nonetheless felt an obligation to lay all this at their feet. "Your kind note to G. W. Hale has been very gratifying," he wrote to the Dewan in September, "as I owed them that much.

Swamiji's American friends could be satisfied through letters from his Indian friends, but the public could be satisfied only through public acclaim. With the Madras Meeting, India had at last become aware of her responsibility to her champion, and in time other public meetings were held throughout the country with jubilation and ceremony. There was, for instance, a public meeting in Kumbakonam on August 22, one in Bangalore on August 26, and one in Khetri in March of the following year. But the Calcutta Meeting of September 5, 1894, in which "enthusiasm reached a pitch of frenzy," was to carry the greatest weight. Not only was Calcutta Swamiji's birthplace, where his life and character were well known, but it was the state of Mr. Mazumdar's opposition; further, many reputable orthodox Brahmin pandits were prominently rep¬resented at the Meeting, thereby belying the widely circulated claim that the "Neo-Hinduism of which [Vivekhananda] is a representative is not orthodox Hinduism." It was owing largely to the efforts of Swami Abhedananda, one of Swamiji's brother disciples, that this crowning and highly successful meeting was held. "[The Swami] worked day and night like a mad man for the meeting," Mahendranath Datta, Swamiji's brother wrote, "and raised funds for the purpose from his acquaintances. He had the proceedings of the meeting printed and sent them to the press for wider publicity, and he performed this task with the utmost devotion.

The public acclaim of Calcutta vindicated Swamiji as nothing else could have, setting upon him and his work the official seal of approval with final, indisputable authority. When the details of the Meeting reached him, Swamiji wrote in the overflowing of his joy and gratitude to the Hale Sisters. This letter is perhaps the most moving of all his letters, revealing as it does how humanly deep his previous suffering must have been and how childlike his joy at the news of India's whole hearted official support. Thus, although the letter has been published in the Complete Works and may be familiar to the reader, it is included here.

(It should be mentioned that in the Complete Works, and also in a copy of the original, this letter has been given the date July 9, 1894, which must be in error, for the text obviously refers to the Meeting of September 5. It would appear, moreover, that Swamiji enclosed the official letter addressed to him by the Chairman of the Meeting, which did not reach his hands until the second week of October. The following letter, therefore, should probably bear an October date:)

On the contrary, learning of its success and of the part his brother disciples had had in its organization, he spurred them on._x000d_ Now you have come to know your own powers [he wrote to Swami Ramakrishnananda on October 22]. Strike the iron while it is hot. Idleness won't do. Throw overboard all idea of jealousy and egotism, once for all. Come on to the practical field with tremendous energy; to work, in the fullness of strength! As to the rest, the Lord will point the way. The whole world will be deluged by a tidal wave. Work, work, work-let this be your motto.

And to Swami Abhedananda:_x000d_ You have all evinced a wonderful capacity for work. And how can Shri Ramakrishna's words prove false?¬ You have got wonderful spirit in you. . . . "All noble undertakings are fraught with obstacles." It is quite in the nature of things. Keep up the deepest mental poise. Take not even the slightest notice of what puerile creatures may be saying against you. Indifference, indifference, indifference! I have already written to Shashi [Swami Ramakrishnananda] in detail. . . ._x000d_ A bit of public demonstration was necessary for Guru Maharaja's [Sri Ramakrishna's] work. It is done, and so far good. Now you must on no account pay any heed to what the rabble may be prattling about us. . . . So long as you gird up your loins and rally behind me, there is no fear even if the whole world combine against us?

To Alasinga in Madras:_x000d_ The Missionaries-who cares for them here? They had barked after me a good deal, now they have stopped. I never answered them, and the public estimation is all the better for me for that. Do not send any more newspapers, I have enough of them. A little advertisement was necessary for the work. We have enough. Look around and see how they [Swamiji's brother disciples] have built with almost no ground at their feet. And if with this grand beginning you cannot do anything, I will be sadly disappointed. If you are my children you will fear nothing, stop at nothing You will be like lions. We must rouse India and the whole world. I take no nay. Do you mind? No cowardice. True unto death. . . . Electrify people. Raise funds and preach. Be true to your mission. So far you have done well, do better and better still, go on and on.

Meaninglessly, the chatter of criticism and antagonism kept on for a time, like a wound-up machine. Indeed, the Calcutta Meeting, news of which duly reached the American Press, tended in some respects to exacerbate it; for instance, a surprisingly jaundiced comment in the Critic, a periodical ordinarily favorable to Swamiji, struck a new note in the chorus of faultfinders.

The following article was printed on May 4, 1895 :_x000d_ On the return [?] of their delegate, Swami Vivekananda from the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, the Hindu community of Calcutta met in the Town Hall, 5 Sept., 1894,to thank him and the American people publicly. A large number of influential orthodox Pundits were in this great gathering of nearly 4000 people, and the speeches and proceedings were mostly in English. The English and Bengali texts are reprinted in a pamphlet, from which Oriental and American readers can find out what took place. We have read all the speeches that were given in English, and from them it is very evident that modern America has but just been discovered by these our Oriental brethren. It is very evident also, that the Hindu is as fond of hifaluting panegyric and bombastic conceit as is 'the American when he breaks loose on the Fourth of July.

Apart from the naturally strong expression of faith and joy in their own Hindu tenets, we are informed by one of these fellow Aryans of ours of what we owe to the dwellers in the land of the Vedas. Almost everything of high thought and aspiration in Christendom, it seems, may be traced to one or another of the successive influxes of Hindu ideas. We learn also that, while America is starving for spiritual nourishment, pretty much all the men and women of light and leading among us are turning to Hinduism for mental food, and that the prospect of the people of the United States becoming Hindus is excellent.

One must go abroad to get the latest home news. The pamphlet is well calculated to burn like red pepper in the eyes of the ultraorthodox Christian hater of the study of comparative religions, and to warm the cockles of the hearts of all who would enjoy seeing Christianity sink to a level among the various religions of the world. The sagacious man who can read between the lines, who has some sense of humor, and who enjoys human nature in its various manifestations will appreciate this proof that in both its needs and aspirations, as well as in conceit and boasting, the whole world is kin. Only 2000 copies of these "Proceedings of the Calcutta Town Hall Meeting Regarding Swami Vivekananda" have been printed (Calcutta: New Calcutta Press) .

...It is only narrow-minded sectarianism or scornful bigotry that can incite any Hindu, be he an idolator or a Brahmo, to sneer and cavil at Swami Vivekananda's great work in America.

Some of the letters that Swamiji wrote during the month of June were, as usual, addressed to India. Ever since his arrival in America, through the busiest of his days he had found time to write of his plans for the rejuvenation of his motherland. Halfway across the world he had conveyed to his disciples the tremendously energizing power of his own spirit and enthusiasm, sometimes rebuking them scathingly, sometimes praising them, and always exhorting them to do the work which was so dear to his heart and of which he never lost sight that of lifting the Indian masses through education. In June of 1894 he continued to write such letters, but now a new note entered them.

Beset on all sides and in fear lest even his American friends lose faith in him, Swamiji wrote on April 9 to Alasinga asking him to organize in Madras a meeting of prominent Hindus who would pass a resolution recognizing and approving his work in America.

As has been pointed out in an earlier chapter, almost a year had passed and Swamiji "could not," as he said, "succeed at all" in his plan for raising funds for his Indian work. Although in 1894 America was in the throes of a depression, this was not the primary cause of his lack of financial success. The rich were still rich and would have been able to contribute the relatively small amount of money that he was attempting to raise. The difficulty lay not in America's "poverty," but in the Fact that ever since the opening of the Parliament of Religions Swamiji's enemies, both Christians and Hindus, had been waging a continuous campaign in an attempt to discredit his character and his work in the eyes of the American people. Coupled with this, the Hindu communities in India had uttered not a word of official support and, by their silence, had unwittingly confirmed the slander published and written about him. By April the situation had become, to say the least, difficult.

But perhaps the blow that fell most painfully upon the Missionary Societies was the sharp decrease in monetary contributions to their causes. An official statement of the missionaries themselves read: "As a consequence of Vivekananda's success and teaching, the contributions to the Indian missionary funds have decreased in one year by as much as one million pounds." This was indeed cause for alarm. But instead of devoting them¬selves to improving and chastening their methods of work, the better to serve the Indian people, the Swami's detractors set themselves to destroy him, employing every means to bring about his personal ruin and to discredit his teaching. They attempted to show that he was a man without character and hence unfit to be a guest in any respectable American home; simultaneously, they made a concerted effort to prove that his teachings in America represented his personal religious views only and not those of any Hindu sect or society, that they were, in fact, entirely unacceptable to the Hindu and could not, therefore, be looked upon in the West as representative. The Swami was, in short, said to be a disreputable charlatan. That was the burden of the smear campaign against him.

Beset on all sides and in fear lest even his American friends lose faith in him, Swamiji wrote on April 9 to Alasinga asking him to organize in Madras a meeting of prominent Hindus who would pass a resolution recognizing and approving his work in America.

He well knew that India's lack of public support was due, not to an unwillingness on the part of the Hindus to recognize him formally as a true representative of Hinduism, but rather to a characteristic apathy.

He had been informed that when the news of his triumph at the Parliament of Religions had reached India the country had been thrown into an uproar of jubilation. He had also received, as he wrote to Isabelle McKindley on April 26, "a little pamphlet published in Calcutta, containing extracts from the local papers, the strain of which was "so fulsome" that he refused to send it to her. Again, on May 1, he told Miss McKindley that he had the day before received "a little bit of a newspaper cutting from India.

But articles and editorials from Indian papers did not constitute an official approval of Swamiji and his work. For one thing, they did not necessarily represent the concerted opinion of the Hindu communities, nor, for another, were they published in American papers for all to read. If, in view of the statements of his enemies, Swamiji was to be established in the West as an authoritative exponent of Hinduism, an official sanction from the heads of the various Hindu communities was essential.

But, after centuries of subjugation under foreign rule, such was the inertia of the Hindus that, jubilant as they were, it did not occur to them to take united and official action to acknowledge publicly the champion of their country and to thank the American people for their reception of him. Even in those practical matters it was necessary for Swamiji to be their guide and director.

But although the Indian people wholeheartedly applauded the Swami's work in America, their recognition of him as a bona-fide spokesman of Hinduism was more jubilant than organized and was thus generally unknown in the West. Indeed, until far into the second half of 1894 no word had reached the American public that the Swami was honoured in his own country; and this long failure on the part of Hindu society to give united voice to its recognition of him as a true representative of Hinduism caused him many months of anxiety, if not despair; for through the silence of his countrymen his entire mission in the West was jeopardized. Without the backing of his country his standing as an accredited representative of Hinduism remained insecure, and his enemies in both America and India could thus proceed undeterred in their persistent campaign to cut the ground from under his feet.

Yet months went by and he received no answer from Alasinga to his letter of April 9.

He, however, received no answer to this important letter till the second week of July. Alasinga's reply, directed to one of the Swami's temporary addresses, rather than to his headquarters at the Hales's house in Chicago, was long delayed in reaching him. "More than two months ago",

First, there were the Christian missionaries, whose concerted attacks have been dealt with in previous chapters.

Second, there were the Theosophists, who, like the missionaries, were organized in both America and India and among whom were a few of Swamiji's own countrymen. Although the number of Theosophists in America was not large, they nevertheless played an active part in the opposition, joining forces with the mission¬aries and attempting to thwart Swamiji at every turn. While he was in the West, he said nothing publicly of the harm the Theosophists were attempting to do his cause, but during one of his first lectures given after his return to India, "My Plan of Campaign," he exposed their unseemly activities.

