19 West 38th Street_x000d_ New York, August, 1895_x000d_ Beloved Rakhal,_x000d_ . . . I am now in New York City. The city is hot in summer, exactly like Calcutta. You perspire profusely, and there is not a breath of air. I made a tour in the north for a couple of months. Please answer this letter by return of post to England, for which I shall start before this will have reached you._x000d_ Yours affectionately,_x000d_ Vivekananda

U.S.A._x000d_ August, 1895_x000d_ {to Alasinga}_x000d_ By the time this reaches you, dear Alasinga, I shall be in Paris. . . . I have done a good deal of work this year and hope to do a good deal more in the next. Don't bother about the missionaries. It is quite natural that they should cry. Who does not when his bread is dwindling away? The missionary funds have got a big gap the last two years, and it is on the increase. However, I wish the missionaries all success. So long as you have love for God and Guru and faith in truth, nothing can hurt you, my son. But the loss of any of these is dangerous. You have remarked well; my ideas are going to work in the West better than in India. . . . I have done more for India than India ever did for me. . . . I believe in truth, the Lord sends me workers by the scores wherever I go--and they are not like the . . . disciples either--they are ready to give up their lives for their Guru. Truth is my God, the universe my country. I do not believe in duty. Duty is the curse of the Samsari (householder), not for the Sannyasin. Duty is humbug. I am free, my bonds are cut; what care I where this body goes or does not go? You have helped me well right along. The Lord will reward you. I sought praise neither from India nor from America, nor do I seek such bubbles. I have a truth to teach, I, the child of God. And He that gave me the truth will send me fellow workers from the earth's bravest and best. You Hindus will see in a few years what the Lord does in the West. You are like the Jews of old--dogs in the manger, who neither eat nor allow others to eat. You have no religion, your God is the kitchen, your Bible the cooking pots. . . . You are a few brave lads. . . . Hold on, boys, no cowards among my children. . . . Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show. I could have told you many things that would have made your heart leap, but I will not. I want iron wills and hearts that do not know how to quake. Hold on. The Lord bless you._x000d_ Ever yours with blessings,_x000d_ Vivekananda

Swamiji's references to "the meetings" was no doubt to his New York class, which had been going on in his absence. "[The members] have carried it bravely on, although I was not there, he had written to Betty Sturges from Thousand Island Park. Unfortunately, we have at, present no way of knowing where Swamiji now held these evening classes, who attended them, or what he said. Very probably, however, he held them at the home of Miss Mary A. Phillips at 19 West Thirty-Eighth Street, near Fifth Avenue, where he was then staying.

Miss Phillips had been one of his first friends in New York. In May 1894. He had given his second New York lecture in her parlor and through her had met many people who had subsequently become interested in his work. As we have seen in an earlier chapter, she was the first secretary of the New York Vedanta Society, which Swamiji had founded in November of 1894. In the Life, Miss Mary Phillips is spoken of as "a lady prominent in many circles in women's charitable and intellectual work in the metropolis."4 To this we can add that she was a member of an old and distinguished New England and New York family which traced its ancestry back to Colonial times.5 Motherly and large-hearted, Miss Phillips seems at the same time to have been something of a grande dame with the spirit to defend what she felt to be right in the face of all opposition. In the teachings of Vedanta she saw a "foundational faith," as she would later say to a newspaper reporter, through the study of which "we may better under¬stand the religion of Jesus of Nazareth." Once wealthy, she had tended to give away her inherited fortune;6thus it happened that at the time of our story (when she was fifty¬ one) she had found it necessary to take in boarders. This being the case, it was almost certainly at her home, and very probably in this August of 1895, that the famous sculptress Malvina Hoffman saw Swamiji when she was a little girl. Of that unforgettable evening Miss Hoffman wrote in later years :

One of my vivid memories of childhood [is] an exciting evening spent with a relative of my father's who lived in a modest boarding-house in West Thirty-eighth Street. In the midst of this group of old-fashioned city boarders was introduced suddenly a newcomer-the oriental philosopher and teacher, Swami Vivekananda. When he entered the dining room there was a hush. His dark, bronzed countenance and hands were in sharp contrast to the voluminous, light folds of his turban and robe._x000d_ His dark eyes hardly glanced up to notice his neighbors, but there was a sense of tranquility and power about him that made an imperishable impression upon me. He seemed to personify the mystery and religious "aloofness" of all true teachers of Brahma, and combined with this a kindly and gentle attitude of simplicity towards his fellow men.

The fact that Miss Phillips took in boarders had, of course, nothing to do with Swamiji's visit with her; from the beginning of 1895 he had made her home his New York headquarters, receiving his mail there and coming and going as he pleased, even as he did at the Hales' house in Chicago. Indeed, a large bundle, redirected from the Hales, may have been awaiting him at Miss Phillips's when he arrived from Thousand Island Park. It was full of shawls, brocades, and knickknacks that he had asked the Maharaja of Khetri to send to him from India.

Ever since May, Swamiji had been mentioning the coming of this package in his letters to Mrs. Hale. His letter to her of May 16, which contains his first known reference to the ship¬ment, has been given in full in the previous chapter, but the passage will bear repeating here: "I expect a big package from Khetri. . . . [It] will not arrive soon so kindly make arrange¬ments that it will be received during your absence if you go away. They [the various articles] will have to be paid a heavy duty for I am afraid."8

Throughout July Swamiji corresponded with Mrs. Hale about this shipment, for it was she who, like a mother, attended to such matters for him. Nor were such matters simple; even at Thousand Island Park, anxious that his gifts for his friends arrive safely in America, he was troubled with the complica¬tions of duty, bills of Iading, receipts, and the like.

