Sister Nivedita - Notes of Some Wanderings with Swami Vivekananda, 1913 by gnosisclassics

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS WITH THE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA MY _SISTER NIVEDITA OF

RAMKRISHNA-VIVEKANANDA.

Author &quot;

&quot;

The &quot;

The

Civic

IVcb

and

Cradle- Tales &quot;T/ie

of Indian

National of

Master as I saw

Hinduism Him&quot;

&quot;

Life

Ideals&quot;

;

&quot;

;

&*c.

AUTHORISED EDITION, 1913.

EDITED BY THE SWAMI SARADANANDA ITBLISHKI)

UDBODHAN

liV

THE BRAILMACI1ARI GONENDRA NATH OFFICE BAGHBA/AR, CALCUTTA :

Printed by K.

64-1,

Ghose at the Lakshmi Printing WorJ 64-2, Sukea Street, Calcutta.

PREFACE. book of the late Sister Nivedita to the public, the Editor has taken care to correct only a few minor inaccuracies as regards In

presenting this

little

facts that crept into it, series of articles in the

when

appeared as a

Brahmavadin of Madras,

The Chapter headings and a short Synopsis of the contents of each chapter are also his and the ;

has been joined to the book, to venient for the reader to find out letter

with

it,

whenever he

feels

make

things

disposed.

con dealt In

he hopes that the book, which offers bright glimpses of the yet undiscovered nooks of the private life of the great Swami Vivekananda, and the period of training through which the much conclusion

lamented Sister Nivedita had to pass in the hands bf her Master, ere she came out before the

gaze as the wonderful champion of truth and justice and righteousness and of the cause of India will meet with the warm reception at the public

hands of the public, that

fully deserves.

SARA DANANDA.

CONTENTS. FOREWORD. How the Ideal became at the year s end the at at Nainital and Almora, Real the Belur, during year 1898 Foreword written

Kashmir

.and lastly at different places in

The

privilege of seeing

through the eyes of a great personality

the world

listening to

all,

The unique personality of and refusing none the Swami Vivekananda as it appeared to his western desciples and others at the time and the back ground which set it in strong feeling with

relief

all

Effects of studying

him thus

at close quarters.

CHAPTER

Pages

1-5

THE HOME ON THE GANGES. A

running description of the

Visits of the

of education

minds of

and

its

surroundings

his western pupils

repellant at

Home

The Master (Vivekananda) and his methods and rousing a new religious consciousness in the monks

in the infinite

never trying to soften things

Indian

and conversation on any subject always ending On nation-building, and Siva and Uma : Adwaita

first

sight

A visit to Sarada Devi InftiaGlimpses of God-Intoxication Noble M. E. into the life of a Brahmachdrini The Miss tion of :

Master

going to Darjeeling and return after the

clarations at Calcutta

The

first

signs of the times.

CHAPTER

...

Plague de *Pages 6-17

AT NAINI TAL AND ALMORA. The two Himalayas Khetri

parties :

The

leaving

Nainital

incident

Our

Howrah and

the

introduction

of the

Dancing

girls

first

the :

sight of the

Maharaja of

A mahamedan

gentleman Raja the to

about the Swami

feeling

Ram Mohan Roy s How the Swami :

the Master

The

message

The dominant

to India

notes of

Their acceptance by

dancing girls came to pay their respects incident of the nautch girl at Khetri The :

The morning talks of the Swami The journey to Almora strange new element that crept in at this time in Miss Noble s :

and and defiance on the other

relation with the Master, of bitterness

and

irritation

on one

distrust

How

side,

began and

The form adopted in these mornfng-talks it ended comparative review of East and West and assaults on deep-rooted

how

...

pre-conceptions.

...

CHAPTER

Pages

...

18-28-

III

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA. morning talk on The central ideals of civilisations in the East, Truth The four Chastity kinds of national functions performed by different nations Talks The Master s epigram des on Indian history ? On the Moghuls

The

first

the

West,

cribing the Taj Opinion about Shah Jehan and On Italy, Sivaji and Oriental untruthfulness

Akbar On China and the Aryans

on the

scholars

Author

remarks

fascination

Indian

for

The Master s treatment of old Indian questions of Ethnology History as a struggle between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas On Buddha, and the On the Kyasthas of Bengal and Buddhism :

vision

of the

san

tiality

;

Siva and

Pundit

anity on the

Uma

On Amba

Pali, the courte

the high poten

Sister

Swami

s life

Nivedita

On God

Stories from the Puranas

Vidyisagar and David Hare

the American Engineer the

the Babists of Persia

of love that seeks no personal expression

Universe

Swami regarding him

Bhakti

as the

Suka Deva

Influence of Christi

Funny stories on spirit-seance and The Swami s longing for quiet Blessing :

End

of the sprained relationship

Death

111

of Mr.

ment

Goodwin

J. J.

The Swami

as pernicious

week

retire

On the folly of imagin On God as the Eter

ing a Personal Will guiding the universe nal Magistrate, having no rest

after a

return

Baba

the death of Pavahari

Bhakti without renunciation

proverty and Self-mastery for the soul that

would wed the Eternal Bride-groom Renunciation is not akin to the morbid idea of worshipping pain The Hindu Ideal of On the peculiar character transcending both pleasure and pain :

istic

of the

sistent idea

Hindu Culture in having devotion even if it has no objective actuality

to a spiritually :

con

Krishna, the

most perfect of Avatars The deep impression of the Krishnaon India Memorial to Mr. J, J. Goodwin myth Requiescat in The last after-noon at the Almora and pace story of the fatal :

illness

of Sri Ramakrishna.

...

CHAPTER ON THE WAY

...

Pages 29-63

TO KATHGODAM.

Hill-side haunted by centaurs Sunday after-noon talk The, Rudra prayer of the Vedas, the Benidiction after mourning Suradas Song Always face the brute The Terai and change of :

...

vegetation.

...

Pages 64-69

CHAPTER V ON THE WAY

TO BARAMULLA.

The Punjab love of the Swami for and reminiscences of the The vision of the old Brahmin chanting the Vedas and its deep impression on the Swami Vivekananda, a breaker of Talk at Dulai A new chapter of Hinduism Vamabondage

province

chara

Love, the only cure for evil

The Swami

Fragments of

talks

on the

naughtiness in childhood and remedy for the His love for Siva On marriage as the type of the soul s relation to God Meeting a*party of Sannyasi pilgrims Q n the

way same

good and

effects

evil

The legend

of religion

The Dak Bangalow

of the vale of Kashmir.

CHAPTER THE VALE

the evolution of different ideals

each must hold

OF KASHMIR.

Meeting an old Mohamedan lady

at Uri

Pages 70-83

...

Meeting Bengali

different

itself true in its future existence.

CHAPTER

officials

nations to which

Pages 84-90

...

VII

LIFE AT SRINAGAR. The Swami, on what Buddhism attempted past

Federalisation of religions

to bring

out

Talk on Chenghiz Khan

in :

the

Com

position of the Ode to The Awakened India Visiting the temples of Kshir Bhawani and Takt-i-Suliman The beautiful view from 3

the latter place

Fragments

of talks

on Tulsidas Sayings and the

Upanishads On Why Ravana could not tempt Sita by taking the form of Rama On Thomas a Kempis Kalidas s Kumar-Sambhabam and the privilege given to women and Sudras to read the The celebration of the 4th of July, the American Day Scriptures :

of Independence in the house-boat

of July

The great

The Swami

difference between a house-holder

Ode

to the 4th

and a Sannya-

Visit to Dahl Lake, Shalimar Bag, etc. The Swami s attempt to visit Amarnath by the Sonamarg route and failure on account of the break of glaciers His realisations on return.

sin

Pages 91-109

CHAPTER THE TEMPLE Sailing

Ram

Krishna

down

OF PANDRENTHAN.

the Jhellum with the

Prasad, on the Divine Mother :

the

way

VIII

Islamabad

Swami :

Fragments of songs Bhakti Radhaon Talk :

the old old

Temple

of Pan-

a relic of

drenthan critical in

Buddhism

examination of

its

architectural importance

Its

interior

and

exterior

The

four periods

which the Swami divided the History of Kashmir, placing The magni Pandrentham on the second period

the building of

Notes from the evening talk at The Christian rituals derived from the Buddhistic

view from the Temple

ficent

Pandrentham

and the latter from the Vedic Christianity has no common prayer like Hinduism Mohamedanism, the only religion that broke :

down

the idea of Priesthood

The Swami

ence of Christ and his dream off Crete

s :

doubts about the exist

The probable

origin of

by the meeting of Indian and Egyptian ideas with S. Paul Jndaism and Hellenism at Alexandria in old times Buddha and Mahomed, the only historical capable of Jesuitry Christianity

figures

Christianity

records

old religious

Buddha

lived.

surely

...

WALKS AND TALKS

examination of

...

CHAPTER The view up

critical

was the greatest man who ever Pages 110-125

BESIDE THE JHELLUM.

the Jhellum calling up memories of Kalidas

and

of the Himalayas, Siva

Uma

Across the

fields

picture

on the banks

with the Swami His talk on The Sense of Sin Egyptian, Semitic and Aryan The Vedic God of anger becoming Mara, the Lord of Lust in Buddhism The difference between th e Vedic :

Anger-God and Satan of Christianity Zoroaster, a reformer of some old Vedic religion Ormuzd and Ahriman are but manifes tations of the Supreme Righteousness and Sin becoming later the Vidyd and AvidyA of the Upanishads The talk on guiding the future of India and the Indian people On National life as a ques :

tion of organic forces it

do the

rest

;

re-inforce.the current of that life, then leave the Ideas of renunciation and mukti as the

sources of Indian National

fife

The temple

of Bij-Behara and the

vi Islamabad

The Swami

the

coolness in the face of danger and death Fragments of

story of his encountering a bull in England reminiscences of his life as a wandering friar: The

temple of Marttand

Nivedita about

\vith the Sister

Calcutta

architectural

Its

great responsibility of the invitation to Sister to the Shrine of

The

Educational

same

His advice

work

for the

talk

Work

depend His view of the

Achhabal and the Swami s accompany him on a pilgrimage

same

Nivedita to

significance

Women s

tentative plan for the

on her own inspiration mainly

Ruins of the

Amarnath.

...

Pages 126-142

CHAPTER X THE SHRINE The Swami

OF AMARNATH.

meeting the pilgrim Sddhus at Bawan

The

The opposition to admitting Sister Nivedita among the pilgrims removal of the Pilgrim Camp to Chandanawara 18,000 feet above :

sea-level

the

Swami

quarters

Arrival at the Pantajharni, the place of five streams and s fulfilling the The study of a glacier at close Laws :

Arrival at the cave of

tions in the cave

The

return

Islamabad and Srinagar.

Amarnath

Evening

The Swami Pahlgam ...

...

CHAPTER

realisa

Back

Pages 143-153

AT SRINAGAR ON THE RETURN

JOURNEY.

common longing of his His talk Nivedita about with India, conception people Hinduism an faith, spirituality deep making agressive missionary among many orthodox Hmdus, the association of Spirituality with The Swhmi

for

freedom and the touch of the

orthodoxy being accidental and not essential, Sri Ramakrishna as the

embodiment of the highest inner

life in

the Soul with perfect

worship of Sri Rama krishna leaving others free to decide for themselves which personactivity

on the outer plane

The Swami

Vll

alities

they would worship

The Swami

repudiation of palmistry,

character-reading, preaching of religion by displaying miracles : Per His worshipping the little Mohammedan boat-child as

Uma

sonal wish for special quiet of one of the ladies of the party

encampment on the land by the river-side, which of Kashmir was anxious for a time to offer to making a centre of

his organisation.

CHAPTER

the

and the

Maharajah

Swami

for

Pages 154-159

...

XII

THE CAMP UNDER THE CHENNAARS. The Swami

s meeting an European guest at the temporary His talk about Meera Bai, under the Chennaars encampment the queen who would not be queen for love of God About a song :

Tana Sena About Rana Pratap Sing Krishna Kumari Leaving for Ganderbal.

of Cheetore ...

About

Pages 160-166

CONCLUDING WORDS OF THE EDITOR.

BLESSINGS TQ NIVEDITH,

t~~S2*

, !**

f f^S

,, ^-^

^1**

&amp;lt;.

&&amp;lt;*e~

a^/^*t

^ A~^-~

//*&quot;

77^

.r^^xu-&amp;gt;

^v^

5-z^.

FOREWORD Persons

The Swami

Vivekananda

;

Gurubhais

and

;

disciples.

party of European guests and disciples, amongst

whom

were Dhira Mata, the Steady Mother ; and Nivedita.

;

One

whose name was Jaya Place

Time

Different parts of India.

/The

year 1898.

have been the days of this In them the Ideal has become the

Beautiful year.

Real.

Belur

;

First in our river-side cottage at then in the Himalayas, at Naini-

Tal and Almora

;

afterwards wandering

through Kashmir have come hours never to everywhere be forgotten, words that will echo through here

and

there

our lives for

ever,

;

and once

at least,

glimpse of the Beatific Vision. It

has been

all

play.

have seen a love that would be one with the humblest and most igno-

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

moment

the world for the

rant, seeing

through his eyes, as if criticism were not we have laughed over the colossal ;

we caprice of genius ourselves at heroic fires

have warmed

;

been present, as

;

and we have

were, at the

awaken

ing of the Holy child. But there has been nothing grim or serious about any of these things. Pain

has come close to

all

Solemn

of us.

anniversaries have been and gone. But sorrow was lifted into a golden light,

where

was made

radiant,

and did not

destroy.

Fain,

our journeys. the

irises in

would

could,

Even bloom

describe

write

Baramulla

;

see

the

young rice beneath the poplars at Is lamabad starlight scenes in Himalayan and the royal beauties of Delhi forests ;

;

and the Taj. One longs some memorial of these.

to It

attempt

would be

worse than useless. Not, then,

but in the light of memory,

they are

words,

FOREWORD enshrined for ever, together with the kindly and gentle folk who dwell among them, and

whom we

trust

always to have

the gladder for our coming.

left

have learnt something of the mood in which new faiths are born, and of the Persons who inspire such faiths. For we have been with one who drew all

men

with

listening to

to him,

all,

and refusing none.

known a humility littleness,

all,

feeling

have

that

wiped out all a renunciation that would die

scorn of oppression and pity of the oppressed, a love that would bless even for

the

oncoming

feet

of torture

and of

have joined hands with that woman who washed the feet of the Lord with her tears, and wiped them with the death.

hairs of her head.

have lacked, not uncon

the occasion, but her passionate sciousness of self.

Seated under a tree

in the

garden dead emperors there came to us a vision of all the rich and splendid things

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS of Earth, offering themselves as a shrine for the great of soul. The storied win

dows of

and the jewelled

cathedrals,

thrones of kings, the banners of great captains and the vestments of the priests, the pageants of of the proud,

and the retreats came, and all were

cities, all

rejected.

In the garments of the beggar, des pised by the alien, worshipped by the

and only people, we have seen him the bread of toil, the shelter of cottageroofs, and the common road across the ;

seem

real

to this

life

cornfields

ground his

Amongst

sence, for his return,

And

back

loved

the

boatmen watched the

puted

for the

him as ignorant as scholars and statesmen. The

own,

much

enough

river, in his

and servants

dis

with Quests to do him service. through it all, the veil of playful

ness was never dropped. &quot;They played with the Lord,&quot; and instinctively they c

knew

it.

FOREWORD To

who have known

those

such

and sweeter, and in the long nights even the wind in the palm-trees seems to cry hours,

life is

&quot;Mahadeva

richer

Mahuldeva

Mahadeva

!&quot;

CHAPTER

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES. Place

Time:

cottage at Belur, besides the Ganges.

March

the

May

nth.

home by

Master had said that

little

heaven, for to

the

one

Ganges,

&quot;You

find

will

house of Dhira Ma,t& it is

all

love,

the

from beginning

end.&quot;

was

indeed.

Within,

unbroken harmony, and without, every the green stretch thing alike beautiful, of grass, the tall cocoanut palms, the little

brown

villages in the jungle,

and

the nilkantha that built her nest in a tree-

top beside us, on purpose to bring us In the morning the blessings of Siva. but the shadows lay behind the house :

in the

afternoons

we could

sit in

front,

worshipping the Ganges herself, great and in sight oi mother leonine !

Dakshineswar.

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES There came one and another with and we learnt traditions of the past ;

Master

of the

wanderings of the name changed from village to eight year

;

of the Nirvikalpa Sam&dhi and of that sacred sorrow, too deep for village

;

words, or for who loved had

common

sight, that

And

alone seen.

one

there,

came the Master Himself, with his stories of Um& and Siva, of Radha and Krishna, and his fragments of song and too,

poetry. It

seemed material

first

he knew that the

of a

new consciousness

vivid, but iso

must be a succession of

experiences, poured out without proper sequence, so as to provoke the mind of the learner to work for its own lated

conception of order and

any this

that

rate,

whether he knew

At not,

was the canon of educational science For the he unconsciously fulfilled.

most that

relation.

part,

was the

he portrayed

Indian religions

for us, to-day dealing

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS with one, and to-morrow with another, choice guided, seemingly, by the

his

whim

moment.

of the

religion

only

But

that he poured

Sometimes it would be Again, it would be folk-lore.

was not out upon

us.

history.

still

another occasion, it would be the mani fold anomalies and inconsistencies of race, caste,

and custom.

In fact

herself became, as heard in last

ing

India

him, as the

and noblest of the Pfirdnas, through his lips. Another point in which

utter

itself

he had

caught a great psychological secret was that of never trying to soften for us that

which would repellent.

at first sight be difficult or

In matters Indian he

would

rather put forward, in its extreme form, at the beginning of our experience, all that it might seem impossible for

European minds would quote, for about Gouri and

instance,

Sankar

form 8

Thus he some verse

enjoy.

in a

single

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES &quot;On

one side grows the hair

long

black curls,

And on On one

the other, corded like rope. are seen the beautiful

side

garlands, the other,

snake-like

One

side

the

The

bone earrings and coils.

white with ashes, like

snow mountains,

other,

golden as the light of

dawn.