During the course of this lecture Swamiji also told of another of his enemies, "the leader of a reform party in India." "This gentleman," Swamiji said, "I knew from my childhood; he was one of my best friends; when I saw him-I had not met for a long time one of my countrymen-I was so glad, and this was the treatment I received from him. The day the Parliament cheered me, the day I became popular in Chicago, from that day his tone changed, and in an underhanded way, he tried to do everything he could to injure me.

During the course of this lecture Swamiji also told of another of his enemies, "the leader of a reform party in India." "This gentleman," Swamiji said, "I knew from my childhood; he was one of my best friends; when I saw him-I had not met for a long time one of my countrymen-I was so glad, and this was the treatment I received from him. The day the Parliament cheered me, the day I became popular in Chicago, from that day his tone changed, and in an underhanded way, he tried to do everything he could to injure me.

The gentleman in question was Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was the third group inimical to Swamiji and which was composed entirely of his own countrymen. Mr. Mazumdar was, perhaps, Swamiji's worst single enemy. Compelled by a kind of malignant jealousy, he attempted by every means to destroy Swamiji's reputation and influence. Being at the head of the New Dispensation Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta and the editor of Unity and the Minister, he was in a position of some authority in India. He also had attracted favorable attention in America, where, ten years prior to the Parliament of Religions, he had lectured with great success. He was, moreover, well known in the West for his book The Oriental Christ. Indeed, by preaching a kind of oriental-flavored Christianity, he had attained a reputation in America as a great spiritual light, and in this reputation he had basked.

At the Parliament of Religions, Mazumdar, representing the Brahmo Samaj, had been well received. As was told in an earlier chapter, one of his talks had so inspired the vast audience at the Hall of Columbus that it had risen in a body and burst forth with the hymn "Nearer, my God, to Thee." But it was Swamiji who had carried the day. During the Parliament Mazumdar's star had perceptibly faded, for America had seen as true Hindu and, as Prince Wolskonsky commented later, "a man" "As it pleased the Lord," Swamiji wrote in January to Swami Ramakrishnananda, "I met here Mr. Mazoomdar. He was very cordial at first, but when the whole Chicago population began to flock to me in overwhelming numbers, then the fire began to burn in Mr. Mazoomdar's heart. Brother, I was astounded to see and hear these things. . . . Mazoomdar slandered me to the missionaries in the Parliament of Religions, saying that I was a nobody, a thug and a cheat, and he accused me of coming here and pretending to be a monk. Thus he greatly succeeded in prejudicing their minds against me. He so prejudiced President Barrows that he didn't even speak to me decently. In their books and pamphlets they tried their best to snub me, but the Guru is my help. What could Mazoomdar say?

Shortly after the Parliament Mr. Mazumdar returned to India, and there he attempted to discredit Swamiji with every weapon at his command. Swamiji received news of this some¬time in March of 1894 in a letter from his "brethren at Cal¬cutta."

The letter says [he wrote to Mary Hale on March 18, 1894] that Mazoomdar has gone back to Calcutta and is preaching that Vivekananda is committing every sin under the sun in America-especially `unchastity' of the most degraded type!!! Lord bless his soul-You need not be sorry-I am too well known in my native land as to my character and my brethren my life-long companions know me too well to believe such trash-They only laugh at Mazoomdar's attempts as very clumsy. This is your America's wonderful spiritual man!! It is not their fault¬ until one is really spiritual, that is, until one has got a real insight into the nature of his own soul, and has got a glimpse of the world of soul, he cannot recognize chaff from seed, tall talk from depth and so on. . . . I am sorry for poor Mazoomdar that he should stoop so low!! He says that I am leading a bestially unchaste life with American women!! Lord bless the old boy-women of America know better of me I hope.

The Christian missionaries were not without their Indian and American allies. Without conscious effort or intention on his part, the Swami's dazzling success in America had eclipsed the influence previously exerted by the Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society. Of these the latter, though not a large organization in the United States at the time, was a growing one and had attained considerable recognition. Among the leaders of both these groups jealousy of the Swami was rampant, and their consequent animosity towards him played directly into the hands of his Christian traducers, In this connection we may mention Mr. Pratap Chandra Mazoomdar, a prominent leader of the Nava-vidhan (New Dispensation) Brahmo Samaj, who had attained great popularity in America as a preacher of a kind of Indian-flavoured Christianity and whose book The Oriental Christ was well known to the West. At the Parliament of Religions, where he had represented the Brahmo Samaj, he had been well received; but it was Swami Vivekananda, not he, who had swept the Parliament off its feet.

But Mr. Mazoomdar continued to stoke the flames of his envy, and after returning to India applied himself in earnest to vilifying the Swami. In a letter dated March 18, 1894, the Swami wrote to Mary Hale: "Mazoomdar has gone back to Calcutta and is preaching that Vivekananda is committing every sin under the sun in America--especially `unchastity' of the most degraded type!!! Lord bless his soul."

The women of America, those at least who were well acquainted with Swamiji, certainly knew better of him. They were his most staunch and loyal supporters, rising to his defense, as did Mrs. Bagley (chapter eight), to thoroughly squelch the scandalmongers. These last, giving ear to Mazumdar and the Christian missionaries, busily and anonymously "warned" Swamiji's friends against him; and while such tactics undoubtedly influenced many who did not know him well, they had no effect whatsoever on his friends.

Mr. Hale, for instance, once received an anonymous and scandal-filled letter warning him not to allow his daughters and nieces to associate with the Hindu monk. On reading this bit of advice, Mr. Hale dropped the letter into the flames of his hearth, as one might drop into the fire a vermin-ridden bit of trash.

But although none who knew Swamiji well could for a moment have doubted his veracity and honor, for, as he himself said, "What I am is written on my brow," he-from whose face the light of truth shone-lived for months thinking that even the best of his friends might turn From him, or, what was worse, would consider themselves to have been cheated and their hospitality abused. Aside from this fear, tales of his alleged fraudulence and unchastity, originating as they did from one of his own countrymen, must have made him sick at heart. He, the purest of men, accused of immorality! The heartbreak such sordid rumors might inflict on those who loved him worried him above all.

As he had written to Isabelle McKindley on April 25 or 26: "Now I do not care what they even of my own people say about me except for one thing. I have an old mother. She has suffered much all her life and in the midst of all she could bear to give me up for the service of God and man-but to have given up the most beloved of her children -her hope-to live a beastly immoral life in a far distant country-as Mazoomdar was telling in Calcutta would have simply killed her.

"Your kind note to G. W. Hale has been very gratifying," Swamiji was to write in September to the Dewanji, "as I owed them that much." Yet it is, doubtful whether Mr. Hale was himself in need of reassurance in regard to the Swami's authenticity and honour. The story goes that once he received an anonymous and scandal-filled letter, warning him to keep his daughters from associating with the Swami. On reading this unsolicited advice, Mr. Hale dropped the letter into the flames of his hearth, as one might drop into the fire some vermin-ridden piece of trash.

Mazumdar's behavior undoubtedly offended and incensed Swamiji's brother-monks who wrote to him of it. But to them, so Far distant, Swamiji did not confide his own pain, rather he consoled and fortified them. To Swami Ramakrishnananda he Wrote ('probably in March) : "I am very sorry to hear of Mazoomdar's doings. One always behaves thus in trying to push himself before all others. I am not much to blame. _x000d_ Mazoomdar came here ten years ago, and got much reputation and honour; now I am in flying colours. Such is the will of the Guru, what shall I do? It is childishness on Mazoomdar's part to be annoyed at this. Never mind. Great men like you should pay no heed to what he says. Shall we, children of Sri Ramakrishna and nourished with his heart's blood, be afraid of worm bites? `The wicked criticise the conduct of the magnanimous, which is extraordinary and whose motives are difficult to fathom.' Remember this and forgive this fool.

It was not as though Mazumdar was not well acquainted with Swamiji's true character and background. Not only had he known him for many years, but he had also known his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, had sat at his feet, and, some fifteen years before the Parliament of Religions, had written and published an article in most eloquent and convincing praise of that great saint. "My mind is still floating in the luminous atmosphere which that wonderful man diffuses around him whenever and wherever he goes," were Mazumdar's words. "… A living evidence of the depth and sweetness of Hindu religion is this good and holy man. He has wholly controlled his flesh. It is full of soul, full of the reality of religion, full of joy, full of blessed purity. . . . His spotless holiness, his deep unspeakable blessedness, his unstudied, endless wisdom, .his childlike peacefulness and affection towards all men, his con-suming, all-absorbing love for God are his only reward. . . . Our own ideal of religious life is different, but so long as he is spared to us, gladly shall we sit at his feet to learn from him the sublime precepts of purity, unworldliness, spirituality and inebriation in the love of God.

Mazumdar's article was to rebound against him when, after the Parliament of Religions, he set about maligning Swamiji, whom he well knew to be the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The story goes that at an evening gathering in America, where Mazumdar had been speaking disparagingly of Swamiji and his Master, one of the guests handed him his article and asked: "Did you not write this?" What Mazumdar said in reply is not recorded. There was, after all, little he could say.

It may well have been Mazumdar's article that Swamiji had distributed in pamphlet form at the Parliament (see chapter two), for it was the best current appraisal of his Master. But however that may be, it was certainly this article to which Swamiji referred when, on June 28, he wrote to a disciple in India, "By the by, will you kindly send up a few copies of the sketch of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's life written by Mazoomdar to Chicago? They have lots in Calcutta. No doubt Swamiji wanted to circulate the sketch among those of his friends who desired to know more of Sri Ramakrishna. But he was also, perhaps, not unmindful of the fact that it was the best possible answer to Mazumdar's vilification. The pamphlets reached him in late September, forwarded to Boston by Mrs. Hale. Acknowledging their receipt, he replied:

The bundles all came safely. One was newspapers From India. The other was the short sketch of my Master pub¬lished by Mr. Mazumdar long ago. In the latter bundle there are two sexto or pamphlets. One My Master sketch-the other a short extract to show how what Mr [Keshab] Chandra Sen & Mazumdar preached as their "New dispensation" was stolen from my Master's life. The latter therefore you need not distribute. But I hope you will distribute My Master's life to many good people._x000d_ I beg you to send some to Mrs Guernsey, Fishkill on the Hudson, N.Y. Mrs. Arthur Smith and Mrs. Phillips 19 West 38th st. New York both. To Mrs. Bagley Annisquam Mass and Prof. J. Wright prof of Greek Harvard Mass._x000d_ The newspapers you may do [with] whatever you like and I hope you will send any newspaper scrap you get about me to India.

One Of Mazumdar's attacks, accusing Swamiji of being a sort of Bohemian impostor who preached a pseudo-Hinduism, was published in Unity and the Minister and was subsequently quoted by everyone who, for one reason or another, wished to harm his reputation. The paragraph that embodied this accusation first reached America via the Boston Daily Advertiser of May 16, 1894, in the following article:

A PROPHET FROM INDIA_x000d_ Not long ago Buddhism was a subject of interest and study in the vicinity of Boston. But, just as in India about a thousand years ago, Buddhism was supplanted by Hinduism proper, so now in Boston Hinduism seems to be supplanting Buddhism in popular interest. This is partly due to the presence and addresses of the Hindu monk VIVEKANANDA, who attracted much attention at the parliament of religions.

