Epistles (fourth series)

Mrs. George W. Hale

XXII
To Mrs. George W. Hale
C/o Dr. E. Guernsey
Fishkill landing, N.Y.,
July, 1894
Dear Mother {Mrs. George W. Hale},
I came yesterday to this place, and shall remain here a few days. I received in New York a letter from you but did not receive any Interior, for which I am glad, because I am not perfect yet, and knowing the "unselfish love" the Presbyterian priests, especially the Interior has for "me", I want to keep aloof from rousing bad feelings towards these "sweet Christian gentlemen" in my heart.
Our religion teaches that anger is a great sin, even if it is "righteous". Each must follow his own religion. I could not for my soul distinguish ever the distinction between "religious anger" and "commonplace anger", "religious killing" and "commonplace killing", "religious slandering and irreligious", and so forth. Now may that "fine" ethical distinction ever enter into the ethics of our nation! Jesting apart, Mother Church, I do not care the least for the gambols these men play, seeing as I do through and through the insincerity, the hyposcrisy, and love of self and name that is the only motive power in these men.
As to the photographs, the first time the Babies got a few copies, and the second time you brought a few copies; you know they are to give 50 copies in all. Sister Isabelle knows better than I.
With my sincerest love and respects for you and Father Pope.

I remain,
Yours,
Vivekananda.

PS. How are you enjoying the heat? I am bearing the heat very well here. I had an invitation to Swampscott on the sea from a very rich lady whose acquaintance I made last winter in New York, but I declined with thanks. I am very careful not to take the hospitality of anybody here, especially the rich. I had a few other invitations from some very rich people here. I refused; I have by this time seen the whole business through. Lord bless you and yours, Mother Church, for your sincerity. Oh! it is so rare in this world.

Yours affectionately,
V.

 

XXXI
To Mrs. George W. Hale

1125 St. Paul St.,
Baltimore,
October, 1894.
Dear Mother {Mrs. Hale},
You see where I am now. Did you see a telegram from India in the Chicago Tribune ? Did they print the address from Calcutta? From here I go to Washington, thence to Philadelphia and then to New York; send me the address of Miss Mary in Philadelphia so that I may look in on my way to New York. Hope your worry is over.
Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda.

 

Epistles (fifth series)

VII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Minneapolis
21 November 1893.
Dear Mother,
I reached Madison safely, went to a hotel, and sent a message to Mr. Updike. He came to see me. He is a Congregational and so, of course, was not very friendly at first; but in the course of an hour or so became very kind to me, and took me over the whole place and the University. I had a fine audience and $100. Immediately after the lecture I took the night train to Minneapolis.
I tried to get the clergymen's ticket, but they could not give me any, not being the headquarters. The thing to be done is to get a permit from every head office of every line in Chicago. Perhaps it is possible for Mr. Hale to get the permits for me. If it is so, I hope he will take the trouble to send them over to me to Minneapolis if they can reach me by the 25th, or to Des Moines if by the 29th. Else I would do it the next time in Chicago. I have taken the money in a draft on the bank, which cost me 40.May you be blessed for ever, my kind friend; you and your whole family have made such a heavenly impression on me as I would carry all my life.
Yours sincerely,
Vivekananda.

 

VIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale Minneapolis,
24 November 1893.
Dear Mother,
I am still in Minneapolis. I am to lecture this afternoon, and the day after tomorrow go to Des Moines.
The day I came here they had their first snow, and it snowed all through the day and night, and I had great use for the arctics. 4 I went to see the frozen Minnehaha Falls. They are very beautiful. The temperature today is 21@ below zero, but I had been out sleighing and enjoyed it immensely. I am not the least afraid of losing the tips of my ears or nose.
The snow scenery here has pleased me more than any other sight in this country.
I saw people skating on a frozen lake yesterday.I am doing well. Hoping this will find you all the same, I remain,
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda.

 

IX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Detroit,
14 February 1894.
Dear Mother,
Arrived safely night before last at 1 o'clock a.m. The train was seven hours late, being blocked by snowdrifts on the way. However, I enjoyed the novelty of the sight: several men cutting and clearing the snow and two engines tugging and pulling was a new sight to me.
Here I met Mr. Bagley, the youngest [Paul F. Bagley], waiting for me at the station; and, it being very late in the night, Mrs. Bagley 5 had retired, but the daughters sat up for me.
They are very rich, kind and hospitable. Mrs. Bagley is especially interested in India. The daughters are very good, educated and good-looking. The eldest gave me a luncheon at a club where I met some of the finest ladies and gentlemen of the city. Last evening there was a reception given here in the house. Today I am going to speak for the first time. Mrs. Bagley is a very nice and kind lady. I hope the lectures will please her. With my love and regards for you all, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Vivekananda.
PS--I have received a letter from Slayton 6 in reply to that in which I wrote to him that I cannot stay. He gives me hope. What is your advice? I enclose the letter [from Narasimhacharya] in another envelope. 7
Yours,
V.

 

X
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Detroit,
20 February 1894.
Dear Mother,
My lectures here are over. I have made some very good friends here, amongst them Mr. Palmer, 8 President of the late World's Fair. I am thoroughly disgusted with this Slayton 9 business and am trying hard to break loose. I have lost at least $5,000 by joining this man. Hope you are all well. Mrs. Bagley and her daughters are very kind to me. I hope to do some private lecturing here and then go to Ada and then back to Chicago. It is snowing here this morning. They are very nice people here, and the different clubs took a good deal of interest in me.
It is rather wearisome, these constant receptions and dinners; and their horrible dinners--a hundred dinners concentrated into one--and when in a man's club, why, smoking on between the courses and then beginning afresh. I thought the Chinese alone make a dinner run through half a day with intervals of smoking!!
However, they are very gentlemanly men and, strange to say, an Episcopal clergyman 10 and a Jewish rabbi 11 take great interest in me and eulogize me. Now the man who got up the lectures here got at least a thousand dollars. So in every place. And this is Slayton's duty to do for me. Instead, he, the liar, had told me often that he has agents everywhere and would advertise and do all that for me. And this is what he is doing. His will be done. I am going home. Seeing the liking the American people have for me, I could have, by this time, got a pretty large sum. But Jimmy Mills 12 and Slayton were sent by the Lord to stand in the way. His ways are inscrutable.
However, this is a secret. President Palmer has gone to Chicago to try to get me loose from this liar of a Slayton. Pray that he may succeed. Several judges here have seen my contract, and they say it is a shameful fraud and can be broken any moment; but I am a monk--no self-defence. Therefore, I had better throw up the whole thing and go to India.
My love to Harriets, Mary, Isabelle, Mother Temple, Mr. Matthews, Father Pope and you all.
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda.

 

XI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Detroit
February 22, 1894
Dear Mother,
I have got the $200 for the engagements, $175 and $117 by private lectures 14 and $100 as a present from a lady.
This sum will be sent to you tomorrow in cheques by Mrs. Bagley. Today, the banks being closed, we could not do it.
I am going tomorrow to lecture at Ada, Ohio. I do not know whether I will go to Chicago from Ada or not. However, kindly let not Slayton know anything about the rest of the money, as I am going to separate myself from him.
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda.

 

XII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Detroit,
10 March 1894.
Dear Mother,
Reached Detroit safely yesterday evening. 15 The two younger daughters were waiting for me with a carriage. So everything was all right. I hope the lecture will be a success, as one of the girls said the tickets are selling like hot cakes. Here I found a letter from Mr. Palmer awaiting me with a request that I should come over to his house and be his guest.
Could not go last night. He will come in the course of the day to take me over. As I am going over to Mr. Palmer's, I have not opened the awfully-packed bag. The very idea of repacking seems to me to be hopeless. So I could not shave this morning. However, I hope to shave during the course of the day. I am thinking of going over to Boston and New York just now, as the Michigan cities I can come and take over in summer; but the fashionables of New York and Boston will fly off. Lord will show the way.
Mrs. Bagley and all the family are heartily glad at my return and people are again coming in to see me.
The photographer here has sent me some of the pictures he made. They are positively villainous--Mrs. Bagley does not like them at all. The real fact is that between the two photos my face has become so fat and heavy--what can the poor photographers do?
Kindly send over four copies of photographs. Not yet made any arrangement with Holden. 16 Everything promises to be very nice. "Ssenator Ppalmer" 17 is a very nice gentleman and very kind to me. He has got a French chef--Lord bless his stomach! I am trying to starve and the whole world is against me!! He used to give the best dinners in all Washington! Hopeless! I am resigned!
I will write more from Mr. Palmer's house.
If the Himalayas become the inkpot, the ocean ink, if the heavenly eternal Devadaroo18 becomes the pen, and if the sky itself becomes paper, still I would not be able to write a drop of the debt of gratitude I owe to you and yours. Kindly convey my love to the four full notes and the four half notes of the Hale gamut.May the blessings of the Lord be upon you and yours ever and ever.
Ever yours in grateful affection,
Vivekananda.

