The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Epistles - First Series/LIV Alasinga
LIV
London,
18th November, 1895.
Dear Alasinga,
. . . In England my work is really splendid, I am astonished myself at it.
The English people do not: talk much in the newspapers, but they work
silently. I am sure of more work in England than in America. Bands and bands
come, and I have no room for so many; so they squat on the floor, ladies and
all. I tell them to imagine that they are under the sky of India, under a
spreading banyan, and they like the idea. I shall have to go away next week,
and they are so sorry. Some think my work here will be hurt a little if I go
away so soon. I do not think so. I do not depend on men or things. The Lord
alone I depend upon — and He works through me.
. . . Please everybody without becoming a hypocrite and without being a
coward. Hold on to your own ideas with strength and purity, and whatever
obstructions may now be in your way, the world is bound to listen to you in
the long run. . . .
I have no time even to die, as the Bengalis say. I work, work, work, and
earn my own bread and help my country, and this all alone, and then get only
criticism from friends and foes for all that! Well, you are but children, I
shall have to bear everything. I have sent for a Sannyâsin from Calcutta and
shall leave him to work in London. I want one more for America — I want my
own man. Guru-Bhakti is the foundation of all spiritual development.
. . . I am really tired from incessant work. Any other Hindu would have died
if he had to work as hard as I have to. . . . I want to go to India for a
long rest. . . .
Ever yours with love and blessings,
Vivekananda.