As evidence of his standing in India he presents a letter from the professor of chemistry in Pacheappa's College, Madras. India is so remote that naturally it would be known to but few here that Pacheappa's College is the centre of the anti-Christian spirit in India and that the publications of BRADLAUGH and INGERSOLL are the kind of material from which members of that institu¬tion have largely drawn both their conceptions of Christianity and their attacks on it. But though offering such evidence of his Indian standing, VIVEKANANDA has in this country, we believe, openly expressed his dissent from that extreme kind of anti-Christian materialism.

When the published reports of the attentions paid to VIVEKANANDA at the parliament of religions reached India the newspapers of that country naturally com-mented upon them and upon the substance of his addresses.

Among such comments in the press of India we have noticed the following: The Christian Patriot, the leading Christian paper of southern India, edited by Indian Christians, one of them being a graduate of Cambridge University in England, in its issue of Dec. 7, 1893, said:_x000d_ "Although the young Hindu ascetic who appeared at Chicago with the assumed names VIVEKHANANDA SAWMY, is described by the American papers as a Brahman, and although this wrong view has been endorsed by our contemporary the Bengalee, we happen to know to a certainty that VIVEKHANANDA is not a Brahman. He is none other than Babu (i.e. Mr.) NORENDRA NATH DUTT, son of the late Babu TARAH NATH DUTT of Simla, Ind., who was a pleader of the high court. Babu NORENDRA NATH DUTT was an intel¬ligent graduate of the Calcutta University and it was very recently that he took to ascetic life."

One of the Indian attacks against him had been published in Unity and the Minister, the organ of the Nava-vidhan Brahmo Samaj, conducted under the leadership of Mazoomdar. This, together with other derogatory remarks about the Swami, was quoted in the Boston Daily Advertiser of May 16, 1894, when, as we have seen, the Swami was lecturing in Boston. The article, which implied that he was a fraudulent monk who preached a pseudo-Hinduism, ran as follows:

The Indian Mirror has published several long leaders in praise of the Neo-Hindu BABU NORENDRA NATH DUTT alias VIVEKHANANDA [sic] in some of its late issues. We have no objection to the publication of such panegyrics on the sannyasi (monk), but since the time he came to us to act on the stage of the Nava-Vrindavan Theatre or sang hymns in one of the Brahmo Samajs of this city we knew him well that no amount of newspaper writing could throw any new light on our estimate of his character. We are glad our old friend lately created a good impression in America by his speeches, but we are aware that Neo-Hinduism of which our friend is a representative is not orthodox Hinduism. The last thing which the latter would do is to cross the Kalapani (ocean), partake of the Mlechha food (i.e., food of outcasts, i.e. of Christians and foreigners) and smoke endless cigars and the like. Any follower of modem Hinduism cannot command that respect from us which we entertain for a genuine orthodox Hindu. Our contemporary may try to do his best to promote the reputation of VIVEKHANANDA, but we cannot have patience with him when he publishes glaring nonsense.

The insinuations are clear: although the Swami called him-self `Vivekananda' he was in fact Babu Narendra Nath Dutta. Secondly, he was not a genuine Hindu: he took forbidden food, smoked cigars, crossed the ocean, was a singer and an actor-was, in fine, a wayward Bohemian! But the article sup-pressed the fact that Keshabchandra Sen had also acted in the same play, which, it so happened, was a religious drama put on by the members of the Brahmo Samaj, of which Keshab was the leader. Narendra, then a member of the rival Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and an accomplished singer, had been per-suaded to take the part of a Yogi.

"Until we had heard from Chicago we were not aware that we had such a genius among us in Calcutta as it now seems we have. It only proves the truth of the words of JESUS: `A prophet is not without honor save in his own country.' More than this, evidence of the truth of Christianity we have in our Swami. What he taught as Hinduism and what gave power and influence to his words was the large admixture of Christian truth which he taught and which he received as a student in one of the Christian missionary colleges of Calcutta, and truth too which is the very opposite of the error which is the foundation stone of the Hinduism which he professed to teach, viz: (1) the brotherhood of man, and (2) the Lordship of God over the conscience. The caste system of Hinduism antagonizes both, and persecutes, as far as the Christian government permits, any who chooses to act under the influence of either. A man who chooses to eat with a brother man, or to obey his enlightened conscience in the matter of religious duty, and is baptized, will by Hinduism all over India be persecuted by the death of his soul and body; and yet this baboo goes across seas and continents to tell the parliament of religions that Hindus do not persecute and that Hindus love all men as brethren."

"The Indian Mirror has published several long leaders in praise of the Neo-Hindu Babu NORENDRA NATH DUTT alias VIVEKHANANDA in some of its late issues. We have no objection to the publication of such panegyrics on the Sanyasi (monk), but since the time he came to us to act on the stage of the Navavrindavan Theater or sang hymns in one of the Brahmo Samajes of this city we knew him so well that no amount of newspaper writing could throw any new light on our estimate of his character. We are glad our old friend lately created a good impression in America by his speeches, but we are aware that Neo¬Hinduism of which our friend is a representative is not orthodox Hinduism. The last thing which the latter would do is to cross the Kalapani (ocean), partake of the Mlechha food (i.e., food of outcasts, i.e. of Christians and foreigners) and smoke endless cigars and the like. Any follower of modern Hinduism cannot command that respect from us which we entertain for a genuine orthodox Hindu. Our contemporary may try to do his best to promote the reputation of VIVEKHANANDA, but we cannot have patience with him when he publishes glaring nonsense.

All of which goes to show several things, among others, that human nature in India is a good deal like human nature in other quarters of the globe. Hinduism is a multi meaning term, and remembering how wide apart may be two representations of the Christian religion, both equally sincere, we need not wonder that Hinduism as VIVEKHANANDA understands it is a quite different thing from Hinduism as Moozoomdar understands it. This is not the first evidence which has reached us that some of the most impressive statements of Oriental beliefs, and the most rapturously applauded, made at the parliament of religions in Chicago last summer, were very far from being such as the "orthodox" adherents of those beliefs on native soil would accept; or that the ideas expressed in many instances by visiting Hindus and other Orientals that seemed to compare so favorably with Christianity were really, though perhaps unconsciously, absorbed from Christian missions and schools.

Coupled with everything that the Christians had thrown at Swamiji, this article, which was also published word for word in the Detroit Free Press letter column of June 11, and its quoted matter in the Lawrence American of May 18, as well as in various other widely read journals and periodicals, including Lyman Abbott's Outlook of June 9, did nothing to allay the growing suspicion in America that perhaps he was, after all, a "fraud."

Among other things, Mr. Mazumdar forgot to mention in his paragraph regarding Swamiji in Unity and the Minister that if "Norendra Nath Dutt alias Vivekhananda" had acted on the stage of the Nava-Vrindavan Theater he had done so in good company. Keshab Chandra Sen had also taken a part in the same play, which, it so happened, was a religious drama enacted by the intimate members of the Brahmo Samaj, of which Keshab was the head. It is doubtful that Swamiji's enemies, who took delight in quoting from Unity and the Minister, knew these facts which completely altered the significance of Mazumdar's reference to Swamiji.

Vivekananda._x000d_ _x000d_ To the Editor of The Advertiser: The quotations that appeared in your paper about Swami Vivekhananda may mislead the public in some points, especially those who do not care to read between the lines._x000d_ The passages quoted from Indian papers are all "Christian," with the exception of the last, which is edited by Mr. Moozoomdar, who represented the "Brahmo Samaj" and not "Hinduism" in any of its "phases" and "sects."_x000d_ Moreover these quotations are attacks made on "Hindu" papers, especially the "Indian Mirror" and the "Bengalee," for their praising Vivekhananda and fully indorsing his views. I have at hand from Calcutta some of those "Hindu" papers and I send two quotations from two of the leading ones, namely, the "Indian Mirror," which is assuredly the leading Indian paper edited by a Hindu, and another Calcutta paper, "Amrita Bazar Fabriku [Patrika]," which has the greatest political influence of any in India and also edited by a Hindu._x000d_ "We were anxious for a man who would be competent to enlighten the parliament on the subject of Hinduism as might not only justify it in the eyes of the civilized world, but also win for it the respect of the spiritually minded of all systems of faith. But when reliable reports reached us of Swami Vivekhananda we felt thankful to the great disposer of all events that he in his inscrutable ways had found the right man in the right place. It is a matter of national congratulation that the representative of Hindu¬ism has been equal to his task and he discharged his duties in a manner that has earned for him the gratitude of the entire Hindu community."_x000d_ "The precepts preached by the illustrious Vivekhananda disciple of the still more illustrious Ram Krishna Taranhansa [Paramahamsa] gave to those who had always heard of the Hindus as devil worshippers a true view of Hinduism."_x000d_ So it is clear the "Hindus" all acknowledge him. He never pretends to represent "Christianity" or "Brahmo Samaj." _x000d_ Yours truly,_x000d_ S

But although "S" and perhaps a few others who had seen the Hindu papers quickly came to Swamiji's defense, it was the papers inimical to him that were widely quoted in America, not those favorable to him. Some of his own countrymen had, for the time being at least, effectively betrayed him, and no others had come officially to his support.

"Every moment I expected something from India," Swamiji wrote on June 28. "No, it never came. Last two months especially I was in torture every moment. No, not even a newspaper from India! [Except, as he said in this same letter, "the three square inches sent to me by Alasinga."] My friends waited-waited month after month; nothing came, not a voice. Many consequently grew cold and at last gave me up. But it is the punishment for relying upon man and upon brute, for our countrymen are not men yet. They are ready to be praised, but when their turn comes even to say a word, they are nowhere.

These were months of anguish to Swamiji, months in which his motherland (or so he thought) lifted not a finger to help him but in which, unfaltering, he never gave up his fight for her. I do not believe that his trial in this respect has been fully appreciated. Some hitherto unpublished letters which he wrote to Professor John Henry Wright reveal how deeply disturbed he was by the slander of his enemies and by the ever-present possibility that his friends would consider themselves to have been duped. Aside from giving his word to Professor Wright, Swamiji sent him every available scrap of testimony in an effort to prove himself worthy of the professor's friendship and trust. It is not likely that Dr. Wright doubted Swamiji. But after the appearance of the article in the Boston Evening Advertiser, quoted above, Swamiji felt obliged to vindicate himself.

While the Swami, a sannyasi, still scorned to defend himself publicly, he felt that an explanation was due from him to the intimate friends in America who had so generously and trustingly helped and supported him these many months. Indeed, if he did not give them some assurance, his silence could be construed as a tacit admission of fraudulence, and it would be impossible for him to remain in America. Even if for the continuance of his work an explanation was not required the demands of friendship called for one. To Professor John Henry Wright, who had made possible his appearance at the Parliament of Religions by vouching for his fitness to be a delegate, the Swami sent every scrap of favourable Indian testimony that he could gather.