 

XIII

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

Detroit
16 March 1894
Dear Mother,
Since my last, there has been nothing of interest here. Except that Mr. Palmer is a very hearty, jolly, good old man and very rich. He has been uniformly kind to me. Tomorrow I go back to Mrs. Bagley's because I am afraid she is rather uneasy at my long stay here. I am shrewd enough to know that in every country in general, and America in particular, "she" is the real operator at the nose string.
I am going to lecture here on Monday 20 and in two places near the town on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday. I do not remember the lady you refer me to, 22 and she is in Lynn; what is Lynn, where on the globe its position is--I do not know. 23 I want to go to Boston. What good would it do me by stopping at Lynn? Kindly give me a more particular idea. Nor could I read the name of the lady at whose house you say I met the lady. However, I am in no way very anxious. I am taking life very easy in my natural way. I have no particular wish to go anywhere, Boston or no Boston. I am just in a nice come-what-may mood. Something should turn up, bad or good. I have enough now to pay my passage back and a little sight-seeing to boot. As to my plans of work, I am fully convinced that at the rate it is progressing I will have to come back four or five times to put it in any shape.
As to informing others and doing good that way, I have failed to persuade myself that I have really anything to convey to the world. So I am very happy just now and quite at my ease. With almost nobody in this vast house and a cigar between my lips, I am dreaming just now and philosophising upon that work fever which was upon me. It is all nonsense. I am nothing, the world is nothing, the Lord alone is the only worker. We are simply tools in His hands etc., etc., etc. Have you got the Alaska information? If so, kindly send it to me c/o Mrs. Bagley.
Are you coming to the East this summer? With eternal gratitude and love,
Your son,
Vivekananda.

 

XIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Detroit
Tuesday, 27 March 1894
Dear Mother,
Herewith I send two cheques of $114 and $75 to be put in the banks for me. I have endorsed them to your care.
I am going to Boston in a day or two. I have got $57 with me. They will go a long way. Something will turn up, as it always does. I do not know where I go from Boston. I have written to Mrs. [Francis W.] Breed but as yet heard nothing from her. 24 His will be done. Not I but Thou--that is always the motto of my life.
With my eternal gratitude, love, and admiration for Mother Church and all the dignitaries,
I remain your son,
Vivekananda.

 

XV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o DR. GUERNSEY
528 Fifth Avenue
New York
2 April 1894
Dear Mother,
I am in New York. The gentleman [Dr. Guernsey] whose guest I am is a very nice and learned and well-to-do man. He had an only son whom he lost last July. Has only a daughter now. The old couple have received a great shock, but they are pure and God-loving people and bear it manfully. The lady of the house is very, very kind and good. They are trying to help me as much as they can and they will do a good deal, I have no doubt.
Awaiting further developments. This Thursday [April 5] they will invite a number of the brainy people of the Union League Club and other places of which the Doctor is a member, and see what comes out of it. Parlour lectures are a great feature in this city, and more can be made by each such lecture than even platform talks in other cities.
It is a very clean city. None of that black smoke tarring everyone in five minutes; and the street in which the Doctor lives is a nice, quiet one.
Hope the sisters are doing well and enjoying their music, both in the opera and the parlour. I am sure I would have appreciated the music at the opera about which Miss Mary wrote to me. I am sure the opera musicians do not show the interior anatomy of their throats and lungs.
Kindly give brother Sam 25 my deep love. I am sure he is bewaring of the vidders. 26 Some of the Baby Bagleys 27 are going to Chicago. They will go to see you, and I am sure you would like them very much.
Nothing more to write. With all respect, love and obedience,
Your son,
Vivekananda.
PS--I have not to ask now for addresses. Mrs. Sherman 28 has given me a little book with A., B., C., etc., marks and has written under them all the addresses I need; and I hope to write all the future addresses in the same manner. What an example of self-help I am!! 29
V.

 

XVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[C/o Dr. Egbert Guernsey
528 Fifth Avenue]
New York
10 April 1894
Dear Mother,
I just now received your letter. I have the greatest regard for the Salvationists; in fact, they and the Oxford Mission gentlemen are the only Christian missionaries for whom I have any regard at all. They live with the people, as the people, and for the people of India. Lord bless them. But I would be very, very sorry of any trick being played by them. I never have heard of any Lord in India, much less in Ceylon. 30 The people of Ceylon and northern India differ more than Americans and Hindus. Nor is there any connection between the Buddhist priest and the Hindu. Our dress, manners, religion, food, language differ entirely from southern India, much less to speak of Ceylon. You know already that I could not speak a word of Narasimha's language!! Although that was only Madras. Well, you have Hindu princesses; why not a Lord, which is not a higher title.
There was a certain Mrs. Smith in Chicago. 31 I met her at Mrs. Stockham's. She has introduced me to the Guernseys. Dr. Guernsey is one of the chief physicians of this city and is a very good old gentleman. They are very fond of me and are very nice people. Next Friday I am going to Boston. I have not been lecturing in New York at all. I will come back and do some lecturing here.
For the last few days I was the guest of Miss Helen Gould--daughter of the rich Gould 32 --at her palatial country residence, an hour's ride from the city. She has one of the most beautiful and large green-houses in the world, full of all sorts of curious plants and flowers. They are Presbyterians, and she is a very religious lady. I had a very nice time there.
I met my friend Mr. Flagg 33 several times. He is flying merrily. There is another Mrs. Smith here who is very rich and pious. She has invited me to dine today.
As for lecturing, I have given up raising money. I cannot degenerate myself any more. When a certain purpose was in view, I could work; with that gone I cannot earn for myself. I have sufficient for going back. I have not tried to earn a penny here, and have refused some presents which friends here wanted to make to me. Especially Flagg--I have refused his money. I had in Detroit tried to refund the money back to the donors, and told them that, there being almost no chance of my succeeding in my enterprise, I had no right to keep their money; but they refused and told me to throw that into the waters if I liked. But I cannot take any more conscientiously. I am very well off, Mother. Everywhere the Lord sends me kind persons and homes; so there is no use of my going into beastly worldliness at all.
The New York people, though not so intellectual as the Bostonians, are, I think, more sincere. The Bostonians know well how to take advantage of everybody. And I am afraid even water cannot slip through their closed fingers!!! Lord bless them!!! I have promised to go and I must go; but, Lord, make me live with the sincere, ignorant and the poor, and not cross the shadow of the hypocrites and tall talkers who, as my Master used to say, are like vultures who soar high and high in their talks, but the heart is really on a piece of carrion on the ground.
I would be the guest of Mrs. Breed for a few days and, after seeing a little of Boston, I would come back to New York.
Hope the sisters are all right and enjoying their concerts immensely. There is not much of music in this city. That is a blessing (?) Went to see Barnum's circus the other day. It is no doubt a grand thing. I have not been as yet downtown. This street is very nice and quiet.
I heard a beautiful piece of music the other day at Barnum's
--they call it a Spanish Serenada. Whatever it be, I liked it so much. Unfortunately, Miss Guernsey is not given to much thumping, although she has a good assortment of all the noisy stuffs in the world--and so she could not play it, which I regret ever so much.
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda.
PS--Most probably I will go to Annisquam as Mrs. Bagley's guest. She has got a nice house there this summer. Before that, I will go back to Chicago once more if I can.
V.

 

XVII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Miss Florence Guernsey
528 Fifth Avenue
New York
4 May 1894
Dear Mother,
Herewith I send over $125 in a cheque upon the 5th Avenue Bank to be deposited at your leisure.
I am going to Boston on Sunday, day after tomorrow, and write to you from Boston. With my love to all the family.
I remain yours truly,
Vivekananda.

XIX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue, European Plan
Beacon Street, Boston
11 May 1894
Dear Mother,
I have been since the 7th, lecturing here every afternoon or evening. At Mrs. Fairchild's I met the niece of Mrs. Howe. She was here today to invite me to dinner with her today. I have not seen Mr. Volkinen as yet. Of course, the pay for lecture is here the poorest, and everybody has an axe to grind. I got a long let-ter full of the prattles of the babies. 34 Your city, i.e. New York, pays far better than Boston, so I am trying to go back there. But here one can get work almost every day.
I think I want some rest. I feel as if I am very much tired, and these constant journeyings to and fro have shaken my nerves a little, but hope to recoup soon. Last few days I have been suffering from cold and slight fever and lecturing for all that; hope to get rid of it in a day or two.
I have got a very nice gown at $30. The colour is not exactly that of the old one, but cardinal, with more of yellow--could not get the exact old colour even in New York.
I have not much to write, for it is the repetition of the old story: talking, talking, talking. I long to fly to Chicago and shut up my mouth and give a long rest to mouth and lungs and mind. If I am not called for in New York, I am coming soon to Chicago.
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda.

