四 阿拉辛迦
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中文
四
微风草甸，
麻省梅特卡夫，
1893年8月20日。
亲爱的阿拉辛伽：
昨日收到您的来信。您或许已收到我从日本寄出的信函。自日本抵达温哥华，行经北太平洋铁路。途中天寒料峭，我因御寒衣物不足而备受煎熬。然而，我终究抵达温哥华，继而穿越加拿大直赴芝加哥。我在芝加哥逗留约十二日，几乎每天前往博览会参观。那是一场规模宏大的盛事，至少须花上十日方能逛遍全场。瓦拉达·拉奥为我引荐的那位女士及其夫婿均属芝加哥上流社会，对我极为厚待。离开芝加哥后，我前往波士顿。拉鲁拜先生陪我同行至波士顿，对我关照有加。……
此地所需开销之巨，令人咋舌。您当记得，临行前您给了我170英镑纸币与9英镑现金，如今已缩减至约130英镑！平均每日花费1英镑，一支雪茄便需折合我国货币八安那。美国人富甲一方，花钱如流水，又以强制立法维持极高物价，使世界上任何其他国家都望尘莫及。寻常苦力每日收入九至十卢比，花销亦与之相当。我们出发前的种种美好设想，如今已烟消云散，眼下我不得不与重重困难搏斗。我曾百次萌生离开此地、返回印度之念，然而我意志坚定，且蒙受上天的召唤——前路虽茫然，然而祂的目光所及之处，必有出路。我必须坚守阵地，至死不退。……
此刻我寄居于波士顿附近一座村庄中一位老妇人家中。偶然在火车上结识，她便邀我前来同住。住在她家，我省去了每日1英镑的开销，她则得以邀请朋友前来，向她们展示一件来自印度的奇珍。这一切都须坦然承受。饥寒交迫、因奇装异服而在街头遭人嘲弄——这便是我所要面对的挑战。然而，亲爱的孩子，从古至今，凡成大事者，无不经历艰辛的磨砺。
……须知，此乃基督徒之国，其他任何影响在这里几乎微乎其微。我对世间任何主义者的敌意亦毫不在意。我身处圣母玛利亚之子的子民之中，主耶稣将助我一臂之力。他们甚为欣赏印度教（Hinduism）的广博视野，以及我对拿撒勒先知的敬爱之情。我告诉他们，我所传扬的，绝无丝毫违逆那位加利利伟人之处。我只是请求基督徒们在信奉主耶稣的同时，亦接纳印度的诸位圣者，他们对此深表赞许。
冬日将近，我须添置各式御寒衣物，且我们所需的御寒衣物比本地人更多。……振作起来，孩子，鼓起勇气。主已命定我们在印度成就伟业。要有信心。我们必能成事。我们这些贫贱卑微、真切感受苦难之人，而非那些……
在芝加哥，前些日子发生了一件趣事。卡普尔萨拉的王公（Raja）莅临此地，芝加哥社会的部分人士对他竞相追捧。我曾在博览会场地偶遇这位王公，但他贵胄身份，不屑与一位贫苦的沙弥（Fakir）攀谈。会场中有一位性情古怪的马哈拉施特拉婆罗门，以钉子制作图画出售，身着托蒂（dhoti）。此人向记者大肆渲染，对王公百般诋毁——称其出身低贱，那些王公们不过是奴仆，且普遍行为不检，等等。那些自诩公正（？）的编辑们——美国以此著称——为使那少年的言论显得更具分量，次日便在报上大篇幅刊载，称某位来自印度的智者——意指我——将我捧上云霄，将我从未想过的话语强加于我之口，并将那位马哈拉施特拉婆罗门批评卡普尔萨拉王公的种种言论，皆归于我名下。芝加哥社会因此毫不犹豫地抛弃了那位王公。……这些报纸编辑利用我来给我的同胞一顿痛斥。然而，这至少说明，在此国，才识学问远比财富与头衔的威风更具分量。
昨日，女子监狱（在此地称"感化院"）的女总管约翰逊夫人来访。此乃我在美国所见最令人叹为观止之事。院内犯人所受之仁慈对待，其感化教育，以及重返社会成为有用之人——此景之宏大、之美好，非亲眼目睹不能信。而我的心，因想到我们对印度穷苦卑贱之人的态度，不禁隐隐作痛。他们毫无机会，无路可逃，无从向上攀升。印度的穷人、卑贱者、罪人，无人为之援助，无人为之声援——他们无法振作，无论如何努力皆然。他们日复一日地沉沦，感受着残酷社会施加于他们的鞭笞，却不知这鞭笞从何而来。他们已忘却自己亦是人。其结果，便是奴役。近年来，有识之士已察觉此弊，但不幸将其归咎于印度教，认为唯有摧毁这世上最伟大的宗教方能改良。