The following letter was written from Boston prior to May 24 (on which date, as we see from his next letter to the professor, he was in Chicago) :_x000d_ 17 Beacon Street. _x000d_ Dear Adhyapakji_x000d_ By this time you have got the pamphlet and the letters. If you like I would send you over from Chicago some letters from Indian Princes and ministers-one of these ministers was one of the Commissioners of the late opium commission -that sat under Royal Commission in India. If you like I will have them write to you to convince you of my not being a cheat. But my brother our ideal of life is to hide to suppress and to deny._x000d_ We are to give up and not to take Had I not the "Fad" in my head I would never have come over here. And it was with a hope that it would help my cause that I joined the parliament of Religions-having always refused it when our people wanted to send me for it. I came over telling them-"that I may or may not join that assembly ¬and you may send me over if you like" They sent me over leaving me quite free._x000d_ You did the rest._x000d_ I am morally bound to afford you every satisfaction my kind friend-but for the rest of the world I do not care what they say-the Sanyasi must not have self defense. So I beg of you not to publish or show anybody anything in that pamphlet or the letters, I do not care for the attempts of thc old missionary but the fever of jealousy which attacked Mazoomdar gave me a terrible shock and I pray that he would know better-for he is a great and good man who has tried all his life to do good. But this proves one of my master's sayings-"living in a room covered with black soot-however careful you may be¬come spots must stick to your clothes."_x000d_ So-however one may try to be good and holy-so long he is in the world-some part of his nature must gravitate downwards._x000d_ The way to God is the opposite to that of the world. And_x000d_ to few very few are given to have God and mammon at the same time. _x000d_ I was never a missionary nor ever would be one-my place is in the Himalayas-I have satisfied myself so far- that I can with a full conscience say "my God-I saw terrible misery amongst my brethern I searched and discovered the way out of it-tried my best to apply the remedy but failed-So thy will be done." May His blessings be on you and yours for ever and ever. _x000d_ Yours affly _x000d_ Vivekananda _x000d_ 54I Dearborn Ave Chicago _x000d_ _x000d_ I go to Chicago tomorrow or day after _x000d_ Yours_x000d_ V.

Some of it had only recently come into his hands. In May he wrote from his hotel in Boston to the Professor:_x000d_ By this time you have got the pamphlet and the letters. If you like, I would send you over from Chicago some letters from Indian Princes and ministers---one of these ministers was one of the Commissioners of the late opium commission that sat under Royal Commission in India. If you like, I will have them write to you to convince you of my not being a cheat. But, my brother, our ideal of life is to hide, to suppress, and to deny. . . . I am morally bound to afford you every satisfaction, my kind friend; but for the rest of the world I do not care what they say-the sannyasin must not have self defence. So I beg of you not to publish or show anybody anything in that pamphlet or the letters.

It would appear that Professor Wright was not altogether satisfied by the "fulsome" pamphlet and letters that Swamiji sent him; or so the Swami felt. Thus on May 24 he wrote to him again, from Chicago, enclosing further testimony of his being "no fraud". His letter reads in part:_x000d_ Herewith I forward to you a letter from one of our ruling princes of Rajputana, His Highness the Maharaja of Khetri, and another from the opium commissioner, late minister of Junagad, one of the largest states in India, and a man who is called the Gladstone of India. These I hope would convince you of my being no fraud. . . . I am bound, my dear friend to give you every satisfaction of my being a genuine sannyasin but to you alone. I do not care what the rabbles say or think about me. . . .

The pamphlet that Swamiji had sent before writing the above was no doubt the same one he had mentioned in his letter of April 26 to Isabelle McKindley as "a little pamphlet published in Calcutta about me-revealing that once at least in my life the prophet has been honored in his own country." But evidently neither pamphlet nor letters altogether satisfied the professor, or, at least, Swamiji felt that they did not, for in a second letter from Chicago he enclosed further testimony regarding his good standing in India. His reference to "Mr. Mazoomdar's party chief" was, of course, to the late Keshab Chandra Sen, who had been a leader of the Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta.

At the close of the Swami's letter one finds words that come from his sorrow-stricken heart: "I was never a missionary," he wrote, " nor ever would be one-my place is in the Himalayas. I have satisfied myself so far that I can with a full conscience say, `My God, I saw terrible misery amongst my brethren; I searched and discovered the way out of it, tried my best to apply the remedy, but failed. So Thy will be done.' " But if he could not (as he thought) rescue his mission from the onslaught of his enemies, at least he was able to reassure his friends; for he was not without influential admirers in his own country. The pamphlet mentioned in the letter to Professor Wright quoted above was without doubt the one that he had received two weeks earlier from India. Of this he had written on April 26 to Isabelle McKindley, who had forwarded it to him: ". . . the mail you sent yesterday from India was really . . . good news after a long interval. There is a beautiful letter from Dewanji [Haridas Viharidas Desai, the Dewan of Junagadh and the Opium Commissioner whom Swamiji had mentioned to Prof. Wright]. . . . Then there was a little pamphlet published in. Calcutta about me-revealing that once at least in my life the prophet has been honoured in his own country. [It contains] extracts from American and Indian papers and magazines about me. The extracts printed from Calcutta papers were especially gratifying, although the strain is so fulsome that I refuse to send the pamphlet over to you. They call me illustrious, wonderful, and all sorts of nonsense, but they forward me the gratitude of the whole nation."

But Indian articles in praise of Swamiji were not published in the American papers; only those detrimental to him were printed and widely read. As far as the American public knew, the Swami was not honoured in his own country and was as suspect as ever.

My dear Guroo_x000d_ I was very glad to receive your kind letter of 28th Feb. You indirectly accuse me of not writing to your holiness more than once. Of course I must confess it, but, at the same time I should be allowed to say that I was unable to make my letters reach you for some months till you had decided to make a long stay at Chicago; after that I had been travelling almost all the time, visiting Bombay, Dawarika, Virawel, Girnar etc. And afterwards Rampur to join in the rejoicings held there on account of the marriage of the Nawab Sahib. But after all I think I should beg to be apologised for it._x000d_ I see, there is no need of advising one who is far more wiser, but still I dare say that you ought not to feel disgusted by the backbiting of our countrymen for you should see "Krayavikraya-velayam kacha-kacha mani manih." ["At the time of buying and selling," that is, true appraisal, "glass is only glass, a jewel is a jewel."] If a man like you would give up your long cherished design for bettering your mother country by getting some help from the noble civilised people of west, who else could ever attempt to fulfil it? Although I would always like to have you with me, for who knows how long one can live, but still I must not be selfish and should ask you to try your but for the poor and wretched condition of our dear India which could once produce men of such capability who did find the "Spirit knowledge" in those days when there were not even the slightest traces of the present inventions such as the steam and electric machines. That age is perhaps considered as "the Dark age" according to the present western theories, .who suppose mankind to have been too young in those days._x000d_ My eagerness for seeing your holy self urges me to write to you to come back soon, but at the same time something else checks my pen and makes me write something quite contrary to that i.e. to ask you to remain still there where the people are jewellers of human beings._x000d_ Swami Akhundanandji is here now-a-days. He has written a separate letter to your holiness enclosed with this. Jug Mohan is at Jeypore but I am sure he will be much pleased when he hears that I have written his dundavets [prostrations] to you without his request._x000d_ We have at last catched the tiger which had been roaming in our Khetri hills and had devoured about 50 buffaloes here up to till it was nicely secured._x000d_ With my hearty dundavets _x000d_ I am proud of signing _x000d_ Yours18 Ajit Simh

My dear Guroo . . . I see there is no need of advising one who is far more wise, but still I dare say that you ought not to feel disgusted by the backbiting of our countrymen for you should see "Kraya-vikiaya¬velayam kachah kachah maneh manih" (At the time of buying and selling, that is, true appraisal, glass is only glass, a jewel is a jewel). If a man like you would give up your long cherished design for bettering your mother-country by getting some help from the noble civilized people of West, who else could ever attempt to fulfil it?. . . My eagerness for seeing your holy self urges me to write to you to come back soon, but at the same time something else checks my pen and makes me write something quite contrary to that i.e. to ask you to remain still there where the people are jewellers of human beings. . . .

Aside from the above letter, Swamiji also sent to Professor Wright a leading article from the Indian Mirror of February 22. Written across the now faded and torn bit of newspaper are the words in Swamiji's hand: "The most in8uential paper in India." (It was this leader that "S" had paraphrased. See pages 91-92.) Excerpts from the article are given below:

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA IN AMERICA_x000d_ When the Executive Committee of the Parliament of Religions, held in connection with the World's Fair at Chicago, issued its invitation to the members of every creed and church in the world to send their representatives to its meetings, we felt an anxiety as to the possibility of finding a man who would be a Hindu of Hindus, and yet would not have scruples to cross the ocean, and must, at the same time, be competent to enlighten the Parliament on the subject of Hinduism as might not only justify it in the eyes of the civilized world, but also win for it the respect and admiration of the spiritual-minded and relig¬iously disposed among the followers of every other system of faith. But when reliable reports reached us of the ability, wisdom and eloquence with which Swami Vivek¬ananda was expounding Hinduism at the Parliament, not only all our anxiety about the matter was at an end, but we felt thankful to the Great Disposer of all events who, it seemed, in his inscrutable ways, had found the right man for the right place. It was a demand of the time and of the age that Hinduism, which has been so cruelly mis¬judged and imperfectly apprehended by the Christians in particular, should be represented in its true aspect before all the world. The platform of the Parliament of religions was indeed the fittest place from which Hinduism could be effectively defended against the many false charges, repeatedly brought against it by interested persons and communities, and also from which its merits could be expounded to enable people to accord to it its just position in the ranks of the world's great religions. It is a matter of national congratulation that the representative of Hindu¬ism at the great Parliament was equal to his task, and discharged his duties in a manner that has earned for him the gratitude of the entire Hindu community. [Here follows a resume of Swamiji's talk at the Parliament. The article then continues:]

His fame, as an eloquent preacher of sublime Hindu doctrines, spread fast through the American cities and towns, and we learn that ever since the Parliament dis¬solved, the Swami has been eagerly sought for by numerous persons, invitations have poured upon him from various places to deliver lectures, and he has been strongly pressed to prolong his stay in America.

Mr. A. Wann, an American gentleman of standing, writing under the date the 27th December to a friend in Calcutta, says: "Mr. Swami Vivekanand has been delivering splendid lectures all over the country. He is very popular here."

As might be ex¬pected, some American padres, (note in Swamiji's hand at foot of column: padre = a missionary-slang) driven to desperation, as they were, by the sudden lift Hinduism was given to by its expositions by the Swami, made an effort to discredit him in the eyes of the American public, an effort in which they were aided, we are sorry to be told, by a member of the Hindu race. But his opponents failed to find a single flaw either in his life or his teachings, and the Swami has steadily risen in the estimation of the people in the United States, and in Canada, till his popularity has grown to such a high pitch that we are told, he is now in a manner idolized.

. . . With the fact before us of this outburst of enthusiasm and admiration for the teachings of Hinduism by hundreds of Americans, shall we not be justified in advancing the opinion that these Christian people have found in the essence of Hinduism a higher and truer ideal of religious life than Christianity could supply them?

Whatever may be the practical outcome of Swami Vivekananda's Mission in America, there can be no question that it has already had the effect of immensely raising the credit of the true Hinduism in the eyes of the civilized world, and that is, indeed, a work for which the whole Hindu community should feel grateful to the Swami.

The news of the unparalleled success of the Swami in America began to reach India by the beginning of November 1893, about two months after the great Parliament of Religions had commenced in Chicago. As has been seen in a previous chapter, leading Indian journals reprinted the American reports of his talks at the Parliament, and these extracts, quotations and comments were avidly read by Hindus, from Madras to Almora, from Calcutta to Bombay. The general public was transported with joy at the glowing accounts of the welcome accorded to the Swami and to the message of Hinduism that he preached. This was a new experience for India-to receive recognition of her greatness, to be vindicated as "the Spiritual Teacher of the World".