 

XX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue, European Plan
Beacon Street, Boston
14 May 1894
Dear Mother,
Your letter was so, so pleasing instead of being long; I enjoyed every bit of it.
I have received a letter from Mrs. Potter Palmer 35 asking me to write to some of my countrywomen about their society etc. I will see her personally when I come to Chicago; in the mean-while I will write her all I know. Perhaps you have received $125 sent over from New York. Tomorrow I will send another $100 from here. The Bostonians want to grind their own axes!!
Oh, they are so, so dry--even girls talk dry metaphysics. Here is like our Benares where all is dry, dry metaphysics!! Nobody here understands "my Beloved". Religion to these people is reason, and horribly stony at that. I do not care for anybody who cannot love my "Beloved". Do not tell it to Miss Howe--she may be offended.
The pamphlet I did not send over because I do not like the quotations from the Indian newspapers--especially, they give a haul over coal to somebody. Our people so much dislike the Brahmo Samaj that they only want an opportunity to show it to them. I dislike it. Any amount of enmity to certain persons cannot efface the good works of a life. And then they were only children in Religion. They never were much of religious men--i.e. they only wanted to talk and reason, and did not struggle to see the Beloved; and until one does that I do not say that he has any religion. He may have books, forms, doctrines, words, reasons, etc., etc., but not religion; for that begins when the soul feels the necessity, the want, the yearning after the "Beloved", and never before. And therefore our society has no right to expect from them anything more than from an ordinary "house-holder".
I hope to come to Chicago before the end of this month. Oh, I am so tired.
Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda.

 

XXI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
541 Dearborn Avenue
Chicago
9 June 1894
Dear Mother,
We are all doing very well here. Last night the sisters 36 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 37 are taking very good care of me. Just now I am going to see my "oh-my-dear" Gandhi. 38 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. 39
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.
Nothing more to write. Yes, we went to see the "Charley's Aunt". 40 I nearly killed myself with laughing. Father Pope will enjoy it extremely. I had never seen anything so funny.
Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda.

 

XXII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
New York
28 June 1894
Dear Mother,
Arrived safely two hours ago. Landsberg 41 was waiting at the station. Came to Dr. Guernsey's house. Nobody was there except a servant. I took a bath and strolled with Landsberg to some restaurant where I had a good meal. Then, I have just now returned to Landsberg's rooms in the Theosophical Society and am writing you this letter.
I haven't been to see my other friends yet. After a good and long rest through the night I hope to see most of them tomorrow. My Love to you all. By the by, somebody stepped on my umbrella on board the train and broke its nose off.
Your affectionate son,
Vivekananda.
PS--I have not settled myself. So as to direct letters to me, they can be directed c/o Leon Landsberg, 144 Madison Ave., New York.

 

XXIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Leon Landsberg
144 Madison Avenue
New York
1 July 1894
Dear Mother,
Hope you are settled down in peace by this time. The babies are doing well in Mudville 42 --in their nunnery, I am sure. It is very hot here, but now and then a breeze comes up which cools it down. I am now with Miss [Mary A.] Phillips. Will move off from here on Tuesday to another place.
Here I find a quotation from a speech by Sir Monier-Williams, professor of Sanskrit in the Oxford University. It is very strange as coming from one who every day expects to see the whole of India converted to Christianity. "And yet it is a remarkable characteristic of Hinduism that it neither requires nor attempts to make converts. Nor is it at present by any means decreasing in numbers, nor is it being driven out of the field by two such proselytizing religions as Mahomedanism [sic] and Christianity. On the contrary, it is at present rapidly increasing. And far more remarkable than this is that, it is all-receptive, all-embracing and all-comprehensive. It claims to be the one religion of humanity, of human nature, of the entire world. It cares not to oppose the progress of Christianity nor of any other religion. For it has no difficulty in including all other religions within its all-embracing arms and ever-widening fold. And in real fact Hinduism has something to offer which is suited to all minds. Its very strength lies in its infinite adaptability to the infinite diversity of human characters and human tendencies. It has its highly spiritual and abstract side suited to the philosoph-ical higher classes. Its practical and concrete side suited to the man of affairs and the man of the world. Its aesthetic and ceremonial side suited to the man of poetic feeling and imagination. Its quiescent and contemplative side suited to the man of peace and lover of seclusion.
"Indeed, the Hindus were Spinozists 2,000 years before the birth of Spinoza, Darwinians centuries before the birth of Darwin, and evolutionists centuries before the doctrine of evolution had been accepted by the Huxleys of our time, and before any word like evolution existed in any language of the world."
This, as coming from one of the staunchest defenders of Christianity, is wonderful indeed. But he seems to have got the idea quite correct.
Now I am going to send up the orange coat today; as for the books that came to me from Philadelphia, I do not think they are worthy of being sent at all. I do not know what I am going to do next. Patiently wait and resign myself unto His guidance--that is my motto. My love to you all.
Your affectionate son,
Vivekananda

 

XXIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Dr. E. Guernsey
Cedar Lawn, Fishkill on the Hudson
19 July 1894
Dear Mother,
Your kind note reached me here yesterday evening. I am so glad to hear the babies are enjoying. I got the Interior and am very glad to see my friend Mazoomdar's book spoken of so highly. Mazoomdar is a great and a good man and has done much for his fellow beings.
It is a lovely summer place, this Cedar Lawn of the Guern-seys. Miss Guernsey has gone on a visit to Swampscott. I had also an invitation there, but I thought [it] better to stay here in the calm and silent place full of trees and with the beautiful Hudson flowing by and mountain in the background.
I am very thankful for Miss Howe's suggestion, and I am also thinking of it. Most probably I will go to England very soon. But between you and me, I am a sort of mystic and cannot move without orders, and that has not come yet. Mr. [Charles M.] Higgins, a rich young lawyer and inventor of Brooklyn, is arranging some lectures for me. I have not settled whether I will stop for them or not.
My eternal thanks to you for your kindness. My whole life cannot repay my debt to you. 44 You may see from the letter from Madras that there is not a word about Narasimha. What can I do more? I did not get the cheque cashed yet, for there was no necessity. Miss Phillips was very kind to me. She is an old lady, about 50 or more. You need not feel any worry about my being taken care of. The Lord always takes care of His servants; and so long as I am really His servant and not the world's, I am very confident of getting everything that would be good for me. The Guernseys love me very much, and there are many families in New York and Brooklyn who would take the best care of me.
I had a beautiful letter from Mr. Snell, 45 saying that a sudden change for the better has taken place in his fortunes and offering me thrice the money I lent him as a contribution to my work. And he also has beautiful letters from Dharmapala and others from India. But, of course, I politely refused his repayment.
So far so good. I have seen Mr. [Walter Hines] Page, the editor of the Forum here. He was so sorry not to get the article on missionaries. But I have promised to write on other interesting subjects. Hope I will have patience to do so.
I had a letter yesterday from Miss Harriet, 46 from which I learn that they are enjoying Kenosha 47 very much. Lord bless you and yours, Mother Church, for ever and ever. I cannot even express my gratitude to you.
As for me, you need not be troubled in the least. My whole life is that of a vagabond--homeless, roving tramp; any fare, good or bad, in any country, is good enough for me.
Yours ever in love and obedience,
Swami Vivekananda

 

XXV

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

Swampscott, Massachusetts
23 July 1894
Dear Mother,
I think I have all your questions answered and you are in good humour again.
I am enjoying this place very much; going to Greenacre today or tomorrow and on our way back I intend to go to Annisquam, to Mrs. Bagley's--I have written to her. Mrs. Breed 48 says, "You are very sensitive".
Now, I fortunately did not cash your check 49 in New York. I wanted to cash it here, when lo! you have not signed your name to it. The Hindu is a dreamer no doubt, but when the Christian dreams he dreams with a vengeance.
Do not be distressed. Somebody gave me plenty of money to move about. I would be taken care of right along. I send herewith the cheque back to you. I had a very beautiful letter from Miss Mary. My love to them.
What is Father Pope doing? Is it very hot in Chicago? I do not care for the heat of this country. It is nothing compared to our India heat. I am doing splendidly. The other day I had the summer cholera; and cramp, etc. came to pay their calls to me. We had several hours nice talk and groans and then they departed.
I am on the whole doing very well. Has the meerschaum pipe reached Chicago? 50 I had nice yachting, nice sea bathing, and am enjoying myself like a duck. Miss Guernsey went home just now. I do not know what more to write.
Lord bless you all.
Affectionately,
Vivekananda