For He, the Lord, took a form, And that was a divided form, Half- woman and

half-man.&quot;

And siasm

things,

hend

carried by his burning enthu was possible to enter into these and dimly, even then, to appre

their

meaning.

Whatever might be the the

subject of

ended always on Indeed I do not know that our Master s realisation of the Adwaita Philosophy has been conversation,

the note of the Infinite.

anything more convincing than in

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS matter of his interpretation of the He might appear to take up

this

world.

any

subject,

but

scientific, it

Vision. secular.

age,

of the

illustration

Ultimate

There was, for him, nothing He had a loathing for bond

and a horror of those who

chains with to

ethnological, or he always made us feel

literary,

make

flowers,&quot;

&quot;cover

but he never failed

the true critic

distinction be

and the highest forms of art. One day we were receiving European guests, and he entered into a long talk tween

this

ab6ut Persian poetry. Then suddenly, himself finding quoting the poem that says,

&quot;For

one mole on the face of

would give all the wealth of Beloved, Samarcand he turned and said ener I

!&quot;

would not give a straw, you know, for the man who was incap able of appreciating a love song!&quot; His getically

&quot;I

too teemed with epigrams. It was that same afternoon, in the course of

ta[k,

a long political argument, that he said 10

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES &quot;In

order to become a nation,

that

we need a common hate

common

appears

as well as

love.&quot;

months

Several

later

he remarked

that before one who had a mission he

never talked of any of the gods save Uma and Siva. For Siva and the

Mother made the great workers. Yet have sometimes wondered if he knew at this time how the end of every theme I

was

Much

bhakti.

of spiritual

luxury

as he

dreaded the

emotion

for

those

who might be enervated by

it,

not

of what

help giving glimpses

he could it

the consumed with And so he would intoxication of God.

meant

chant &quot;

for us

such peoms as

They have made Rjidha queen,

the beautiful groves of Brindaban.

At her gate stands Krishna,on guard. His

singing all the time,: about to distribute infinite

flute is

Radha

wealth of love. 1 1

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Though I am guard, all may enter. Come all ye who thirst Glory unto Radha

world

the

Say only

Enter the region of love Or he would give us the great antiphonal Chorus of the Cowherds, written !&quot;

his friend :*

Men.

Thou art the Soul of Thou yellow garbed, With thy blue eyes.

Women. Thou

dark

One

souls,

Thou

Shepherd of Brind^ban Kneeling at the feet of the

Sheperdesses.

Men.

soul sing the praise

the glory of the Lord,

Who Women. Thy

took the

beauty

human for

form.

us,

the

Gopis.

Men.

Thou Lord

Sacrifice.

Saviour of the weak. *

The

late

Bengali dramatist, Babu Girish Chandra Ghose.

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES Women.

Who lovest R&dh, and thy body

floats

own

its

tears.

One forget.

we can never

such day (May.g)

We had been sitting talking under when suddenly a storm came moved to the terrace, overhang

the trees, on.

ing the river, and then to the verandah. Not a moment too soon. Within ten minutes,

the

opposite

bank of the

Ganges was hidden from our view, and in

the blackness before us

the rain

falling

could hear

and

torrents,

the

now and

thunder crashing, while every

then there was a lurid flash of lightning. And yet, amidst all the turmoil of the

elements,

sat

on,

our

little

verandah, absorbed in a drama far more intense. One form passed back and forth across our

tiny

stage

;

one voice

compassed all the players; and the play that was acted before us was the love of the soul for

God!

Till we,

too

caught the kindling, and loved for the

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS moment could

with a

not

put Shall

disturb.

Love,

And

the

that the rushing river out nor the hurricane

fire

many, waters quench

overwhelm

floods

before Prometheus

before him together

left us,

and he

?&quot;

knelt

blest us

all.

One day, early the cottage-life, Swami took the Dhinl M4t^, and her whose name was Jay4, to be re in

17.

the

time by S^rada Devi, had come from her village home, to

ceived for the

who

Calcutta,

first

his

call.

brought back with them a guest to

whom

the

day makes one of

Thence for a

they few hours,

memory

of that

life s

great festivals. the fragrance of

Never can she

forget the Ganges, nor the long talk with the Master, nor the service Jaya had done that

morning

orthodox of Hindu

the

most

to eat

with

winning

woman

(

her foreign the

disciples

many happy

;

ties

nor any one of that

that

day

broyght into existence and consecrated. March, 26.

week

later

the

same guest was

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES there again, coming late on

and going away on

this time, the

coming

Wednesday,

Saturday evening. the custom

Swami kept

early,

and

spending the morning-hours there,

and

the

cottage

again returning in the late afternoon. On the second morning of this visit,

however, of the

Friday,

the Christian

Annunciation,

he took

feast

all

three back to the Math, and there, in the

worship-room, was held a Brahmacharini. mornings.

were taken

service

where one was made a

of initiation,

little

That was the happiest After

upstairs.

service,

The Swami

*put

the

ashes and

bone-earrings and matted locks of a Siva-yogi, and sang

the

and played

Indian instruments,

And

Indian for

music

an hour.

evening, in our boat on the Ganges, he opened his heart to us, and told us much of his questions and in the

regarding the trust that ,he held from his own Master.

anxieties

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Another week, and he was gone to Darjeeling, and till the day that the plague declaration brought him back we May,

saw him again no more. Then two of us met him

in the

house

Holy Mother. The political sky was black. It seemed as if a storm were of our

The moon

about to burst.

of those

evenings had the brown haze about it that is said to betoken civil disturbance

and already plague, panic, were doing their fell work. Master turned &quot;There

are

existence of

the

two

and

riot

And

the

and

said,

some who scoff at the Kali. Yet to-day She is out

there amongst the people. They are frantic with fear, and the soldiery have

Who

been called to deal out death. can

say

that

God

does not manifest

Himself as Evil as well as Good only the Hindu dares to worship in the evil.&quot;

But

Him

had come back, and the old life was resumed once more, as far as could (

THE HOUSE ON THE GANGES be,

seeing that an epidemic was in pros

pect,

and that measures were on hand

As long give the people confidence. as this possibility darkened the horizon, to

he would

not

leave

Calcutta.

But

passed away, and those happy days with it, and the time came that we should go.

CHAPTER

AT NAINI TAL AND ALMORA fersons:

The Swami Vivekananda

anc

Guru-bhais*,

;

disciples.

party of Europeans, amongst

MM,

was Jaya Place

Time

;

whom

were Dhira

One whose name

;

and Nivedita.

The Himalayas.

/May

We two

Steady Mother

the

II to

May

25, 1898.

were a large party,

parties, that left

Wednesday layas.

Howrah

sight

They seemed

of the

rise

station

and on

evening,

morning came

indeed,

or,

Friday

Hima

suddenly

out of the plains, a few hundred yards

away. Naini Tal

was made

three things,

the Master

beautiful

pleasure in introducing to us his disciple, the Raja the dancing girls who met us of Khetri s

;

and asked us where *

Spiritual

same Master

brethren

find him,

disciples

;

are so called.

of one

and

th&amp;lt;

NAINI TAL AND ALMORA were received by him, inspire of the remonstrances of others and by the ;

Mohammedan

said

any claim

after-times

&quot;Swamiji,

who

gentleman

you as an avatar, an especial incarna tion of

the Deity

Mohammedan, am It

was

long talk

here,

remember the

first

!&quot;

we heard a

too, that

Ram Mohun

that

Roy,

which

pointed out three things as the dominant notes of this teacher s mes

sage, his acceptance of the Vedanta, his

preaching of patriotism, and that

the

love

embraced the Mussulman equally

with the Hindu.

all

these

things,

he claimed himself to have

taken up

the task that the breadth and

foresight

Ram Mohun Roy The

had mapped

incident of the

dancing

occurred in consequence of our the two temples at the head tarn,

out. girls

visit

of the

which from time immemorial have

been places of pilgrimage,

making the

beautiful

holy.

little

&quot;Eye

Lake&quot;

Here,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS offering

worship,

women. came up

When to us,

entered

age,

them.

ladies

we found two

nautch-

they had finished, they

and we

broken langu

conversation

into

with

took them for respectable the town, and were much

at the storm which had evidently passed over the Swami s audience at his refusal to have them

astonished, later,

turned away. ing that

was

Am in

mistaken

in think

connection with these

dancing-women of Naini Tal told

first

the

story,

that

times

many

repeated, of the nautch-girl of Khetri ? He had been angry at the invitation to

see her,

but

being prevailed upon to

come, she sang &quot;O

Lord, look not upon

evil qualities

Thy name, O Lord, isSame-Sightedness, Make us both the same Brahman !

One

piece of iron

the knife in the

hand of the butcher 20

NAINI TAL AND ALMORA

And

another piece of iron

the image in the temple. is

But when they touch the philosopher

stone,

Both alike turn

to gold

the sacred Jumna, foul in a ditch by the roadside.

Onedrop of water

And one

is in

But when they fall into -the Ganges, Both alike become holy !

So, Lord, look not upon

my evil qualities

Thy name, O Lord, is Same-Sightedness. Make us both the same Brahman !&quot;

And

then, said the

scales

that

fell

all

from

Master of himself, the his

eyes,

are indeed one,

and seeing

he condemned

no more. [And she whose name is Java, heard from another of this same visit,

when

to the

assembled

women he spoke

words of power that moved full of love and tenderness,

all

hearts,

without se

paration and without reproach.] It was late in the afternoon when we 21

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Naini Tal for Almora,

left

overtook us while

and night

still

travelling through on we went, follow ing the road into deep gullies, and out again, round the shoulders of projecting

the forest.

hill sides,

On and

always under the shadow of

great trees, and always preceded by tor ches and lanterns to keep off bears and

While day

tigers.

the

&quot;rose-forests&quot;

lasted

we had seen

and the maiden-hair

by the spring sides, and the scarlet blossoms on the wild pomegranate bushes but with nightfall, only the fra fern

;

grance of these and the honeysuckles was left to us, and we journeyed on, con

know

nothing, save silence and starlight, and the grandeur of the moun till we reached a quaintly tains placed tent to

dak-bungalow, on the mountain side, in There after some the midst of trees.

Swamiji arrived with his party, of fun, and keen in his appreciation

time, fiJl

of everything that concerned the comfort of his guests,

but

full

before

all,

of the

NAINI TAL AND ALMORA poetry of the weird out, the coolies by

&quot;night

near,

and the

Man s

whispering

solemn blackness of the

From

and the

their fires,

neighing horses, the Poor

with

scenes&quot;

Shelter

trees

and

forest.

day that we arrived at Almora the Swami renewed his habit of the

coming over to us at our early breakfast, and spending some hours in talk. Then and always, he was an exceedingly light sleeper, and I imagine that his visit to the hour might be, was often paid during the course of his return with his monks from a still earlier walk. us, early as

Sometimes, but in the

we saw him again meeting him when

rarely,

evening, either out for a walk, or going ourselves Capt. Sevier

where he and

his party

were staying, and seeing him there. And once he came at that time to call

us.

Into these

a strange tary to

morning

new element,

talks at

Almora,

painful but salu

remember, had

crept.

There

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS appeared

to be,

bitterness

and

irritation

of the

on one

side,

distrust, and,

and defiance.

Swami s

a curious

on the other,

The youngest

disciples at this time,

must be remembered, was an English woman, and of how much this fact meant

what a

intellectually,

implied,

and always

strong bias it does imply, in the

reading of India, what an idealism of the English race and all their deeds and history,

the

conception

Swami

himself had had no

the day after her initiation

till

at the monastery.

Then he had asked her

some exultant question, as to which nation she now belonged to, and had been startl ed

to find with

what a passion of loyalty

and worship she regarded the Englishgiving to it much of the feeling that an Indian woman would give to her Thakoor. His surprise and disappoint flag,

ment

at the

ceptible.

moment were startled look,

scarcely per

no more. Nor

did his discovery of the superficial way in which this disciple had joined herself

NA1NI TAL AND ALMORA with his people in any degree affect his confidence and courtesy during the re maining weeks spent in the plains. But with Almora, school,

seemed as

had commenced,

a going-toand just as

schooling is often disagreeable to the taught, so here, though it cost infinite pain, the blindness of a

half-view must

mind must be brought centre of gravity. It was

be done away. to

change its never more than

this;

creed

of opinion or

;

never the dictating never more than

Even at emancipation from partiality. the end of the terrible experience, when method, as regarded race and coun was renounced, never to be taken

this try,

up systematically again, not

call for

the

any confession of

declaration of

Swami faith,

did

any

He dropped

new

opinion. the whole question. His listener went free.

But he had revealed a

standpoint pletely

thoughtand

com make it

feeling, so

and so strongly as

impossible for her to

different

rest, until later,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS her

own

view

labours, she

had arrived

which both these

partial present

ments stood rationalised and accounted for

patriotism like

&quot;Really,

he exclaimed once,

sin!&quot;

yours

many weeks

when

the process of obtaining an uncoloured judgment on some incident had been more than commonly exasper later,

ating.

&quot;All

that

want you

see

that most people s actions are the expres sion of self-interest, and you constantly

oppose to are is

all

this the idea that a certain race

Wickedness

which

Ignorance so determined Another question on

angels.

this

!&quot;

same

disciple

showed a most

was that of the current western estimate of woman. Both these bitter obstinacy

sympathy look petty

limitations of her

and vulgar enough

to her

now, as com

pared with the open and disinterested attitude of the R&amp;gt;ut

mind

at the time they

in the path,

that

welcomes

truth.

were a veritable

lion,

and remained so until she had

grasped the

folly

of allowing anything

NAINI TAL AND ALMORA whatever

to obscure to her the personal

was here revealing itself. Once having seen this, it was easy to be passive to those things that could not be ity that

accepted, or could not be understood, and to leave to time the formation of ultimate In every judgments regarding them. case it had been some ideal of the past that

had raised a barrier

the

move

ment of her sympathy, and surely it is It is the worships of one era always so. which forge the

fetters of the next.

These morning

talks at

Almora

then,

took the form of assaults upon deep-rboted

and social, preconceptions, literary, artistic, or of long comparisons of Indian and European history and sentiments, often containing extended observations of very great value. One characteristic of the Swami was the habit of attacking

the abuses of a country or society openly

and vigorously when he was in its midst, whereas after he had left it, it would often seem as if nothing but its virtues were 27

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS remembered by him. testing his disciples,

was always and the manner of

these particular discourses was probably adopted in order to put to the proof the

courage and sincerity of one both woman and European.

who was

CHAPTER

III

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA

The

Place

Almora.

Time

May and June

first

1898.

morning, the talk was that of

the central ideals of civilization,

West,

truth, in the East,

justified

Hindu

in the

chastity.

marriage-customs,

He as

springing from the pursuit of this ideal, and from the woman s need of protection, in

And

combination.

relation of the

he traced out the

whole subject

to the

Phi

losophy of the Absolute.

Another morning he began by obser ving that as there were four main castes,

Sudra,

Brahman, Kshattriya, Bunea, so there were four great national

functions, the religious or

priestly,

ful

by the Hindus, the military, by the Roman Empire the mercantile by

filled

;

and the democratic, by England today America in the future. And here he ;

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS launched off into a glowing prophetic forecast of

how America would

the problems of the

yet solve the prob

Sudra, lems of freedom and co-operation, and turned to relate to a non-American list ener, the generosity of the

arrangements which that people had attempted to make for their aborigines.

Again

would be an eager rdsumJ

of the history of India or of the

whose

greatness never

Moguls

wearied

him.

Every now and then, throughout the summer, he would break out into des Once criptions of Delhi and Agra. he described the Taj as dimness, and again a dimness, and there a grave &quot;a

!&quot;

he spoke of Shah Jehan, and then, with a burst of enthusiasm,

Another

&quot;Ah

time,

was the glory of his line A and discrimination of beauty !

feeling for, that are unparalled in history.

And

have seen a manuscript illuminated by him, which is one of the

artist himself

art-treasures of India.

What

a genius

!&quot;

MORNING TALKS A T ALMORA Oftener

would

still,

tell,

almost with tears

and a passion side that

was Akbar of

easier

whom

in his voice,

to understand,

undomed tomb, open

sun and

wind, the grave of Secundra at Agra. But all the more universal forms of

human

were open to the Master. In one mood he talked of China as if feeling

she were the treasure-house of the world,

and

told us of the thrill

saw

inscriptions in old Bengali (Kutil

which he

with

characters, over the doors of Chinese

Few

more eloquent of the vagueness of Western

temples.

things

could

ideas regarding Oriental peoples than the fact that one of his listeners alleged

untruthfulness as a notorious that race.

As a matter

Chinese are famous

in the

quality of

fact

the

United States,

where they are known as business-men, for their remarkable commercial inte developed to a point

far

beyond Western requirement of the written word. So the objection was an

grity,

that of the

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS of

instance

misrepresentation, which, though disgraceful, is nevertheless too common. But in any case the Swami

would have none of Social rigidity very,

it.

Untruthfulness

What were

these, except

very relative terms

And

as to

untruthfulness in particular, could com mercial life, or social life, or any other

form of co-operation go on

men

did not trust

men

for a day,

Untruthfulness

as a necessity

was

that

of etiquette ? different from the

And how Western

the Englishman always glad idea ? and always sorry at the proper place ? Is

But there

a difference of degree but only of degree

is still

Perhaps Or he might wander as Italy, that

greatest of the

far afield as

countries of

Europe, land of religion and of art of

;

alike

and of organization mother of ideas, of culture,

imperial

Mazzini

;

and of freedom r

One day

!&quot;

was

Mahrattas and the year 32

Sivaji s

and the

wandering as a

AT ALMORA

MOKN/Ni; TALKS Saunydsi, that &quot;And

garh.