From the day of the Swami's extraordinary and spectacular success at the Parliament of Religions, when he thrilled the American public with his lofty thought and luminous personality from that day forward the number of his enemies steadily grew. That a monk of India could stand up before the august Parliament and speak words of the highest moral and spiritual idealism, and this with eloquence and authority, that this young, unknown Hindu could be publicly acclaimed "an orator by divine right", was enough to strike terror into the heart of bigotry. In the preceding chapter we have touched on the almost hysterical reaction of the more narrow sections of the Christian clergy to the Swami's sudden, comet-like appear¬ance on the horizon. Let us here enlarge somewhat on this distasteful theme, for it not only formed a part of the religious climate in which he worked and preached, it constituted as well a chapter of his life that revealed his character in bold relief. As we have pointed out elsewhere, it was not his personality alone that gave the lie to the Christian missonaries portrayal of India as a benighted land of heathen rites. The Swami did not spare any words in presenting the true picture of his country's highly refined culture. In simple language he beautifully ex¬plained the traditions governing the everyday life of the Hindu people-traditions rooted deep in an ancient religious idealism, in which a life of renunciation and self sacrifice was everywhere more highly honoured than one of kingship or affluence. Nor did the Swami hesitate to criticize openly the proselytizing methods of the Christian missionaries in India. He informed the American people that the money being spent in India to convert the "heathen" to Christianity was bearing little fruit; he pointed out that the most ignorant Indian villager was as rich in religious knowledge and faith as was the Western farmer in political knowledge and opinion. Indeed, in the Swami's every lecture delivered after the Parliament, hit startling words at that assembly, "Religion is not the crying need of India", were underscored again and again with unmistakable strokes.

"As it pleased the Lord," the Swami wrote to his brother-disciple, Swami Ramakrishnananda, in January of 1894, "I met here Mr. Mazoomdar. He was very cordial at first, but when the whole Chicago population began to flock to me in overwhelming numbers, then grew the canker in his mind! Brother, I was astonished to see and hear these things.. .. Mazoomdar slandered me to the missionaries in the Parliament of Religions, saying that I was a nobody, a thug, and a cheat, and he accused me of coming here and pretending to be a monk. Thus he greatly succeeded in prejudicing their minds against me. He so prejudiced President Barrows that he didn't even speak to me decently. In their books and pamphlets they tried their best to snub me, but the Guru is my help; what could Mazoomdar say?"

The calumny spread against the Swami did not become particularly fruitful at the time of the Parliament; indeed, only by persistent, unscrupulous efforts could his name be smeared and his teachings somehow discredited, for the Swami was not without friends in America. The following story provides an example of the resistance Mazoomdar's campaign encountered. At an evening gathering where he had been speaking disparagingly of the Swami and his Master, one of the guests handed him a pamphlet written by him some fifteen years earlier in high and reverential praise of Shri Ramakrishna. "Did you not write this?" the guest asked. Mr. Mazoomdar's reply is not recorded. There was, after all, little he could say.

It is clear from his letters that the Swami was by no means unaware of the malicious attacks that were being directed from all sides against his work and against his probity as a man and a religious teacher. Yet for many months he took no action in his own defence. Rather, sannyasi that he was, he depended on the Lord. Indeed it might be said that he had received divine guidance in this matter, as in others, and was well assured that he was divinely protected. One incident that could have served to underscore his innate faith was related by Swami Vijnana¬nanda, one of his brother-disciples. At a dinner in Detroit, when the Swami was about to sip from his cup of coffee, he saw Shri Ramakrishna standing by his side, saying, "Don't drink! That is poison!" In an atmosphere so clouded with malice, he could not easily discount that warning; for it would have been a wonder if people so mean-minded as to carry on a smear campaign against a holy man were not bent on destroying his life as well!

I am surprised that so much about me has reached you. The criticism you mention of the Interior is not to be taken as the attitude of the American people. That paper is almost unknown here, and belongs to what they call a "blue-nose Presbyterian paper", very bigoted. Still all the "blue-noses" are not ungentlemanly. The American people, and many of the clergy, are very hospitable to me. That paper wanted a little notoriety by attacking a man who was being lionized by society. That trick is well known here, and they do not think anything of it. Of course, our Indian missionaries may try to make capital out of it. If they do, tell them, "Mark, Jew, a judgement has come upon you!" Their old building is tottering to its foundation and must come down in spite of their hysterical shrieks. I pity them-if their means of living fine lives in India is cut down by the influx of oriental religions here. But not one of their leading clergy is ever against me. Well, when I am in the pond, I must bathe thoroughly.

Gradually, however, the campaign to destroy the Swami and his mission assumed such menacing proportions that if unchecked it could defeat the very purpose of his coming to America. Seeing this, he at last took measures to counteract it. Even then, he did not become directly involved in publicly refuting the scandalous charges against his character and conduct; rather, he asked the Hindu people to vouch for him with united voice, to announce publicly that his message was the message of India's soul, and that Hindu society acknowledged his views as its own.

The Swami well knew that the failure of his countrymen to give official recognition to his accomplishment during and after the Parliament of Religions was not due to a lack of appreciation on their part, and that their silence was not by any means studied. Having lived long under foreign domination, the Hindus had forgotten the methods of organized action had forgotten, indeed, the need for it. Thus the Swami, seeing his mission jeopardized and his enemies emboldened, attempted to channel the disorganized enthusiasm and jubilation in India over his American success into a united force. He was constrained not only to remind the Hindus of their duty but to advise a way of action.

541 Dearborn Avenue,_x000d_ Chicago_x000d_ 24th May, 1894_x000d_ Dear Adhyapakji {Prof. John Henry Wright},_x000d_ Herewith I forward to you a letter from one of our ruling princes of Rajputana, His Highness the Maharaja of Khetri, and another from the opium commissioner, late minister of Junagad, one of the largest states in India, and a man who is called the Gladstone of India. These I hope would convince you of my being no fraud._x000d_ One thing I forgot to tell you. I never identified myself anyway with Mr. Mazoomdar's party chief. If he says so, he does not speak the truth._x000d_ I hope, after your perusal, you will kindly send the letters over to me, except the pamphlet which I do not care for._x000d_ I am bound, my dear friend, to give you every satisfaction of my being a genuine Sannyasin, but to you alone. I do not care what the rabbles say or think about me._x000d_ "Some would call you a saint, some a chandala ; some a lunatic, others a demon. Go on then straight to thy work without heeding either"--thus saith one of our great Sannyasins, an old emperor of India, King Bhartrihari, who joined the order in old times._x000d_ May the Lord bless you for ever and ever. My love to all your children and my respects to your noble wife._x000d_ I remain ever your friend,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ PS--I had connection with Pundit Shiva Nath Shastri's party--but only on points of social reform. Mazoomdar and Chandra Sen--I always considered as not sincere, and I have no reason to change my opinion even now. Of course in religious matters even with my friend Punditji I differed much, the chief being, I thinking Sannyasa or (giving up the world) the highest ideal, and he, a sin. So the Brahmo Samajists consider becoming a monk a sin!!_x000d_ Yours,_x000d_ V._x000d_ The Brahmo Samaj, like Christian Science in your country, spread in Calcutta for a certain time and then died out. I am not sorry, neither glad that it died. It has done its work--viz social reform. Its religion was not worth a cent, and so it must die out. If Mazoomdar thinks I was one of the causes of its death, he errs. I am even now a great sympathiser of its reforms; but the "booby" religion could not hold its own against the old "Vedanta". What shall I do? Is that my fault? Mazoomdar has become childish in his old age and takes to tactics not a whit better than some of your Christian missionaries. Lord bless him and show him better ways._x000d_ Yours,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ When are you going to Annisquam? My love to Austin and Bime. My respects to your wife; and for you my love and gratitude is too deep for expression._x000d_ Yours ever affectionately,_x000d_ Vivekananda

The hot summer season now descended on America, putting a stop in the cities to all social, cultural, and even religious pursuits, sending hundreds of city-dwellers to their country homes or to summer resorts in the mountains or at the seaside. The Swami stayed in Chicago till June' 28, living in the house of the Hale family-now a nearly empty house, for some of the family were out of town. In some respects this summer month was not a bright one for him, for, as we are about to see, the circumstances attending his mission in the West were not then altogether favourable.

According to his letter of May 1 to Isabelle McKindley, Swamiji intended to return to New York after completing his lectures in Boston. But as Far as one can learn, he did not do so; rather, feeling tired and ill, he went directly to Chicago, arriving there by May 24. To judge from his letters, both published and heretofore unpublished, he remained at the Hales' through most of June, getting at last the rest he needed after so much "whirling to and fro - from Detroit to New York to Boston to Northampton to Lynn to Boston to New York to Boston and, finally, to Chicago and "home."

Chicago_x000d_ 28th May, 1894_x000d_ Dear Alasinga,_x000d_ I could not reply to your note earlier, because I was whirling to and fro from New York to Boston, and also I awaited Narasimha's letter. I do not know when I am going back to India. It is better to leave everything in the hands of Him who is at my back directing me. Try to work without me, as if I never existed. Do not wait for anybody or anything. Do whatever you can. Build your hope on none. Before writing about myself, I will tell you about Narasimha. He has proved a complete failure. . . . However he wrote to me for help in the last stage, and I will try to help him as much as is in my power. Meanwhile you tell his people to send money as soon as they can for him to go over. . . . He is in distress. Of course I will see that he does not starve._x000d_ I have done a good deal of lecturing here. . . . The expenses here are terrible; money has to fly, although I have been almost always taken care of everywhere by the nicest and the highest families._x000d_ I do not know whether I shall go away this summer or not. Most probably not. In the meantime try to organise and push on our plans. Believe you can do everything. Know that the Lord is with us, and so, onward, brave souls!_x000d_ I have had enough appreciation in my own country. Appreciation or no appreciation, sleep not, slacken not. You must remember that not a bit even of our plans has been as yet carried out._x000d_ Act on the educated young men, bring them together, and organise them. Great things can be done by great sacrifices only. No selfishness, no name, no fame, yours or mine, nor my Master's even! Work, work the idea, the plan, my boys, my brave, noble, good souls--to the wheel, to the wheel put your shoulders! Stop not to look back for name, or fame, or any such nonsense. Throw self overboard and work. Remember, "The grass when made into a rope by being joined together can even chain a mad elephant." The Lord's blessings on you all! His power be in you all--as I believe it is already. "Wake up, stop not until the goal is reached", say the Vedas. Up, up, the long night is passing, the day is approaching, the wave has risen, nothing will be able to resist its tidal fury. The spirit, my boys, the spirit; the love, my children, the love; the faith, the belief; and fear not! The greatest sin is fear._x000d_ My blessings on all. Tell all the noble souls in Madras who have helped our cause that I send them my eternal love and gratitude, but I beg of them not to slacken. Throw the idea broadcast. Do not be proud; do not insist upon anything dogmatic; do not go against anything--ours is to put chemicals together, the Lord knows how and when the crystal will form. Above all, be not inflated with my success or yours. Great works are to be done; what is this small success in comparison with what is to come? Believe, believe, the decree has gone forth, the fiat of the Lord has gone forth--India must rise, the masses and the poor are to be made happy. Rejoice that you are the chosen instruments in His hands. The flood of spirituality has risen. I see it is rolling over the land resistless, boundless, all-absorbing. Every man to the fore, every good will be added to its forces, every hand will smooth its way, and glory be unto the Lord! . . ._x000d_ I do not require any help. Try to get up a fund, buy some magic lanterns, maps, globes, etc., and some chemicals. Get every evening a crowd of the poor and low, even the Pariahs, and lecture to them about religion first, and then teach them through the magic lantern and other things, astronomy, geography, etc., in the dialect of the people. Train up a band of fiery young men. Put your fire in them and gradually increase the organisation, letting it widen and widen its circle. Do the best you can, do not wait to cross the river when the water has all run down. Printing magazines, papers, etc., are good, no doubt, but actual work, my boys even if infinitesimal, is better than eternal scribbling and talking. Call a meeting at Bhattacharya's. Get a little money and buy those things I have just now stated, hire a hut, and go to work. Magazines are secondary, but this is primary. You must have a hold on the masses. Do not be afraid of a small beginning, great things come afterwards. Be courageous. Do not try to lead your brethren, but serve them. The brutal mania for leading has sunk many a great ship in the waters of life. Take care especially of that, i.e. be unselfish even unto death, and work. I could not write all I was going to say, but the Lord will give you all understanding, my brave boys. At it, my boys! Glory unto the Lord! . . ._x000d_ Yours affectionately,_x000d_ Vivekananda

The backbiters, I must tell you, have not indirectly benefited me, on the other hand, they have injured me immensely in view of the fact that our Hindu people did not move a finger to tell the Americans that I represented them. Had our people sent some words thanking the American people for their kindness to me and stating that I was representing them? On the other hand Mazoomdar, Bombay's Nagarkar [see Vol. 1, pp. 214-15], and a Chris-tian woman named Sorabji have been telling the American people that I have donned the Sannyasin's garb only in America and that I was a cheat, pure and simple.