 

XXVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Greenacre Inn
Eliot, Maine
5 August 1894
Dear Mother,
I have received your letter and am very much ashamed at my bad memory. I unfortunately forgot all about the cheque. Perhaps you have come to know by this time of my being in Greenacre. I had a very nice time here and am enjoying it immensely. In the fall I am going to lecture in Brooklyn, New York. Yesterday I got news that they have completed all the advertising there. I have an invitation today from a friend in New York to go with him to some mountains north of this state of Maine. I do not know whether I will go or not. I am doing pretty well. Between lecturing, teaching, picnicking and other excitements the time is flying rapidly. I hope you are doing very well and that Father Pope is in good trim. It is a very beautiful spot--this Greenacre--and [I] have very nice company from Boston: Dr. Everett Hale, 51 you know, of Boston, and Mrs. Ole Bull, of Cambridge. I do not know whether I will accept the invitation of my friend of New York or not.
So far only this is sure, that I will go to lecture in New York this coming fall. And Boston, of course, is a good field. The people here are mostly from Boston and they all like me very much. Are you having a good time, and Father Pope? Has your house-painting been finished? The Babies, I am sure, are enjoying their Mudville.
I am in no difficulty for money. I have plenty to eat and drink.
With my best love and gratitude to you and Father Pope and the Babies.
Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda
Excuse this hasty scrawl. The pen is very bad.
V.
The Harrison people sent me two "nasty standing" photos--
that is all I have out of them, when they ought to give me 40 minus the 10 or 15 I have got already!!!
V.

 

XXVII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Greenacre Inn
Eliot, Maine
8 August 1894
Dear Mother,
I have received the letter you sent over to me coming from India.
I am going to leave this place on Monday next for Plymouth [Massachusetts], where the Free Religious Association 52 is holding its session. They will defray my expenses, of course.
I am all right, enjoying nice health, and the people here are very kind and nice to me. Up to date I had no occasion to cash any cheque as everything is going on smoothly. I have not heard anything from the Babies. Hope they are doing well. You also had nothing to write; however, I feel that you are doing well.
I would have gone over to another place, but Mr. Hig-ginson's 53 invitation ought to be attended to. And Plymouth is the place where the fathers of your country first landed. I want, therefore, to see it.
I am all right. It is useless reiterating my love and gratitude to you and yours--you know it all. May the Lord shower His choicest blessings on you and yours.
This meeting is composed of the best professors of your country and other people, so I must attend it; and then they would pay me. I have not yet determined all my plans, only I am going to lecture in New York this coming fall; every arrangement is complete for that. They have printed advertisements at their own expense for that and made everything ready.
Give my best love to the Babies, to Father Pope, and believe me ever in gratitude and love,
Your Son,
Vivekananda.
P.S. I am very much obliged to the sisters for asking me to tell them if I want anything. I have no want anyway--I have everything I require and more to spare.
"He never gives up His servants."My thanks and gratitude eternal to the sisters for their kindness in asking about my wants.
V.

 

XXVIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Mrs. J. J. Bagley, Annisquam
20 August 1894
Dear Mother,
Your letters just now reached me. I had some beautiful letters from India. The letter from Ajit Singh 54 shows that the phonograph has not reached yet, and it was dated 8th June. So I do not think it is time yet to get an answer. I am not astonished at my friends' asking Cook & Sons to hunt for me; I have not written for a long time.
I have a letter from Madras which says they will soon send money to Narasimha 55 -- in fact, as soon as they get a reply to their letter written to Narasimha. So kindly let Narasimha know it. The photographs have not reached me--except two of Fishkill when I was there last. Landsberg 56 has kindly sent over the letters. From here I will probably go over to Fishkill. The meerschaum 57 was not sent over by me direct, but I left it to the Guernseys. And they are a lazy family in that respect.
I have beautiful letters from the sisters.
By the by, your missionaries try to make me a malcontent before the English government in India, and the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal in a recent speech hinted that the recent revival of Hinduism was against the government. Lord bless the missionary. Everything is fair in love and (religion?).
The word Shri means "of good fortune", "blessed", etc. Paramahamsa is a title for a Sannyasi who has reached the goal, i.e. realized God. Neither am I blessed nor have I reached the goal; but they are courteous, that is all. I will soon write to my brothers in India. I am so lazy, and I cannot send over the newspaper nonsense day after day.
I want a little quiet, but it is not the will of the Lord, it seems. At Greenacre I had to talk on an average 7 to 8 hours a day--that was rest, if it ever was. But it was of the Lord, and that brings vigour along with it.
I have not much to write, and I do not remember anything of what I said or did all these places over. So I hope to be excused.
I will be here a few days more at least, and therefore I think it would be better to send over my mail here.
I have now almost become dizzy through the perusal of a heavy and big mail, so excuse my hasty scrawl.
Ever affectionately yours,
Swami Vivekananda.

 

XXIX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Annisquam
23 August 1894
Dear Mother,
The photographs reached safely yesterday. I cannot tell exactly whether Harrison ought to give me more or not. They had sent only two to me at Fishkill 58 --not the pose I ordered, though.
Narasimha has perhaps got his passage by this time. He will get it soon, whether his family gives him the money or not. I have written to my friends in Madras to look to it, and they write me they will.
I would be very glad if he becomes a Christian or Mohammedan or any religion that suits him; but I am afraid for some time to come none will suit our friend. Only if he becomes a Christian he will have a chance to marry again, even in India
--the Christians there permitting it. I am so sorry to learn that it is the "bondage of heathen India" that, after all, was the cause of all this mischief. We learn as we live. So we were all this time ignorantly and blindly blaming our much suffering, persecuted, saintly friend Narasimha, while all the fault was really owing to the "bondage of heathen India"!!!!
But to give the devil his due, this heathen India has been supplying him with money to go on a spree again and again. And this time too "heathen India" will [take] or already has taken our "enlightened" and persecuted friend from out of his present scrape, and not "Christian America"!! Mrs. Smith's plan is not bad after all--to turn Narasimha into a missionary of Christ. But unfortunately for the world, many and many a time the flag of Christ has been entrusted to such hands. But I would beg to add that he will then be only a missionary of Smithian American Christianity, not Christ's. Arrant humbug! That thing to preach Lord Jesus!!! Is He in want of men to uphold His banner? Pooh! the very idea is revolting. Do good to India indeed! Thank your charity and call back your dog--as the tramp said. Keep such good workers for America. The Hindus will have a quarantine against all such [outcasting] to protect their society. I heartily advise Narasimha to become a Christian--I beg your pardon, a convert to Americanism--because I am sure such a jewel is unsaleable in poor India. He is welcome to anything that will fetch a price. I know the gentleman whom you name perfectly well, and you may give him any information about me you like. I do not care for sending scraps 59 and getting a boom for me. And these friends from India bother me enough for newspaper nonsense. They are very devoted, faithful and holy friends. I have not much of these scraps now. After a long search I found a bit in a Boston Transcript. I send it over to you. This public life is such a botheration. I am nearly daft.
Where to fly? In India I have become horribly public--crowds will follow me and take my life out. I got an Indian letter from Landsberg. Every ounce of fame can only be bought at the cost of a pound of peace and holiness. I never thought of that before. I have become entirely disgusted with this blazoning. I am disgusted with myself. Lord will show me the way to peace and purity. Why, Mother, I confess to you: no man can live in an atmosphere of public life, even in religion, without the devil of competition now and then thrusting his head into the serenity of his heart. Those who are trained to preach a doctrine never feel it, for they never knew religion. But those that are after God, and not after the world, feel at once that every bit of name and fame is at the cost of their purity. It is so much gone from that ideal of perfect unselfishness, perfect disregard of gain or name or fame. Lord help me. Pray for me, Mother. I am very much disgusted with myself. Oh, why the world be so that one cannot do anything without putting himself to the front; why cannot one act hidden and unseen and unnoticed? The world has not gone one step beyond idolatry yet. They cannot act from ideas, they cannot be led by ideas. But they want the person, the man. And any man that wants to do something must pay the penalty--no hope. This nonsense of the world. Shiva, Shiva, Shiva.
By the by, I have got such a beautiful edition of Thomas a Kempis. How I love that old monk. He caught a wonderful glimpse of the "behind the veil"--few ever got such. My, that is religion. No humbug of the world. No shilly-shallying, tall talk, conjecture--I presume, I believe, I think. How I would like to go out of this piece of painted humbug they call the beautiful world with Thomas a Kempis--beyond, beyond, which can only be felt, never expressed.
That is religion. Mother, there is God. There all the saints, prophets and incarnations meet. Beyond the Babel of Bibles and Vedas, creeds and crafts, dupes and doctrines--where is all light, all love, where the miasma of this earth can never reach. Ah! who will take me thither? Do you sympathize with me, Mother? My soul is groaning now under the hundred sorts of bondage I am placing on it. Whose India? Who cares? Everything is His. What are we? Is He dead? Is He sleeping? He, without whose command a leaf does not fall, a heart does not beat, who is nearer to me than my own self. It is bosh and nonsense--to do good or do bad or do fuzz. We do nothing. We are not. The world is not. He is, He is. Only He is. None else is. He is.
Om, the one without a second. He in me, I in Him. I am like a bit of glass in an ocean of light. I am not, I am not. He is, He is, He is.
Om, the one without a second.
Yours ever affectionately,
Vivekananda.