S \vami,

won him home to

this

&quot;authority

Sannytisi,

lest

tin*

Aryans

said

day,&quot;

the

dreads the

India

he conceal

yellow garb another Often the enquiry,

Rai-

beneath his

Siv&ji.&quot;

Who and

what are

absorbed his attention

;

and, holding- that their origin was com plex, he would tell us how in Switzerland

he had

felt

himself to be

China, so

He believed too were the types. that the same was true of some parts of like

Then

were scraps of information about countries and physiog

Norway.

there

nomies, an impassioned tale of the Hun garian scholar, who traced the Huns to Tibet, and lies buried in Darjeeling so on.

and

was very interesting throughout summer, to watch, not only in the

this

Swami s case, but in that who might be regarded as of the old Indian

culture,

all

persons

representative

how

strong-

was the fascination exerted by enquiries 33

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS of

this nature.

seemed

the

intellectual life of the East, questions of

race and custom and ethnological origins and potentialities took the place that

the observation of international politics might hold in the West. The idea

suggested itself that Oriental scholars and statesmen could never ignore this element in their peculiar problems, and

would be

likely

the

same time

bring a very valuable power of discri mination to bear upon it.

Sometimes the Swami would deal with the rift between Brahmins and Kshattriyas, painting the whole history of India as a struggle between the two, and showing that the latter had always

embodied the

rising,

fetter-destroying

He could give impulses of the nation. excellent reason too for the faith that was

him

that the Kayasthas of

Bengal represented Kshattriyas.

modern

the

pre-Mauryar would portray th(

two opposing types of 34

culture,

the

on&amp;lt;

WORKING TALKS AT ALMORA and saturated with an ever-deepening sense of tradition and the other, defiant, impulsive, custom classical, intensive,

;

liberal in its out-look. It was part of a deep-lying law of the historic deve Rama, Krishna, and lopment that

and

Buddha had

all

arisen in the kingly,

And

not in the priestly caste.

and this

paradoxical moment, Buddhism was re duced to a caste-smashing formula

&quot;a

religion invented by the Kshattriyas&quot; as a crushing rejoinder to Brahminism !

That was a great hour indeed, when he spoke of Buddha

catching a word that seemed to identify him with its anti-Brahminical spirit, an uncompre

hending did not

listener

for,

&quot;Why Swami, I were a Buddhist you he said rounding on her, his

know

&quot;Madam,&quot;

;

said,

that

!&quot;

whole face aglow with the inspiration of am the servant of the that name, &quot;I

servants

Who Lord

of the

servants

was there ever

Buddha.

Him

who never performed one 35

ihe

action

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Himself

for

embra

with a heart that

ced the whole world

of pity

full

that

His

life

prince and monk to save a little goat

that

sacrificed himself to the

would give

So loving

hunger

to of a tigress hospitality of a And He came pariah and blessed him

the

my room when I was a boy and I For I knew it was the fell at His feet Lord Himself Many times he spoke of Buddha in into

!&quot;

fashion,

this

sometimes

sometimes afterwards. told

the

courtesan

beautiful in

story

who

Belur and

And

once he

Amb,pftli,

the

Him,

feasted

words that re-called the revolt of

Rossetti s

Magdalene &quot;Oh

great

half-sonnet

Mary

loose

Seest thou not

s face,

That draws me

Bridegroom him ? For his

hair,

tears,

to-day

feet kiss,

craves

And oh

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA

What words

see

Shall

can

needs me,

tell

what other day and place

blood clasp those stained feet of His ? calls

me, loves me,

let

me go all

!&quot;

But national feeling did not have it its own way. For one morning when

chasm seemed to be widest, there was a long talk on bhakti that per

the

with the

fect identity

Beloved that the

Ramananda the Rilya Bengali nobleman before Chaitanya so

devotion

beautifully illustrates &quot;Four

eyes met. There were changes in

And now

two

cannot remember

whether he

And

know

is,

talked

there were two,

came, and there

man

woman, or he a woman and I

All

souls.

man

Love

one was that same morning that he of the

Babists

Persia,

!&quot;

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS martyrdom of the woman who inspired and the man who wor And doubtless shipped and worked. their era of

then he expatiated

on that theory of somewhat quaint and surprising to

his

unaccustomed minds, not so much the matter of the statement, as

for

for the

of the expression, goodness of the young,

of the

explicitness

greatness and who can love without seeking personal

expression for their love, and their high potentiality.

Another day coming at sunrise when the snows could be seen, dawn-lighted, from the garden, it was Siva and Uma on whom he dwelt, and that was Siva, up there, the white snow-peaks, and the

upon Him was the Mother of the World For a thought on which at this time he was dwelling much was light that

fell

that &amp;lt;;

it,

God

the

or outside

God

it,

Universe,

not within

and not the universe

or the image of and the All.

God

but

it,

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA Sometimes he would

sit

through the summer hours telling us stories,

all

for

not at

function

fictions,

but

Hinduism, whose

those cradle-tales

all

that of our nursery

much more,

the

man-

making myths of the old Hellenic world. Best of all these I thought was the Suka, and

story of

we looked on the

Siva-mountains and the bleak scenery of Almora the evening we heard it for the

first

time.

the

Suka,

Paramahamsa,

typical

be born

refused to

for

fifteen

years,

because he knew that his birth

wpuld

mean

mother

his

father

appealed

The

death.*

Um^,

reader

may

the

his

Divine

question this version of the story of

But the Sister Nivedita, as

Suka.

Then

She was perpetually tearing

mother. *

far

we can judge has make it appear* that Suka had in

put the facts here thus, intentionally, either to

more natural his heart

kindred, born,

mother

;

for

or to suggest

he (Suka)

home and

the great

love

knew he would

all for

leave father, mother,

the love of God, as soon as he

was

causing death-like pangs to them, especially *to his s

heart.

whi e reading the

The

reader

last part

should remember this also,

of the story.

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

down

the veil of Ma,y& before the hidden

and Vy&sa pleaded that She should cease this, or his sou would never come to birth. UniTi consented, for one Saint,

moment

only and that

He came

was born.

man

sixteen years

and went neither

moment

nor

father

young

unclothed,

forward,

straight

his

forth

of age,

the child

knowing

his

mother,

straight on, followed by Vyasa. Then, coming round a mountain-pass his

body melted away from him, because it was no different from the universe, and his father following and crying, &quot;Oh

son

ed only by the

among

Oh my son echo,

the rocks.

&quot;Om

!&quot;

was answer

Om Om !

!&quot;-

Then Suka resum

ed his body, and came to his father to But Vyasa get knowledge from him. found that he had none for him, and sent him to Janaka, king of MithiU, the father of Sitsi, if perchance he might

have some

Three days he

to give.

sat

outside the royal gates, unheeded, with-

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA out a change of expression or of look.

The

day he was suddenly admit

fourth

the king s presence with tclat. Still there was no change. Then as a test, the powerful sage ted

who was

the

king s prime a himself into

translated

minister,

beautiful

every one to turn away from the sight But of her, and none dared speak. Suka went up to her and drew her to

woman, so present had

sit

that

beautiful

beside him

his

while

mat,

talked to her of God.

Then

the minister turned

Jandka oh if saying, you seek King, the greatest man on earth, this is he There is little more told of the life &quot;Know,

!&quot;

of Suka.

the

ideal

Parama-

To him

alone amongst men was it given to drink a handful of the waters of that one undivided Ocean of Sat-Chit-

hamsa.

Ananda

existence,

bliss absolute

Most

knowledge saints die,

heard only the thunder of

Its

and

having

waves

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS upon the shore. A few gain the vision and still fewer, taste of It. But he drank of the Sea of Bliss !&quot;

was indeed the Swami s He was the type, to him, of saint. that highest realisation to which life and

Suka

the world are merely play. Long after, we learned how Sri Ramakrishna had

spoken of him Suka.&quot;

And

his

boyhood

never can

as,

&quot;My

forget the into depths

one gazing far of joy, with which he once stood and quoted the words of Siva, in praise o: look, as of

the

deep

spiritual

significance

of the

Bhagavad-Gita, and of the greatness o: Suka know, the real meaning o &quot;I

teachings of the

the

Bhagavad-Gita and Suka knows, and perhaps Vyasc knows a little !

Another day talked

of the

had arisen inrolling wash

that

Alrnora the

great

Swam

humanising

live,

Bengal, at the lon| of the first wave o

modern conciousness

on the

ancien

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA

Of Ram Hindu culture. Mohun Roy we had already heard from And now of the him at Nani Tal. of

shores

Pundit Vidy^sjigar he exclaimed &quot;There of my age in Northern is not a man India, fallen

on l&quot;

whom It

shadow has not to him to these men and Sri his

was a great joy

remember that R4makrishna had

all

been born within

a few miles of each other.

The Svvami us now as

&quot;

introduced Vidy&siigar the hero of widow re

marriage, and of the aboliton of poly But his favourite story ab out gamy.&quot;

him was of that day when he went home from the Legislative Council, pondering over the question of whether or not to adopt English dress on such occasions. Suddenly some one came up to a fat

Mogul who was proceeding homewards in leisurely and pompous fashion, in front of him, with the news Sir, your house is on fire The Mogul went &quot;

!&quot;

neither faster nor slower for this infor-

NOTES OF mation,

SO.\fE

WANDERINGS

and presently the

messengei

contrived to express a discreet astonish ment. Whereupon his master turned

on him angrily, &quot;Wretch!&quot; he said, &quot;am I to abandon the gait of my ancestors, because

burning behind,

a few

sticks

happen

chudder, dhoti and

sandals,

not even

adopting coat and slippers.

The

And

Vidy^s^gar, walking determined to stick to the

?&quot;

picture of

retreat for a

Vidysgar going into

month

for the

study of the

Sh^stras, (Scriptures), when his mother had suggested to him the re-marriage of

child-widows, was

&quot;He very forcible. came out of his retirement of opinion that

they were not against such re-marriage, and he obtained the signatures of the pundits that they agreed in this opinion. Then the action of certain native princes led the pundits to abandon their own sig natures, so that, had the Government not

determined to

assist

the movement,

could not have been carried

and

now,&quot;

.MORNING TALKS

AT ALMORA

the added the Swami, an economic rather than a &quot;

We And

alone, it

social

was

has

basis.&quot;

man who

could believe that

\vas able to discredit

force

difficulty

polygamy by moral

&quot;intensely

spiritual.&quot;

was wonderful indeed

realise

the Indian indifference to a formal creed,

when we heard how

this giant

was driven

when 140000

by the famine of 1864,

to people died of hunger and disease, have nothing more to do with God, and

become entirely agnostic in thought. With this man, as one of the educators of Bengal, the

Swami coupled

the name of David Hare, the old Scots man and atheist to whom the clergy of

Calcutta refused Christian

had died

burial.

of nursing

old

his

own

cholera.

He pupil

boys dead body and buried it in a swamp, and made the grave a place of has That place now pilgrimage. through

carried his

become College Square, the educational centre and his school

now

within

the

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

And to this day, Calcutta University. students make pilgrimage to the tomb.

this

day we took advantage of

the natural turn of the conversation

Swami

the cross-question influence possible

that

the

Christianity

might have exerted over himself. Hi was much amused to hear that such ;i statement had been hazarded, and told us with much pride of his only contac: with missionary influences, in the persoi. of his old Scotch master, Mr. Hastie

This

hot-headed

old

man

lived

nothing, and regarded his room as boy s home as much as his own.

was he who had Sri

Swami Ramakrishna, and towards the em first

sent the

t&amp;lt;

of his stay in India he used to say

boy, you were

right!

It is

am proud don

true

him

right,

that !&quot;

all is

&quot;Ye

you wer-

God

cried the

&quot;

!&quot;

Swami

think you could say that hhad Christianised me much!&quot; It appeal &quot;but

ed,

indeed,

that

he had only been

&amp;gt;

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA some

six

months, having attended college so irregularly that the Presidency College refused to send him for

pupil

though he undertook

for his degree,

to pass

heard charming

less serious

subjects.

instance,

own

There

was the

an American

lodging-house

stories, too,

where he had had

city for

cook his

and where he would meet,

food,

of operations, &quot;an actress roast turkey everyday, and a

course

the

who

ate

husband and wife who lived by making And when the Swami remons ghosts&quot;. with

trated

persuade

husband, and tried to

the

him

give

deceiving not to do

ought people, saying this the wife would come up behind, and say eagerly &quot;Yes Sir that s just &quot;You

!&quot;

makes

all

the

ghosts, and Mrs. Williams takes

all

the

what

tell

him

;

for he

money!&quot;

told us also of a

an educated man, who, 47-

young engineer, at

a spiritualistic

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS gathering,

&quot;when

the fat Mrs. Williams

appeared from behind the screen as his thin mother, exclaimed Mother dear,

how you have world li

the

spirit-

!&quot;

broke,

hope

grown

this,&quot;

for

said the

for the

peasant

thought there could be no But never at a loss, he

Russian painter,

to paint

dead

tion given

heart

&quot;my

man.&quot;

told the story of a

was ordered

Swami,

father,

being,

the

of a

picture

the only descrip

&quot;Man

you he had a wart on

who

don

his nose

at last, therefore, the painter

tell

When

?&quot;

had made

a p6rtrait of some stray peasant, and affixed a large wart to the nose, the

was declared to be ready, and the son was told to come and see it. picture

stood in front

come, and said

it,

&quot;Father

changed you are since

over

greatly

Father

saw you

how last

!&quot;

this, young engineer would never speak to the Swami again, which showed at least that he could see the

After

the

MORNING TALKS A T ALMORA of a

point

But

story.

Hindu monk was genuinely

this,

the

astonished.

In spite of such general interests, however, the inner strife grew high,

and the thought pressed on the mind of one of the older members of our party that the

Master himself needed service

and peace. Many times he spoke with wonder of the torture of life, and who can say bitter

how many

need

signs there were, of word or two was

enough and he, after many hours, came back and told us that he longed for quiet, and would

spoken

little,

alone

&amp;gt;o

but

the

and

forests

find

soothing.

And

then,

he .saw the

looking up,

young moon shining above

Mohammedans

said

&quot;The

the

new moon.

Let us

new moon, begin a new

us,

think also,

life

!&quot;

and he

much of with the

And he

blessed his daughter with a great bless ing, so that she, thinking that her old relationship

was broken, nor dreaming 49

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS new and deeper life was being given to it, knew only that the hour was that a

strange and passing sweet. And so that strife was ended, and for all views and opinions of the Swami,

room made thenceforth, that they might be held and examined, and determined on at leisure, however im there was

possible or unpleasing they might at the first.

went.

was

seem

Wednesday

H( on Saturday he came back. had been in the silence of the forest? ten hours each day, but on returning to

And

evenings, he had beer surrounded with so much eager atten dance as to break the mood, and he his tent in the

had

Yes, he was radiant.

fled.

discovered sannyasi,

himself

able

endure heat,

cold,

unspoilt by the West. else

he had

present,

and

got, \ve

the

old-time

barefoot,

and

anc

scanty

fare

This, and

wha

was enough for left him, under 50

hac

th&amp;lt;

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA eucalyptus trees, and amongst the tearoses, in Mr. Sevier s garden, full of gratitude and peace.

The

following Monday he went with his host an-d hostess, on a

away,

to read,

and we were left in Almora and draw, and botanise. One

evening

week s

that

One The

week,

Our

curiously with the In one of us read aloud &quot;Yet

these ears,

till

set slow bell will

sat

talking

were

thoughts

Memoriam

and

hearing dies,

seem

to toll

passing of the sweetest soul

That ever looked with human eyes. I hear it now, and o er and o er, Eternal greetings to the dead

And Ave, Ave, Ave, Adieu, Adieu, for

;

said,

evermore.&quot;

was the very hour at which, in the distant south, one soul of our own circle was passing out of this little church It

visible of ours, into

and

30&amp;gt;

visit,

dinner.

after

Ma v

some

triumphant

finer radiance

manifestation,

June 2nd,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS perhaps, in the closer presence possible But we did not know it yet. beyond.

another day the dark shadow knew not what hung over us. Still

then,

working on

sat

of,

And

Friday

morning, the telegram came, a day late that said &quot;Goodwin died last night a: Ootacamund.&quot;

Our poor

friend

appeared, been one of the of what was to prove an last

And

epidemic o*

the Swami, and longed for his presence

by June

5th.

his side.

Sunday evening, the Swam came home. Through our gate anc over the terrace his way brought him and there we sat and talked with him moment. He did not know our news

&amp;lt;

but a great darkness hung over hin already, silence

had

and presently he broke to remind us of that saint wh(

th&amp;lt;

called the cobra s

from the

Beloved,&quot;

victim:;

seemed tha breath he had spoken o

fever.

typhoid with his

first

had,

bite

one

&quot;messenge

whom

he hac

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA second only to Sri Ramakrishna have just,&quot; he said, &quot;received himself.

loved,

&quot;I

a letter that says

his

all

completed

sacrifice of his

&quot;How

someone can in

speaking

fire.&quot;

&quot;Swami

that very wrong?&quot; tell said the Swami,

?&quot;

&quot;He

great agitation.

little

from amongst his

too great a man for me to judge. knew himself what he was doing.&quot;

Very

the

own body. He has burnt

&quot;wasn

listeners,

with

sacrifices

himself in his sacrificial

exclaimed

Baba has

Paohari

was said

after

this,

was

He and

monks passed on. Not yet had the other news been broken. Next morning he came early, in a the party of

great mood. afterwards,

out to

had been

since four.

meet him, and

Goodwin

Some days the place

death. later,

up,

And one went told him, of

The blow

fell

Mr.

quietly.

he refused to stay

where he had received

it,

and

complained of the weakness that brought the image of his most faithful disciple 53

j une 6th.

he said

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS into

constantly

mind.

his

more manly, he ridden by one

be thus

protested, to s

was nc

memory,

than

fish

retain the characteristics of the

the

Man

must

conquer this and know that the dead are

dog.

illusion,

here beside us and

with

much

us,

absence and separa myth. And then he

as ever.

It is their

tion that

are

would break out again with some

bitter

utterance against the folly of imagining Personal Will to guide the universe. &quot;As

one

he exclaimed,

if,&quot;

right

God

and

Goodwin

this

slay

Him,

for

done

such a killing

he had

much

!&quot;

India one was free to recognise as the most religious, because the

while

may perhaps

the

fight

And that

have

most unflinchingly I

would not be

And Goodwin,

could

lived,

And

and duty

&quot;it

truthful,

speak of

fierce

all

another,

spoken out ol wonder at the dreams

heard a year

same

this utterance,

beside

put

mood

later,

MORNING TALKS A T ALMORA we

which

with &quot;Why

!&quot;

The

ourselves.

petty

&quot;Every

allowed his

and

rest.