请听我说，朋友，我已蒙主恩典，发现了其中奥秘。宗教并无过失。恰恰相反，你的宗教教导你：每一个存在，皆是你自身的化身与延伸。然而，症结在于缺乏实际的践行，缺乏悲悯之心——缺乏心灵的温热。主曾再度降临，化身为佛陀，教导你如何感受，如何与穷苦者、悲惨者、罪人共情，然而你未曾聆听。你的僧侣们编造了骇人听闻的说法，称主降临于世，不过是以谬论愚弄魔鬼！此言不虚——但我们才是那些魔鬼，而非信奉者。正如犹太人否认主耶稣，此后便流离失所，如无家可归的乞丐游荡于世，受尽各方凌辱，你们亦沦为任何有意统治你们的民族的奴仆。啊，暴君们！你们不知，正面是暴政，反面是奴役，奴役者与暴君者，实为一体两面。
巴拉吉与G·G想必还记得某个傍晚在本地治里，我们与一位学者讨论海上航行之事，而我始终忘不了他那粗鲁的手势和那句"绝不！"（Kadâpi Na）！他们不知，印度不过是世界的极小一隅，而全世界都以蔑视的目光，俯视那爬行于印度美丽土地上、相互倾轧的三亿蚯蚓。此种局面必须改变，途径不在于摧毁宗教，而在于遵循印度教（Hinduism）大义，并融入其逻辑发展之结晶——佛教——那种不可思议的悲悯精神。
十万男女，燃烧着神圣的热忱，以对主永恒的信仰为铠甲，以对贫苦者、沦落者、受压迫者的悲悯之情为力量，激发出雄狮般的勇气，将走遍这片土地的每一个角落，宣讲救赎的福音、援助的福音、社会振兴的福音——平等的福音。
世上没有任何宗教能以如此崇高的声调宣扬人的尊严，一如印度教（Hinduism）；然而世上也没有任何宗教能以如此残忍的方式践踏穷苦卑贱之人，一如印度教。主已使我明白，过失不在宗教，而在于印度教中那些法利赛人与撒都该人——那些伪君子，他们以所谓"胜义谛"（Pâramârthika）与"世俗谛"（Vyâvahârika）的教义为名，编造出种种压迫的工具。
莫要绝望；请记住，主在《薄伽梵歌》（Gita）中所言："你有权行动，但无权索取其果报。"振作起来，孩子。我受主所召而来。我的一生，历经十字架般的苦难与折磨；我曾目睹至亲几乎因饥寒而死；我曾遭人嘲笑，遭人误解，并因对那些嘲弄我、轻视我之人抱有同情而备受苦难。好吧，孩子，这便是苦难的学校——同时也是伟大灵魂与先知的学校，磨砺同情之心、培养忍耐之德，以及最重要的——那种即便宇宙在脚下碎裂亦无所动摇的铁铸般的意志。我怜悯他们，这并非他们的过错。他们不过是孩子——真正的孩子——纵使他们在社会中地位显赫、高高在上。他们的目光，不过局限于自己方寸之地——日复一日的例行公事，饮食起居，谋生养家，周而复始，毫无改变。他们对此之外的一切一无所知——幸福的小灵魂！他们的睡眠从未受扰，他们那安稳如棕色暮色般的生活，从未被那世纪压迫所酿就的苦难、悲惨、堕落与贫困的哀号所猛然惊醒——那弥漫于印度天地之间的哀号。他们丝毫未曾梦想，曾有无数世纪的精神、道德与肉体的暴政，将上帝的形象贬低为苦役的牲畜；将神圣母性的象征，沦为传宗接代的奴婢；将生命本身，化作一种诅咒。然而，也有另一些人——他们看见了，感受到了，内心深处流淌着血泪，他们相信苦难有其解药，并愿意不惜一切代价、甚至献出生命来施行这解药。正是"这样的人，才属于天国"。那么，朋友们，这岂非自然之理——他们无暇俯首，从高处去理会那些卑微小虫的荒谬言行，而那些小虫随时准备吐出它们那点微薄的毒液？
不要寄望于所谓的富人，他们比死人好不了多少。希望就在你们身上——在那些温顺谦卑却忠心不渝之人身上。信靠主；政策手段，皆属虚空。为苦难者感同身受，仰望寻求援助——援助必将降临。我怀揣这份重担与这一理念，已奔走了十二年。我走遍了那些所谓富贵显达者的门槛，心如刀绞，越半个世界来到这异乡，寻求援助。主是伟大的，我知道祂必助我。我或许会在这片土地上因寒冷或饥饿而倒下，但我将这份同情、这份为贫苦者、无知者、受压迫者而奋斗的精神，托付于你们，托付于你们这些青年。此刻，就此刻，前往帕萨萨拉提（Pârthasârathi）的神殿，在那位曾与古拉（Gokula）贫苦牧人为友、从不回避拥抱贱民古哈卡（Guhaka）、在其化身为佛陀时接受妓女的邀请而非贵族之请并予以救度的主面前——是的，匍匐于祂的面前，献上一份伟大的牺牲——将你们的一生，整个地献给那些祂一次次为之降临、祂最深爱的群体——穷苦者、卑贱者、受压迫者。立下誓言，将你们的毕生献给拯救那三亿人民的事业，他们正日复一日地沉沦。
