The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Epistles - First Series/XXV Alasinga
XXV
541 Dearborn Avenue,
Chicago, 1894.
Dear Alasinga,
Your letter just to hand. . . . I was mistaken in asking you to publish the
scraps I sent you. It was one of my awful mistakes. It shows a moment's
weakness. Money can be raised in this country by lecturing for two or three
years. But I have tried a little, and although there is much public
appreciation of my work, it is thoroughly uncongenial and demoralising to
me. . . .
I have read what you say about the Indian papers and their criticisms, which
are natural. Jealousy is the central vice of every enslaved race. And it is
jealousy and want of combination which cause and perpetuate slavery. You
cannot feel the truth of this remark until you come out of India. The secret
of Westerners' success is this power of combination, the basis of which is
mutual trust and appreciation. The weaker and more cowardly a nation is, so
much the more is this sin visible. . . . But, my son, you ought not to
expect anything from a slavish race. The case is almost desperate no doubt,
but let me put the case before you all. Can you put life into this dead mass
— dead to almost all moral aspiration, dead to all future possibilities —
and always ready to spring upon those that would try to do good to them? Can
you take the position of a physician who tries to pour medicine down the
throat of a kicking and refractory child? . . . An American or a European
always supports his countrymen in a foreign country. . . . Let me remind you
again, "Thou hast the right to work but not to the fruits thereof." Stand
firm like a rock. Truth always triumphs. Let the children of Shri
Ramakrishna be true to themselves and everything will be all right. We may
not live to see the outcome, but as sure as we live, it will come sooner or
later. What India wants is a new electric fire to stir up a fresh vigour in
the national veins. This was ever, and always will be, slow work. Be content
to work, and, above all, be true to yourself. Be pure, staunch, and sincere
to the very backbone, and everything will be all right. If you have marked
anything in the disciples of Shri Ramakrishna, it is this — they are sincere
to the backbone. My task will be done, and I shall be quite content to die,
if I can bring up and launch one hundred such men over India. He, the Lord,
knows best. Let ignorant men talk nonsense. We neither seek aid nor avoid it
— we are the servants of the Most High. The petty attempts of small men
should be beneath our notice. Onward! Upon ages of struggle a character is
built. Be not discouraged. One word of truth can never be lost; for ages it
may be hidden under rubbish, but it will show itself sooner or later. Truth
is indestructible, virtue is indestructible, purity is indestructible. Give
me a genuine man; I do not want masses of converts. My son, hold fast! Do
not care for anybody to help you. Is not the Lord infinitely greater than
all human help? Be holy — trust in the Lord, depend on Him always, and you
are on the right track; nothing can prevail against you. . . .
Let us pray, "Lead, Kindly Light" — a beam will come through the dark, and a
hand will be stretched forth to lead us. I always pray for you: you must
pray for me. Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden
millions in India who are held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny —
pray day and night for them. I care more to preach religion to them than to
the high and the rich. I am no metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint.
But I am poor, I love the poor. I see what they call the poor of this
country, and how many there are who feel for them! What an immense
difference in India! Who feels there for the two hundred millions of men and
women sunken for ever in poverty and ignorance? Where is the way out? Who
feels for them? They cannot find light or education. Who will bring the
light to them — who will travel from door to door bringing education to
them? Let these people be your God — think of them, work for them, pray for
them incessantly — the Lord will show you the way. Him I call a Mahâtman
(great soul) whose heart bleeds for the poor, otherwise he is a Durâtman
(wicked soul). Let us unite our wills in continued prayer for their good. We
may die unknown, unpitied, unbewailed, without accomplishing anything — but
not one thought will be lost. It will take effect, sooner or later. My heart
is too full to express my feeling; you know it, you can imagine it. So long
as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor
who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them!
I call those men who strut about in their finery, having got all their money
by grinding the poor, wretches, so long as they do not do anything for those
two hundred millions who are now no better than hungry savages! We are poor,
my brothers, we are nobodies, but such have been always the instruments of
the Most High. The Lord bless you all.
With all love,
Vivekananda.