Only Magistrate, must and never go ever,

Eternal for

judging

free

officer

of retirement

period

sit

then,

said,

magistrate and

God,

comfort

!&quot;

But

these

was calm about his loss, and chatted quietly with full

that

Swami and sat down

hours, the

first

us.

He was

morning of bhakti passing

asceticism,

divine

the

carries the soul

its

of reach of persons, yet

tides, far

leaves

out

again,

snares

those sweet

struggling to avoid

that

passion

high

into

of personality. What he said that

morning of renun ciation proved a hard gospel to one of those who listened, and when he came a^ain she put tion

that

love

him

as her

convic-

without attachment

involved no pain, and was in itself ideal. He turned on her with a sudden solemnity.

&quot;What is

this idea of

bhakti

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS without

most

renunciation?&quot;

said.

&quot;It

and standing there for an hour or more, he talked of the awful self-discipline that one must impose

pernicious!&quot;

would

one

oneself,

of the

unattached,

indeed

requisite nakedness

and of the danger that at any moment the most flowerlike soul might have its petals soiled of selfish motives,

with the grosser stains of life. the story of an Indian nun

asked when a

man

could be

told

who was

certain

and who sent back, for answer, a little plate of ashes. For the fight against passion was long and fierce, and at any moment the conqueror might become the conquered.

safety on this road,

And

seemed that this banner of renunciation was the flag of a great victory, that poverty and selfas

he talked,

mastery were the only

fit

raiment for

the soul that

would wed the Eternal

Bridegroom,

and that

life

was a long

opportunity for giving, and the thing not

MORNING TALKS AT ALMGRA taken away from us was to be mourned as lost.

Weeks

afterwards, in Kashmir,

when he was again

talking

some

kindred fashion, one of us ventured to ask him if the feeling he thus roused

were not that worship of pain Europe abhors as morbid. &quot;Is

noble &quot;But

&quot;we

?&quot;

that

the worship of pleasure, then, so

was

his

immediate

answer.

he added, after a pause,

indeed,&quot;

worship neither pain nor pleasure. seek through either to come at that

which transcends them

both.&quot;

This Thursday morning there was a June talk on Krishna. It was characteristic

Swami s mind, and characteristic of the Hindu culture from which he

of the also

had sprung,

that he could lend himself

enjoyment and portrayal of an idea one day, that the next would see to the

pitiless analysis and left the field. He was a sharer to upon the full in the belief of his people that,

submitted to a slain

provided an

idea

was 57

spiritually true

9th.

NOTES OF and

consistent,

about

mode to

its

And

been suggested

&quot;What

&quot;do

who

authenticity

Ramakrishna, those

certain said

!&quot;

itself?&quot;

existence of Krishna, then, like

Mahommed teachers,

amongst

alone,

the

Buddha and

way he doubted.

general

religious

had been fortunate enough

have enemies as

well as friends

their

careers

historical

for

ruler,

A poet,

so that

a cowherd,

a warrior, and a sage had

perhaps been merged figure, holding the Gita

all

one beautiful

in his

But to-day, Krishna was perfect of the

were beyond Krishna, he was the

most shadowy of all. a great

such

conceive

could

that of Christ, he often told

dispute.

Sri

you not then think

ideas must have been the thing

The

this

boyhood, by his own had mentioned some doubt

religious history.

that

first

little

his

the

very

objective actuality.

Master. as

mattered

of thought had

him,

WANDERINGS

SO. WE

avatars.&quot;

And

hand.

&quot;the

most

a wonderful

MORNIXG TALKS AT ALMORA picture

who

of the charioteer

followed,

reined in his horses, while he

surveyed

the field of battle and in one brief glance noted the disposition of the forces, at the to

same moment utter

his

that he

royal

commenced

pupil

the

deep

spiritual truths of the Gita.

And

indeed as

countrysides

we went through northern

India

the this

summer, we had many chances of noting how deep this Krishna-myth had set its the people. The songs that dancers chanted as they danced, in the

mark upon

roadside hamlets, were

Krishna. ,i

And

the

all

Radha

-and

Swami was fond of

statement, as to which we,

of course,

could have no opinion, that the Krishnaworshippers of India had exhausted the possibilities of the

romantic

motive

lyric poetry.

curious old story of the Gopis, then, really a fragment of some pastoral Is that

worship, absorbed by a

more modern

system, and persistently living on, in

all

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS its

dramatic tenderness and mirth, into

the glare of the nineteenth century But throughout these days,

the

Swami was fretting to be away and alone. The place where he had heard of Mr. Goodwin s loss was intolerable to him,

and

be written and

letters

received constantly renewed the wound.

said one

day that

while seeming to be all

within,

jndna

Sri Ramakrishna,

bhakti was really,

all ;

but

himself,

jndna, was full of bhakti, and that thereby he was apt to be as apparently

weak

all

as any

woman.

One day he

carried off a few

some one s

faulty

and brought little poem, which was sent to the widowed mother, as his memorial of

lines of

writing,

back a

her son. Requiescat

Speed Speed,

forth,

Pace

soul

blissful one,

upon thy star-strewn path, !

where thought is

ever

free,

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA

Where

time and sense no longer mist the view,

Eternal peace and blessings be on thee!

Thy

service true, complete thy sacrifice,

Thy home

the heart of love

transcendent

Remembrance

sweet, that tells

Like altar-roses,

Thy bonds

fill

space and time, thy place behind.

are broke, thy quest

found.

in bliss is

And

one with that which comes

Death and

Thou

helpful

Ahead,

still

one

Life,

unselfish e er

on earth, aid with love this world of

And left

she

find, all

strife.

because there was nothing of the original, and he feared that then,

who was

corrected (because her lines 61

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS had been

&quot;in

three

might be

metres&quot;)

he expatiated, long and earnestly

hurt,

upon the theme that

was so much

greater to feel poetically than merely to string syllables together

metre

sympathy

rhyme and

might be very severe on a

or an opinion that seemed

But an eyes sentimental or false. effort that failed found always in the his

Master

its

warmest advocate and tender-

est defence.

And how happy was

that

acknowledg to him

ment of the bereaved mother

when, in the midst of her sorrow sh( wrote and thanked him for the characte of

died so far June

loth.

that 1

away

was our

afternoon at

the

story

Sirkar had been called

pronounced the disease the

with

throat,

Almor;

of the fata

illnessofSriRamakrishna. Dr. Lall

ha(

last

we heard

who

over the son

his influence

Mohendr

in,

and

ha*

be cancer

leaving the young disciple

;

many warnings

as to

its

infectiou

&amp;gt;

MORNING TALKS AT ALMORA iture.

Half an hour

as he then was,

came

later,

&quot;Noren&quot;,

and found them

huddled together, discussing the dangers

what they had been told, and then, looking down, saw at his feet the cup of gruel that had been partly taken by Sri Ramakrishna and which must have contained in it, of the

case.

listened to

germs of the mucous and pus, as the

discharges of came out in his

fatal it

attempts to swallow the thing, on account of the stricture of the foodbaffled

passage

and

in the throat.

drank

Never

was

from the

it,

picked

before

infection

them of

up, all.

cancer

mentioned amongst the disciples again.

CHAPTER ON THE WAY

IV.

TO KATHGODAM.

Saturday morning we left Almora. took us two days and a half to reach

Kathgodam. How beautiful the journey was Dim, almost tropical, forests, troops of monkeys, and the ever-wondrous !

Indian night.

Somewhere en water-mill

old

Swami told spoke of

and deserted

D/itr&

this

route near a

Mdtd

hillside

curious

forge, the

of a legend that as haunted by a

race of centaur-like phantoms, and of an

experience

had

first

known

by which one seen forms there, and only to him,

afterwards heard the folk-tale.

The

roses were

but a flower was in at a

touch,

because of

gone by this time, bloom that crumbled

and he pointed its

this

out,

wealth of associations

Indian poetry.

ON THE WAY TO KATHGODAM

On Sunday afternoon we

rested, near

j u ne i2th.

what we took to be an out-of-the-way hotel, above a lake and and there he translated for us the fall,

the

Plains,

Rudra-prayer. &quot;From

the Unreal lead us to the Real.

From darkness lead From death lead us

us unto light. to immortality.

Reach us through and through our

And evermore

protect us

Thou

From

ignorance, by

Thy

Terrible

fourth

hesitated

Face.&quot;

a long time over the

thinking of rendering it, us in the heart of our heart&quot;.

line,

&quot;Embrace

But at

sweet

compassionate

self.

last

he put his perplexity to &quot;The

real

us,

say-

is &quot;Reach

ing shyly, meaning us through and through ourself.&quot; He had evidently feared that this sentence,

with

its

extraordinary intensity,

might

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS make good sense

not

But

in English.

our unhesitating choice of that afternoon has received a deep confirmation in my

own

eyes, since

a more

have understood that

rendering would be, Thou who art manifest only unto Thy I self, manifest Thyself also unto us literal

&quot;O

!&quot;

now

regard his translation as a rapid and direct transcript of the experience of

Samadki

itself.

out of the

lations,

and he gave us fragments

the great

which

Sanskrit,

again in an English form. was indeed an afternoon of trans

renders It

the living heart as it were, and

It tears

benediction

Hindu sacraments &quot;The

May

mourning,

one of the most beautiful of

The

after

blissful

the

;

winds are sweet

to us.

seas are showering bliss on us. the corn in our fields bring bliss to us

May

the plants and herbs bring bliss to us

May

the cattle give us

bliss.

ON THE WAY TO KATHGODAM

Father

Heaven be Thou

ful

The very

dust of the earth of

(And

the

then,

voice

bliss

unto us

is full

bliss.

dying down

into meditation), It is all bliss

all bliss

all

bliss.&quot;

And again we had Soor Das Song which the Swami heard from the Nautchgirl at

Khetri

Lord, look not upon

evil

qualities

Thy name,

Lord,

Samesightedness.

Make of us both the same Brahman One drop of water is in the sacred

Jumna,

And

another

foul in the ditch

the roadside, But,

when they

fall

into the

Ganges,

both alike become holy. So Lord, look not upon my evil qualities,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

Thy name, O

Lord,

Samesightedness,

Make of us both the same Brahman One piece of iron is the image in And

another

the temple the knife in the

hand of the butcher But when they touch the philosopher

stone, both alike turn to gold

So Lord, look not upon my

evil

qualities

Thy name,

Make

same Brahman same day, or some other

Lord,

Samesightedness

of us both the

Was it that that

he told us of the old Sannyasin

Benares,

who saw him annoyed by

of monkeys, and, afraid turn and run, shouted,

brute

!&quot;

noon

face th

&amp;gt;

;

were always sorry this

troop

he migh

&quot;Always

Those journeys were

that

time,

cross

delightful.

to reach a destinatioi

took us a whole the Terai by

rail,

aftei th;

;

ON THE

WAY

KATHGODAM

on which, as he reminded us, Buddha had been born. As we had come down the strip of malarial

country,

mountain-roads,

we had met

parties of

country-folk, fleeing to the upper hills, with their families and all their goods,

which would be upon them with the rains. And now, in the train, there was the gradual change of to escape the fever

vegetation pleasure,

watch, and the Master

greater

than

that

any

proprietor, showing us the wild pea cocks, or here and there an elephant, or in

train of camels.

Quickly enough, we came back to the palm-zone. Already we had reached yuccas and cactus the day before, and deodar-cedars we should not see

the

again,

till

distant Acchabal.

CHAPTER V ON THE WAY Persons

TO BARAMULLA

The Swami Vivekananda

;

Gurubhais,

disciples.

amongst whom Mata, the Steady Mother whose name was Jaya and Nivediti. party of Europeans,

Dhiri

;

wer&amp;lt;

On.

;

Place

Time

June

rFrom :

Bareilly to Baramulla, Kashmir.

June I4th

to 2oth, 1898.

We entered

14th.

the Punjaub next day, the Swami s excitement

and great was at the fact.

almost seemed as

had been born there, so close and special was his love for this province. He talked of the girls at their spinning wheels, I am listening to the &quot;Sohum Sohum !

am He

!&quot;

tion he turned to

Then, by a swift transi the far past, and unroll-

dd for us the great historic panorama ol the advance of the Greeks on the Indus, the

rise

Chandragupta, 70

and

the

ON THE WA Y

BARAMULLA

development of the Buddhistic empire. He was determined this summer to find his

way

to Attock,

the

eyes spot turned back.

Gandhara

and see with

described

sculptures,

have seen

in the

his

own

which Alexander was

the

which he must

Lahore Museum the

year before, and lost himself in indignant repudiation of the absurd European claim that India had ever sat at the feet of Greece in things artistic.

Then

there were flying glimpses of

long expected

cities,

Ludhiana, where

certain trusty English disciples

where

his Indian

had ended; and so on.

We came,

as children lectures

had lived

;

Lahore,

upon the dry gravel beds of many rivers and learnt that the space between one pair was called the Doab and the

too,

area containing them

was

all,

the

Punjaub.

twilight, crossing one of these stony tracts, that he told us of that great vision which came to him years ago, It

while he was

still

new 71

to the

ways of the

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS of a

life

monk, giving back

him,

he always afterwards believed, the

ancient &quot;It

mode was

of Sanskrit chanting.

evening,&quot;

said,

that

&quot;in

age when the Aryans had only reached I saw an old man seated on the Indus. the bank

of the

great

river.

Wave

upon wave of darkness was rolling in upon him, and he was chanting from the Rik Veda. Then I awoke, and went

on chanting.

They were

the tones that

we used long Many months later, one of those who listened, heard the story ot this and vision once more from the Swami ago.&quot;

;

seemed

to her then, with her

insight into his

method

gathered

of thought,

that

had been an experience of immense subjective importance. Perhaps it was a token to him of a transcendent continuity it

the

spiritual

experience, forbidding-

be baffled even by the lapse of millenniums and the breaking of many it

life-threads.

If so,

one could not expect

ON THE WAY TO BARAMULLA him

to be explicit

who were

on the

Those

point.

constantly preoccupied

with

own

past,

imagination regarding their always aroused his contempt.

But on

second occasion of telling the story, he gave a glimpse of it, from a very this

different point of view.

he was saying, &quot;had caught the rhythm of the Vedas, the national cadence. Indeed I al &quot;Sankaracharya,&quot;

ways

imagine&quot;,

he went on suddenly,

with dreamy voice and

far

away

look,

always imagine that he had some mine when he was vision such as &quot;I

and recovered the ancient young, music that way. Anyway, his whole life s

work

nothing but

that,

the

throbbing of the beauty of the Vedas

and

Upanishads.&quot;

Speeches

this

were of course

purely speculative, and he himself could never bear to be reminded of the theories to which he thus in

moments

emotion and impulse, gave chance 73

birth.

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

others

seem not

however they would

valueless.

&quot;Vivekananda is

one of

often

nothing&quot;

exclaimed

his admirers in the distant

West, and a

not a breaker of bondage trifling incident of this day s journey recalls the words. At a station entering &quot;if

!&quot;

him a Mahomand bought from

the Punjaub, he called to

medan vendor and

his hand,

of food,

ate.

From Rawalpindi

we some

Murree,

went by tonga, and there we spent days before setting out for Kashmir.

Here the Swami came that

any

effort

which he might make to

induce the orthodox

pean as a tion of

to the conclusion

to accept a

Euro

fellow-disciple, or in the direc

woman s

education,

had better

Bengal. The distrust of the foreigner was too strong in Punjaub, to

be made

admit of work succeeding there. wass

much occupied by

this

question,

from time to time, and would sometimes

remark on the paradox presented by the 74

ON THE WAY TO BARAMULLA of political anta gonism to the English, and readiness to love and trust.

Bengali combination

Wed

had reached Murree on

It nesday afternoon, June the i5th. was again Saturday, June the i8th, when we set out for Kashmir. One of our party was ill, and that

day we went but a short distance, and stopped at Dulai, the first dak bun first

It was a curi galow across the border. ous moment, leaving British India be

hind, with the crossing

baked bridge.

were soon

a vivid realisation of just just

how

little this

were now

Jhelum.

Our

Kohala

river.

have

how much and

demarcation meant. in

the valley journey,

Baramulla,

was

twisting,

rapidly-rising

Here,

whole

through a narrow, pass, the

of a dusty, sun

of the

from to

run

mountain-

ravine of this

at Dulai, the

speed of the

was terrific, and huge watersmoothed pebbles formed a great shingle. current

June

18th,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Most of the

afternoon,

we were com

by a storm to spend indoors, and a new chapter was opened at Dulai, in our knowledge of Hinduism, for the Swami told us, gravely and frankly, of its modern pelled

abuses, and spoke of his own uncompro mising hostility to those evil practices

which pass under the name of Vdmdckdra.

When we

asked how Sri

who never

krishna,

Rama-

could bear to con

demn

the hope of any man, had looked at these things, he told us that the old

man had

said

well

but

every house may have a scavengers entrance!&quot; And he pointed out that all sects of in

diabolism, to

this class.

&quot;Well,

any It

country,

was a

belonged

terrible

but

necessary revelation, that never required to be repeated, and it has been related here, in

its

true

none may be able those

who

order that

to say that

he deceived

place,

trusted him, as to

the

worst

things that might be urged against of his people or their creeds.

any

ON 7 HE WAY TO BARAMULLA

We Swami

took

in turns to drive

in his tonga,

seemed

full

and

June

with the

next day

this

of reminiscence.

talked

Brakmavufyd, the vision of the One, the Alone- Real, and told how love was the only cure for He had had a school-fellow, who evil. grew up and became rich, but lost his health. It was an obscure disease, sap ping his energy and vitality daily, altogether

the

baffling

skill

yet the

At last, because he knew that the Swami had always been religious, doctors.

and men turn

to religion

when

all

else

fails, he sent to beg him to come to When the Master reached him,

&quot;him.

curious thing to his

mind a

happened. text

&quot;Him

There came the Brahmin

conquers, who thinks that he is separate Him the Kshatriya from the Brahmin. conquers, who from the Kshatriya.

thinks that he

And

separate

him the

Universe conquers who thinks that he is separate from the Universe.&quot; And the 77

19th

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS sick

man grasped

&quot;And

so,-&quot;

this,

said the

and recovered.