(Letter 1)_x000d_ 2nd July_x000d_ c/o Miss Dutcher's _x000d_ Thousand Island park _x000d_ N.Y._x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Mother_x000d_ _x000d_ You did not write to me a single line for a long time. Neither did Sister Mary write about the duty paid on the rugs [from the Dewan of Junagadh]. I am afraid the rugs are small. _x000d_ Here is another consignment from Raja Ajit Sing [the Maharaja of Khetri] consisting of carpets shawls &c &c for which the bill of laiding [sic] you sent me the other day. This consignment has no duty to pay because it was all prepaid in India and the bill of laiding says so ex¬pressly. I will send you the bill of laiding & the receipt for the duty. Kindly take one more trouble for me and get it out of the express company. And keep it with you till I come. The goods have arrived in New York and I had a notice of that. They are on their way to Chicago._x000d_ In two or 3 days' I will send the bill of lading & the receipt for duty paid to you. I foolishly asked Miss Phillips as soon as I got the Companies' notice to get them out before I got the bill of lading. Now the bill of lading shows that it is bound for Chicago. So I am bound to give you this trouble. I am so sorry. Again with my usual business instincts-I forgot to note down the name of the express company. So I have written to New York for the letters of the Company. As soon as that comes I will send over to you._x000d_ _x000d_ I am going to Europe by the End of August or a little later._x000d_ _x000d_ I will come to see you by the End of August._x000d_ Lord bless you and yours for ever & ever_x000d_ Your Ever aff Son_x000d_ Vivekananda

(Letter 2)_x000d_ July 3 [?], 1895 _x000d_ Thousand Island Park , N.Y._x000d_ c/o Miss Dutcher _x000d_ Dear Mother_x000d_ Herewith I send you the bill of lading and the inventory of the goods sent from India. The duty as you will find has been prepaid so there is no botheration on that score. The goods have reached Hull [England; not New York as Swamiji had thought]. They will be here by the middle of this month. And if you see a letter with the Morris American express co. name on the envelope tear it open and need not forward it to me for that will be the notice of arrival to Chicago. I am sure Dewanji's carpets were too small but why do not you write to me about the duty if you had to pay it? I insist upon paying it myself. The raja's things seem to come very quick. I am so glad too I will have something to present to Mrs. Bagley Mrs. Bull &c_x000d_ _x000d_ Enclosed in the above was the following:_x000d_ _x000d_ _x000d_ _x000d_ 541. _x000d_ Dearborn Ave Chicago. _x000d_ To the Morris Express Co¬_x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Sir_x000d_ _x000d_ Please permit Mrs. G. W. Hale of 541 Dearborn Ave Chicago to act for me about the goods sent to me from India and receive the same._x000d_ _x000d_ I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant _x000d_ Swami Vivekananda

In addition to the Dewan's rugs and the Maharaja's package, there was something else coming from India, of which Swamiji wrote to Mrs. Hale on July 27:_x000d_ (Letter 3)_x000d_ Thousand island park c/o Miss Dutcher_x000d_ N.Y. 2'7th July'95_x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Mother-I will be ever so much obliged if you kindly look into the "bead" affair. I think there will be a little duty to pay. I will pay it to you when I come._x000d_ _x000d_ I start from here next week. I will be in Detroit a day or two on my way. I will be in by the third or fourth of August._x000d_ With Everlasting love your Son_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ _x000d_ Enclosed in the above. Was the following :_x000d_ _x000d_ 27th July'95_x000d_ To the United States Express Company foreign department._x000d_ _x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Sir_x000d_ _x000d_ Herewith I authorize Mrs. George W. Hale to take delivery of the "beads" that has been expressed to me from India. Hoping they will be regularly delivered to her I remain yrs obly_x000d_ Swami Vivekananda_x000d_ _x000d_ (The "beads" must have been a number of japa malas (rosaries) that Swamiji wished to give to his Western disciples.)

A few days later Swamiji wrote to Mrs. Hale of the death of his friend Haridas Viharidas Desai-the Dewan who had sent the rugs. In chapter two (pages 167-68) we have quoted his sorrowing paragraph about his friend. Following is the remainder of that letter, which was postmarked July 30:_x000d_ (Letter 4):_x000d_ c/o Miss Dutcher Thousand island Park_x000d_ 3oth August [July) '95_x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Mother _x000d_ _x000d_ I was starting for Chicago Thursday next (August 1) but your letter stopped me. The letter & the package have safely arrived._x000d_ _x000d_ Write to me or wire if you want me to come to Chicago. I will then start for Chicago next week i.e on Tuesday next (August 6). I thought Sister Mary was at home. When are the other babies [Harriet Hale and Isabelle and Harriet McKindley] coming? My going to Europe is not yet settled finally. The babies have not written me a line not one of them._x000d_ [Here Swamiji wrote of the Dewan.]_x000d_ P.S. We will think of the coming package [from the Maharaja of Khetri] in Chicago. How long will you be in Chicago more? If it is only a week or so I need not come. I will meet you at Newyork. If more than that I come to see you _x000d_ _x000d_ Yrs V.

