The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 7/Epistles - Third Series/XXXVIII Sharat Chandra Chakravarti
XXXVIII
(Written to Sj. Sharat Chandra Chakravarti, B.A.)
(Translated from Sanskrit.)
DARJEELING,
19th March, 1897.
Salutation to Bhagavan Ramakrishna!
May you prosper! May this letter conveying blessings and cordial embrace
make you happy! Nowadays this fleshy tabernacle of mine is comparatively
well. Meseems, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas, the Chief among
mountains, bring even the moribund back to life. And the fatigue of the
journeys also seems to have somewhat abated. I have already felt that
yearning for Freedom — potent enough to put the heart into turmoil — which
your letter suggests you are experiencing. It is this yearning that
gradually brings on a concentration of the mind on the eternal Brahman.
"There is no other way to go by." May this desire blaze up more and more in
you, until all your past Karma and future tendencies are absolutely
annihilated. Close upon the heels of that will follow, all on a sudden, the
manifestation of Brahman, and with it the destruction of all craving for the
sense-world. That this freedom-in-life is approaching for your welfare is
easily to be inferred from the strength of your fervour. Now I pray to that
world-teacher, Shri Ramakrishna, the Preacher of the gospel of universal
synthesis, to manifest himself in the region of your heart, so that, having
attained the consummation of your desires, you may with an undaunted heart
try your best to deliver others from this dreadful ocean of infatuation. May
you be ever possessed of valour! It is the hero alone, not the coward, who
has liberation within his easy reach. Gird up your loins, ye heroes, for
before you are your enemies — the dire army of infatuation. It is
undoubtedly true that "all great achievements are fraught with numerous
impediments"; still you should exert your utmost for your end. Behold, how
men are already in the jaws of the shark of infatuation! Oh, listen to their
piteous heart-rending wails. Advance, forward, O ye brave souls, to set free
those that are in fetters, to lessen the burden of woe of the miserable, and
to illumine the abysmal darkness of ignorant hearts! Look, how the Vedanta
proclaims by beat of drums, "Be fearless!" May that solemn sound remove the
heart's knot of all denizens of the earth.
Ever your well-wisher,
VIVEKANANDA.