The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/XXXIX Mother
XXXIX
(Translated from Bengali)
BOMBAY,
24th May, 1893.
DEAR MOTHER, (Shrimati Indumati Mitra)
Very glad to receive your letter and that of dear Haripada. Please do not be
sorry that I could not write to you very often. I am always praying to the
Lord for your welfare. I cannot go to Belgaum now as arrangements are all
ready for my starting for America on the 31st next. The Lord willing, I
shall see you on returning from my travels in America and Europe. Always
resign yourselves to the Lord Shri Krishna. Always remember that we are but
puppets in the Lord's hands. Remain pure always. Please be careful not to
become impure even in thought, as also in speech and action; always try to
do good to others as far as in you lies. And remember that the paramount
duty of a woman is to serve her husband by thought, word, and deed. Please
read the Gita every day to the best of your opportunity. Why have you signed
yourself as. . . Dâsi (maidservant)? The Vaishya and the Shudra should sign
as Dâsa and Dâsi, but the Brahmin and Kshatriya should write Deva and Devi
(goddess). Moreover, these distinctions of caste and the like have been the
invention of our modern sapient Brahmins. Who is a servant, and to whom?
Everyone is a servant of the Lord Hari. Hence a woman should use her
patronymic, that is, the surname of her husband. This is the ancient Vedic
custom, as for example, such and such Mitra, or the like. It is needless to
write much, dear mother; always know that I am constantly praying for your
well-being. From America I shall now and then write you letters with
descriptions of the wonderful things there. I am now at Bombay, and shall
stay here up to the 31st. The private Secretary to the Maharaja of Khetri
has come here to see me off.
With blessings,
Yours sincerely,
VIVEKANANDA.