How this duty charge was straightened out we do not know, but in the long run, the package came into Swamiji's hands. If it was not waiting for him at Miss Phillips's when he arrived in New York, it must have come in a day or two, and it must have been enormous, for besides shawls, brocades, and knick¬knacks, it contained two large and heavy oriental rugs. One of these was a gift for Dr. and Mrs. Egbert Guernsey and the other a wedding gift for Francis Leggett. Of the latter, Mr. Leggett wrote to his betrothed, who, with her sister, had gone on to Paris to buy a trousseau;

Swami made me another call yesterday at 7.30 a.m.; this is his unconventional hour of visiting me of late. A porter accompanied him hugging a very heavy rug from a prince of India. I have it spread over my drawing room floor and it looks very well. It is quite thick and heavy and of harmonious coloring and marked with conventional flowers. This was one of two sent to him from India, the other found its way to Guernseys. The gift and presenta¬tion were truly oriental._x000d_ (For many years this large rug, approximately 8. by 11 feet, was used at Ridgely Manor, where Swamiji no doubt walked on it. Years later, it was given by Mrs. Frances Leggett [daughter of Francis and Besse Leggett] to the Ramakrishna ¬Vivekananda Center of New York.)

As for the shawls, how many there were we do not know. We do know, however, that one went to Mrs. Bull, one to Bagley, and one to Miss Phillips. The last, "a beautiful Mrs, cashmere shawl, embroidered in a wide band of gold thread ", is today in the possession of her grandniece, who so described it. Of the brocades and knickknacks, there is no indication in any letter what exactly they were or to whom Swamiji gave them; nor has the bill of lading and inventory come to light. But whatever treasures the bundle contained, how happily and lovingly Swamiji must have presented them to those who had befriended him in America, and how touched those persons must have been to receive his gifts!

My dear Swami Vivekananda_x000d_ The box containing the beautiful shawl came this morning. Thank you for the very kind and thoughtful remembrance. I shall wear it with pleasure and it will not only "carry with it a thought of India" but I shall always feel that in it is folded your blessings. We all unite in wishing you a pleasant journey to England but with it the hope that you will come back again to America to Detroit and to us. When you come to Detroit we shall be glad to have you make our house your home, and go from here as occasion demands, on your visits to friends. If you have the time write from England giving me your address there. We are always glad to hear from you and if it should happen that you go to India, before coming here again, do write us from there, and let us know where we can reach you by letter._x000d_ Can you not induce more of the learned men of India to come to this country and teach us the higher truths of our own and other religions? We need this ancient and true revelation of God's word to quicken and make alive His spirit in us. I am sure your own mother would be glad to know that her son had done so much good in this faraway country. I should be very glad to send to her cordial and kindly greetings._x000d_ (Those last two sentences must have touched Swamiji deeply, for his mother, he always felt, had been a sacrifice to his mission. Her opinion alone he cared about.)

Swamiji's decision to go to England after attending his friends' wedding was in response to an invitation he had received from a Mr. Edward T. Sturdy, of whom we shall hear a great deal more in the following chapter. "Since leaving Percy," he had written to Francis Leggett on July 7 from Thousand Island Park, "I had invitations to come over to London from unexpected quarters, and that I look forward to with great expectations. I do not want to lose this opportunity of working in London. And so your invitation, coupled with the London one, is, I know a divine call for further work.That this London invitation was from Mr. Sturdy alone is confirmed by a letter Swamiji wrote around the same time to Mrs. Bull, the following passage of which is taken from the original undated letter:* "Now here is another letter from the same Mr. Hardy [Sturdy].** I send over it to you. See how things are being prepared ahead. Do you think this coupled with Leggett's invitation is a divine call? I think so and I am following. I am going by the end of August with Leggett & then go to London and try to work in both these countries._x000d_ * A portion of this letter to Mrs. Bull has been published in the Complete Works (5: 93), where it is given the date August, 1895. The original letter (Sen Col.), written from Thousand Island Park, was fairly long and bears no date._x000d_ ** Mr. Sturdy had written to Swamiji earlier in the year (see Complete Works 6: 307).

It would appear that on hearing of Swamiji's opportunity to visit London, Mr. Leggett magnanimously offered to pay his passage to England direct, releasing him from his agreement to attend the Paris wedding. Swamiji would hear none of it. His heretofore unpublished reply from Thousand Island Park read in full:_x000d_ Dear friend, _x000d_ _x000d_ I received your note duly. Very kind of you and noble to ask me to have my own way to London. Many thanks for that. But I am in no hurry for London and moreover I want to see you married in Paris and then I go over to London._x000d_ _x000d_ I will be ready father Leggett at hand and in time never fear._x000d_ Yours affly ever,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_  _x000d_ Afraid that Mr. Leggett did not receive the above note, as "it was not posted carefully," Swamiji wrote another, dated July 31, again protesting that his "principal object in going with you is to see you married. When you go away for a trip, I go to London. That is all.