But while the Swami's countrymen were indeed slow in paying public tribute to him after the Parliament of Religions and in expressing their gratitude to the American people for having so warmly welcomed him, they were not so slow as the delay in news from India had led him to believe. Even as, in this connection, he was writing his first letter known to us of advice to his Madras disciple Alasinga, the thought of holding public meetings in his honour was stirring in India. The idea may have been communicated in some unknown letter of the Swami written to his Madras disciples or the brother-disciples, which might have reached India by March end at the latest. But by whatever medium it was conveyed, the power of Swamiji's thought seems to have awakened his countrymen to their duty. His letter to Alasinga was dated April 9; the response was as swift as thought itself!

Actual text in ' On east cost'.

Meanwhile, even as he was scolding his Madras disciples for not having arranged a public meeting, Alasinga and others were, in fact, obeying him and were organizing the now famous Madras Meeting which was held on April 28, 1894. Although an unpublished sentence or two in a letter of Swamiji's that has been dated (by someone other than he) "May 28, 1894" gives some indication that by then he knew a meeting had been organ¬ized in Madras

Actual text in ' On east Cost'.

The actual proceedings did not reach him until the early part of July when a wrongly addressed letter telling of them finally arrived from Alasinga, having "travelled," as Swamiji wrote, "the whole country to come to me." But the matter did not end there. He wrote in reply to Alasinga on July 11, giving him detailed instructions as to what should be done with the Madras resolutions so that they would reach the American newspaper through the proper, official channels and thus serve as the "credentials" he had lacked for so long. He asked also that copies be sent to Professor Wright, "the first man who stood as my friend," to Mr. Palmer and Mrs. Bagley of Detroit, and to Mrs. Hale, who, as he wrote in an unpublished portion of this letter, "is my greatest friend." In his eagerness that nothing should miscarry, one senses his vast relief at these stirrings of life in India. "Now if similar things come from Calcutta with big names," he wrote in another unpublished portion of the same letter, "then I will get what the Americans say a boom and then half the battle will be won. Then the Yankees will be confident that I am a sincere representative."

It is pleasant to note, that this Hindoo teacher is not a prophet without honor in his own country, and that, at a public meeting recently held in Madras, the Hindoo community indorsed all his efforts in America, and sent their thanks to America for the manner in which he was received. The Hindoos of Madras have sent to THE INTEROCEAN a communication expressing their thanks and admiration for `the gracious hospitality and large hearted philanthropy which characterizes your great and powerful community. The generous fervor with which your great people have received and listened to the holy man, who undertook to convey to them the message to mankind of our Hindoo sages and prophets, has proved to us how false and foul are the charges which we have every now and then seen leveled against America, that she is the motherland of unblushing dollar worship, that her sons are absorbed in gross materialism, and that there is no love among them for the things of the spirit.'

The Parliament of Religions has begun to show its fruits far off in India. The people are correcting their impressions of America since they have seen it through eyes in which they have confidence as representing themselves, and India through the reports of Swami Vivekananda, the great Hindoo teacher, will learn to admire the Western world and learn from it many things that will improve her material welfare, as Americans learned of the spiritual beauties of Hindoo philosophy as taught by one of the great Hindoo priests. The World's Congress had for its motto 'Not Things but Men,' but it will show in its fruits many advancements that concern things as well as men, when the seeds sown by the delegates to these great congresses take firm root in the soil of the Orient.

And here in Chicago was Narasimha again, turning up like the proverbial bad penny. Swamiji felt much concerned for the boy, who, as he had written to Alasinga at the end of May, "has proved a complete failure. [He has] mixed with nondescript rogues and women, and everybody shuns him. However he wrote to me for help in the last stage, and I will try to help him as much as in my power. Meanwhile you tell his people to send money as soon as they can for him to go over [to India]. . . . He is in distress. Of course I will see that he does not starve.

Swamiji did more than see that Narasimha did not starve; he saw to it that he would get back to India without fail. "[His people may pay the money] to Cook &. Son," he instructed Alasinga "and they [Cook & Son] will give him a ticket to India and not cash. I think via the Pacific is the better route for him as having no temptation for him to stop anywhere.In the meantime, a Mrs. Smith, who was evidently much taken by the young Hindu, had other plans for him, to wit: he was to become a Christian missionary to "heathen India."

A letter written from the Hales', where he was spending the month of June, shows him as free from care as a child. It was addressed to Mrs. Hale, who, together with her husband, was "taking the waters" at a fashionable mineral-springs resort in Warren County, Indiana, about 100 miles south of Chicago. The Hale sisters (and nieces) remained at home, chaperoned by Mr. Hale's sister Mrs. James Matthews, whom Swamiji called "Mother Temple." His letter from this Chicago household read:

To Mrs. G. W. Hale_x000d_ 541 Dearborn Avenue_x000d_ Chicago_x000d_ 9 June 1894_x000d_ Dear Mother,_x000d_ We are all doing very well here. Last night the sisters invited me and Mrs. Norton and Miss Howe and Mr. Frank Howe. We had a grand dinner and softshell crab and many other things, and a very nice time. Miss Howe left this morning. The sisters and Mother Temple are taking very good care of me. Just now I am going to see my "oh my dear" Gandhi. Narasimha was here yesterday; he wanted to go to Cincinnati where he says he has more chances of success than anywhere else in the world. I gave him the passage, and so I hope I have got the white elephant out of my hands for the time being. How is Father Pope doing now? Hope he has been much benefited by the mudfish business. _x000d_ I had a very beautiful letter from Miss Guernsey of New York, giving you her regards. I am going downtown to buy a new pair of shoes as well as to get some money, my purse having been made empty by Narasimha._x000d_ Nothing more to write. Yes, we went to see the "Charley's Aunt". I nearly killed myself with laughing. Father Pope will enjoy it extremely. I had never seen anything so funny._x000d_ Yours affectionately,_x000d_ Vivekananda.

Charley's Aunt was a highly popular comedy, based on an incongruous switch of identity-a gimmick that struck American audiences as hilarious. The humor was unbarbed and innocent, and Swamiji, roaring with laughter, entered fully into the spirit of it.

If Professor Wright had ever entertained misgivings about Swamiji's integrity, they were by this time effectively banished.

541 Dearborn Avenue,_x000d_ 18th June, 1894_x000d_ Dear Adhyapakji {Prof. John Henry Wright},_x000d_ Excuse my delay in sending the other letters; I could not find them earlier. I am going to New York in a week._x000d_ I do not know whether I will come to Annisquam or not. The letters need not be sent over to me until I write you again. Mrs. Bagley seems to be unsettled by that article in the Boston paper against me. She sent me over a copy from Detroit and has ceased correspondence with me. Lord bless her. She has been very kind to me._x000d_ Stout hearts like yours are not common, my brother. This is a queer place--this world of ours. On the whole I am very very thankful to the Lord for the amount of kindness I have received at the hands of the people of this country--I, a complete stranger here without even "credentials". Everything works for the best._x000d_ Yours ever in gratitude,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ PS. The East India stamps are for your children if they like.

On June 18 he wrote to the professor, "I do not know whether I will come to Annisquam or not.... Mrs. Bagley seems to be unsettled by that article in the Boston paper against me. She sent me over a copy from Detroit and has ceased correspondence with me. Lord bless her. She has been very kind to me."_x000d_ _x000d_ he article referred to was of course, that quoted above from the Boston Daily Advertiser of May 17, 1894, which had been reprinted in the Detroit Free Press of June 11.

Chicago_x000d_ 20th June, 1894_x000d_ Dear Diwanji Saheb {Shri Haridas Viharidas Desai},_x000d_ Your very kind note came today. I am so sorry that I could have caused pain to such a noble heart as yours with my rash and strong words. I bow down to your mild corrections. "Thy son am I, teach me thus bowing"--Gita. But you well know, Diwanji Saheb, it was my love that prompted me to say so. The backbiters, I must tell you, have not indirectly benefited me; on the other hand, they have injured me immensely in view of the fact that our Hindu people did not move a finger to tell the Americans that I represented them. Had our people sent some words thanking the American people for their kindness to me and stating that I was representing them! . . . Have been telling the American people that I have donned the Sannyasin's garb only in America and that I was a cheat, bare and simple. So far as reception goes, it has no effect on the American nation; but so far as helping me with funds goes, it has a terrible effect in making them take off their helping hands from me. And it is one year since I have been here, and not one man of note from India has thought it fit to make the Americans know that I am no cheat . There again the missionaries are always seeking for something against me, and they are busy picking up anything said against me by the Christian papers of India and publishing it here. Now you must know that the people here know very little of the distinction in India between the Christian and the Hindu.

Primarily my coming has been to raise funds for an enterprise of my own. Let me tell it all to you again.

The whole difference between the West and the East is in this: They are nations, we are not, i.e., civilisation, education here is general, it penetrates into the masses. The higher classes in India and America are the same, but the distance is infinite between the lower classes of the two countries. Why was it so easy for the English to conquer India? It was because they are a nation, we are not. When one of our great men dies, we must sit for centuries to have another; they can produce them as fast as they die. When our Diwanji Saheb will pass away (which the Lord may delay long for the good of my country), the nation will see the difficulty at once of filling his place, which is seen even now in the fact that they cannot dispense with your services. It is the dearth of great ones. Why so? Because they have such a bigger field of recruiting their great ones, we have so small. A nation of 300 millions has the smallest field of recruiting its great ones compared with nations of thirty, forty, or sixty millions, because the number of educated men and women in those nations is so great. Now do not mistake me, my kind friend, this is the great defect in our nation and must be removed.