Swami,

&quot;though

things and angry things, yet remember that in my heart

often

say strange

never seriously mean to preach any thing but love All these things will I

come

right,

only

when we

realise that

love each other.

Was

then, or the

day before, that, talking of the Great God, he told us how when he was a child, his mother it

and say many prayers and austerities, and

would sigh over &quot;so

instead

me you

of a !&quot;

till

his naughtiness,

good soul, Siva has sent he was hypnotised into

a belief that he was really one of Siva s demons, He thought that for a punish ment, he had been banished for awhile

from Siva

effort in life

His

first

act

heaven, and

must be

that

his

one

go back there. of sacrilege, he told us once, to

had been committed at the age Jof five, when he embarked on a stormy argu

ment with

his mother, to the effect

that

ON THE when

his it

eating,

IVA Y

TO BARAMULLA.

hand was

right

would be cleaner

tumbler of water with the

with

soiled to

left.

lift

his

For

this

or similar perversities, her most drastic remedy was to put him under the water-

and while cold water was pouring-

tap,

over his head, to say &quot;Siva Siva This, he said, never failed of its effect. !

The exile,

prayer would

remind him of

and he would say

no, not this time

to quiet

!&quot;

again

to himself !&quot;

his

&quot;No,

and so return

and obedience. had a surpassing love

for

Maha-

dev, and once he said of the Indian i

women

of the future that

if,

amidst their

new tasks they would only remember now and then to say &quot;Siva Siva it !

!&quot;

would be worship enough. The very air of the Himalayas was charged, for him, with the image of that &quot;eternal meditation&quot; that no thought of pleasure could break. said,

the

for

the

And he first

meaning of

understood,

time this summer, the nature-story that

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS made

Ganges fall on the head of the Great God, and wander in and out the

amongst His matted locks, before she found an outlet on the plains below. He had searched long, he said, for the words that the rivers and waterfalls uttered, amongst the mountains, before he had realised thatit was the eternal cry &quot;Bom !

Bom

Hara

Siva one day,

&quot;He

!&quot;

&quot;Yes

he said of

the Great God,

calm, beautiful, and silent

great

!&quot;

and

am His

worshipper.&quot;

his subject was marriage, as of the soul s relation to God. the type

Again

he exclaimed, &quot;though the love of a mother is in some ways &quot;This

why,&quot;

love of

the whole world takes the

yet

greater,

man and woman

No other power.

has

transforms

Then

the

type.

tremendous idealising beloved actually becomes

siich

The

what he

imagined to

be.

This love

its object.&quot;

the

strayed to national types, and he spoke of the joy with which talk

ON THE

IVA Y

TO BARAMULLA

the returning traveller greets once more the sight of the men and women of his

own

country.

The whole

life

has been

a sub-conscious education to enable one to

understand

these

every faintest

ripple of expression in face and form.

And

again

we passed

a group of

sannyasins going on foot, and he broke out into fierce invective against asceti

cism as

&quot;savagery.&quot;

of India that only

It is

the

perfectly conscious In other lands, a

a peculiarity life

religious

and

fully

developed.

man

will

undergo as win success

hardships, in order to in business, or enterprise, or

many

even

men were probably endur But the ing. sight of wayfarers doing slow miles on foot in the name of their

sport, as these

ideals,

seemed

train

of painful

to rouse

his

associations,

mind a and he

grew impatient on behalf of humanity, at

the

&quot;the

torture of

mood

arisen,

religion.&quot;

Then again

passed, as suddenly as

and gave place 81

to the

had

equally

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS strong statement of the conviction thai were it not for this &quot;savagery,&quot; luxury

would have robbed man

of all his

man

liness.

We stopped that evening at

Uri dak

bungalow, and in the twilight, we al walked in the meadows and the bazar

How mud

beautiful fortress

feudal pattern

little place was exactly of the Europeai

the

overhung the

footwa&amp;gt;

as it swept into a great open theatre o field and hill. Along the road, abov&amp;lt;

the river, lay the bazar, and we returnee to -the bungalow by a path across the past cottages in whose garden: As we came the roses were in bloom. fields,

would happen that here and there some child, more venturesome thai too,

others,

would play with

The

us.

next day,

driving through most beautiful part of the Pass, and see ing cathedral rocks and an old ruine&amp;lt;

th&amp;lt;

we reached Bara

temple of the Sun, mulla.

The legend

that the Vale

ON THE WAY TO BARA MULL A Kashmir was once a

lake,

and that

Divine Boar pierced the mountains with his tusks, and let the this point the

Jhelum go geography it

free.

in the

Another piece form of myth.

also prehistoric history

of is

CHAPTER THE VALE Persons

The

Swami

OF KASHMIR.

Vivekananda

Europeans, amongst the

whom

Time. Place.

The River Jhelum is

and

party

were Dhira Mata

One whose name wa

*Steady Mother,

Jaya, and Nivedita. June 2Oth to June 22nd.

&quot;It

VI.

Baramulla to Srinagar.

said that the

Lord Himself

the weight on the side of the fortunate cried the Swami in high glee, returning !

pur room at the dakbungalow, and sitting down, with his umbrella on his As he had brought no com knees. to

panion, he had himself to perform all the ordinary little masculine offices, and

he had gone out to hire dungas, and dc what was necessary. But he had im mediately fallen in with a man, who, on hearing his name, had undertaken the

whole business, and sent him back, of responsibility.

free

THE VALE OF KASHMIR. So we enjoyed

the day.

drank

Kashmiri tea out of a Sdmdvdr and ate the

jam of the country, and

four o clock

of a

flotilla

we entered

about

into

possession of dungas, three in number,

which presently

Srinagar.

The

set

forth

for

evening, however by the garden of the

first

we were moored

and there we played with the children, and gathered forget-

Swami

friend,

me-nots, and watched a circle

of pea

some harvest-game in cornfields. The Swami,

sants, singing, at

the freshly-cut

returning to his boat about eleven, could as he passed us in the dark, hear

still

the end of our

warm

discussion about

the effect of the introduction of

on rural peoples. We found ourselves, next day,

money in the

midst of a beautiful valley, ringed round with snow-mountains. This is known as the Vale of Kashmir, but

might b e

more accurately described, perhaps, as the Vale of Srinagar.

The

city of Isla-

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS mabad had

own

its

valley,

the river, and to reach

higher up to wind

we had

and out amongst the mountains. The sky above was of the bluest of the blue

and the water-road

along which we

Some

travelled,

was also,

times our

way lay through great greer of lotus-leaves, with a rosy

tangles

perforce, blue.

dower or two, and on each side stretch ed the fields, in some of which, as w

The whol

came, they were reaping.

and green an white, so exquisitely pure and vivid th

was a symphony

in blue

a while the response of the soul beauty was almost pain

for* its

That

first

taking a

morning,

walk across the

fields,

immense chennaar

tree,

long came upon an

standing

the

It really look midst of a wide pasture. ed as if the passage through it might

shelter

the

proverbial

The Swami fell of how it might

twenty cows

to architectural

fitted

ing-place for a hermit.

visions

up as a dwell

A small cottage

THE VALE OF KASHMIR might in hollow of

fact

have been

this

living

the

And

tree.

he talked of meditation, consecrate every

built

then

way

chennaar we should

ever see.

turned, with him, into the neigh

bouring farm-yard. There we found, seated under a tree, a singularly hand

some

elderly

woman.

She

crimson coronet and white

Kashmiri

and

wore the

veil

of the

sat

spinning wool, while round her, helping her, were her wife,

two daughters-in-law and The Swami had called at

this

farm once

the previous autumn, and spoken, since, of the faith and

before,

often

their children.

He had very woman. begged for water, which she had at once Then, before going, he had given him. pride

of this

asked her quietly,

&quot;And

what,

Mother,

thank God, Sir your religion had rung out the old voice, in pride and

?&quot;

&quot;I

!&quot;

triumph, &quot;by the mercy of the Lord, I am a Mussalm^n!&quot; The whole family

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS received him now, as an old friend, and

were ready to show every courtesy to the friends he had brought. The jour to took two to three days, ney Srinagar

and one evening, as we walked in the fields before supper, one who had seen the K&lighat, complained to the Master of the abandonment of feeling there,

which had jarred on her.

&quot;Why

they kiss the ground before the Image she exclaimed. The Swami had been

?&quot;

which he pointing to the crop of til, thought to have been the original of the English

dill,

and

calling

oldest

&quot;the &quot;

oil-bearing seed of the Aryans at this question, he dropped the

But little

blue flower from his hands, and a great hush came over his voice, as he stood still

and

thing to

said.

kiss

&quot;Is

the

not

the

same

ground before that

Image, as to kiss the

ground before

the,se mountains?&quot;

Our Master had promised that before the end of the summer he would

THE VALE OF KASHMIR take

into

and teach us

retreat,

meditate.

had now

Sri-

a long-accumulating mail, and nagar the question rose as to the arrangement for

was decided that we see the country, and after

of the holiday.

should

first

wards make the

The

first

retreat.

evening

dined out, with some

and

in the

Srinagar

Bengali

officials,

course of conversation,

of the western

guests

we one

maintained that

the history of every nation illustrated and evolved certain ideals, to which the

people of that nation should hold them selves true. It was very curious to see

how

Hindus present objected to this. To them it was clearly a bondage, to which the mind of man could not per the

manently submit

itself.

Indeed, in their

revolt against the fetters of the doctrine,

they appeared to be unable to do justice to the idea itself. At last the Swami intervened.

said,

&quot;that

think you must admit,&quot; the ultimate unit is psycho&quot;I

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS much more permanent

logical.

This

than the

geographical.&quot;

And

then he

spoke of cases known to us all, of one of whom he always thought as the most he had ever seen, yet she was a Bengali woman, and of another, born in the West, who was a better Hindu than himself. And was typical

not

&quot;Christian&quot;

this,

after

all,

the

ideal

state

things, that each should be born in

other

of the

country to spread the given ideal as far as it could be carried ? s

CHAPTER

VII.

LIFE AT SRINAGAR. Place

Time

Srinagar.

June 22nd to July

5th, 1898.

the mornings, we still had long sometimes it would be talks, as before the different religious periods through In

which Kashmir had passed, or the mora of lity of Buddhism, or the history, Siva-worship, or perhaps the of Srinagar under Kanishka.

Once he was

talking

position

with one of us

about Buddhism, and he suddenly said

Buddhism tried to do, in the time of Asoka, what the world He re never was ready for till now &quot;the

fact

is,

!&quot;

ferred to the federalisation of religictas. It was a wonderful picture, this, of the religious imperialism of

Asoka,

broken

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS down, time and again, by successive waves of Christianity and Mohammedan ism, each claiming exclusive rights over

the conscience of mankind, and finally to seem to have a possibility, within

measurable distance of time, to-day

Another

time, the talk

was of Genghis

or Chenghiz Khan, the conqueror from &quot;You hear Central Asia. people talk of

him as a vulgar passionately,

&quot;but

aggressor,&quot;

that

he cried

not true!

They

are never greedy or vulgar, these great souls He was inspired with the thought !

of unity, and he

wanted

Yes, Napoleon was

world.

same mould.

Only those

And

unify

his

cast in

the

another, Alexander.

three, or

perhaps one soul, three different con

manifesting itself in And then quests

he passed on to speak of that one soul whom he believed to have come again and again in reli !&quot;

gion, charged with the divine impulse to

bring about the unity of man in God. At this time, the transfer of the

LIFE

AT SRINAGAR

Prabuddha Bharata, from Madras

to the

newly established Ashrama at Mayavati was much in all our thoughts. The

Swami had always had

a special love for

this paper, as the beautiful

given eager,

indicated.

too,

for

the

name he had

had always been

establishment of

organs of his own. The value of the journal, in the education of Modern India,

felt

was perfectly evident to him, and that his Master s message and

mode

of thought required to be spread by this means, as well as by preaching and by work. Day after day, therefore

he would dream about the future of his papers, as about the centres. Day after

work

And

various

day he would talk number, under

of the forthcoming first the new editorship of

pananda.

in its

one

Swami Swaruafternoon

brought to us, as we sat together, a paper on which, he said, he had &quot;tried to write a letter, but

way

!&quot;

would come

this

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

To The Awakened Once more awake For sleep

not

was,

India.

anew, and

death,

bring thee

life

eyes, for

visions daring yet.

world,

no death

need, awaits, for thee

rest to lotus-

The Truth,

Resume thy march, With gentle feet

that

would not

break the peaceful pose, even of the road-side dust that

lies

so low,

yet

and steady, blissful, bold, and free. Awakener, ever forward Speak thy rousing words strong,

Thy home Where

gone,

loving hearts had

brought watched thy growth. strong, and this the law,

thee up, and

But

fate

All things

go back

to the

source

they sprang, their strength to renew. Thien start afresh

From

the land of thy birth, where great cloud-belted snows do bless

LIFE AT SRINAGAR and put

strength in thee, for

their

working wonders new. The heavenly river

eternal

tune thy voice

song

her

own

deodar shades oive

;

thee ne er-dying peace,

And

all

above,

Himalaya s daughter Uma, gentle, pure, the Mother who resides in all who works all as power and life, and of makes One the world works, whose mercy opens the gate to Truth, and shows the One in all, give thee ;

unending strength which Love.

Infinite

They bless thee, all The seers great, whom age nor can claim the race,

their

who

clime

own, the fathers of

felt

the heart of truth

the same, and bravely taught to man, Their servant, ill-voiced or well.

thou hast caught their secret, but One.

tis

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Then

speak,

Oh Love

Before thy gentle voice so sweet, behold how visions melt, and fold

dreams departs

fold of

till

Truth, bare Truth, in

to void, all its

glory

shines.

And

Awake

the world

tell

dream no more This

Arise

and

the land

of dreams,

where

karma weaves unthreaded garlands, with our thoughts, of flowers sweet and none has root or or noxious, stem, being born in nothing, which the softest breath of Truth drives

back

and

to primal nothingness.

face, the

Truth.

Let visions cease,

Be bold

Be one with

you cannot dream but truer dreams, which are or, if

Eternal Love and Service Free.

The Master was us^all,

quiet,

longing to leave

and go away into some place of alone. But we not knowing this,

insisted

on accompanying him 96

the

AT SRINAGAR

LIFE Coloured Bhavani&quot;,

was

said

Christian

landed

&quot;Kshir called Springs, it or Milk of the Mother,

be the

time

that

Mohammedan had

ever

there,

and

first

we can never be the glimpse we had

thankful enough for of it, since afterwards

the most sacred of

names

all

was

become

to us.

amusing incident was that our Mussalman boat-men would not allow us to land with shoes on; so thoroughly Hinduistic is the Mohammedanism of Kashmir,

and pilgrimages

with

its

made

fasting, to their shrines.

forty

rishis,

Another day we went ofTquietfy by ourselves, and visited the Takt-i-Suleiman, a little temple very massively built, on the summit of a small mountain two thousand feet high. It was and and the famous beautiful, peaceful Gardens could be seen below Floating

three

us,

for

miles

around.

The

Tak^-i-

Suleiman was one of the great illustra tions of the Swami s argument, when he 97

June 29th

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS would take up the subject of the Hindu

shown temples and monuments. As he had love of nature as

in the choice

of sites for

architectural

London,

hill-tops, in

pointed

declared,

on the

lived

out,

after another,

example people

saints

order to enjoy the scenery,

now he

the

that

that our Indian

consecrated

always

one

citing

places

peculiar beauty and importance, by ing there their altars of worship.

mak And

there was no denying that the little Takt, crowning the hill that dominated the

whole

valley,

was a case

in point.

lovely fragments of those days into mind, as

Many come

Tulsi, take thou care to

&quot;Therefore,

live in

with

for

all,

who can

tell

where, or

what garb, the Lord Himself may

next come to &quot;One

thee?&quot;

God

hidden

in all these, the

Torturer of all, the Awakener of Reservoir of bereft of all

all

being, the

qualities.&quot;

One

all,

the

Who

LIFE AT SRINAGAR the sun does not shine, nor

&quot;There

the moon, nor the

stars.&quot;

There was the story of how Ravana was advised to take the form of Rama, in

order to cheat Sita.

answered,

order to

thought of it? But in take a man s form you must

meditate

on him

&quot;Have

not

and

;

Rama

the

Lord Himself; so, when I meditate on him, even the position of Brahma be comes a mere straw. How then, could I

&quot;And

criminal

?&quot;

commented the Swami, commonest or most the

so&quot;,

&quot;even

woman

think of a

life,

was ever

there are these

thus.

glimpses.&quot;

was constantly

interpreting human life as the expression of God, never insisting on the heinous-

ness

wickedness

of an act

character. &quot;In

that

which

dark night to the

rest of the world, there the

control

awake.

to the rest of the

man

That which

world

sleep to

self-

is life him.&quot;

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Speaking of Thomas a Kempis one day, and of how he himself used to

wander as a sannyasin, with the Gita and the Imitation as his whole library, one word, he said, came back to him, inseparably associated of the western monk.

with the

name

ye teachers of the world, and silence Speak thou ye prophets

&quot;Silence

alone,

Lord, unto

sou!

!&quot;

Again &quot;The

soft

shirisha flower can bear

weight of

the

humming

bees,

but not of birds

So Uma, don tapasy&f

you go and make come, Uma, come!

delight and idol of

seated,

Mother on the

soul

lotus

heart,

And

let

take a long long look at

you.

100

AT SRINAGAR

LIFE

From my

birth

up,

gazing,

Mother, at your face-

Know

you suffering what trouble, and pain ?

seated, therefore,

Blessed

on the lotus of

heart,

dwell there for

evermore.&quot;

And

One

Every now and then there would be long talks about the Gita, &quot;that wonder poem, without one note in it, of weakness or unmanliness.&quot; He said one

ful

day that

was absurd

complain that

knowledge was not given to women or sudras. For the whole gist of the Upanishads was contained in the Gita

Without be

it,

they could hardly

indeed,

understood

;

and

castes could read the

women and

all

Mahabharata.