Although Swamiji was of course well aware of the English prejudice against the Hindu, he does not seem to have had the least hesitation in extending his Western work to London. One of his friends, however, felt there was reason to fear for his reception; the slander so abundantly heaped upon him by his Christian enemies in America had, Mrs. Bull knew, drifted across the Atlantic Ocean. In a manner characteristic of all Swamiji's staunch and devoted friends, she took up her pen and did what she could to protect him. The following letter was to Lady Henry Somerset, who had met Swamiji in Mrs. Bull's Cambridge home in December of 1894, and who, it so happened, had recently been re-elected president of the British Women's Temperance Union. Mrs. Bull's letter is given here in full, for it gives not only an idea of Mrs. Bull herself, but an indication of the incessant and niggling criticism Swamiji encountered in America from those who tried to discredit him in every possible way:

As far as is known, Lady Somerset did not report unfavorable estimates of Swamiji in England. Nor did Swamiji change his ways. He went his own way. To the dismay at times of his well wishing, protective friends, he said what he wanted to say; did what he wanted to do. The possibility of making a false step was no longer a part of him-if ever it had been. How were Christian ministers and missionaries, and the good ladies of the nineteenth century to understand the roaring fire that was Swamiji? For the most part, they could not; but he did not for that reason, or for any other, stops blazing. Nor did he ever defend himself: first, he was a sannyasin; more significantly, the power behind him, as he was to say, "Is not Vivekananda but He the Lord.

It was not only in America that Swamiji was assailed by critics of all kinds, but in India as well. The Christian missionaries, among others, did their utmost to undermine his reputation and his teachings, trying everything from petty and carping criticism to calumnious accusations. He gave the matter his attention only to enhearten his Indian disciples sometimes with ridicule and scolding. "Why do you behave like babies," he had written to Alasinga from Thousand Island Park.

If anybody attacks your religion why cannot you defend it and give the devil his dues? . . . Cowardice is not virtue. . . . I have friends who will back me here and help me in India too. So you need not fear. Only so long as you only shriek at the missionary attempts and jump without being able to do anything, I laugh at you. You are little dollies, that are what you are. Oh! Swami, missionary bites me, Oh, oh, ho, ho!! ! ! What can Swami do for old babies!! . . . `This Atman is, not to be reached by cowards.' You need not be afraid for me. The Lord is with me; you defend yourselves only, and show me you can do that, and I will be satisfied. And don't bother me any more with what any fool says about me. I am not waiting to hear any fool's judgments of me. You babies, great results are attained only by great patience, great courage, and great attempts.

Swamiji's American friends, those who had helped him, were well satisfied that their trust in him had not been misplaced; about this he had cared deeply; beyond this, he cared nothing for praise or blame. "I sought praise neither from India nor from America," he wrote to Alasinga shortly before leaving America for Paris; "nor do I seek such bubbles. I have a truth to teach, I, the child of God. And He that gave me the truth will send me fellow workers from the earth's bravest and best. You Hindus will see in a few years what the Lord does in the West.

August 22nd 1895_x000d_ _x000d_ My dear Lady Henry_x000d_ _x000d_ I am going to ask a personal favor of you. The Swami Vivekananda has gone to England. Before he went he received as he told me written word that you had spoken to an acquaintance of his in London of your disappointment in him as drinking champagne in your presence at dinner. I told him this was impossible, because he had eaten with you only at my and your table, but that you had spoken of that as being his reputation, was quite possible. Since you were with us in December, it has come in my way to know him and his work intimately. The discussion and attacks likely to follow his Talk on the Ideals of Indian Womanhood at our house came about in Brooklyn, N.Y. He gave it again in a course of seven lectures before the Ethical Ass. To large audiences and the Ramabai people attacked his utterances in print. His side was fully sustained; but both sides are to my mind in the right, and should be harmonized in the spirit of Max Muller. The estimate against Vivek-ananda has been serious because of remarks repeated from Mozoomdar, Lyman Abbot and Prof Estlin Car¬penter, remarks that have come directly to me, and from others as well as these. The fact that V. has smoked for years & has at luncheons and dinners a few times tasted wine (not with men alone) with the impulsive, combative nature of the man-in large part his own fault as I tell him*-and in part the prejudice of creed and custom against any oriental not a converted Christian, have contributed to this prejudice which had reached me before I knew him. Clergymen both smokers and drinkers have spoken to me most sharply of him. The most serious scandals unreservedly repeated in Brooklyn by the Ramabai people were met and turned to his credit, as the friends quoted against him wrote that his presence had been a benediction to old and young of their house-holds. His training under a holy and revered teacher makes him in philosophy and religion, the spiritual side of his nature, an inspiring and, to my mind, a safe guide. His purity of thought and life have been felt and given me unsought by the men of the families with whom he has lived-physicians & men of the world who know him intimately and love him. His caste was not the Brahmin but the military Kshatriya. His faults are on the surface and those of a noble not a mean nature. He has a large influence at home-India. His life and work here among us are fitting him for his return to India, and I feel that it is important that he should understand our best and not think that philanthropists and Christians will stab The heathen collectively and individually wherever opportunity offers. Theosophists in general are opposed to him because he has no interest in the occult, but deals with philosophy pure and simple. I wrote to Mazoomdar and his letter in reply affirms his reverence for the master of Vivekananda-Ram Krishna-and his personal regard and best wishes for Vivekananda himself, and says that the opposition to V. credited to him in India and this country are unfounded._x000d_ _x000d_ Had a son of my own met the difficulties that this man has met as nobly and ably I would be proud. He is very like my husband in temperament and seems providentially to me to have been brought within my knowledge both as regards his home status and his associations in this country. I care for the Vedanta Philosophy and have studied it for practical help for the last nine years. This has helped to make him feel at home with me. His work as a teacher among agnostics, atheists & working people, among different creeds-Methodists, Presbyterians and Students of Ethics will be of paramount value and gives what our Harvard Professors do not give, a living reality to God and the Soul. The essentials of his order, Chastity and poverty, his single purpose in life in these respects, are established to my own satisfaction; and instances of practical help to there as an outcome thereof. Therefore, I ask you dear Lady Henry, in reporting the unfavorable estimate of him to add also the fact that he has made for himself many friends here whose homes and hearts are open to him and his ideals. So far, I have not been able to come upon a single exception to the contrary among the men and women who have known him intimately._x000d_ _x000d_ I count myself in sympathy with the work of Ramabai and Mozoomdar. But I recognize that for India her great reformers like Ram Mohan Roy and of later date, with the efforts to uplift and educate women have been first and foremost as well among the native religions of that country, whose old Philosophy and wisdom are helping us today in our need. As I would regret to be counted other than a Christian so I would regret to have their best workers come out of their own Vedanta to the same truth in the New Testament, as I believe they can best serve their people without doing so._x000d_ Believe me dear Lady Henry, _x000d_ Ever sincerely with affectionate regards_x000d_ Sara C. Bull