 

XXX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Annisquam
Date do not know
[Postmarked: August 28, 1894]
Dear Mother,
I have been for three days at Magnolia. Magnolia is one of the most fashionable and beautiful seaside resorts of this part. I think the scenery is better than that of Annisquam. The rocks there are very beautiful, and the forests run down to the very edge of the water. There is a very beautiful pine forest. A lady of Chicago and her daughter, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Sawyer, were the friends that invited me up there. They had also arranged a lecture for me, out of which I got $43. I met a good many Boston people--Mrs. Smith Junior, who said she knows Harriet, and Mrs. Smith the elder, [who] knows you well.
In Boston the other day I met a Unitarian clergyman who said he lives next to you in Chicago. I have unfortunately forgotten his name. Mrs. Smith is a very nice lady and treated me with all courtesy. Mrs. Bagley is kind as ever, and I will have to remain here a few days more, I am afraid. Prof. Wright and I are having a good time. Prof. Bradley of Evanston 60 has gone home. If you ever meet him at Evanston, give him my best love and regards. He is really a spiritual man.
I do not find anything more to write.
Some unknown friend has sent me from New York a foun-tain pen. So I am writing with it to test it. It is working very smoothly and nicely as you can judge from the writing. Perhaps Narasimha's difficulties have been settled by this time, and "heathen India" has helped him out yet, I hope.
What is Father Pope doing? What the Babies are doing and where are they? What news of our Sam? 61 Hope he is prospering. Kindly give him my best love. Where is Mother Temple now?
Well, after all, I could fill up two pages. Yes, there was a Miss Barn (?) who said she met me at your house. She is a young lady of Chicago.
Magnolia is a good bathing place and I had two baths in the sea. A large concourse of men and women go to bathe there every day--the most part men. And strange, women do not give up their coat of mail even while bathing. That is how these mailclad she-warriors of America have got the superiority over men.
Our Sanskrit poets lavish all the power of expression they have upon the soft body of women--the Sanskrit word for women is "Komala", the soft body; but the mailclad ones of this country are "armadillas", I think. You cannot imagine how ludicrous it appears to a foreigner who never saw it before. Shiva, Shiva.
Now Narasimha's Mrs. Smith does not torture you anymore with letters, I hope. Did I tell you I met your friend Mrs. H. O. Quarry at Swampscott?--she can swamp a house for all that, not to speak of a cott--and that I met there the woman that pulls by the nose Mr. Pullman? 62 And I also heard there the best American singer, 63 they said--she sang beautifully; she sang "Bye Baby Bye". I am having a very, very good time all the time, Lord be praised.
I have written to India not to bother me with constant letters. Why, when I am travelling in India nobody writes to me. Why should they spend all their superfluous energy in scrawling letters to me in America? My whole life is to be that of a wanderer--here or there or anywhere. I am in no hurry. I had a foolish plan in my head unworthy of a Sannyasin. I have given it up now and mean to take life easy. No indecent hurry. Don't you see, Mother Church? You must always remember, Mother Church, that I cannot settle down even at the North Pole, that wander about I must--that is my vow, my religion. So India or North Pole or South Pole--don't care where. Last two years I have been travelling among races whose language even I cannot speak. "I have neither father nor mother nor brothers nor sisters nor friends nor foes, nor home nor country--a traveller in the way of eternity, asking no other help, seeking no other help but God."
Yours ever affectionately,
Vivekananda.

 

XXXI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[Gloucester, Massachusetts]
4 September 1894
Dear Mother,
The bundle was the report of the meeting. Hope you will succeed in publishing some in the Chicago papers.
Here is a letter from Dewanji 64 to you which will explain his sending a pamphlet to Mr. Hale. 65 The rugs are coming. When they come, take them in, even paying the duty if any. I will pay it to you afterwards. I have plenty of money, more than $150 in pocket. Will get more tonight. Here are some newspaper clippings, and an Indian Mirror I will send later on. Some have been sent to Mr. Barrows; 66 don't hope he will give them publicity. Now for your Mrs. Bartlett.
I am in haste. [Will] write more with the clippings. Write to me always, kind Mother--I become very anxious when I do not hear from you. Write, whether I reply sharp or not.
Your son,
Vivekananda

 

XXXII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Annisquam
5 September 1894
Dear Mother,
The news of the arrival of the phonograph from Khetri has not come yet. But I am not anxious, because I just now got another letter from India wherein there is no mention of the photographs I sent, showing that parcels reach later than letters
Herewith I send you an autograph letter of H.H. the Maha-raja of Mysore, the chief Hindu king in India. You may see on the map [that] his territory occupies a very large portion of southern India.
I am very glad that he is slowly being gained over to my side. If he wills, he can set all my plans to work in five days. He has an income of $150 million dollars; think of that.
May Jagadamba [the Mother of the Universe] turn his mind towards the good work. He says he quite appreciates my good words--they were about my plans for educating the poor. Hope he will soon show it in material shape.
My love to all. Why the babies do not prattle?
Your son,
Vivekananda

 

XXXIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue, European Plan
Beacon Street, Boston
12 September 1894
Dear Mother,
I hope you will immediately send me over the little scrap from the Indian Mirror about my Detroit lectures which I sent you.
Yours,
Vivekananda

 

XXXIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue
Beacon Street, Boston
13 September 1894
Dear Mother,
Your very kind note came just now. I was suffering for the last few days from cold and fever. I am all right now. I am glad all the papers reached you safe. The newspaper clippings are with Mrs. Bagley; only a copy has been sent over to you. By the by, Mrs. Bagley becomes jealous if I send away everything to you. That is between you and me. The Indian Mirror is with Prof. Wright, 67 and he will send it over to you. There is yet no news of the phonograph. Wait one week more and then we will enquire. If you see a letter with the Khetri stamp, then surely the news is coming. I do not smoke one third as much as I used to when Father Pope's eternal box was ready and open day and night. Haridasbhai is to be addressed as Shri only. On the envelope, Dewan Bahadoor ought to be written, as that is a title. Perhaps the note from the Maharaja of Mysore has reached you by this time.
I will remain a few days yet in Boston and the vicinity. The bank book is in the bank. We did not take it out, but the cheque book is with me. I am going to write out my thoughts on religion; in that, no missionaries have any place. I am going to lecture in New York in autumn, but I like teaching small circles better, and there will be enough of that in Boston.
The rugs I wanted to be sent from India; and they will come from Punjab, where the best rugs are made.
I had a beautiful letter from Sister Mary. 68
Narasimha must have got money or passage by this time, and his people have taken care to send him Thomas Cook's passage from place to place. I think he is gone now.
I do not think the Lord will allow his servant to be inflated with vanity at the appreciation of his countrymen. I am glad that they appreciate me--not for my sake, but that I am firmly persuaded that a man is never improved by abuse but by praise, and so with nations. Think how much of abuse has been quite unnecessarily hurled at the head of my devoted, poor country, and for what? They never injured the Christians or their religion or their preachers. They have always been friendly to all. So you see, Mother, every good word a foreign nation says to them has such an amount of power for good in India. The American appreciation of my humble work here has really done a good deal of benefit to them. Send a good word, a good thought--at least to the down-trodden, vilified, poor millions of India instead of abusing them day and night. That is what I beg of every nation. Help them if you can; if you cannot, at least cease from abusing them.
I did not see any impropriety in the bathing places at the seashore, but only vanity in some: in those that went into water with their corsets on, that was all.
I have not got any copy of the Inter-Ocean yet. 69
With my love to Father Pope, babies, and to you, I remain
Your obedient son,
Vivekananda

 

XXXV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue
Beacon Street, Boston
19 September 1894
Dear Mother,
The huge packet received. It was a few pamphlets sent over to me from my monastery in Calcutta. No news at all about the phonograph. I think it is high time we make them inquire into it.
The two volumes of Todd's [Tod's] history of Rajasthan have been presented to me by Mrs. Potter Palmer. I have asked her to send it over to your care. The babies will like reading it very much, and after they finish I will send it over with my Sanskrit books to Calcutta.
I did not ask you to send me the typewritten news clippings at all, but a little slip I sent over some time ago from the Indian Mirror. Perhaps it did not reach you at all. You need not send the typewritten thing at all.
I do not require any clothes here; there are plenty of them. I am taking good care of my cuffs and collars, etc.
I have more clothes than are necessary. Very soon I will have to disburse myself of half of them at least.
I will write to you before I go to India. I am not flying off without giving you due intimation.
Yours,
Vivekananda
P.S.--My love to Babies and Father Pope.