此非一日之功，且前路荆棘丛生、险象环生。然而帕沙萨拉提（Parthasarathi）已准备就绪，愿为我们的御者（Sârathi）——这一点我们心知肚明。以祂之名，怀着对祂永恒的信仰，点燃那座已在印度堆积了数千年的苦难之山——它必将燃烧殆尽。那么，来吧，弟兄们，直面它；这是一项宏大的使命，而我们是如此渺小。然而我们是光明之子，是神的儿女。荣耀归于主，我们必将成功。奋斗中，百人将会倒下，却有百人随时准备接续。我或许在这里含恨而终，另一人将接过这使命。你们已知晓病症，已知晓解药，唯需拥有信仰。不要仰望那些所谓的富人和显贵，不要理会那些冷血的文人墨客及其冷漠的报章评论。信仰，悲悯——炽热的信仰与炽热的悲悯！生命算不了什么，死亡算不了什么，饥饿算不了什么，寒冷算不了什么。荣耀归于主——前进！主是我们的统帅。莫要回首望那倒下之人——向前，向前！弟兄们，我们便如此前行。一人倒下，另一人接续这工作。
明日我将离开这村庄前往波士顿。我将在此地一个大型女子俱乐部发表演讲，该俱乐部正在资助罗摩拜。我须先去波士顿置办一些衣物。若要在此地继续生活，我那奇特的服装便不宜再穿。街上常有数百人聚集围观。因此，我打算换上一件黑色长外套，另备一件红袍与缠头布，用于演讲时穿戴。此乃女士们的建议，而她们是此地的主宰，我必须赢得她们的支持。在您收到这封信之前，我的资金将缩减至约70乃至60英镑。请尽力筹款汇寄。在此地驻留一段时日，方能产生影响，这是必要的。我未能为巴塔查里亚先生找到留声机，因为他的信到达时我已在此处。若再赴芝加哥，我将留意寻访。我尚不知是否会回芝加哥。我在那里的朋友来信，希望我代表印度出席，而瓦拉达·拉奥为我引荐的那位绅士乃博览会董事之一；但我婉拒了，因为在芝加哥多停留一个月以上，将耗尽我那一点可怜的积蓄。
在美国（加拿大除外），铁路并无舱等之分，因此我须乘坐头等舱，因那是唯一的舱位；但我不乘卧铺列车（Pullman）。那种列车极为舒适——可在其中睡眠、饮食，甚至沐浴，宛如置身旅馆——但价格过于昂贵。
进入社会、让自己的声音被人听见，实属不易。眼下，城中无人，人们皆已移居暑地。待冬日来临，他们将悉数归来。因此我必须等待。历经如此艰辛，我决不轻言放弃。只请您尽力协助我；即便您力有不逮，我亦将竭尽全力。纵然我在此因寒冷、疾病或饥饿而倒下，您也要接过这使命。神圣、真诚与信仰。我已委托库克公司，无论我身在何处，皆将信函与款项转寄于我。罗马非一日建成。若您能支持我在此至少六个月，我相信一切将会好转。与此同时，我正竭力寻找任何可以依托的立足之地。一旦找到自给之法，我将立即电报告知。
首先在美国一试；若失败，再赴英国；若仍失败，便回返印度，静候高处进一步的指示。拉姆达斯的父亲已动身赴英，他归心似箭，是个心地良善之人，只是表面带着班尼亚式的粗砺之气。信件到达须二十日以上。此地新英格兰已甚为寒冷，每日早晚皆须生火取暖。加拿大更为寒冷，我从未见过如此低矮的山丘上竟也积雪。
我可以逐渐打开局面，但这意味着须在这花费惊人的国家长期驻留。眼下，印度卢比汇率的波动在此国引发了恐慌，众多工厂已相继停工。因此，我暂时不抱任何期望，只能静待时机。
方才，我已前往裁缝处，订制了一批冬季服装，费用至少须三百卢比以上。即便如此，也不过是体面之衣，谈不上精良。此地女士对男士的仪表极为讲究，而她们才是这个国家真正的力量。她们……从不使传教士们失望。她们年年资助我们的罗摩拜。若您无力支持我留在此地，则请汇寄一些资金，助我离开这个国家。与此同时，若有任何情况对我有利，我将立即致信或电报告知。一字电报须花费4卢比！
您的，
辨喜（Vivekananda）敬上
注记
English
IV
Breezy Meadows,
Metcalf, Mass.,
20th August, 1893.