Educate and raise the masses, and thus alone a nation is possible. Our reformers do not see where the wound is, they want to save the nation by marrying the widows; do you think that a nation is saved by the number of husbands its widows get? Nor is our religion to blame, for an idol more or less makes no difference. The whole defect is here: The real nation who live in cottage have forgotten their manhood, their individuality. Trodden under the foot of the Hindu, Mussulman, or Christian, they have come to think that they are born to be trodden under the foot of everybody who has money enough in his pocket. They are to be given back their lost individuality. They are to be educated. Whether idols will remain or not, whether widows will have husbands enough or not, whether caste is good or bad, I do not bother myself with such questions. Everyone must work out his own salvation. Our duty is to put the chemicals together, the crystallisation will come through God's laws. Let us put ideas into their heads, and they will do the rest. Now this means educating the masses. Here are these difficulties. A pauper government cannot, will not, do anything; so no help from that quarter.

Even supposing we are in a position to open schools in each village free, still the poor boys would rather go to the plough to earn their living than come to your school. Neither have we the money, nor can we make them come to education. The problem seems hopeless.I have found a way out. It is this. If the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. If the poor cannot come to education, education must reach them at the plough, in the factory, everywhere. How? You have seen my brethren. Now I can get hundreds of such, all over India, unselfish, good, and educated. Let these men go from village to village bringing not only religion to the door of everyone but also education. So I have a nucleus of organising the widows also as instructors to our women.

Now suppose the villagers after their day's work have come to their village and sitting under a tree or somewhere are smoking and talking the time away. Suppose two of these educated Sannyasins get hold of them there and with a camera throw astronomical or other pictures, scenes from different nations, histories, etc. Thus with globes, maps, etc.--and all this orally--how much can be done that way, Diwanji? It is not that the eye is the only door of knowledge, the ear can do all the same. So they would have ideas and morality, and hope for better. Here our work ends. Let them do the rest. What would make the Sannyasins do this sacrifice, undertake such a task?--religious enthusiasm. Every new religious wave requires a new centre. The old religion can only be revivified by a new centre. Hang your dogmas or doctrines, they never pay. It is a character, a life, a centre, a God-man that must lead the way, that must be the centre round which all other elements will gather themselves and then fall like a tidal wave upon the society, carrying all before it, washing away all impurities. Again, a piece of wood can only easily be cut along the grain. So the old Hinduism can only be reformed through Hinduism, and not through the new-fangled reform movements. At the same time the reformers must be able to unite in themselves the culture of both the East and the West. Now do you not think that you have already seen the nucleus of such a great movement, that you have heard the low rumblings of the coming tidal wave? That centre, that God-man to lead was born in India. He was the great Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and round him this band is slowly gathering. They will do the work. Now, Diwanji Maharaj, this requires an organisation, money--a little at least to set the wheel in motion. Who would have given us money in India?--So, Diwanji Maharaj, I crossed over to America. You may remember I begged all the money from the poor, and the offers of the rich I would not accept because they could not understand my ideas. Now lecturing for a year in this country, I could not succeed at all (of course, I have no wants for myself) in my plan for raising some funds for setting up my work. First, this year is a very bad year in America; thousands of their poor are without work. Secondly, the missionaries and the Brahmo Samajists try to thwart all my views. Thirdly, a year has rolled by, and our countrymen could not even do so much for me as to say to the American people that I was a real Sannyasin and no cheat, and that I represented the Hindu religion. Even this much, the expenditure of a few words, they could not do! Bravo, my countrymen! I love them, Diwanji Saheb. Human help I spurn with my foot. He who has been with me through hills and dales, through deserts or forests, will be with me, I hope; if not, some heroic soul would arise some time or other in India, far abler than myself, and carry it out. So I have told you all about it. Diwanji, excuse my long letter, my noble friend, one of the few who really feel for me, have real kindness for me. You are at liberty, my friend, to think that I am a dreamer, a visionary; but believe at least that I am sincere to the backbone, and my greatest fault is that I love my country only too, too well. May you and yours be blessed ever and ever, my noble, noble friend. May the shadow of the Almighty ever rest on all those you love. I offer my eternal gratitude to you. My debt to you is immense, not only because you are my friend, but also because you have all your life served the Lord and your motherland so well._x000d_ Ever yours in gratitude,_x000d_ Vivekananda

You write of my dear friend, Vivekananda. I am glad of an oppor¬tunity to express my admiration of his character, and it makes me most indignant that any one should call him in question. He has given us in America higher ideas of life than we have ever had before. In Detroit, an old conservative city, in all the Clubs he is honoured as no one has ever been, and I only feel that all who say one word against him are jealous of his greatness and his fine spiritual percep¬tions; and yet how can they be? He does nothing to make them so.

He has been a revelation to Christians, . . . he has made possible for us all a diviner and more noble practical life. As a religious teacher and an example to all I do not know of his equal. It is so wrong and so untrue to say that he is intemperate. All who have been brought in contact with him day by day, speak enthusiastically of his staling qualities of character, and men in Detroit who judge most critically, and who are unsparing, admire and respect him. . . . He has been a guest in my house more than three weeks, and my sons as well as my son-in-law and my entire family found Swami Vivekananda a gentleman always, most courteous and polite, a charming companion and ever-welcome guest. I have invited him to visit us at my summer-home here at Annisquam, and in my family he will always be honoured and welcomed. I am really sorry for those who say aught against him, more than I am angry, for they know so little what they are talking about. He has been with Mr. and Mrs. Hale of Chicago much of the time while in that city. I think that has been his home. They invited him first as guest and later were unwilling to part with him. They are Presbyterians, . . . cultivated and refined people, and they admire, respect and love Vivekananda. He is a strong, noble human being, one who walks with God. He is as simple and trustful as a child. In Detroit I gave him an evening reception, inviting ladies and gentlemen, and two weeks afterwards he lectured to invited guests in my parlour. . . . I had included lawyers, judges, ministers, army offices, physicians, and businessman with their wives and daughters. Vivekananda talked two hours on "The Ancient Hindu Philosophers and What They Taught." All listened with intense interest to the end. Wherever he spoke, people listened gladly and said, "I never heard man speak like that." He does not antagonize, but lifts people up to a higher level-they see something beyond man-made creeds and denominational names, and they feel one with him in their religious beliefs.

Every human being would be made better by knowing him and living in the same house with him. . . . I want everyone in America to know Vivekananda, and if India has more such let her send them to us....

The above letter stands as clear evidence that Mrs. Bagley had by no means turned from the Swami, though the very fact that he thought she had, shows how despairing he was at this period of his American mission.

It is difficult to believe that Mrs. Bagley, who had been Swamiji's hostess in Detroit, was actually unsettled by the article in the Boston Daily Advertiser. She knew Swamiji well and only a few days after he had written the above letter to Professor Wright was to write one of her adamant letters in his defense-letters which have been quoted in chapter eight of volume one. She had earlier invited Swamiji to spend the summer in Annisquam, and, to judge from her letter of June 22, she had by no means rescinded the invitation. Her silence subsequent to sending the article to Swamiji was surely misconstrued by him, but the fact remained that, beleaguered on all sides, he thought that Mrs. Bagley had lost faith in him, and this must surely have hurt him deeply. (Nor would it be until late in July that he was persuaded by Mrs. Francis Breed that Mrs. Bagley's invitation of course held good and that he was "too sensitive." "I have written to Mrs. Bagley," he was to write to Mrs. Hale on July 23, and, presumably, Mrs. Bagley acknowledged his letter, for we know he was indeed to be her guest in August.)

OUR DUTY TO THE MASSES _x000d_ _x000d_ Shri Narayana bless you and yours. Through your Highness' kind help it has been possible for me to come to this country. Since then I have become well known here, and the hospitable people of this country have supplied all my wants. It is a wonderful country, and this is a wonderful nation in many respects. No other nation applies so much machinery in their everyday work as do the people of this country. Everything is machine. Then again, they are only one-twentieth of the whole population of the world. Yet they have fully one-sixth of all the wealth in the world. There is no limit to their wealth and luxuries. Yet everything here is so dear. The wages of labour are the highest in the world; yet the fight between labour and capital is constant._x000d_ Nowhere on earth have women so many privileges as in America. They are slowly taking everything into their hands; and, strange to say, the number of cultured women is much greater than that of cultured men. Of course, the higher geniuses are mostly from the ranks of males. With all the criticism of the Westerners against our caste, they have a worse one--that of money. The almighty dollar, as the Americans say, can do anything here._x000d_ No country on earth has so many laws, and in no country are they so little regarded. On the whole our poor Hindu people are infinitely more moral than any of the Westerners. In religion they practise here either hypocrisy or fanaticism. Sober-minded men have become disgusted with their superstitious religions and are looking forward to India for new light. Your Highness cannot realise without seeing how eagerly they take in any little bit of the grand thoughts of the holy Vedas, which resist and are unharmed by the terrible onslaughts of modern science. The theories of creation out of nothing, of a created soul, and of the big tyrant of a God sitting on a throne in a place called heaven, and of the eternal hell-fires have disgusted all the educated; and the noble thoughts of the Vedas about the eternity of creation and of the soul, and about the God in our own soul, they are imbibing fast in one shape or other. Within fifty years the educated of the world will come to believe in the eternity of both soul and creation, and in God as our highest and perfect nature, as taught in our holy Vedas. Even now their learned priests are interpreting the Bible in that way. My conclusion is that they require more spiritual civilisation, and we, more material._x000d_ The one thing that is at the root of all evils in India is the condition of the poor. The poor in the West are devils; compared to them ours are angels, and it is therefore so much the easier to raise our poor. The only service to be done for our lower classes is to give them education, to develop their lost individuality. That is the great task between our people and princes. Up to now nothing has been done in that direction. Priest-power and foreign conquest have trodden them down for centuries, and at last the poor of India have forgotten that they are human beings. They are to be given ideas; their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them; and then they will work out their own salvation. Every nation, every man, and every woman must work out their own salvation. Give them ideas--that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as the effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the crystallisation comes in the law of nature. Our duty is to put ideas into their heads, they will do the rest. This is what is to be done in India. It is this idea that has been in my mind for a long time. I could not accomplish it in India, and that was the reason of my coming to this country. The great difficulty in the way of educating the poor is this. Supposing even your Highness opens a free school in every village, still it would do no good, for the poverty in India is such, that the poor boys would rather go to help their fathers in the fields, or otherwise try to make a living, than come to the school. Now if the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him. There are thousands of single-minded, self-sacrificing Sannyasins in our own country, going from village to village, teaching religion. If some of them can be organised as teachers of secular things also, they will go from place to place, from door to door, not only preaching, but teaching also. Suppose two of these men go to a village in the evening with a camera, a globe, some maps, etc. They can teach a great deal of astronomy and geography to the ignorant. By telling stories about different nations, they can give the poor a hundred times more information through the ear than they can get in a lifetime through books. This requires an organisation, which again means money. Men enough there are in India to work out this plan, but alas! They have no money. It is very difficult to set a wheel in motion; but when once set, it goes on with increasing velocity. After seeking help in my own country and failing to get any sympathy from the rich, I came over to this country through your Highness' aid. The Americans do not care a bit whether the poor of India die or live. And why should they, when our own people never think of anything but their own selfish ends?_x000d_ My noble Prince, this life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. One such high, noble-minded, and royal son of India as your Highness can do much towards raising India on her feet again and thus leave a name to posterity which shall be worshipped._x000d_ _x000d_ That the Lord may make your noble heart feel intensely for the suffering millions of India, sunk in ignorance, is the prayer of--_x000d_ Vivekananda.