 

XXXVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue
Beacon Street, Boston
24 September 1894
Dear Mother,
I have not heard from you a long while. I am still in Boston and will be a few days more.
I am afraid the phonograph has not reached India at all, or something is the matter with it. Kindly ask Mr. ---- to inquire. The receipt is with you on which they will enquire.
Ever affectionately yours,
Vivekananda

 

XXXVII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Hotel Bellevue
Beacon Street, Boston
27 September 1894
Dear Mother,
The bundles all came safely. One was newspapers from India. The other was the short sketch of my Master published by Mr. Mazumdar long ago. In the latter bundle there are two sextos or pamphlets. One, my Master's sketch; the other, a short extract to show how what Mr. [Keshab] Chandra Sen and [Pratap Chandra] Mazumdar preached as their "New Dispensa-tion" 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.
I beg you to send some to Mrs. Guernsey, Fishkill on the Hudson, N.Y.; Mrs. Arthur Smith and Mrs. [Miss Mary A.] Phillips, 19 West 38th Street, New York (both); to Mrs. Bagley, Annisquam, Mass.; and Prof. J. Wright, Professor of Greek, Harvard, Mass.
The newspapers--you may do whatever you like, and I hope you will send any newspaper scrap you get about me to India.
Yours etc.,
Vivekananda

 

XXXVIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Mrs. Ole Bull
168 Brattle Street
Cambridge, Mass.
5 October 1894
Dear Mother,
I have not heard from you for long. Have you received the huge packages I sent over to you? Have you heard anything about the phonograph from the express office?
I will be with Mrs. Ole Bull a few days, and then I go to New York to Mrs. Guernsey's.
Yours ever affectionately,
Vivekananda

 

XXXIX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Mrs. Ole Bull
Riverview, 168 Brattle Street
Cambridge, Mass.
[Postmarked: Oct. 10, 1894, 4:30 a.m.]
Dear Mother,
Received two letters from you and a large number from India but none from Khetri.
I am sorry the sisters have got bad colds and more sorry for your getting worried over it. Nothing can make a Christian worry. I hope Narasimha will be a good boy this time forth. Sister Mary is coming to Boston--good. I am going off from here tomorrow to Baltimore. I had enough to pay all my expenses here; and since I am living with Mrs. Bull, there is no expense. She is a rich and highly cultured lady. She has given me $500 for my work or anything I like. As I am not going west very soon, I will have a bank account here in Boston. From Philadelphia I go to Washington, and then I will run between New York and Boston. So I do not think I will be able to see you, except perhaps Sister Mary. I want so very much that Mary will see Mrs. Bull and others of my friends here. I have the fat of the land as usual, and my dinner is cooking very well both here and in India. Do not make it public, Mother--that is between you and me and the babies--and do not worry yourself about anything. All things come to him that waits. I am going to send the greater part of the money I have got to India and then money will come faster. I have always found that the faster I spend, the faster it comes. Nature abhors a vacuum. I am in very good spirits, only you must not stop keeping me informed about yourself, Babies and Father Pope from time to time.
Perhaps you remember the two letters that came from Mysore--I want one of those envelopes with the Mysore King's seal on the outside to be sent to Miss Phillips, 19 West 38th Street, New York.
I cannot go to New York now nor to Chicago, although I had a number of invitations and offers from both the places. I must see now the capital and the other cities. I am in His Hands. If Miss Mary be in Boston, sometime I may hope to see her.
I am glad that Narasimha was never fast--hope he will never be.
From India they always write me to come, come, come. They do not know the secret. I am acting more from here than I will ever do from there.
Kindly send my letters to this address and they will reach me safe wherever I be. This will be one of my homes when I am in Boston.
Lord bless you all, dear Mother.
Yours ever affectionately,
Vivekananda

XLII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[Washington, D.C.
October 27, 1894]
Dear Mother,
I received your very kind note and all the India letters just now. I will make it a point to see Mrs. Whitland [?]. I have been very kindly treated by Mrs. [Enoch] Totten.
Will you kindly order 100 photographs from Harrison, and send them over to India to Ramdayal Chakravarty, c/o Swami Ramakrishnananda, Varahanagar Math, Alambazar, Calcutta? I will pay for it when I come to Chicago.
I have nothing especial to write--except I had good treatment everywhere. How I long to give up this life of weariness and blazoning day and night.
I will go from here to New York and will come back to see you in Chicago before I start for England.
Yours etc.,
Vivekananda

 

XLIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Baltimore, [Maryland]
3 November 1894
Dear Mother,
I do not know what to say about this phonograph business. It takes six months to go to India!! and the company cannot get an inquiry in another six months!!! American express, indeed!! Well--however, they are bound to make good my money. Mother, do not lose the receipt of the express company.
I am going to New York as soon as possible.
Yours affectionately,
Vivekananda

 

XLIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
New York
18 November 1894
Dear Mother,
I have been very late this time in writing you as Sister Mary 73 has already written to you, no doubt, about me.
The clothes have all reached safe, only I will send over some of the summer and other clothes as it will be impossible to carry the burden all along with me.
The certainty about going to Europe this December has gone; so I am uncertain when I go.
Sister Mary has improved a great deal from what I saw her last. She lives with a number of fox-hunting squires and is quite happy. I hope she will marry one of those fellows with long pockets. I am going again to see her tomorrow at Mrs. Spalding's--I was there last afternoon. I will be in N.Y. this month; then I go to Boston and perhaps will be there all through December. When I was sick in Boston last spring, I went over to Chicago, and not to Detroit as Mrs. Bagley expected. So this time I am going to Detroit first and then to Chicago, if possible. Else I altogether give up the plan of going to the West soon.
There is more chance of working my plans out in the East than in the West, as it now appears.I have got news of the phonograph--it has reached safe, and the Raja 74 wrote to me a very nice letter on that. I have a lot of addresses and other nonsense from India. I have written home to them not to send any more newspapers. My love to the babies at home and I am going to visit the baby 75 abroad.
Mrs. Guernsey has been at death's door. She is now recovering slowly. I have not seen her yet. She is not strong enough to see anybody. Hope she will soon be strong.
My love to Father Pope and everyone.
Your ever affectionate son,
Vivekananda

 

XLV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Mrs. Ole Bull
168 Brattle Street
Cambridge, Mass.
6 December 1894
Dear Mother,
I have not heard long from you. What is the matter with you? I am here in Cambridge and will be here for three weeks to come and will have to lecture and hold classes. Here is a Chicago lady, Mrs. [Milward] Adams, who lectures on tone building etc.
Today we had a lecture from Lady Henry Somerset 76 on Woman Suffrage. Miss Willard 77 of Chicago was here and Julia Ward Howe.Col. Higginson, Dr. [J. Estlin] Carpenter of Eng. and many other friends were present. Altogether it was a grand affair. I have received a letter from India informing me that the phonograph was duly received.I have sent part of my money to India and intend sending nearly the whole of it very soon. Only, I will keep enough for the passage back. Saw Mother Temple several times in New York. She was kind as usual. So was Mrs. Spalding.Sister Mary wrote me a letter from Brookline [Massa-chusetts]. I am sure she would have enjoyed Lady Somerset's lecture so much. I wrote her about it, but I have not heard from her yet.I will go to see her the first day I get some time. I am very busy. Hope the sisters at home are enjoying themselves. I will try to run into Chicago for a few days if I can.Please write me all about the holy family as soon as you get time.
Mrs. Guernsey was very ill and still so weak that she cannot get out of her room.
Miss Helen Bagley 78 was seized with diphtheria in New York and suffered a good deal. She has recovered, however, and the Bagleys have gone home to Detroit.
With my Love to you all, I remain,
Ever yours affectionately,
Vivekananda
P.S.--Kindly send my India mail c/o Mrs. Sara Ole Bull, 168 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass.
V.