With great fun and secrecy Swami and his one non- American

the dis

prepared to celebrate The Fourth of July. A regret had been expressed ciple

101

Ju| v 4th

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS in his hearing, that

we had no American

Flag, with which to welcome the other member of the party to breakfast, on and late on their National Festival ;

the afternoon of the third, he brought a

pundit durzey

in great

plaining that this imitate it, if he

and

stars

excitement,

man would be were

told

glad to

how.

The

were very crudely re fear, on the piece of cotton

stripes

presented, I that was nailed, with branches

of ever

greens, to the head of the dining-roomboat, when the Americans stepped on

board

for

Independence had the Swami But postponed a Day journey, in order to be present at the early tea,

and he himself contributed the addresses that were now

little festival,

poem

read aloud, by

way

of greeting.

To THE FOURTH

OF JULY.

Behold, the dark clouds melt away,

That gathered thick

night,

and

hung 102

LIFE

AT SR1NAGAR

a gloomy

pall,

above the earth

Before thy magic touch, the world Awakes. The birds in chorus sing.

The

flowers

raise

star-like

their

crowns,

Dew-set and wave thee welcome fair.

The

lakes are opening wide in love,

Their hundred-thousand lotus-eyes,

To welcome

thee,

with

their

all

depth. All hail to thee,

Thou Lord

A welcome

new

Oh Sun

To-day

of Light

to thee, to-day,

thou

sheddest Liberty

Bethink thee how the world did wait,

And

search for thee,

through time* and clime *

Some gave up home and

love

friends, Clime

Climate.

103

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

And went

quest of thee,

self-

banished,

Through

dreary

oceans,

through

primeval

Each

step

struggle

for

forest,

life

death

Then came

the day

when work bore fruit,

And

worship, love and sacrifice,

Fulfilled, accepted,

And

and complete.

then thou, propitious,

rose

shed

The light of Freedom on mankind Move on, Oh Lord, in thy resistless !

path Till thy high

noon o erspreads the world

Till

every land

Till

men and women,

reflects thy light

;

with uplifted head,

Behold

Know

their shackles broken, in

springing joy,

and

their

life

renewed 104

LIFE AT SRINAGAR That evening someone pained him

July 5th.

by counting the cherry-stones left on her plate, to see when she would be

He, somehow, took the play the following earnest, and came,

married. in

morning, surcharged with passion

for

the ideal renunciation. &quot;These

home and even my mind now and

shadows

marriage cross he cried, with that tender desire then !&quot;

make himself one

that he so often

across

with

showed.

oceans of scorn

the

But

sinner it

for those

was

who

would glorify the householder, that *he sought, on this occasion, to preach the religious

life.

&quot;Is

easy,&quot;

he ex

be Janaka ? To sit on a throne absolutely unattached ? Caring claimed,

&quot;to

nothing for wealth or fame, for wife or child ? One after another in the west has told

But

that he

could only say are not born in India

had reached

this.

such great

men

And

then he turned to the other side.

105

July 6th.

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS &quot;Never

he said to one of

forget,&quot;

his hearers,

&quot;to

and to

say to yourself,

teach to your children, the difference between a firefly and the blazing sun, &quot;as

between the

infinite

ocean and a

little

pond, between a mustard-seed and the mountain of Meru, such is the difference

between

householder

the

Sannyasin

and

the

!&quot;

&quot;Everything is

fraught

Renunciation alone

fear

fearless.&quot;

even the fraudulent

&quot;Blessed

with

who have failed to vows, in as much as they

sddhus, and those carry out their

have witnessed

also

so are in

ideal

the

ideal,

some degree the cause of

success of others &quot;Let

and the

never,

forget

our

!&quot;

At such moments, he would tiimself

entirely with the

identify

thought he

sought to demonstrate, and in the same sense in which a law of nature might be

deemed

cruel or arrogant, his expositior 1

LIFE AT SRINAGAR might have those listening, to face

felt ourselves brought face

with the invisible and absolute.

All this

nagar,

and

Sitting

qualities.

was on our return

from the real

Sri-

Fourth of

July-

Celebration, which had been

visit

There we had seen the Shalimar Bagh of Nur Mahal, and the Nishat Bagh, or Garden of Glad the

Dahl Lake.

and had spent the hour of sunset quietly, amongst the green of the irises, at the foot of giant chennaar trees. That same day, Dhirft, Mdtd and she ness,

whose name wasjayd, left for Gulmarg, on some personal business, and the

Swami went with them,

part of the way.

At nine o clock on the evening

the following Sunday, July the loth, the first two came back unexpectedly,

and presently, sources,

from

we gathered

Master had gone

Sonamarg

route,

another way.

many the news

different

that

Amarnath by

and

tfye

the

would return

had started out penni107

NOl^ES OF

SOME WANDERINGS

but that could give no concern his friends, in a Hindu Native state.

less,

A disagreeable day or two

later,

incident occurred,

when a young man,

eager to become a disciple,

and It

turned

up,

on being sent on to him. that this was an unwarrant

insisted

was

felt

able intrusion on that

privacy which he but as the request

had gone to seek, was persistent, it was granted, and life flowed in accustomed channels for a day or two.

What were we

setting

out for

were just moving to go down the river, on Friday and it was close on five in the afternoon,

when

the servants recognised friends in the distance,

some of their and word was brought that the Swami s boat was coming towards us. An hour later, he was with us, saying how pleasant it was to be back. l*ne summer had been unusually hot and certain glaciers had given way, rendering

the

Sonamarg 1

Route

LIFE

Amarnath

AT SRINAGAR This

fact

had

moment dated

the

impracticable.

caused his return.

But from

this

of three great increments of joy and realisation that we saw in him, during

first

our months

Kashmir.

was almost

could verify for ourselves the truth of that saying of his Guru

&quot;There is

indeed a certain ignorance.

has been placed there by Mother that her work may

But It

it is

my Holy be done.

only like a film of tissue paper.

might be rent

any

109

moment.&quot;

CHAPTER THE TEMPLE Persons

VIII.

OF PANDRENTHAN.

The Swami Vivekananda and

amongst the Steady Mother

ropeans,

whom ;

were

party

Dhira Mata

One whose name was

Jay;

and Nivedita. Time.

July i6th to igth.

Place.

Kashmir.

fell

the

of one

lot

of the

Swami s disciples,

next day, to go the river with him in a small boat.

down As it

went, he chanted one song after another of &quot;Ram Prasad, and now and again, he

would translate a verse. call upon thee Mother. &quot;I

For though

The child

cries

still

mother

&quot;Mother!

&quot;Though I

his

him,

Mother. *

cannot see Thee,

not a lost child cry

strike

Mother! Mother

!&quot;

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTf/AN and then with the haughty dignity of an offended child, something that ended

am not the woman Mother &quot;I

son to

any other

call

|&quot;

must have been next day, that he came into Dhtrd Mdtd s dunga, and It

talked

was

that

of Siva

and

First

Hindu thought

curious

Uma

Bhakti.

JuiyiTth.

It is easy to give the but without the voice, how com words,

in one.

And then paratively dead they seem there were the wonderful surroundings !

picturesque Srinagar, tall poplars, and distant snows. that river-valley,

how

&quot;The

There,

some space from the

foot of the great mountains, to us

Lombardy

he chanted

Lord took a form and

was a divided form, half woman, and half man. On one side, beautiful

that

garlands

and

coils

on the other, bone ear-rings, On one side the of snakes.

hair black, beautiful,

and

the other, twisted like

rope.&quot;

curls

And

then

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS passing immediately into the other for of the same thought, he quoted

became Krishna and Radhsl

&quot;God

Love

flows in thousands of coils.

Whoso Love

The And

wants, takes

it.

flows in thousands of coils

tide of love fills

and loving

past,

the soul with bliss and joy

So absorbed was he

that his

!&quot;

break

long after it was at last he went reluc

stood unheeded

fast

ready, and

when

saying When one has all this bhakti what does one want with food ? tantly,

was only to come back again quick and resume the subject. But, either now or at some other

ly,

time,

he said that he did not talk of

Radha and Krishna, where he looked It was Siva who made stern for deeds. and earnest workers, and to Labourer must be dedicated.

The

Him

the

next day, he gave us a quaini

saying of Sri Ramakrishna, 1

comparing

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTIfAN the

critics

of others to bees or

flies,

cording as they chose honey or wounds. And then we were off to Islamabad,

and

really, as

The

first

proved, to Amarnath. afternoon, in a wood by

the side of the the long-sought

Jhelum, we discovered

Temple

of Pandrenthan

(Pandresthan, place of the Pandavas ? ) It was sunk in a pond, and this was thickly covered with scum, out of which it

rose, a tiny cathedral of the

long ago,

of heavy grey limestone. The consisted of a small cell, with temple

built

four

doorways, opening to the cardinal

Externally, it was a tapering with its top truncated, to pyramid, give foothold to a bush supported on a

points.

four-pierced

pedestal.

its

architec

and triangular arches were combined, in an unusual fashion, with each other, and with the straight-lined

ture, trefoil

lintel.

was

built

with

marvellous

and the necessary lines were somewhat obscured by heavy ornament. solidity,

July toth

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

were

much

all

distressed,

arriving at the edge of the pond in the wood, to be unable to go inside the little temple, and examine the interior deco rations, which a number of guide-books

declared to be

&quot;quite classical,&quot;

that

Greek or Roman, in form and finish Our grief was turned into joy, how

say,

ever,

when

our

hajjis,

brought up a countryman, took to provide a boat for brought

out,

from under

boatmen, who under

us.

This he

the scum,

and

he proceeded to placing a chain on it, drag us each in turn about the lake, himself wading almost waist-deep in the

So we were

water.

desired, to

For

all

able, as

we had

inside.

but the

Swami

himself, this

peep at Indian Archaeo So when he had been through it,

\sas our first

logy.

he taught us how In large

to observe the interior.

centre of the ceiling was a sun-medallion, set in a square

the

whose points were the points of the 114

THE TEMPLE OF PAXDRENTHAN This

compass.

left

four equal triangles,

at the corners of the ceiling, filled

which were

with sculpture in low relief, male figures intertwined with ser

and female

beautifully

pents,

done.

the

wall

were empty spaces, where seemed to have been a band of topes. Outside, carvings were similarly dis In one of the trefoil arches

tributed.

over,

think, the eastern

door,

was a

image of the Teaching Buddha, standing, with His hand uplifted. Run

fine

ning round the buttresses was a muchdefaced frieze of a seated woman, with a tree,

Maya Devi, The three other

evidently

of Buddha.

the

Mother

door-niches

were empty, but a slab by the pond-side seemed to have fallen from one, and this contained a bad figure of a king, said by the country-people to represent the sun.

The masonry superb,

and

temple was accounted for probably of this

little

single block long preservation. of stone would be so cut as to correspond, its

.VOTES OF

SOME WANDERINGS

not to one brick in a wall, but to a sec tion of the

architect s

plan.

would

turn a corner and form

part of two dis tinct walls, or sometimes even of three.

This

made one

take the building as very, very old, possibly even earlier than The theory of the workmen Marttand. fact

seemed so much more

that of carpenter

ing than of building

The water

it,

was probably an overflow,

aboul

into

the

temple-court, from the sacred spring thai the chapel itself may have been placed as the Swami thought, to enshrine.

him, the place was delightfully It was a direct memoria suggestive. of

Buddhism,

four

representing one of the

religious periods

had already divided

Kashmir and i. Tree

into

the

which he History

\\hich dated

ending 2.

all

Ng,

Buddhism

Snake-worship,

the

names of the

as Vernag, 3.

;

116

spring;

and so on

Hinduism, form of Sun-worship and 4. ;

frorr

th&amp;lt;

Moham

THE TEMPLE OF FANDRENTHAN Sculpture, he told us, was the characteristic art of Buddhism, and

medanism.

the

sun-medallion, or lotus,

commonest with

one of

The

ornaments.

its

figures

serpents referred to pre- Bud

the

But sculpture had greatly dete riorated under Sun-worship, hence the dhism.

crudity of the Surya figure. And then we left the little temple in

What had

the woods.

men

held, that

might worship, nearly eighteen centuries ago,* when the world was big, with

the births of mighty things ? not tell. could only guess.

could

Mean bow the one thing we could One the Teaching Buddha. we could conjure up the great

while, to

knee, picture

wood-built

city,

with

this at its heart,

long years afterwards destroyed by

and now moved some

And

so,

five

with a dream

miles

and a

fire,

away.

sigh,

_^__________ *

&amp;gt;

assumed Pandrenthan, when we saw it, Kaniksha s time, 150 A. D. I am not sure that it so

old.

117

to be of is

really

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS wended our way back through

the trees,

to the river-side

was the time of

sunset

were

The

such a

sunest,

mountains

the

west

a shimmering purple. Further north, they were blue with snow and all

The sky was green and

cloud.

and touched

with

and

colours,

daffodil

red,

yellow flame bright against a blue

and opal background. We stood and looked, and then the Master, catching that sight of the throne of Solomon ex little Takt which we already loved claimed

&quot;what

genius the Hindu shows

He always placing his temples chooses a grand scenic effect! See! The

Takt commands the whole of Kashmir.

The

rock of Hari

Parbat

rises

red

out of blue water, like a lion couchant,

crowned.

And

the

Temple of Marttand

has the valley at its feet Our boats were moored !&quot;

near the

edge of the wood, and we could

see

that the presence of the silent chapel, ol

118

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTHAN we had just explored, Swami deeply. That even

the Buddha, which

moved ing we

the

foregathered mDhird Mdtd s houseboat, and a little of the conver all

down.

sation has been noted

Our Master had been Christian

from

derived

ritual

talking

Buddhist, but one of the party would

have none of the theory. did Buddhist &quot;Where

come from

?&quot;

&quot;From

Swami

ritual

itself

She asked. answered Vedic,&quot;

the

briefly.

&quot;Or

was present

not better to

Europe,

common

origin for

and the Vedic &quot;No

also in southern

it,

rituals !&quot;

suppose a

and the Christian, ?&quot;

he replied.

&quot;You

for

Buddhism was entirely within Hinduism Even caste was not attacked it was not yet crystallised, of and Buddha merely tried to course restore the ideal. He who attains to get that

God

this

life,

says

119

Mann,

the

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Brahmin. Buddha would have had so, if he could.&quot; &quot;But

how

nent.

Vedic and Christian

are &quot;

connected

ritual

persisted his oppo could they be the same ?

&quot;How

You have

nothing even corresponding to the central rite of our worship &quot;

&quot;

Why

&quot;

the

said

yes ritual has !

Swami,

Mass, the offering of food to God, your Blessed Sacrament, is our pras&dam. it offered Only &quot;Vedic

its

not kneeling, as is common in hot countries. They kneel in Thibet. sitting,

Then,

too,

Vedic

incen-se,

&quot;But,&quot;

argument,

&quot;has

contained

generalisation. He flashed

That

bold

new

this

lights,

prayer?&quot;

way always

paradox which and unthought-of

down on

and neither is

its

any common

urged

some

elicited

has

was the somewhat ungracious

Objections

&quot;N*o

ritual

music.&quot;

had

the

question.

Christianity

pure protestantism and protes120

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTHAN tantism took

from the Mohammedans,

perhaps through Moorish influence &quot;Mohammedanism that

has completely

the only religion broken down the is

idea of the priest. The leader of prayer stands with his back to the people, and

only the reading of the Koran may take Protestantism place from the pulpit. is

an approach

Even in

the

to this.

the tonsure existed in India,

shaven head.

have

seen a

receiving the Law which the monks

picture of Justinian

from two monks, in heads are entirely shaven. The monk and nun both existed, in pre-Buddhistic

Hinduism. from the &quot;

Europe

&quot;Yes

that

almost

believe.

since

Aryan

you accept

all

then,

rate,

never existed. ever

her orders

Thebaid.&quot;

Catholic ritual as

gets

Christianity is Aryan, inclined to think Christ,

have doubted

had 121

dream,

that,

that

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS dream off Crete! # Indian and Egyptian ideas met at Alexandria, and went forth the

world,

with Judaism

tinctured

and Hellenism, as Christianity. &quot;The Acts and Epistles, you know, are older than the Gospels, and S. John

The

spurious. sure of is S.

we can be

only figure

Paul,

and he was not an

own

eye-witness, and according to his showing was capable of Jesuitry

means save

all

isn

souls&quot;

&quot;by

t it ?

*In travelling from Naples to Port Said, on his way back Januaay 1897, the Swami had a dream of an old

to India, in

and bearded man, who appeared before him, saying is th island of Crete,&quot; and showing him a place island, that

he might afterwards

identify.

and

in the

connection with this gave him two

one of which was Therapeufae

European words, declared, were

the

went

vision

had originated

to say that the religion of Christianity

island of Crete

The

&quot;This

which

Therapeutae meant sons (from the Sanskrit putrci) of the Theras, or Buddhist monks. From this the Swami was to understand that derived from Sanskrit.

Christianity had originated in a Buddhist mission.

man added

The

proofs are all

and you will see As he awoke, feeling that

Swami officer,

old

!&quot;

&quot;Dig

the

here,&quot;

The

pointing to the ground.

rose,

this

was no common dream, Here he met

and tumbled out on deck.

turning in from his watch.

122

&quot;What

o clock

is it

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTHAN

Buddha

Mahommed,

and

alone amongst religious teachers, stand out with historic distinctness, having been fortunate enough to have, while

enemies as well as

they were living,

Krishna

friends.

doubt

a yogi,

;

and a shepherd, and a great king, have all been amalgamated in one beautiful of Jesus

&quot;Kenan s life

does

touch

not

Two

antiquarian. said the

are

in his

holding the Gitft

figure,

Swami.

answer came back

&quot;fifty

Our Master used

;

miles

the

was the answer.

!&quot;

when, off

froth.

real

stand out as

things

&quot;Where

his astonishment,

Crete

at himself

to laugh

it off.