The Prophet had found his field of work. Throughout much of 1894, as has been said in the Prologue, Swamiji had often thought of returning to India; he now had no intention of leaving the West until the truth he had to teach had taken deep root in the consciousness of the Western people. From India his brother disciples, his disciples, and his friends urged him to return; his reply was-not yet. "As to my coming to India," he wrote to the Raja of Khetri on July 9, 1895, "the matter stands thus. I am, as your Highness well knows, a man of dogged perseverance. I have planted a seed in this country; it is already a plant, and I expect it to be a tree very soon. . . . The more the Christian priests oppose me, the more I am determined to leave a permanent mark on their country. . . . They every day find me a hard bit to crush with all their wiles. . . . This winter anyway has to be spent partly in London and partly in New York, and then I shall be free to go to India.

It was not that Swamiji had the Western people alone at heart; it was, rather, that as time went on (to judge from his letters) he came more and more to feel that his hope for all mankind lay in the West. In a letter of August 9 to Mr. Sturdy he wrote, "I love India no doubt, but my visions are being cleared every day. My brother, what is India or England or America to us? We are the servants of that God who by the ignorant is called man. He who pours water at the root, waters the whole tree.

"There is only one basis of well-being socially, politically, or spiritually, to know that I and my brother are one, and this is true for all countries and all people. And let me tell you that the westerners will realize the idea quicker than the Hindus, who have exhausted themselves almost in formulating the ideas and bringing out a few cases of individual realization. My hope is in the West.

One recalls in this connection a letter Swamiji had written to Sturdy in April of the same year. "One Western man or woman awakened," he wrote, "is equal to a thousand Hindus as the Hindu is only a spent up inert bundle of nonsense. So the West is the field of work if one wants to benefit humanity and not his particular sect or country.

As is clear from many others of Swamiji's writings and con¬versations, he by no means meant that the West would become the spiritual leader of the world. His position is perhaps most clearly stated in a talk that was to take place in 1899 in India with a disciple, Priya Nath Sinha. When Mr. Sinha asked him if he was going to deliver many lectures in India, Swamiji replied:_x000d_ . . . Lectures won't do any good in this country. . . . What good will hammering do on a piece of rusty old iron? It will only crumble into pieces. First, it should be made red-hot, and then it can be moulded into any shape by hammering. Nothing will avail in our country without setting a glowing and living example before the people. What we want are some young men who will renounce everything and sacrifice their lives for their country's sake. We should first form their lives and then some real work can be expected. . . .

. . . Then again, in these days, would you accept the words of a Sannyasin clad in rags in the same degree as you would the words of a white-face (Westerner) that might come and speak to you on your own religion? . . . When my Western disciples after acquiring proper training and illumination will come in numbers here and ask you, "What are you all doing? Why are you of so little faith? How are your rites and religion, manners, customs, and morals in any way inferior? We even regard your religion to be the highest!"- Then you will see that lots of our big and influential folk will hear them. Thus they will be able to do immense good to this country. Do not think for a moment that they will come to take up the position of teachers of religion to you. They will, no doubt, be your Guru regarding practical sciences etc., for the improvement of material conditions, and the people of our country will be their Guru in everything pertaining to religion. This relation of Guru and disciple in the domain of religion will forever exist between India and the rest of the world.

Even now in 1895 Swamiji's vision had become global in its scope. He was thinking not for the West, not for India, but for the world-each part of which needed all the others. In the two years since his arrival in America the vitality and freshness of the West had captivated him, even as he had captured the inmost heart and mind of the Western people. It was a meeting of greatness-East and West-the consequences of which were to be of tremendous import to the future of all mankind. There was little doubt at the close of the nineteenth century that the technologically oriented culture of the West would spread itself over the world-a potential life giver, but also, as Swamiji knew, a potential poison. It was in the heart of the West, therefore, that the spirituality of the East, with its saving insight into the deepest nature of man, must be implanted if man himself was to survive in any real sense of the word. And India, in turn, seeing its worth in the eyes of the West, as well as in its own spiritual heroes, would again pour out its priceless treasures, and in so doing, would, as Swamiji was so often to say, renew its life force and "conquer the world" with its spirituality. In this sweeping world movement, as he saw it, the West had a vital role to play. There was nothing, then, least of all the "rascally mis¬sionaries' nonsense," that could stop him from fulfilling his destiny of world teacher. Nor was it a matter of his own will as distinct from the Divine Will. "I am in His hands," he had written earlier in the year to Alasinga. "What is the use of going back to India? India cannot further my ideas. This country takes kindly to my ideas. I will go back when I get the Command.