Dear Alasinga,
Received your letter yesterday. Perhaps you have by this time got my letter from Japan. From Japan I reached Vancouver. The way was by the Northern Pacific. It was very cold and I suffered much for want of warm clothing. However, I reached Vancouver anyhow, and thence went through Canada to Chicago. I remained about twelve days in Chicago. And almost every day I used to go to the Fair. It is a tremendous affair. One must take at least ten days to go through it. The lady to whom Varada Rao introduced me and her husband belong to the highest Chicago society, and they were so very kind to me. I took my departure from Chicago and came to Boston. Mr. Lâlubhâi was with me up to Boston. He was very kind to me. . . .
The expense I am bound to run into here is awful. You remember, you gave me £170 in notes and £9 in cash. It has come down to £130 in all!! On an average it costs me £1 every day; a cigar costs eight annas of our money. The Americans are so rich that they spend money like water, and by forced legislation keep up the price of everything so high that no other nation on earth can approach it. Every common coolie earns nine or ten rupees a day and spends as much. All those rosy ideas we had before starting have melted, and I have now to fight against impossibilities. A hundred times I had a mind to go out of the country and go back to India. But I am determined, and I have a call from Above; I see no way, but His eyes see. And I must stick to my guns, life or death. . . .
Just now I am living as the guest of an old lady in a village near Boston. I accidentally made her acquaintance in the railway train, and she invited me to come over and live with her. I have an advantage in living with her, in saving for some time my expenditure of £1 per day, and she has the advantage of inviting her friends over here and showing them a curio from India! And all this must be borne. Starvation, cold, hooting in the streets on account of my quaint dress, these are what I have to fight against. But, my dear boy, no great things were ever done without great labour.
. . . Know, then, that this is the land of Christians, and any other influence than that is almost zero. Nor do I care a bit for the enmity of any — ists in the world. I am here amongst the children of the Son of Mary and the Lord Jesus will help me. They like much the broad views of Hinduism and my love for the Prophet of Nazareth. I tell them that I preach nothing against the Great One of Galilee. I only ask the Christians to take in the Great Ones of Ind along with the Lord Jesus, and they appreciate it.
Winter is approaching and I shall have to get all sorts of warm clothing, and we require more warm clothing than the natives. . . Look sharp, my boy, take courage. We are destined by the Lord to do great things in India. Have faith. We will do. We, the poor and the despised, who really feel, and not those. . . .
In Chicago, the other day, a funny thing happened The Raja of Kapurthala was here, and he was being lionised by some portion of Chicago society. I once met the Raja in the Fair grounds, but he was too big to speak with a poor Fakir. There was an eccentric Mahratta Brâhmin selling nail-made pictures in the Fair, dressed in a dhoti. This fellow told the reporters all sorts of things against the Raja —, that he was a man of low caste, that those Rajas were nothing but slaves, and that they generally led immoral lives, etc., etc. And these truthful (?) editors, for which America is famous, wanted to give to the boy's stories some weight; and so the next day they wrote huge columns in their papers about the description of a man of wisdom from India, meaning me — extolling me to the skies, and putting all sorts of words in my mouth, which I never even dreamt of, and ascribing to me all those remarks made by the Mahratta Brahmin about the Raja of Kapurthala. And it was such a good brushing that Chicago society gave up the Raja in hot haste. . . . These newspaper editors made capital out of me to give my countryman a brushing. That shows, however, that in this country intellect carries more weight than all the pomp of money and title.