The

fact

that

the

&quot;

for the

strength of

dream had made en him.

the impression that this

could never shake

Strauss,

&quot;Mid-night

he then said

?&quot;

hand.

mere

the

second

But he of

the

two etymologies has been lost, is deeply to be regretted. The Swami had to say that before he had had this dream, it

had never occurred

of Christ

was

strictly

ever, that according to

ness of an idea that

him

historic.

doubt that the personality must remember, how-

Hindu philosopy, it is the complete important, and not the question of its

The Swami once asked Sri RiVnawhen he was a boy, about this very matter. &quot;Don t answered his Guru, &quot;that those who could invent you think historical authenticity.

krishna,

!&quot;

such things were themselves that

I2 3

?&quot;

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS personal living touches in the life of the woman taken in adultery, Christ, the most beautiful story in and the woman at the true

strangely life

this

literature,

last, to

woman, coming

How

well.

Indian

draw water,

finds, seated at the well-side, a

clad

monk.

Then He

asks

her

yellowfor water.

teaches her, and does a

little

mind-reading and so on. Only in an Indian story, when she went to call the villagers, to look

would have taken to the forest &quot;On

Hillel

and his

the

monk

chance, and

fled

the whole,

listen,

think for

old

Rabbi

the

teachings of Jesus, and an obscure Jewish sect of Nazarenes a sect of great antiquity responsible

S. Paul, galvanised by furnished the mythic personality, as a centre of worship.

suddenly

&quot;The

Resurrection,

of course,

Only the rich Greeks and Romans had had cremation

simply spring-cremation.

124

THE TEMPLE OF PANDRENTHAN any way, and the new sun-myth would only stop &quot;

the

lived.

worship. man, but door.

He a

Enter,

&quot;He

went

the sinner.

drew a breath

never

Above

himself.

few.

Buddha Surely ever greatest man who

Buddha

But

he was

amongst the

he never claimed

all,

said, &quot;Buddha

state.

not a

have found the

of you

all

for

!&quot;

to the feast of Ambapjlli,

though he knew

dined with the pariah,

would

kill

him,

and

sent a message to his host on his death bed, thanking him for the great deljverance. Full of love and pity for a little goat,

his

even before he had attained the

You remember how he offered own head, that of prince and monk,

truth

only the king would spare the kid that he was about to sacrifice and how the if

king was struck by his compassion, that he saved its life ? Such a mixture

r&amp;gt;f

rationalism and feeling was never seen Surely, surely, there was none like him

125

!&quot;

CHAPTER WALKS AND TALKS Persons

BESIDE THE JHELLUM.

The Swami Vivekananda, and

Europeans, amongst the

Place

Time

IX.

whom

party

One whose name

Steady Mother and Nivedita. ;

was Jaya Kashmir.

were Dhira Mata,

;

July 2Oth to July 29th, 1898.

day,

we came

the ruins

two great temples of Avantipur. Each hour, as we went deeper and deeper into the interior, the river and the moun

the

tains

grew more

lovely.

immediate attractions of

And

amidst the

fields

and

trees,

and people with whom we felt thoroughly at home, how difficult it was to remem ber that we were exploring a stream in Central

Asia

those

who have

seen Kashmir in any season, a wealth of memory is called up, by Kalidas picture of the

spring-forest,

126

all

its

WALKS fr TALKS BESIDE THEJHELLUM beauty of wild cherry-blossom, and almond and apple, that forest, in which Siva

sits

Uma,

princess of the

beneath a dheodhar,

when

Himalaya, enters

with her offering of a lotus-seed garland, while close at hand stands the beautiful

young god with flowers. All that

spring,

his quiver is

lovely

divine in an English in woods of the

at Eastertide,

Normandy, and multiplied,

and bow of

the

gathered up charms of the

vale of Kashmir.

That morning, the and shallow and

river

clear,

was broad

and two of us

walked with the Swami, across the fields and along the banks, about three miles.

began by talking of the sense of sin, how it was Egyptian, Semitic and Aryan. It

appears

the

Vedas,

but quickly

The Devil is recognised passes out. there, as the Lord of Anger. Then, with the Buddhists, he became M&ra, the Lord of Lust, and one of the most

loved of the Lord

Buddha s

127

titles

was

NOTES OP SOME WANDERINGS of

&quot;conqueror

Mara&quot;,

vide the Sanskrit

lexicon (Amarkosha) that Swami learnt to patter, as a child of four But while !

Satan

the

Hindu

Hamlet

the

scriptures,

never

divides

of the Bible, in the

Lord of Anger

creation.

always

represents defilement, never duality.

Zoroaster was a reformer

some

Even Ormuzd and

old religion.

Ahri-

man, with him, were not supreme they were only manifestations of the Supreme. :

That older religion must have been Vedantic. So the Egyptians and Semites theory of sin, while the Aryans, as Indians and Greeks, quickly

cling to

the

lose

In India, righteousness

it.

become

vidyd,

transcended.

and avidyd,

Amongst

and

sin

both to be

the Aryans, Per

and Europeans become Semitised, * by religious ideas, hence the sense of sin. sians

One

of those

who

listened to this talk,

had a wonderful

opportunity, later, of appreciating the accuracy, the breadth of the Parsis glad to

of their

own

sit

Swami

at his feet,

religious ideas

as well

knowledge, when she saw two and learn from him the history

128

WALKS fr TALKS BESIDE THE JHELLUM

And

then the talk drifted, as

was

always so apt to do, to questions of the

What idea country and the future. must be urged on a people, to give them strength ? The line of their own development runs in one way, A. Must -

the

new

accession of force

be a compensating one, B ? This would producea deve

lopment midway between the two, C, a geometrical But it was not so. alteration, merely. &amp;gt;c

of that

was a question of organic We must reinforce the current life itself, and leave it to do the

rest.

Buddha preached

National forces.

life

renunciation,

and India heard. Yet within a thousand years, she

had reached her highest point

of national prosperity. in

The

national

India has renunciation as

Its highest ideals are service

The Hindu mother

eats last.

its

life

source.

and mukti. Marriage

not for individual happiness, but for the welfare of the nation and the caste.

129

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Certain individuals

the

modern

reform, having embarked on an experi ment which could not solve the problem, 4

are the sacrifices, over which the

has to

race

walk.&quot;

And

then the trend of conversation

changed again, and became all fun and merriment, jokes and stories. And as we laughed and listened, the boats came up, and talk was over for the day.

The whole of that afternoon and night, the Swami lay in his boat, ill. But next day, when we landed at the terpple of Bijbehara

already thronged with Amarnath pilgrims he was able to join us for a little while. &quot;Quickly up -and quickly down,&quot; as he said of himself

was always his characteristic. After that, he was with us most of the day, and ir the afternoon,

we reached

Islamabad.

The dungas were moored beside ar apple-orchard. Grass grew down to th( water s edge, and dotted over the lawi stood the apple and pear and even plun 130

WALKS

&amp;lt;Sn

TALKS BESIDE THE JHELL UM

trees, that a it

necessary

Hindu to

used to think

state

each

outside

plant,

In spring-time, it seemed to us, spot must be that very IslandValley of Avilion. village.

this

&quot;Where falls

not

or rain, or

hail,

any snow.

Nor ever wind blows

loudly

but

;

lies,

Deep-meadowed, happy,

fair

with

orchard-lawns,

And bowery

hollows,

crowned with

summer

The

houseboat,

lived, could not be taken

came

sea.&quot;

which two of us so

far,

deep and rapid portion of the stream, between high how beautiful was the hedges, and to rest in a very

walk, from the one

point to the other, under the avenue of poplars, with the

wonderful green of young

hand

rice

on either

In the dusk that evening, one came into the little group amongst the apple

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS trees,

and found the Master engaged

the rarest of rare happenings, a personal talk with DhirQ, Mdtd, and her whose

He had taken two Jaya. pebbles into his hand, and was saying name was

how, when he was

well, his

direct itself to this

and

might seem

less firm,

mind might

that,

but

or his

will

the

least

let

touch of pain or illness come, let him look death in the face for a while, and

hard as that (knocking the stones together), for I have touched the &quot;I

feet of

God.&quot;

And

one

remembered,

apropos of this coolness, the story of a walk across the fields, in England, where he and an Englishman and

woman had been pursued by an angry bull. The Englishman frankly ran, and reached the other side of the

The woman ran

safety.

could,

and then sank

far

the

hill

she

ground

incapable of further effort. Seeing this and unable to aid her, the Swami,

thinking

&quot;So

this

the end, after

132

all

WALKS fr TALKS RESIDE THEJHELLUM took up his stand in front of her, with He told afterwards how folded arms.

mind

his

was

occupied

mathematical calculation, as to the bull would be able

animal

the

paces

off,

with

how

far

suddenly stopped,

and

then,

But

throw.

raising

his

few

head,

retreated sullenly.

A was

like far

courage though he himself these from of thinking

had shown itself, in his early youth, when he quietly stepped up to a runaway horse, and caught it, in the incidents

streets of Calcutta, thus

of the

woman,

saving the

who

occupied

life

the

carriage behind.

The grass for

talk drifted on, as

beneath the

trees,

sat

on the

and became,

an hour or two, half grave, half gay. heard much of the tricks the

monkeys could play, in Brindaban. And we elicited stories of two separate occasions in his wandering life, when he had had clear previsions of help, 33

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS which had been I

remember.

occurred at the the

vow

One

fulfilled.

of these

may possibly have time when he was under

to ask for nothing,

and he had

been several days (perhaps five) without food. Suddenly, as he lay, almost dying a railway-station,

of exhaustion,

flashed into his

mind

that he must

rise

up, and go out along a certain road, and that there he would meet a man, He obeyed, and bringing him help.

met one, carrying a tray of you he to whom I was sent mari, at

him

coming up

him,

?&quot;

&quot;Are

said

this

and looking

closely.

Then its

food.

a child was brought to hand badly cut, and the

us,

with

Swami

He bathed applied an old wives cure. the wound with water, and then laid on it,

to stop the bleeding,

piece

of calico.

duly 23rd

The

of a

villagers

were

The

soothed and consoled,

was over

the ashes

and our gossip

for the evening,

next morning, a motley gather-

134

WALKSfr TALKS BESIDE THEJHELLUM assembled beneath the and waited some hours, to apple-trees ing of coolies

take us to

the

ruins

of Marttand.

had been a wonderful old building

more abbey than temple, in a wonderful position, and its great interest evidently

lay in the obvious agglomeration of styles

and periods

which

had grown up.

Never can I forget the deep black shadows under the series of arches that confronted

us,

entered

mid-

afternoon, with the sun directly behind There were three the west. us, in arches, one straight

behind the ojher,

and just within the farthest of them, two-thirds of lined

window

trefoil,

but

showed

evidently

height, a

top.

only

this,

moment

its

The the

heavy

straight-

arches were

first

all

and second

we saw them at the The place had entering. as

originated

three

small

rectangular temples, built, with heaVy blocks of stone, round sacred springs.

The

style of these three

135

chambers was

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS all straight-lined,

severe.

Taking the

middle and furthest East of the three, some later king had built round it an enclosing wall, placing a trefoil arch outside each low lintel-formed doorway,

without interfering with the original in any way, and then had added to it in a larger nave, with a tall trefoil arch as entrance. Each building had been so perfect, and the motive of the front,

two epochs of construction was so clear that the plan of the temple was pure delight, and until one had drawn it, one coulfi

not

The dharmsdld

stop.

cloister, round the central building, was extraordinarily Gothic in shape, and to

one who has seen this, and the royal tombs of Mohammedanism in the north of India, cloister

once suggested that the the whole of a ideally,

it is is,

monastery, climates,

presence the East

and

though, in our cold can not be so retained, its

a perpetual

was

the

136

reminder that

original

home

WALKS fr TALKS BESIDE THEJHELLUM monasticism.

work,

The Swami was hard

instant,

on observations and

theories, pointing out

cornice that

the

ran along the nave from the entrance to the sanctuary, to the

surmounted

west,

by the high trefoils of the two arches and also by a frieze or showing us the and before panels containing cherubs ;

;

we had coins.

done, had picked up a of couple The ride back, through the sun

was charming.

set light,

From

all

these

hours, the day before and the day after, fragments of talk come back to me. &quot;No

nation,

not

Greek

another,

has ever carried patriotism so far as the

They don

Japanese.

talk,

up all for country. noblemen now living in

give

they act There are

Japan

peasants, having given up their prince doms without a word to create the unity of the *

This

privileges,

empire.* is,

not

think a their

And

not

mistake.

that

the

estates,

renounced.

137

one was

traitor

their political

Japanese samurais

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS could be found in

Think of

that

Again,

some

the

Japanese war.

!&quot;

of the

talking

express

feeling,

inability &quot;Shy

and

reserved people, I have noticed, are always the most brutal when roused.&quot;

Again, ascetic

evidently

life,

and

the

giving the rules of &quot;The

brahmackarya.

talking

desire

of gold, to suicide,&quot; and so on.

thinks

The darkness

who

sannyasin it,

night

commits and the

a great pinefire under the trees, two or three tents standing out white forest, 1

in the blackness, the

many

distance, disciples,

forms and voices

servants at their

and the such

fires

the

Master with three

the next

picture.

Vernag, under the appleorchards and along the common-sides, of the pouring rain, and the luncheon in the road

the hard-won

sunshine, of that grand

old palace of Jehangir, with its octagonal tank at the foot of the pine-wooded hills,

138

WALKS fr TALKS BESIDE THE JHELLUM much might be said. But the crown of the day came in the hours after dinner, when we were, at long last, alone, and the constant

file

of visitors

and wor

shippers, with their gifts, had Suddenly the Master turned

member

ceased. to

one

party and said &quot;You never mention your school now, do you of the

sometimes forget it ? You see,&quot; he have much to think of. One went on, &quot;I

day

turn to Madras, and think

work

there.

attention

Another day America or

Ceylon or Calcutta. ing about yours.&quot; that

moment

away

to dine,

At called

give

all

think

Master

and not

till

was

he came

back could the confidence he had vited,

England or

Now the

of the

be given.

listened to

all,

the deliberate

wish for a tentative plan, for smallness of beginnings, and the final inclination to turn away from the idea of inclusive-

ness and breadth, and to base the whole

139

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS of an educational effort on the religious

and

life,

the

worship

Sri

Ramakrishna.

you must be sectarian get that enthusiasm, must you not he said. &quot;You will make a sect

&quot;Because

order to

rise

above

all

?&quot;

Yes

sects.

understand.&quot;

There would be obvious difficulties. The thing sounded, on this scale, al most impossible, for many reasons. But

moment

only care need be to will rightly, and if the plan was sound, ways and means would be found to for the

the

hand, that was sure.

He heard

waited

ask

do.

For

much

little

when he had

and then he

all,

criticise,

said,

but that

&quot;You

cannot

regard you as inspired, quite You know inspired as I am.

that s the difference

between other

reli-

gions and us. Other people believe their founder was inspired, and so do we.

But so

also,

just as

140

much

WALKSfr TALKS BESIDE THE JHELLVM he,

and you as

and

after you, be.

their disciples will

your

girls

shall

help you to do what you think best.&quot; Then he turned to Dhira Mata and

and spoke of the greatness of the that he would leave in the hands

to Java,

trust

of that disciple who should represent the interests of women, when he should west,

how

the responsibility of

would

work

for

exceed

men.

And

he added, turning to the worker of the party, &quot;Yes, you have faith, but you have not that burning enthusiasm that you need.

Siva

You want

to be

Siva

and

blessing of

and

left us,

!&quot;

consumed energy. so,

invoking

the

Mahadeva, he said goodnight and we, presently, went to bed.

The

next morning, we breakfasted early, in one of the tents, and went on to Achhabal. One of us had had a

dream of old jewels all bright and new.

lost

and restored,

But the Swami,

smiling, stopped the tale, saying talk of a dream as good as that

&quot;Never

!&quot;

141

Ju| v 25th

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS At Achhabal,

gardens of Jehangir. Vernag,

that

Was

had been

found it

here, or at

his

favourite

resting-place

roamed about the gardens, and a still pool opposite the Pathan Khan s Zenana, and then we lunched in the first garden, and rode down in

bathed

the afternoon to Islamabad.

As we

sat

lunch,

the

Swami

go to the Cave of Amarnath with him, and be dedicated to Siva. Dhira Mata smiled permission, and the next half-hour was given to invited his daughter to

pleasure

and

congratulations.

had

already been arranged that we were all to go to Pahlgam and wait there for

Swami s return from the pilgrimage. So we reached the boats that evening,

the

packed, and wrote

letters,

and next day Bawan.

in the afternoon, started for

142

CHAPTER X THE SHRINE

OF AMARNATH.

Time.

July 2Qth to August 8th 1898.

Place.

Kashmir.

From of

this

time

Swami.

the

we saw very

was

Ju| v 29th

little

full

enthusiasm about the pilgrimage and lived mostly on one meal a day, seeking

no company much, save that of sddhus. Sometimes he would come to a campingground, beads in hand. To-night two of the party went roaming about Bawan,

which was

a village

fair, all

modified

by a religious tendency, centering sacred springs.

Mata

in the

Afterwards, with Dhira

was possible

go and listen, at the tent door, to the crowd of Hindispeaking sddhus who were plying tjie it

Swami

with questions.

Thursday, we reached Pahlgam.

* ,

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS and camped down

valley.

at the lower

found that the

to encounter high

end of the

Swami had

opposition over

the

question of our admission at all. He was supported by the Naked Swamis,

whom

one of

have

said,

&quot;It

true

you

strength, Swamiji, but you not to manifest it He yielded at ought the word. That afternoon however, he this

!&quot;

took his daughter round the camp to be blessed,

alms,

which

really

meant

and whether

looked upon as

to distribute

because

rich, or

he was

because he was

recognised as strong the next day our tents were moved up to a lovely knoll, at

the

head of the camp, where we

had the rushing Lidar in front of us, and pine-covered mountains opposite,

with a glacier distinctly visible, beyond a cleft high up. stayed a whole day,

shepherds, to k^ep ek&dasi, and early next morning the pilgrims left. at

July 30th.

this

village,

six in the

of the

morning we had break144

THE SHRINE OF AMARNA TH and were

tasted

camp had moved,

off.