 

XLVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[Cambridge, Mass.
21 December 1894]
Dear Mother,
I am glad that Haridas Viharidas 79 has sent the rugs. I am afraid they will take a long time to reach here. The Raja 80 was very much pleased with the phonograph, as he writes, and has heard my voice several times. Hope he will bring it into life.
I have not seen Sister Mary yet, but hope to see her this week as I am going away to New York next Tuesday. Cannot come by any means to Chicago now, for I expect to go to Washington from New York and hope to be pretty busy in New York.
If I can snatch up a few days between the lecture in Brooklyn on the 30th and the next series in New York, I will fly to Chicago for a few days. If I had time just now, it would have been better for me, for the half-fare ticket will expire after this month.
I have been kept very busy here this month so could not go to Boston even for a day. Now I have time and hope to see Sister Mary.
How are the babies at home? Mrs. M. Adams of Chicago, who lectures on voice building and walking etc., has been lecturing here all this time. She is a very great lady in every respect and so intelligent. She knows all of you and likes the "Hale girls" very much. Sister Isabel[le] knows her especially, I think.
Do not you see, Mother--I am determined to work my project out. I must see the light. India can cheer alone--but no money. In the East and South I am getting slowly friends who will help me in my work, I am sure, as they have done already. They all like me more and more.
I have made friends of Lady Somerset and Miss Willard, you will be glad to know. So you see, Mother, you are the only attraction in Chicago; and so long I am in this country, wherever you live is my home. As soon as I have time I will run in to see you and the sisters. But I have no other hopes in the West; nor will you advise me to destroy the only hope I have of success in these parts of the country by giving it up and going to Chicago to be idle as the day is long.
Mrs. Bull and a few other ladies here who are helping me on are not only sincere and love me but they have the power to do as leaders of society. Would that you had millions.
With my love to you all,
Your ever affectionate Son,
Vivekananda

 

XLIX
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
54 W. 33., New York
18 March [February] 1895
Dear Mother,
I am sure you are all right by this time. The babies write from time to time and so I get your news regularly. Miss Mary is in a lecturing mood now--good for her. Hope she will not let her energies fritter away now--a penny saved is a penny gained. Sister Isabel[le] has sent me the French Books and the Calcutta pamphlets have arrived, but the big Sanskrit books ought to come. I want them badly. Make them payable here, if possible, or I will send you the postage.
I am doing very well. Only some of these big dinners kept me late, and I returned home at 2 o'clock in the morning several days. Tonight I am going to one of these. This will be the last of its kind. So much keeping up the night is not good for me. Every day from 11 to 1 o'clock I have classes in my rooms and I talk [to] them till they [grow] tired. The Brooklyn course ended yesterday. Another lecture I have there next Monday.
Bean soup and rice or barley is now my general diet. I am faring well. Financially I am making the ends meet and nothing more because I do not charge anything for the classes I have in my rooms. And the public lectures have to go through so many hands.
I have a good many lectures planned ahead in New York, which I hope to deliver by and by. Sister Isabel wrote to me a beautiful letter and she does so much for me. My eternal gratitude to her.
Baby has stopped writing; I do not know why.
Kindly tell Baby to send me a little Sanskrit book which came from India. I forgot to bring it over. I want to translate some passages from it.
Mr. [Charles M.] Higgins is full of joy. It was he who planned all this for me, and he is so glad that everything succeeded so well.
Mrs. Guernsey is going to give up this house and going to some other house. Miss [Florence] Guernsey wants to marry but her father and mother do not like it at all. I am very sorry for her, poor "Sister Jenny" 86 --and so many men are after her. Here is a very rich railway gentleman called Mr. [Austin] Corbin; his only daughter, Miss [Anna] Corbin, is very much interested in me. And though she is one of the leaders of the 400, 87 she is very intellectual and spiritual too, in a way. Their house is always chock full of swells and foreign aristocracy. Princes and Barons and whatnot from all over the world. Some of these foreigners are very bright. I am sorry your home-manufactured aristocracy is not very interesting. Behind her parlor she has a long arbour with all sorts of palms and seats and electric light. There I will have a little class next week of a score of long-pockets. The Fun is not bad. "This world is a great humbug after all", Mother. "God alone is real; everything else is a dream only." Mother Temple 88 says she does not like to be bossed by you and that is why she does not come to Chicago. She is very happy nearby. Between swells and Delmonico and Waldorf dinners, my health was going to be injured. So I quickly turned a thorough vegetarian to avoid all invitations. The rich are really the salt of this world--they are neither food nor drink. Goodbye for the present.
Your ever affectionate Son,
Vivekananda

 

L
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
54 W. 33rd St., New York
11 March 1895
Dear Mother,
Many thanks for your kind letter. I will be only too glad to have an orange coat, provided it be light as summer is approaching.
I do not remember whether the Cook's letters of credit I have are limited as to their time or not. It is high time we look into them. If they are limited, don't you think it is better to put them in some bank? I have about a thousand dollars in the Boston bank and a few hundred in the New York--they all go to India by this week or next. So it is better that I look into the Cook's letters, and it will be foolish to get into trouble by having them past the date.
There are a few more Sanskrit books which have not been sent--one pretty thick and broad, the other two very thin. Kindly send them as soon as you can.
Mrs. [Milward] Adams, Mrs. [Ole] Bull, and Miss Emma Thursby are gone to Chicago today.
With eternal love to the babies and to you and Father Pope.
I remain ever your affectionate Son,
Vivekananda

 

LI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[54 W. 33rd St., New York]
14 March 1895
Dear Mother,
The last letter you sent over is a notice from the Chicago post office of a parcel received by them. I think it is some books sent to me from India. The rugs cannot come through the post office (?) I do not know what to do. I send you therefore back this notice, and if they deliver it to you, all right--else I hope you will ask them to send it over to New York and kindly give them my address.
Yours obediently,
Vivekananda

 

LII

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

[New York
April 25, 1895]
Dear Mother,
I was away a long time in the country. Came back day before yesterday.
I think the summer coat is in Chicago. If so, will you kindly send it over c/o Miss Phillips, 19 W. 38 Str., New York? It is getting hot here every day.
I will remain in New York till the end of May, at least.
Hoping you are all in perfect health. I remain yours truly,
Vivekananda

 

LIII

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

54 W. 33.
New York
[April 26, 1895]
Dear Mother,
Perhaps you did not receive my letter asking you to send the Calcutta pamphlets about the Paramahamsa Ramakrishna. Kindly send them to me at 54 W. 33, and also the pamphlets about the Calcutta meeting if you have any. Also the summer coat to the care of Miss Phillips, 19 W. 38.
As I do not see any probability of my going soon to Chicago, I am thinking of drawing all my money from the Chicago bank to New York. Will you kindly ascertain the exact total amount I have in Chicago so that I may draw it out at once and deposit it in some New York bank?
Kindly do these and I will bother you no more. I have written to India long ago about the rugs. I do not know whether Dewanji 89 is alive or dead. I have no information.
I am all right and will be more than a month yet in New York. After that I am going to the Thousand Islands--wherever that place may be--for a little summer quiet and rest. Mrs. Bagley has been down here to see me and attended several of my classes.
The classes are going on with a boom; almost every day I have one, and they are packed full. But no "money"--except they maintain themselves. I charge no fees, except as the members contribute to the rent etc. voluntarily.
It is mostly probable that I will go away this summer.
With my love to all,
Ever gratefully yours,
Vivekananda

 

LIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
54 W. 33 New York
The 1st of May 1895
Dear Mother,
Many, many thanks for sending the coat. Now I am well equipped for summer. I am so sorry the rugs could not come before I leave this country. They will come if Dewanji is alive.
I have been out of town a few days and have now come back all right--healthy as ever.
Lord bless you ever and ever for your untiring kindness to me.
Ever your grateful Son,
Vivekananda
P.S. The History of Rajasthan 90 I present you, and the satchel to the babies. Yours,
Vivekananda

 

LVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
54 W. 33
New York
16th May '95
Dear Mother,
Your kind note duly reached. The books have arrived safe and more are coming. The Sanskrit books pay no duty, being classics. I expect a big package from Khetri. The big packet was from the Raja of Khetri, sending me an address from a meeting held of Rajput nobility at Mount Abu, for my work in this country.
I do not know whether I will be able to come over to Chicago or not. I am trying to get a free pass; in case I succeed I will come, else not. Financially this winter's work was no success at all--I could barely keep myself up--but spiritually very great. I am going to the Thousand Islands for the summer to visit a friend and some of my pupils will be there.
I have got plenty of books now to read from India, and I will be quite engaged this summer.
The Khetri package will not arrive soon, so kindly make arrangements that it will be received during your absence if you go away. [There] will have to be paid a heavy duty for [it,] I am afraid.
Mrs. [Florence] Adams brought me the love from the [Hale] Sisters on her way to Europe. She started this morning. A large package of books also I expect soon. The original Upanishads--there is no duty on them.
I have had some trouble with my stomach; hope it will be over in a few days.
With love to all, I am ever your affectionate Son,
Vivekananda

 

LXI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Miss Dutcher's
Thousand Island Park
N.Y.
2nd July 1895
Dear Mother--
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.
Here is another consignment from Raja Ajit Singh [the Maharaja of Khetri] consisting of carpets, shawls, etc., etc., for which the bill of lading you sent me the other day. This consignment has no duty to pay because it was all prepaid in India, and the bill of lading says so expressly. I will send you the bill of lading and 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.
In two or three days I will send the bill of lading and the receipt for duty paid, to you. I foolishly asked Miss Phillips, as soon as I got the Company's 93 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.
I am going to Europe by the end of August or a little later.
I will come to see you by the end of August.
Lord bless you and yours for ever and ever.
Your ever affectionate Son,
Vivekananda

LXII

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

Thousand Island Park, N.Y.
C/o Miss Dutcher
July 3, 1895
Dear Mother--
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. 94 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. You 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 you not 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, etc.

