The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Epistles - First Series/XXI Blessed and Beloved
XXI
Washington,
27th October, 1894.
Blessed And Beloved,[1]
By this time you must have received my other letters. You must excuse me for
certain harshness of tone sometimes, and you know full well how I love you.
You have asked me often to send over to you all about my movements in this
country and all my lecture reports. I am doing exactly here what I used to
do in India. Always depending on the Lord and making no plans ahead....
Moreover you must remember that I have to work incessantly in this country,
and that I have no time to put together my thoughts in the form of a book,
so much so, that this constant rush has worn my nerves, and I am feeling it.
I cannot express my obligation to you, G. G., and all my friends in Madras,
for the most unselfish and heroic work you did for me. But it was not at all
meant to blazon me, but to make you conscious of your own strength. I am not
an organiser, my nature tends towards scholarship and meditation. I think I
have worked enough, now I want rest and to teach a little to those that have
come to me from my Gurudeva (venerable Guru). You have known now what you
can do, for it is really you, young men of Madras, that have done all; I am
only the figurehead. I am a Tyâgi (detached) monk. I only want one thing. I
do not believe in a God or religion which cannot wipe the widow's tears or
bring a piece of bread to the orphan's mouth. However sublime be the
theories, however well-spun may be the philosophy — I do not call it
religion so long as it is confined to books and dogmas. The eye is in the
forehead and not in the back. Move onward and carry into practice that which
you are very proud to call your religion, and God bless you!
Look not at me, look to yourselves. I am happy to have been the occasion of
rousing an enthusiasm. Take advantage of it, float along with it, and
everything will come right. Love never fails, my son; today or tomorrow or
ages after, truth will conquer. Love shall win the victory. Do you love your
fellow men? Where should you go to seek for God — are not all the poor, the
miserable, the weak, Gods? Why not worship them first? Why go to dig a well
on the shores of the Gangâ? Believe in the omnipotent power of love. Who
cares for these tinsel puffs of name? I never keep watch of what the
newspapers are saying. Have you love? — You are omnipotent. Are you
perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible. It is character that pays
everywhere. It is the Lord who protects His children in the depths of the
sea. Your country requires heroes; be heroes! God bless you!
Everybody wants me to come over to India. They think we shall be able to do
more if I come over. They are mistaken, my friend. The present enthusiasm is
only a little patriotism, it means nothing. If it is true and genuine, you
will find in a short time hundreds of heroes coming forward and carrying on
the work. Therefore know that you have really done all, and go on. Look not
for me. Akshoy Kumar Ghosh is in London. He sent a beautiful invitation from
London to come to Miss Müller's. And I hope I am going in January or
February next. Bhattacharya writes me to come over. Here is a grand field.
What have I to do with this "ism" or that "ism"? I am the servant of the
Lord, and where on earth is there a better field than here for propagating
all high ideas? Here, where if one man is against me, a hundred hands are
ready to help me; here, where man feels for man, weeps for his fellow-men
and women are goddesses! Even idiots may stand up to hear themselves
praised, and cowards assume the attitude of the brave when everything is
sure to turn out well, but the true hero works in silence. How many Buddhas
die before one finds expression! My son, I believe in God, and I believe in
man. I believe in helping the miserable. I believe in going even to hell to
save others. Talk of the Westerners? They have given me food, shelter,
friendship, protection — even the most orthodox Christians! What do our
people do when any of their priests go to India? You do not touch them even,
they are Mlechchhas! No man, no nation, my son, can hate others and live;
India's doom was sealed the very day they invented the word Mlechchha and
stopped from communion with others. Take care how you foster that idea. It
is good to talk glibly about the Vedanta, but how hard to carry out even its
least precepts!
Ever yours with blessings,
Vivekananda.
PS. Take care of these two things — love of power and jealousy. Cultivate
always "faith in yourself".
- Notes
- ↑ Alasinga Perumal.