On August 17 he and Mr. Leggett sailed from New York .by S. S. Touraine, reaching ]Paris on the twenty-fourth after a delightful trip.

The S.S. Touraine, a fairly new, deluxe ship of the French Line, Ianded at Le Havre on August 24.

The Swami's first known invitation to visit England had come to him from Miss F. Henrietta Muller, who in 1893 had spoken at the Theosophical Congress at the Parliament of Religions, and met the Swami there. In the latter part of 1894, her adopted son, Akshoy Kumar Ghosh, who, it so happened, was a disciple of the Swami's, extended an invitation to him on behalf of Miss Muller to visit London and there he her house guest. On October 27, 1894, the Swami wrote from Washington, D.C. to Alasinga Perumal, "Akshoy Kumar is in London. He sent a beautiful invitation from London to come to Miss Muller's. And I hope I am going in January or February next." As we know 'however, it was not until later that the Swami left America._x000d_ Meanwhile, a second invitation had come to him from Mr. E. T. Sturdy, an Englishman and erstwhile Theosophist, who had lived for a time in India. While undertaking religious austerities at Almora, a hill station in the Himalayas, Mr. Sturdy had become intimately known to Swami Shivananda, and had heard from him about his brother-disciple, Swami Vivekananda. Returning to England, Mr. Sturdy had begun in March of 1895 to correspond with the Swami, who was then in New York. Learning from Miss Muller that she had invited the Swami to London and that he was coming, Mr. Sturdy also sent his own cordial invitation, urging the Swami to visit England and he his guest. He assured him that London was a great field for his work. _x000d_ Around this time, Mr. Francis Leggett invited the Swami to accompany him on a voyage to Paris, where he and his fiancée, Besse MacLeod Sturges, were to be married.

The Swami's response to these invitations was characteristic. On July 7, 1895, he wrote to Mr. Leggett: "Since leaving Percy, I have invitations to come over to London from unexpected quarters, and that I look forward to with great expectations. I do not want to lose this opportunity of working in London. And so your invitation, coupled with the London one, is, I know a divine call for further work."

Wonderful though the retreat at Thousand Island Park had been for the disciples as well as for Swami Vivekananda himself, it had been hard work for him. "We are having a nice time here," he had written on July 18 to Mr. Francis Leggett, "except as an oId Hindu proverb says, , . . `a pestle must pound even if it goes to heaven.' I have to work hard all the same. Tired, he slept soundly through the train trip from Clayton to New York City, oblivious of jolting stops and starts and even of the engine's derailment, which could not have taken place smoothly. From New York, he wrote of the trip to Christina Greenstidel, who, with Mary Funke, had stayed on for a while at Miss Dutcher's cottage. His letter, heretofore published only in part, was his first in a correspondence that was to continue for as long as he lived. His many known letters to Sister Christine, whom he almost always addressed by her given name, were to be filled with an affectionate and tender concern, as though to a beloved and none-too-robust daughter for whom life was hard.

Having finished his great work of training and initiating disciples at Thousand Island Park, the Swami returned to New York on August 8, 1895, and prepared to sail for France and thence to England, where his long-held idea of carrying his message to the English people was to be fulfilled.

To Sister Christine_x000d_ 19 West 38th Street_x000d_ 9th August '95_x000d_ Dear Christina,_x000d_ You must be enjoying the beautiful weather very much. Here, it is extremely hot but it does not worry me much. I had a pleasant journey from Thousand Islands to New York; and though the Engine was derailed, I did not know anything of it, being asleep all the time. Miss Waldo went out of the train at Albany. I did not see her off as I was asleep. I have not heard anything from her yet. Hope to hear soon. Dr. [L. L. Wight] and Miss [Ruth] Ellis must have gone home by this time._x000d_ We gave them a telepathic message but Miss Ellis has not got it sure, else she would write._x000d_ I am making preparations for my departure. I came in time for one of the meetings here and had another one last evening__going to have one more this evening and almost every evening till I go over._x000d_ What is Mrs. Funkey [Mary Caroline Funke] doing, and Miss [Mary Elizabeth] Dutcher? Do you go to meditate on the mountain as usual? Did you hear from Kripananda?_x000d_ Write to me as soon as you can__I am so anxious to hear from you._x000d_ Ever yours with blessings and love,_x000d_ Vivekananda_x000d_ P.S. My love and blessings to Mrs. Funkey and Miss Dutcher._x000d_ V.

To Mrs. Ole Bull_x000d_ 19 West 38th Street_x000d_ New York_x000d_ 9th August '95_x000d_ Dear Mother___x000d_ Your note duly received. I saw also Miss Thursby yesterday. After the hard work at the Thousand Islands, I am taking a few days quiet and preparation for my departure. So I cannot come to Greenacre. I am with Miss Phillips and will be till the 17th, on which day I depart for Europe. I have seen Mr. Leggett. You remember Mrs. Sturges, the widow in black in my classes. She is going to marry Mr. Leggett in Paris. They will be married the 1st week we arrive, and then they go on a tour through Europe, and I, to England. I hope to return in a few weeks- back to New York._x000d_ Kindly give to Miss Hamlin [Elizabeth L. Hamlen], to Miss [Sarah] Farmer, Dr. [L. L. Wight] and Miss Howe, and all our friends my greetings, love and good bye._x000d_ Ever sincerely your Son,_x000d_ Vivekananda

In the hot August days before his departure for Europe -days which, he wrote, are "exactly like Calcutta. You perspire profusely and there is not a breath of air he visited his New York friends, held evening classes, and wrote letters, one of which, heretofore unpublished, was to Mrs. Bull:

19, West 38th Street,_x000d_ New York,_x000d_ 9th August, 1895_x000d_ Dear Friend {E. T. Sturdy},_x000d_ . . . It is only just that I should try to give you a little of my views. I fully believe that there are periodic ferments of religion in human society, and that such a period is now sweeping over the educated world. While each ferment, moreover, appears broken into various little bubbles, these are all eventually similar, showing the cause or causes behind them to be the same. That religious ferment which at present is every day gaining a greater hold over thinking men, has this characteristic that all the little thought-whirlpools into which it has broken itself declare one single aim--a vision and a search after the Unity of Being. On planes physical, ethical, and spiritual, an ever-broadening generalisation--leading up to a concept of Unity Eternal--is in the air; and this being so, all the movements of the time may be taken to represent, knowingly or unknowingly, the noblest philosophy of the unity man ever had--the Advaita Vedanta._x000d_ Again, it has always been observed that as a result of the struggles of the various fragments of thought in a given epoch, one bubble survives. The rest only arise to melt into it and form a single great wave, which sweeps over society with irresistible force._x000d_ In India, America, and England (the countries I happen to know about) hundreds of these are struggling at the present moment. In India, dualistic formulae are already on the wane, the Advaita alone holds the field in force. In America, many movements are struggling for the mastery. All these represent Advaita thought more or less, and that series, which is spreading most rapidly, approaches nearer to it than any of the others. Now if anything was ever clear to me, it is that one of these must survive, swallowing up all the rest, to be the power of the future. Which is it to be?_x000d_ Referring to history, we see that only that fragment which is fit will survive, and what makes fit to survive but character ? Advaita will be the future religion of thinking humanity. No doubt of that. And of all the sects, they alone shall gain the day who are able to show most character in their lives, no matter how far they may be._x000d_ Let me tell you a little personal experience. When my Master left the body, we were a dozen penniless and unknown young men. Against us were a hundred powerful organisations, struggling hard to nip us in the bud. But Ramakrishna had given us one great gift, the desire, and the lifelong struggle not to talk alone, but to live the life . And today all India knows and reverences the Master, and the truths he taught are spreading like wild fire. Ten years ago I could not get a hundred persons together to celebrate his birthday anniversary. Last year there were fifty thousand._x000d_ Neither numbers nor powers nor wealth nor learning nor eloquence nor anything else will prevail, but purity, living the life, in one word, anubhuti , realisation. Let there be a dozen such lion-souls in each country, lions who have broken their own bonds, who have touched the Infinite, whose whole soul is gone to Brahman, who care neither for wealth nor power nor fame, and these will be enough to shake the world. Here lies the secret. Says Patanjali, the father of Yoga, "When a man rejects all the superhuman powers, then he attains to the cloud of virtue." He sees God. He becomes God and helps others to become the same. This is all I have to preach. Doctrines have been expounded enough. There are books by the million. Oh, for an ounce of practice!_x000d_ As to societies and organisations, these will come of themselves. Can there be jealousy where there is nothing to be jealous of? The names of those who will wish to injure us will be legion. But is not that the surest sign of our having the truth? The more I have been opposed, the more my energy has always found expression. I have been driven and worshipped by princes. I have been slandered by priests and laymen alike. But what of it? Bless them all! They are my very Self, and have they not helped me by acting as a spring-board from which my energy could take higher and higher flights?_x000d_ . . . I have discovered one great secret--I have nothing to fear from talkers of religion. And the great ones who realise--they become enemies to none! Let talkers talk! They know no better! Let them have their fill of name and fame and money and woman. Hold we on to realisation, to being Brahman, to becoming Brahman. Let us hold on to truth unto death, and from life to life. Let us not pay the least attention to what others say, and if, after a lifetime's effort, one soul, only one, can break the fetters of the world and be free, we have done our work . Hari Om!_x000d_ . . . One word more. Doubtless I do love India. But every day my sight grows clearer. What is India, or England, or America to us? We are the servants of that God who by the ignorant is called MAN. He who pours water at the root, does he not water the whole tree? There is but one basis of well-being, social, political or spiritual--to know that I and my brother are one . This is true for all countries and all people. And Westerners, let me say, will realise it more quickly than Orientals, who have almost exhausted themselves in formulating the idea and producing a few cases of individual realisation._x000d_ Let us work without desire for name or fame or rule over others. Let us be free from the triple bonds of lust, greed of gain, and anger. And this truth is with us!_x000d_ Ever yours in the Lord,_x000d_ Vivekananda

The Swami had given himself tirelessly to the teaching of his students, and it is small wonder that when his work at Thousand Island Park came to a close, he was again exhausted. One indication of this is that he slept soundly through the night on the train journey back to New York, even though at one point the engine was derailed. "I did not know anything of it," he wrote to Christine Greenstidel, on August 9 from New York. How dead asleep with exhaustion he must have been; for the derailing of an engine could not have been a silent or smooth event! "After the hard work at the Thousand Islands, I am taking a few days quiet and preparation for my departure," he wrote to Mrs. Bull on the same day. The Swami's departure was, of course, for Paris with Mr. Leggett and thence on to England for strenuous preaching work. Though his body seemed exhausted, he went on and on, serving humanity, as his Master had long before ordained and as his universal, unending love now demanded.

