LI.

To Mr. E. T. St.u.r.dy C/ O MISS MACLEOD, HOTEL HOLLANDE, RUE DE LA PAIX, PARIS,

5th September, 1895.

DEAR AND BLESSED FRIEND,.

It is useless to express my grat.i.tude for your kindness; it is too great for expression. . . . I have a cordial invitation from Miss Mller, and as her place is very near to yours, I think it will be nice to come to her place first for a day or two and then to come over to you.

My body was very ill for a few days, which caused this delay in writing you.

Hoping soon for the privilege of mingling hearts and heads together.

I remain, ever yours in love, and fellowship in the Lord,

LII.

To Miss Josephine MacLeod

C/O E. T. St.u.r.dY, ESQ.,.

HIGH VIEW, CAVERSHAM, READING, ENGLAND,.

September, 1895.

DEAR JOE JOE, A thousand pardons for not promptly writing to you. I arrived safe in London, found my friend, and am all right in his home. It is beautiful. His wife is surely an angel, and his life is full of India. He has been years there - mixing with the Sannyasins, eating their food, etc., etc.; so you see I am very happy. I found already several retired Generals from India; they were very civil and polite to me. That wonderful knowledge of the Americans that identify every black man with the negro is entirely absent here, and n.o.body even stares at me in the street.

I am very much more at home here than anywhere out of India. The English people know us, we know them. The standard of education and civilisation is very high here - that makes a great change, so does the education of many generations.

Have the Turtle-doves returned? The Lord bless them and theirs for ever and ever. How are the babies - Alberta and Holister? Give them my oceans of love and know it yourself.

My friend being a Sanskrit scholar, we are busy working on the great commentaries of Shankara etc. Nothing but philosophy and religion here, Joe Joe. I am going to try to get up cla.s.ses in October in London.

Ever affectionately with love and blessings,

VIVEKANANDA.

LIII.

(Translated from Bengali)

To Swami Abhedananda

C/O E. T. St.u.r.dY, ESQ.,.

HIGH VIEW, CAVERSHAM, READING, ENGLAND,.

October, 1895.

DEAR KALI, You may have got my earlier letter. At present send all letters to me at the above address. Mr. St.u.r.dy is known to Trakd. He has brought me to his place, and we are both trying to create a stir in England. I shall this year leave again in November for America. So I require a man well-up in Sanskrit and English, particularly the latter language - either Shashi or you or Srad. Now, if you have completely recovered, very well, you come; otherwise send Sharat. The work is to teach the devotees I shall be leaving here, to make them study the Vedanta, to do a little translation work into English, and to deliver occasional lectures. "Work is apt to cloud spiritual vision." X~~ is very eager to come, but unless the foundation is strongly laid, there is every likelihood of everything toppling down. I am sending you a cheque along with this letter. Buy clothes and other necessary things - whoever comes. I am sending the cheque in the name of Master Mahashay Mahendra Babu. Gangdhar"s Tibetan choga is in the Math; get the tailor to make a similar choga of gerua colour. See that the collar is a little high, that is, the throat and neck should be covered. . . . Above all, you must have a woolen overcoat, for it is very cold. If you do not put on an overcoat on the ship, you will suffer much. . . . I am sending a second cla.s.s ticket, as there is not much difference between a first cla.s.s and a second cla.s.s berth. . . . If it is decided to send Shashi then inform the purser of the ship beforehand to provide him with vegetarian diet.

Go to Bombay and see Messrs. King, King & Co., Fort, Bombay, and tell them that you are Mr. St.u.r.dy"s man. They will then give you a ticket to England. A letter is being sent from here to the Company with instructions. I am writing to the Maharaja of Khetri to instruct his Bombay agent to look after the booking of your pa.s.sage. If this sum of Rs. 150/- is not sufficient for your outfit, get the remainder from Rakhal. I shall send him the amount afterwards. Keep another Rs. 50/- for pocket expenses - take it from Rakhal; I shall pay back later. I have not up to now got any acknowledgement of the amount I sent to Chuni Babu. Start as quickly as possible. Inform Mahendra Babu that he is my Calcutta agent. Tell him to send a letter to Mr. St.u.r.dy by next mail informing him that he is ready to look after all business transactions in Calcutta on your behalf. In effect, Mr. St.u.r.dy is my secretary in England, Mahendra Babu in Calcutta, and Alasinga in Madras. Send this information to Madras also. Can any work be done unless all of us gird up our loins? And be up and doing! "Fortune favours the brave and energetic." Don"t look back - forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience - then alone can great deeds be accomplished. We must set the whole world afire.

Now on the day the steamer is due to start, write a letter to Mr. St.u.r.dy informing him by which steamer you are leaving for England. Otherwise there is some likelihood of your having difficulties when you reach London. Take the ship that comes directly to London, for even if it takes a few days longer on the voyage, the fares are less. At the moment our purse is lean. In time we shall send preachers in large numbers to all the quarters of the globe.

Yours affectionately,

VIVEKANANDA. PS. Write at once to the Maharaja of Khetri, that you are going to Bombay and that you will be glad if his agent attends to the booking of your pa.s.sage and sees you off the board.

Keep my address with you written in a pocket-book, lest there should be difficulties afterwards.

LIV.

To Miss Josephine MacLeod

HIGH VIEW, CAVERSHAM, READING, ENGLAND,.

October, 1895.