CHICAGO_x000d_ 23rd June 1894_x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Sir, _x000d_ _x000d_ Your kindness to me makes me venture to take a little advantage of it. Mrs. Potter Palmer is the chief lady of the United States. She was the lady President of the World's Fair. She is much interested in raising the women of the world and is at the head of a big organization for women. She is a particular friend_x000d_ of Lady Dufferin and has been entertained by the Royalties of Europe on account of her wealth and position. She has been very kind to me in this country. Now she is going to make a tour in China, Japan, Siam and India. Of course she will be entertained by the Governors and other high people in India. But she is particularly anxious to see our society apart from English official aid. I have on many occasions told her about your noble efforts in raising the Indian women, of your wonderful College in Mysore. I think it is our duty to show a little hospitality to such personages from America in return for their kindness to our countrymen who came here. I hope she will find a warm reception at your hands and be helped to see a little of our women as they are. And I assure you she is no missionary, nor Christian even as to that. She wants to work apart from all religions to ameliorate the conditions of women all over the world. This would also be helping me a great deal_x000d_ in this country. May the Lord bless you! _x000d_ _x000d_ Yours for ever and ever,_x000d_ Affectionately

Dear Sisters, _x000d_ _x000d_ The great Hindi poet, Tulasidasa, in his benediction to his translation of the Ramayana says, "I bow down to both the wicked and holy; but alas! for me, they are both equally tortures -- the wicked begin to torture me as soon as they come in contact with me -- the good, alas! take my life away when they leave me." I say amen to this. To me, for whom the only pleasure and love left in the world is to love the holy ones of God, it is a mortal torture to separate myself from them._x000d_ _x000d_ But these things must come. Thou Music of my beloved's flute, lead on, I am following. It is impossible to express my pain, my anguish at being separated from you, noble and sweet and generous and holy ones. Oh! how I wish I had succeeded in become a Stoic! Hope You are enjoying the beautiful village scenery. "Where the world is awake, there the man of self-control is sleeping. Where the world sleeps, there he is waking." May even the dust of the world never touch you, for, after all the poets may say, it is only a piece of carrion covered over with garlands. Touch it not -- if you can. Come up, young one of the bird of Paradise, before your feet touch the cesspool of corruption, this world, and fly upwards._x000d_ _x000d_ "Oh those that are awake do not go to sleep again."_x000d_ _x000d_ "Let the world love its many, we have but one Beloved -- the Lord. We are not what they say; we are only afraid when they want to paint our Beloved and give Him all sorts of monstrous qualities. Let them do whatever they please -- for us. He is only the beloved -- my love, my love, my love, and nothing more."_x000d_ _x000d_ "Who cares to know how much power, how much quality He has -- even that of doing good! We will say once for all: We love not for the long purse, we never sell our love, we want not, we give." _x000d_ _x000d_ "You, philosopher, come to tell us of His essence, His powers, His attributes -- fool! We are here dying for a kiss of His lips."_x000d_ _x000d_ "Take your nonsense back to your own home and send me a kiss of my Love -- can you?"_x000d_ _x000d_ "Fool! Whom art thou bending by tottering knees before, in awe and fear? I took my necklace and put it round His neck; and, tying a string to it as a collar, I am dragging Him along with me, for fear. He may fly away even for a moment -- that necklace was the collar of love, that string the ecstasy of love. Fool! You know not the secret -- the Infinite. One comes within my first under the bondage of love." "Knowest thou not that the Lord of the Universe is the bond slave of love?" "Knowest thou not that the Mover of the Universe used to dance to the music of the ringing bracelets of the shepherdesses of Vrindaban?"_x000d_ _x000d_ Excuse my mad scribbling, excuse my foolery in trying to express in the inexpressible. It is to be felt only._x000d_ _x000d_ Ever with blessings, your brother,_x000d_ VIVEKANANDA

But the month of June, which Swamiji spent in Chicago, was a dark one for him. Even "Mother Church" and "Father Pope" were away at a health resort, and the four girls left town toward the end of the month. Yet in spite of all, on June 26 he wrote to the "sisters" what is perhaps one of the most beautiful of all his letters. It has been published, but the original, which Isabelle McKindley saved along with those addressed to her alone, differs in some respects from the published version. Inasmuch as this letter was undoubtedly written in a mood of spiritual ecstasy, I think the reader might like to see it exactly as Swamiji wrote it. It is, moreover, indispensable to our narrative, for it shows the deeper state of his mind during this period of tribulation.

541 Dearborn Ave._x000d_ Chicago_x000d_ 28 June, 1894_x000d_ Dear__ {a Madras disciple},_x000d_ The other day I received a letter from G. G., Mysore. G. G. unfortunately thinks that I am all-knowing, else he would have written his Canarese address on the top of the letter more legibly. Then again it is a great mistake to address me letters to any other place but Chicago. It was my mistake of course at first, because I ought to have thought of the fine Buddhi (intellect) of our friends who are throwing letters at me anywhere they find an address at the top. But tell our Madras Brihaspatis (i.e. wise fellows) that they already knew full well that before their letters reach, I may be 1000 miles away from that particular place, for I am continuously travelling. In Chicago there is a friend whose house is my headquarters.

Now as to my prospects here--it is well-nigh zero. Why, because although I had the best purpose, it has been made null and void by these causes. All that I get about India is from Madras letters. Your letters say again and again how I am being praised in India. But that is between you and me, for I never saw a single Indian paper writing about me, except the three square inches sent to me by Alasinga. On the other hand, everything that is said by Christians in India is sedulously gathered by the missionaries and regularly published, and they go from door to door to make my friends give me up. They have succeeded only too well, for there is not one word for me from India. Indian Hindu papers may laud me to the skies, but not a word of that ever came to America, so that many people in this country think me a fraud. In the face of the missionaries and with the jealousy of the Hindus here to back them, I have not a word to say.

I now think it was foolish of me to go to the Parliament on the strength of the urging of the Madras boys. They are boys after all. Of course, I am eternally obliged to them, but they are after all enthusiastic young men without any executive abilities. I came here without credentials. How else to show that I am not a fraud in the face of the missionaries and the Brahmo Samaj? Now I thought nothing so easy as to spend a few words; I thought nothing would be so easy as to hold a meeting of some respectable persons in Madras and Calcutta and pass a resolution thanking me and the American people for being kind to me and sending it over officially, i.e. through the Secretary of the function, to America, for instance, sending one to Dr. Barrows and asking him to publish it in the papers and so on, to different papers of Boston, New York, and Chicago. Now after all, I found that it is too terrible a task for India to undertake. There has not been one voice for me in one year and every one against me, for whatever you may say of me in your homes, who knows anything of it here? More than two months ago I wrote to Alasinga about this. He did not even answer my letter. I am afraid his heart has grown lukewarm. So you must first think of that and then show this letter to the Madras people. On the other hand, my brethren foolishly talk nonsense about Keshab Sen; and the Madrasis, telling the Theosophists anything I write about them, are creating only enemies. . . . Oh! If only I had one man of some true abilities and brains to back me in India! But His will be done. I stand a fraud in this country. It was my foolishness to go to the Parliament without any credentials, hoping that there would be many for me. I have got to work it out slowly.

On the whole, the Americans are a million times nobler than the Hindus, and I can work more good here than in the country of the ingrate and the heartless. After all, I must work my Karma out. So far as pecuniary circumstances go I am all right and will be all right. The number of Theosophists in all America is only 625 by the last census. Mixing up with them will smash me in a minute rather than help me in any way. What nonsense does Alasinga mean by my going to London to see Mr. Old etc. Fool! The boys there don't know what they are talking. And this pack of Madras babies cannot even keep a counsel in their blessed noodles! Talk nonsense all day, and when it comes to the least business, they are nowhere! Boobies, who cannot get up a few meetings of 50 men each and send up a few empty words only to help me, talk big about influencing the world. I have written to you about the phonograph. Now there is here an electric fan costing $20 and working beautifully. The battery works 100 hours and then can be replenished at any electric plant. Good-bye, I have had enough of the Hindus. Now His will be done, I obey and bow down to my Karma. However, do not think me ungrateful. . . . The Madras people have done for me more than I deserved and more than was in their power. It was my foolishness--the forgetting for a moment that we Hindus have not yet become human beings and giving up for a moment my self-reliance and relying upon the Hindus--that I came to grief. Every moment I expected something from India. No, it never came. Last two months especially I was in torture at every moment. No, not even a newspaper from India! My friends waited--waited month after month; nothing came, not a voice. Many consequently grew cold and at last gave me up. But it is the punishment for relying upon man and upon brutes, for our countrymen are not men as yet. They are ready to be praised, but when their turn comes even to say a word, they are nowhere.

My thanks eternal to the Madras young men. May the Lord bless them for ever. America is the best field in the world to carry on my idea; so I do not think of leaving America soon. And why? Here I have food and drink and clothes, and everybody so kind, and all this for a few good words! Why should I give up such a noble nation to go to the land of brutes and ingrates and the brainless boobies held in eternal thraldom of superstitious, merciless, pitiless wretches? So good-bye again. You may show this letter to the people with discretion, even Alasinga upon whom I built so much. By the by, will you kindly send up a few copies of the sketch of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's life written by Mazumdar to Chicago? They have lots in Calcutta. Don't forget the address 541 Dearborn Avenue (not Street), Chicago, or c/o Thomas Cook, Chicago. Any other address would cause much delay and confusion, as I am continually travelling, and Chicago is my headquarters, although even this much did not come to the brains of our Madras friends. Kindly give G. G., Alasinga, Secretary, and all others my eternal blessings. I am always praying for their welfare, and I am not in the least displeased with them, but I am not pleased with myself. I committed a terrible error--of calculating upon others' help--once in my life--and I have paid for it. It was my fault and not theirs. Lord bless all the Madras people. They are at least far superior to the Bengalis, who are simply fools and have no souls, no stamina at all. Good-bye, good-bye. I have launched my boat in the waves, come what may. Regarding my brutal criticisms, I have really no right to make them. You have done for me infinitely more than I deserve. I must bear my own Karma, and that without a murmur. Lord bless you all._x000d_ Yours truly,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ PS. I am afraid Alasinga's college has closed, but I have no intimation of it, and he never gave me his home address. Kidi has dropped out, I am afraid.

Actual letter in ' on east cost'

To Mrs. Ole Bull_x000d_ New York_x000d_ The 28th May '95_x000d_ Dear Mother,_x000d_ Your last kind letter to hand. This week will be the last of my classes. I am going next Tuesday with Mr. Leggett to Maine. He has a fine lake and a forest there. I will be two or three weeks there. Thence I go to the Thousand Islands. Also I have an invitation to speak at a parliament of religions at Toronto, Canada, on July 18th. I will go there from Thousand Islands and return back._x000d_ So far everything is going on well with me._x000d_ Ever your grateful son,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ P.S. My regards and love to your daughter and pray for her speedy recovery._x000d_ V.

To Dr. Paul Carus_x000d_ 19 W. 38th St.,_x000d_ New York_x000d_ June [May] 28, '95_x000d_ Dr. Paul Carus, La Salle, Ill._x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Sir,_x000d_ I am just now in receipt of your letter and will be very happy to join the religions Congress at Toronto. Only, as you are well aware of, the financial means of a "Bhikshu" are very limited. I will be only too glad to do anything in my power to help you and wait further particulars and directions._x000d_ Hoping to hear from you soon and thanking you very much for your great sympathy with Buddhistic India._x000d_ I remain ever fraternally your,_x000d_ Vivekananda