What

time

the

seemed impossible

even at our early meal-time very few pilgrims or tents were left. The ashes of dead fires were all that

to guess, for

marked the place where yesterday had been a thousand people and their canvas homes.

How next

beautiful

was the route

Chandanawara

halt,

to the

There we

camped on the edge of a ravine. It rained all afternoon, and I was visited by the

Swami

But

only for a five-minute s chat. received endless touching little

kindnesses from the servants and other In the

pilgrims.

showers

interval

between two

went out botanising, and found

seven or eight species of Mycsotis, two of which were new to me. Then I went

back to the shadow of

dripping

hr-tree.

The second than

any of

endless.

stage was much harder the It seemed others.

Chandanawara, the 45

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS Swami

insisted

doing my first glacier on foot, and took care to point out every detail of intrest. A tremen dous climb of some thousands of feet,

was the next experience. Then a long walk along a narrow path that twisted round mountain after mountain, and

At the top mountain, the ground was

finally

another steep climb.

of the

first

Then simply carpeted with edelwiess. the road passed five hundred feet above with

Shisharnag, at last

we camped

its

sulky in a cold

water,

damp

and

place

8000 feet high. The firs were far below, and all after noon and evening the coolies had to

amongst the snow-peaks,

forage for juniper in all directions. The Tahsildar s, Swami s and my own tents

were

all

close together,

and

in the

even

ing a large fire was lighted in front. But it did not burn well, and many feet

below lay the

Swami

after

glacier.

did not see

the

we camped.

Pantajharni

the

146

place of the

five

THE SHRINE OF AMARNA TH was

streams

not

march. Moreover,

such a long than

nearly it

was lower

and the cold was dry and exhilarating. In front of the camp was a dry river-bed, all gravel, and through Shisharnag,

ran

this

five

streams, in

all

was the duty of the pilgrim walking from one garments.

which to

bathe,

wet

the other in

Contriving to elude observa

tion

completely, Swamiji nevertheless fulfilled the law to the last letter in this

respect.

How

The lovely were the flowers or was it this ? night before, night large blue and white anemones grew in my tent,

beneath

wandering

off,

a glacier

bed

in the

closer

gentian, sedums,

here,

afternoon, to quarters,

saxifrages,

with

And I

set

found

and a new

hairy silver thick velvet like Even of leaves, pile. jxmiper at this place there was very

forget-me-not

little

little.

these

heights

often

found

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS ourselves in great circles of snow-peaks, those mute giants that have suggested to

Hindu mind the

the

idea of the

Ash-

encovered God. August 2nd.

Tuesday. August the 2nd, the great day of Amarnath, the first batch of pilgrims must have left the camp at

two

by the light of the full sun rose as we went down

left

moon. The

the narrow valley. It was not too safe, But when at this part of the journey.

left

our ddndies and began to climb,

sort of goatthe real danger began. path o in almost vertical hill-sides, becom

ing in the descent on the other side, a Every here tiny staircase in the turf.

and

there,

aelmas

one

delicate

daisies,

risk

and wild

life

Mich

columbines,

and

roses,

limb

tempted in

their

Then, having at last reached the bottom of the farther slope, acquistion.

we had

along the glacier, mile About a mile after mile, to the Cave. to toil

before our destination, the

148

ice

ceased,

THE SHRINE OF AMARNATH and

flowing water had to bathe. Even when in the

the

pilgrims

we seemed

have arrived, there was still quite a ascent over the rocks to be made.

stiff

The Swami, time,

fallen

bering that

below the

exhausted, had by this behind, but I, not remem

might be ill, waited, banks of gravel for his

He came at last, and, appearence. with a word, sent me on, he was going to bathe. Half an hour later he entered the

With

cave.

a smile he knelt,

first

one end of the semi-circle, then at the other. The place was vast, large at

enough great

hold

a in

ice-Siva,

shadow, seemed as base.

cathedral,

a niche if

and the

of deepest

throned on

its

own

few minutes passed, and then

he turned to leave the cave.

him, the heavens

had touched the

had had

to hold

afterwards, lest

had opened.

feet of

Siva.

himself tight,

he said

he should swoon away/

But so great was

his physical exhaustion,

149

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS that a doctor

afterwards

said

that

his

ought to have stopped beating, and had undergone a permanent enlarge

heart

ment

How

strangely near had been those words of his

instead.

fulfilment

Master,

&quot;when

what he

realises

who and &quot;

give up this body he have enjoyed it so much is

will

&quot;

hour afterwards, as he sat on a rock above the stream-side, eating said half an

lunch with the kind

thought the ice-lingam was And there were no Himself.

myself.

Siva

Naked Swami and

&quot;I

thievish

Brahmins,

wrong.

was

all

trade,

worship.

nothing I never

enjoyed any religious place so much Afterwards he would often tell of the &quot;

overwhelming vision that had seemed He to draw him almost into its vertex. 1

would

talk of

ice-pillar,

and

the it

poetry of the white

was he who suggested

discovery of the place hact been by a party of shepherds, who had wandered far in search of their flocks that the

first

THE SHRINE OF AMARNATH one summer day, and had entered the cave to find themselves, before the unmelting ice, in the presence of the Lord He always said too that the Himself. grace of

him

Amarnath had been granted

there,

not to die

till

himself

And to me he said should give consent. &quot;You do not now understand. But you have made the pilgrimage, and it will Causes must bring go on working. You will understand better their effects. afterwards.

The

effects will

come.&quot;

was the road by which How we returned next morning to Pahlgam beautiful

;

\Ve struck tents that night immediately on our return to them, and camped later for

the

night in a

stage further on.

snowy pass a whole

We paid a coolie a few

annas here, to push on with a letter, but when we actually arrived next after-noon

we found *

that this

had been quite un-

necessary, for all morning long, relays of pilgrims had been passing the tents, and dropping in, in the most friendly

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS manner, to give the others news of us, and our impending arrival. In the morning, we were up and on the way

As the sun rose moon went down

long before dawn. before us, while the behind,

we passed above

Death, into

which about

the

forty

Lake

pilgrims

had been hurried one year, by an ava lanche which their hymns had started. After this we came to the tiny goat-path

down the we were

face of a steep

able

cliff,

shorten

This was

journey so much.

by which the

return

little

better

than a scramble, and everyone had per At the bottom, force to do it on foot. the villagers had something like break fast ready. Fires were burning, chapatties baking, and tea ready to oe served out. From this time on, parties of pilgrims would leave the main body at each

ways, and the feeling of solidarity that had grown up amongst us parting of the

all

throughout the journey became gra

dually less and

less.

152

THE SHRINE Or AMARNAT1I That evening on the

knoll

above

Pahlgam, when a great fire of pinc-i was lighted, and dhurries spread we sat

and

talked.

Our

friend, the

all

Naked

Swami, joined us and we had plenty of fun and nonsense, but presently, when all

had gone save our own

sat on, with the great

little

moon

party,

overhead,

and the towering snows, and rushing And river, and the mountain-pines. the

Swami

talked of Siva, and the

Cave

and the great verge of vision. We started for Islamabad next day, and on Monday morning as we sat- at breakfast,

we were towed

safely

August 8th

into

Srinagar.

I I

153

CHAPTER

AT SRINAGAR OH THE RETURN Persons

Swami Vivekananda, and a

The

whom

Europeans, amongst the

Place

Time

August 9th.

Steady

Jaya

Kashmir

Srinagar.

this

of leaving

the

know

us.

&quot;The

One whose name wa

monk

exactly

pure

that

what

passionate outcry much better when

I I

And when

River

&quot;

time the Master was always

find the entry

Mother.&quot;

and Nivedita.

p^rty

were Dhira Mata

August Qth to August I3th.

talking

flows,

JOURNEY.

am have

pure that goes,&quot;

means always to

the sc

undergo

hardships and beg my bread,&quot; the longing for freedom and the touch of the

common

the picture of himsel faaking a long circuit of the country or foot, and meeting us again at Baramulh for the

people,

journey home. 154

A T SR/NA GA R ON THE RE TURN JO URNE Y

whom

His family of boat-people,

had staunchly befriended through two Afterwards he seasons, left us to-day.

would refer to the whole incident of their connection with

him

as proof that

even charity and patience could go too far.

was evening, and we all went out On the return he to pay some visit. called his disciple Nivedita to walk His talk with him across the fields. was all about the work and his inten It

tions in

it.

ness of his

and as

its

spoke of the inclusive-

conception

religions

;

being solely

Hinduism ary

faith

of his in

of the country

own

distinction

his desire to

make

active, aggressive, a mission ;

dont-touch-ism

as the

Then he only thing he repudiated. talked with depth of feeling of the gigantic \vTio

spirituality

were most orthodox. her hold

of those

India

wan

must never

let

on the old meditative

life

ted practicality, but she ef&amp;gt;

many

155

August ioth

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS &quot;To be as deep as the ocean and as broad as the Sky Sri Ramakrishna has said, was the ideal. But

for that.

profound inner life in the soul encased within orthodoxy, is the result of an accidental not an essential associa this

we set

ourselves right here, the world will be right, for are we not all

tion.

one

&quot;And

&quot;Rctmakrishna

?&quot;

Paramahamsa was

depths of his being, yet the outer plane he was perfectly the

alive to

active

and

And of the &quot;My

capable.&quot;

then

of that

worship of

own

life

critical

his

own

question

Master,

guided by the enthu

great personality, but others will decide for themselves how far siasm,

this

not

that

true

filtered

for

out

them. to

Inspiration

the world through

one man. August nth

There was occasion

Swami

this

day

rebuke a member

for the

th is

It was party for practising palmistry. a thing he said that everyone desired,

156

A T SRINAGAR

ON THE RETURN JOURNE Y

India despised and hated. Yes, he said, in reply to a little special plead ing, even of character-reading- he dis yet

all

&quot;To tell you the truth I approved. should have thought even your Incar

nation ciples

more honest if He and His dis had not performed miracles.

Buddha unfrocked a monk Later,

for

talking on the subject

doing to

it.&quot;

which

he had now transferred his attention, he

spoke with horror of the display of the least of it as sure to bring a terrible reflex.

The Swami had now taken

a Brah-

min cook.

Very touching had been the arguments of the Amarnath sAd/ins against his willingness to let even a Mussalm&n cook for him. &quot;Not in the

land

Sikhs,

they had said, sented.

But

shipping his child as

was mir,

Swamiji and he had at last con

for the present little

Uma.

Her whole

:&quot;

he was wor

Mohammedan idea of

boatlovfc

and the day he left Kash tiny one, was fain to carry a

service,

she,

at least

157

August i2tK and 13th.

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS him

tray of apples for

tonga

herself.

all

the

time.

Kashmir

to the

never forgot her,

though he seemed quite the

way

indifferent at itself

he was

fond of recalling the time when she saw a blue flower on the towing path and sitting this

down

way and

before that,

flower for twenty

and striking

it,

&quot;was

alone with tha

minutes.&quot;

There was a piece of land by the river-side on which grew three chennaars, towards which

our

thoughts

turned

with peculiar love at this time. For the Maharajah was anxious to give it to Swamiji,

and we

centre

work

which should 4&amp;lt;

all

pictured it as a the future-work

the great idea of by the people, for the people, as a joy

worker and

realise

served.&quot;

view of Indian feeling about a homestead blessed by women, it had In

been suggested that we should go annex the site, by camping there while.

One

aivd for a

our party moreover had 158

A T SRINAGAR ON THE RETURN JOURNE Y a personal wish for special quiet at this So it was decided that we should

time.

establish

before the

And

the

land,

women

math

Maharajah to

confer

should

were,

require

on the Swami.

was possible because the spot was one of the minor camping grounds this

used by Europeans.

159

CHAPTER

XII

THE CAMP UNDER THE CHENNAARS. Persons:

The Swami Vivekananda, and

a party of

amongst whom were Dhirfi Mata the Steady Mother One whose name wa ropeans,

;

Jay a t

Place

Kashmir

Time /August

August 14th Sept. 3rd.

and Niveditu.

;

Srinagar. to

1 4th

September 2Oth.

was Sunday morning and next afternoon the Swami was prevailed on It

come up to tea with us, in order meet a European guest, who seemed

be interested

in the

little

had been

himself with his real

the

motive

subject of Vedanta. inclined to concern

matter,

and

think

accepting, was pro

bably to afford his

too-eager disciples

opportunity of convincing them selves of the utter futility of all such

attempts as infinite

pains

certainly

this.

with

Certainly he tobk the enquirer and trouble

his

was wasted.

THE CAMP UNDER THE CHENNAARS I

remember

be broken. break a

What you

amongst other

saying,

&quot;How

things,

his

a law

wish

could

we were really should be law we

able

free.

breaking the law, is real ly only another way of keeping Then he tried to explain a little of the call

it.&quot;

fell

words

his

on ears that could not hear.

On Tuesday our

the end,

enough

to the it

began

&quot;History

meal.

mid-day

to rain heavi

to prevent his return,

Tod s

took up

he came once more to

camp

little

Towards ly

But

life.

super-conscious

and he

Rajasthan&quot;

which was lying near, and drifted into talk of

Meenl

national

ideas

Bai.

now

&quot;Two-thirds

Bengal,&quot;

of the

said,

have been gathered from this book.&quot; But the episode of Meenl B3,i, the queen

who would

be queen, but would world with the lovers of

not

wander the Krishna, was always his favourite, even in Tod. He talked of how she preached .

&amp;gt;

submission, prayerfulness, and service to 161 1 1

September

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS all in

contrast to

ched love

mercy one of

Chaitanya,

the

Name

his great patronesses.

put into her story

now

such

nections,

prea

and

Meer& B&i was always

all.

which one

who

of God,

threads with

many

familiar in other

the

would con

conversion

two great robbers, and the end by an image of Krishna opening and swal heard him on one I lowing her up. recite

occasion of I

remember

could

Cling to

it,

fell

whole,

cling

it,

and ended with

and Bunka the

the

one wish but

rendering, with the words,

in his

Brother,&quot;

translate

songs to a woman.

her

tegan,

and

cling &quot;If

it,

Aunka

the robber brothers, Sujana

butcher,

playfully taught name of the

and the courtesan, who

her parrot to repeat the

Lord

Krishna

were

Again ^1 hope for tale marvellous that tell him heard have of Meera B&i, in which on reaching Brind^van, she sent for a certain famous saved, there

all.&quot;

162

THE CAMP UNDER THE CHENNAARS

He refused to

s&dhu.* that

woman might

When

go,

not see

on the ground

men

Brin-

had happened three times, Meer3, Bai went to him herself say ing that she had not known that there ddvan.

this

were such beings as men there, she had supposed that Krishna alone existed.

And when she

she saw the astonished sddku

unveiled

the words

Man

do you call yourself a as he fell prostrate before

&quot;Fool,

And

?&quot;

with

herself completely,

her with a cry of awe, she blessed as a mother blesses her child.

Today

the

Swami passed on

him

to the

Akbar, and sang us a song of

talk of

Tana Sena, Emperor

the

of the

poet-laureate

on the throne, a god amongst men,

&quot;Seated

Thou

the

Emperor

of Delhi

Blessed was the hour the minute, the second, *Sanatana, the famous Sannyasin disciple of Sri Chaitanya of Bengal, of

Beng^

who to

gave up his office of minister become a religious devotee. 1

6.?

the

Nawab

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS

When

thou ascendest the throne,

God amongst men, Thou the Lord of Delhi. Long- live thy crown, thy sceptre, thy throne,

God amongst men, Thou Emperor of Delhi

Live long, and remain awakened

always, son of Humayoon,

Joy of the sun, God amongst men, Thou, the Emperor of Delhi !&quot;

Then hero&quot;

the talk passed to

Prot^p Singh,

&quot;our

national

who never

be brought to submission.

could

Once indeed

he was tempted to give in, at that moment when, having fled from Cheetore, and the queen herself having cooked evening meal, a hungry cat swooped down on that cake of bread which was the children s portion, and the scanty

th*3

King

Mewar

heard his babies

Then, indeed, the strong cry for food. The prosheart of the man failed him. 164

THE CAMP UNDER THE CHENNAARS pect of ease and relief tempted him. And for a moment he thought of ceasing from the unequal conflict, and sending

Akbar, only for an instant. Eternal Will protects its own. Even

his alliance to

The

as the

picture passed

before his mind,

there appeared a messenger, with those despatches from a famous Rajput chief, that said

There

but one

left

amongst

us who has kept his blood free from admixture with the alien. Let it never

be said that his head has touched the &quot;

dust. in

the

renewed the

And

the soul

breath

loner faith,

country

of Protap of courage

drew and

and he arose and swept its foes, and made his

own way back to Oodeypore. Then there was the wonderful

tale

of the virgin princess Krishna Kumari, whose hand was sought by various royal suitors at once.

were

And when

three armies

at the gate, her father could

think

of nothing better than to give her poison. The task was entrusted to her uncle,and

165

NOTES OF SOME WANDERINGS he entered her room as she lay asleep to do it. *But at the sight of her beauty

and youth, remembering her too as a baby, the soldier s heart failed him, and he could not perform his task. But she

was awakened by some sound, and being told what was proposed, stretched out her hand for the cup, and drank the And so on, and so poison with a smile.

For the

on.

kind are endless.

this Sept, 20th.

Rajput heroes

stories of

Swami and he whose

Saturday, the

name was Soong, went

Dahl Lake, to be the guests of the American consul and his wife for a couple of days. They to the

returned on Monday, and on Tuesday, the Swami came up to the new Math, as

called

it,

and had

his boat

moved

by ours, so that he could be with for a few days, before leaving for

Ganderbal.

CONCLUDING WORDS OF THE EDITOR. From Ganderbal

the

Swami

week of October and announced for

the

plains

returned

by the

his intention of leaving

a few days for urgent reasons.

European party had already made plans cities

Agra

as soon

ties

decided

From

here

Calcutta

the

The

to visit the

of Northern India e.g. Lahore, Delhi,

principal etc.,

first

as the winter

return

together

Swami and

leaving the

set in.

rest

sight-seeing in Northern India.

So both par

and came

his

party

to Lahore.

returned to

carry out their plans for

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Noblo, Margaret Elizabeth Notes of some wanderings with the Swai Vivekanada