[Enclosed in the above letter was the following note.]

541 Dearborn Ave.
Chicago.
To the Morris Express Co.--
Dear Sir,
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.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
Swami Vivekananda

LXIV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Thousand Island Park
C/o Miss Dutcher
N.Y.
27th July '95
Dear Mother--
I will be ever so much obliged if you kindly look into the "bead" affair. 95 I think there will be a little duty to pay. I will pay it to you when I come.
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.
With Everlasting love, your Son,
Vivekananda
[Enclosed in the above letter was the following note.]
27th July '95
To the United States Express Company
Foreign Department.
Dear Sir,
Herewith I authorize Mrs. George W. Hale to take delivery of the "beads" that have been expressed to me from India. Hoping they will be regularly delivered to her, I remain yours obediently,
Swami Vivekananda

 

LXV
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Miss Dutcher
Thousand Island Park
30th August [July] '95
Dear Mother,
I was starting for Chicago, Thursday next [August 1], but your letter stopped me. The letter and the package have safely arrived.
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 coming? My going to Europe is not yet settled finally. The babies have not written me a line--not one of them.
Oh, Mother, my heart is so, so sad. The letters bring the news of the death of Dewanji. Haridas Viharidas has left the body. He was as a father to me. Poor man, he was the last 5 years seeking the retirement from business life, and at last he got it but could not enjoy it long. I pray that he may never come back again to this dirty hole they call the Earth. Neither may he be born in heaven or any other horrid place. May he never again wear a body--good or bad, thick or thin. What a humbug and illusion this world is, Mother, what a mockery this life. I pray constantly that all mankind will come to know the reality, i.e. God, and this "Shop" here be closed for ever.
My heart is too full to write more. Write to me or wire if you like.
Your ever obedient Son,
Vivekananda
P.S. We will think of the coming package [from the Maharaja of Khetri] in Chicago. How long will you be in Chicago? If it is only a week or so, I need not come. I will meet you in New York. If more than that, I come to see you.
Yours,
V.

 

LXVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
C/o Miss Dutcher
Thousand Island Park
N.Y.
[July 31, 1895]
Dear Mother--
I am afraid I can not come to see you and neither will you advise me. I am going with a friend 96 to Europe, at his expense. We go first to Paris and from there to London. My friend will go to Italy and I to London. I will, however, come back to New York in September. So I am not going away for good.
I start on the 17th. So you see, it is impossible to come and go that way for 3 or 4 days. (The package from India ought to have reached by this time. If they come, 97 kindly take the delivery and send it back to New York to Miss Mary Phillips, 19 W. 38. If the package does not come to Chicago before you go away, then kindly send the bill of lading etc. to Miss Mary Phillips, 19. W. 38. The babies [the Hale daughters] did not write me a line, nor did they intimate where they are. I absolutely do not know anything about them. As they do not want it, it seems I ought not to disturb them with my letters. But you kindly convey them my love and eternal, undying blessings. So to you, Mother and Father Pope. I will pen a longer epistle in a few days. We will see each other next spring in Chicago, Mother, if we all live.
Ever gratefully your Son,
Vivekananda

LXVIII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
The Western Union Telegraph Company.
Received at: Plaza Hotel Drug Store,
North Ave. & Clark Street.
Thousand Island, N.Y., 2, '95
[August 2, 1895]
8 jw ws 11 paid 1.33 p.m.
Mrs. G. W. Hale
541 Dearborn Ave.
Why any charges duty prepaid 98 you have documents write full particulars.
Vivekananda

 

 

XCV

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

July 7, 1896
Dear Mother--
[On the] 18th of this month I start for Switzerland for a holiday. I will come back to London again to work in the Autumn. The work in England bids fair to be much better and deeper than in the U.S. And here in London is the heart of India also. Where are you now? I am passing through Geneva on my way to the Hills. I will be there a day or two.
If you be somewhere near, I will make it a point to come to see you. Did you hear Annie Besant? How did you like her? What about your plans of going to India next winter? What about the innocents 113 at home? I haven't had any news of them. My love to Father Pope, Mother Temple 114 and yourself. Kindly answer as I will be only a few days here.
Ever yours with love and gratitude,
Vivekananda

CXLVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
Ridgely Manor
5 October 1899
My dear Mother Church,
Many, many thanks for your kind words.
I am so glad you are working on as ever. I am glad because the wa ve of optimism has not caught you yet. It is all very well to say everything is right, but that is apt to degenerate into a sort of laissez-faire. I believe with you that the world is evil --
made more hideous with a few dashes of good.
All our works have only this value, that they awaken some to the reality of this horror--and [those] flee for refuge to some place beyond, which is called God, or Christ, or Brahma, or Buddha, etc . Names do not make much difference.
Again, we must always remember ours is only to work--
we never attain results. How can we? Good can never be done witho ut doing evil. We cannot breathe a breath without killing thousan ds of poor little animals. National prosperity is another name fo r death and degradation to millions of other races. So is individual prosperity the beggaring of many. The world is evil
--and will ever remain so. It is its nature, and cannot be changed--"Which one of you by taking thought . . ." etc. 139
Such is truth. The wisdom is therefore in renunciation, that is, to make the Lord our all in all. Be a true Christian, Mother--like Christ, renounce everything and let the heart and soul and body belong to Him and Him alone. All this nonsense which people have built round Christ's name is not His teaching. He taught to renounce. He never says the earth is an enjoyable place. And your time has come to get rid of all vanities
--even the love of children and husband--and think of the Lord and Him alone.
Ever your Son,
Vivekananda

 

CXLVII
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
[Ridgely Manor], New York, N.Y.
23 October 1899
My dear Mother,
I was taking a few days' complete rest and so am late in replying to your very kind note. Accept my congratulations on the anniversary of your marriage. I pray many, many such returns may come to you.
I am sure my previous letter was coloured by the state of my body , as indeed is the whole of existence to us. Yet, Mother, there i s more pain than pleasure in life. If not, why do I remember you and your children almost every day of my life, and not many other s? Happiness is liked so much because it is so rare, is it not? Fifty percent of our life is mere lethargy, ennui; of the rest, forty percent is pain, only ten happiness--and this for the exceptionally fortunate. We are oft-times mixing up this state of ennui with pleasure. It is rather a negative state, whilst both pleasure and pain are nearer positive, though not positive.
Pleasure and pain are both feeling, not willing. They are only processes which convey to the mind excitements or motives of action. The real positive action is the willing, or impulse to work, of the mind--begun when the sensation has been taken in (pleasure and pain); thus the real is neither pleasure nor pain. It has no connection with either. Quite different from either. The barking of the dog awakens his master to guard against a thief or receive his dearest friend. It does not follow, therefore, that the dog and his master are of the same nature or have any degree of kinship. The feelings of pleasure or pain similarly awaken the soul to activity, without any kinship at all.
The soul is beyond pain, beyond pleasure, sufficient in its own nature. And no hell can punish it, nor any heaven can bless it. S o far philosophy.
I am coming soon to Chicago, and hope to say "Lord bless you" to you and your children. All love as usual to my Christian relative s, scientific or quacks.
Vivekananda

 

CLVI
To Mrs. G. W. Hale
The California Limited
Snta Fe Route
1 December 1899
My dear Mother,
Excuse this scrawl as the train is dancing.
I passed a good night and hope to have a good time all through. With all love for the sisters and Mr. [Clarence] Woolley 144 and Bud and Father Pope.
With love,
Vivekananda

 

CLVIII

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

Los Angeles
6 December 1899
My dear Mother,
A few lines to say my safe arrival and am going to resume my usua l work of lecturing here.
I am much better than I was in Chicago and hope soon to become we ll again.
I cannot tell you how I enjoyed once more the little visit with m y American Mother and Sisters.
Harriet has scored a triumph really. I am charmed with Mr. Woolley--only hope Mary will be equally fortunate. It gives me a new lease of life to see people happy. May they all be happy.
Ever with love, your son,
Vivekananda

 

 

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