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Volume 6 / Epistles - Second Series /
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.