The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/LXXXVII Alberta
LXXXVII
R.M.S. "Britannic", Thursday morning, Dec. 5, 1895.
DEAR ALBERTA,
Received your nice letter last evening. Very kind of you to remember me. I
am going soon to see the "Heavenly Pair". Mr. Leggett is a saint as I have
told you already, and your mother is a born empress, every inch of her, with
a saint's heart inside.
I am so glad you are enjoying the Alps so much They must be wonderful. It is
always in such places that the human soul aspires for freedom. Even if the
nation is spiritually poor, it aspires for physical freedom. I met a young
Swiss in London. He used to come to my classes. I was very successful in
London, and though I did not care for the noisy city, I was very much
pleased with the people. In your country, Alberta, the Vedantic thought was
introduced in the beginning by ignorant "cranks", and one has to work his
way through the difficulties created by such introductions. You may have
noticed that only a few men or women of the upper classes ever joined my
classes in America. Again in America the upper classes being the rich, their
whole time is spent in enjoying their wealth and imitating (aping?) the
Europeans. On the other hand in England the Vedantic ideas have been
introduced by the most learned men in the country, and there are a large
number among the upper classes in England who are very thoughtful. So you
will be astonished to hear that I found my grounds all prepared, and I am
convinced that my work will have more hold on England than America. Add to
this the tremendous tenacity of the English character, and judge for
yourself. By this you will find that I have changed a good deal of my
opinion about England, and I am glad to confess it. I am perfectly sure that
we will do still better in Germany. I am coming back to England next summer.
In the meanwhile my work is in very able hands. Joe Joe has been the same
kind good pure friend to me here as in America, and my debt to your family
is simply immense. My love and blessings to Hollister and you. The steamer
is standing at anchor on account of fog. The purser has very kindly given me
a whole cabin by myself. Every Hindu is a Raja, they think, and are very
polite — and the charm will break, of course, when they find that the Raja
is penniless!!
Yours with love and blessings,
VIVEKANANDA.