And during what informal and simple times it came! Up until now, our information about the seven weeks Swamiji spent at Thousand Island Park has been derived primarily from three well-known memoirs: those of Ellen Waldo, Sister Christine, and Mary Funke. In addition, some published letters of Swamiji have also thrown light on his summer there, but it is mainly through student-eye views that we (as students) can savor something of those weeks. We are fortunate, therefore, to have another (though brief) on-the-spot account in the form of a hitherto unpublished letter from Ruth Ellis to her friend Sara Bull. Written from Kingston, Ontario, and dated August 9, 1895 it reads in full as follows (Miss Ellis's spelling is her own):

My dear Mrs. Bull_x000d_ _x000d_ We stayed at The Park a week longer than we expected to when I wrote you.* The Swami gave up his trip to Chicago and this enabled him to lengthen his stay. He started for New York at 8--45 pm Tuesday last [August 6] and I came to this place the next morning._x000d_ _x000d_ Our family at Miss Dutcher's cottage was never smaller than eight, and sometimes we had ten or even twelve persons. Our facilities for cooking were somewhat primitive and we had only one small maid to help us, so you can see that with the classes our time was fully occupied. It was a trying experiment too, to bring under the same roof people of such strongly marked peculiarities as we happened to possess. But we got along with less friction than I dared to expect, and we all parted better friends than we were when we came together._x000d_ _x000d_ A Mr. and Mrs. Goodyear, a young couple from New York, were with us for two weeks and proved to be de¬lightful people who put into daily practice the Vedanta philosophy we were listening to. Mr. G is a good business man and I think he will prove an efficient helper to the Swami the coming winter. I wish you had found it convenient to have come to us here if only for a few days. Of the teaching itself I can hardly trust myself to dwell upon. I am very sure that all of us who listened to it came away better and nobler for having come in contact with the water of life that could quench all our thirst. The Swami was in admirable temper all the time; more tolerant than in New York tho' perfectly fearless and outspoken. One Sunday Miss D asked in as many people as her parlor would hold and the Swami talked to them of the principles of Religion as understood by the Hindu people. The address seemed to be well received and no _x000d_ # _x000d_ objections could be made to any statement. The Methodist clergyman Mr. Searls called on the Swami and proposed to have him speak in the Tabernacle near us, but a Mr. Gracie a returned missionary, made some objection and this put a stop to the arrangement *_x000d_ _x000d_ Two ladies from Detroit who had attended the Swami's lectures in that place came to us, hardly daring to hope for a welcome yet feeling that earnestness like theirs could not be refused. They proved to be sincere and thoughtful and were very enthusiastic._x000d_ _x000d_ As to the making of Sanyasis, we were all taken by surprise as none of us knew that this step was intended. Marie Louise was ready to fulfill the conditions and the Swami was willing to accept the responsibility. She seemed to be in dead earnest but she has many characteristics of the untamed and the untamable, and I confess a fear that the Swami has taken "a bigger bite than he can chew."_x000d_ _x000d_ I could not imagion a greater change than that which has taken place in Landsberg. We all noticed it and were all touched by it. If ever the deepths in human life were touched, it surely is in this case. There was something awfully pathetic in his thin intense face as he left us in the grey morning [of August 1] to begin his new life and work. God bless him! I am sure he will do nothing to dishonor the order he has united himself with. I gave Marie Louise a part of the money you entrusted to me for her. I think she was somewhat in debt in New York as she had been ill and unable to earn anything most of the winter. Mrs Goodyear sees her and will let me know if she needs' anything. If not I will return the ten dollars to you or Miss Hamlen. The ten sent by Miss H, I returned to Marie Louise before your letter containing the checque reached me. On talking over the matter with her she came to see that Miss H could still be her friend without congratulating her on becoming a Sanyasin. I showed your last letter to the Swami because I had given him the_x000d_ # _x000d_ first to read & it seemed best that he should see the other as well. I think he understands you thoroughly and have heard him say several times that "Mrs Bull is the very best friend I have in America. She understands my thought and appreciates all that is good and true in me."_x000d_ _x000d_ I shall be in Canada for some weeks and shall be very glad to hear from you. Remember me to Miss Hamlen when you write to her and tell her I think of her always as a noble woman._x000d_ _x000d_ Sincerely Yours48_x000d_ Ruth Ellis_x000d_ (Apropos of Swamiji's regard for Mrs. Bull, let us quote here in passing some hitherto unpublished lines from an un¬dated letter that he wrote to her from Thousand Island Park:_x000d_ _x000d_ * For Ruth Ellis's earlier letter to Mrs. Bull see page 127_x000d_ ** The Reverend William Searls was a trustee of the Park and responsible for the schedule of speakers at the Tabernacle.

To Sister Christine_x000d_ [The following telegram was sent on Swami Vivekananda's behalf.]_x000d_ _x000d_ Postal Telegraph Cable Company_x000d_ Received at Main Office, Cor. Griswold_x000d_ and Lafayette Ave., Detroit, Mich._x000d_ 43. NY. FC. W. . . 10 Paid. 12:45 Pm_x000d_ New York, N.Y._x000d_ [August 17, 1895]_x000d_ Miss Christina Greenstidel,_x000d_ 418 Alfred St., Detroit, Mich._x000d_ Swamm [Swami] leaving sends you and Mrs. Funke love and blessing._x000d_ Kripananda.

The message was signed "Kripananda," but in their mind's eye Sister Christine and Mary Funke must have seen Swamiji "boyishly and joyously" waving his hat to them as his ship sailed away from a New York pier and headed for Europe.