Yesterday Mrs. Johnson, the lady superintendent of the women's prison, was here. They don't call it prison but reformatory here. It is the grandest thing I have seen in America. How the inmates are benevolently treated, how they are reformed and sent back as useful members of society; how grand, how beautiful, You must see to believe! And, oh, how my heart ached to think of what we think of the poor, the low, in India. They have no chance, no escape, no way to climb up. The poor, the low, the sinner in India have no friends, no help — they cannot rise, try however they may. They sink lower and lower every day, they feel the blows showered upon them by a cruel society, and they do not know whence the blow comes. They have forgotten that they too are men. And the result is slavery. Thoughtful people within the last few years have seen it, but unfortunately laid it at the door of the Hindu religion, and to them, the only way of bettering is by crushing this grandest religion of the world. Hear me, my friend, I have discovered the secret through the grace of the Lord. Religion is not in fault. On the other hand, your religion teaches you that every being is only your own self multiplied. But it was the want of practical application, the want of sympathy — the want of heart. The Lord once more came to you as Buddha and taught you how to feel, how to sympathise with the poor, the miserable, the sinner, but you heard Him not. Your priests invented the horrible story that the Lord was here for deluding demons with false doctrines! True indeed, but we are the demons, not those that believed. And just as the Jews denied the Lord Jesus and are since that day wandering over the world as homeless beggars, tyrannised over by everybody, so you are bond-slaves to any nation that thinks it worth while to rule over you. Ah, tyrants! you do not know that the obverse is tyranny, and the reverse slavery. The slave and the tyrant are synonymous.
Balaji and G. G. may remember one evening at Pondicherry — we were discussing the matter of sea-voyage with a Pandit, and I shall always remember his brutal gestures and his Kadâpi Na (never)! They do not know that India is a very small part of the world, and the whole world looks down with contempt upon the three hundred millions of earthworms crawling upon the fair soil of India and trying to oppress each other. This state of things must be removed, not by destroying religion but by following the great teachings of the Hindu faith, and joining with it the wonderful sympathy of that logical development of Hinduism — Buddhism.
A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising-up — the gospel of equality.
No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism. The Lord has shown me that religion is not in fault, but it is the Pharisees and Sadducees in Hinduism, hypocrites, who invent all sorts of engines of tyranny in the shape of doctrines of Pâramârthika and Vyâvahârika.
Despair not; remember the Lord says in the Gita, "To work you have the right, but not to the result." Gird up your loins, my boy. I am called by the Lord for this. I have been dragged through a whole life full of crosses and tortures, I have seen the nearest and dearest die, almost of starvation; I have been ridiculed, distrusted, and have suffered for my sympathy for the very men who scoff and scorn. Well, my boy, this is the school of misery, which is also the school for great souls and prophets for the cultivation of sympathy, of patience, and, above all, of an indomitable iron will which quakes not even if the universe be pulverised at our feet. I pity them. It is not their fault. They are children, yea, veritable children, though they be great and high in society. Their eyes see nothing beyond their little horizon of a few yards — the routine-work, eating, drinking, earning, and begetting, following each other in mathematical precision. They know nothing beyond — happy little souls! Their sleep is never disturbed, their nice little brown studies of lives never rudely shocked by the wail of woe, of misery, of degradation, and poverty, that has filled the Indian atmosphere — the result of centuries of oppression. They little dream of the ages of tyranny, mental, moral, and physical, that has reduced the image of God to a mere beast of burden; the emblem of the Divine Mother, to a slave to bear children; and life itself, a curse. But there are others who see, feel, and shed tears of blood in their hearts, who think that there is a remedy for it, and who are ready to apply this remedy at any cost, even to the giving up of life. And "of such is the kingdom of Heaven". Is it not then natural, my friends, that they have no time to look down from their heights to the vagariese of these contemptible little insects, ready every moment to spit their little venoms?
Trust not to the so-called rich, they are more dead than alive. The hope lies in you — in the meek, the lowly, but the faithful. Have faith in the Lord; no policy, it is nothing. Feel for the miserable and look up for help — it shall come. I have travelled twelve years with this load in my heart and this idea in my head. I have gone from door to door of the so-called rich and great. With a bleeding heart I have crossed half the world to this strange land, seeking for help. The Lord is great. I know He will help me. I may perish of cold or hunger in this land, but I bequeath to you, young men, this sympathy, this struggle for the poor, the ignorant, the oppressed. Go now this minute to the temple of Pârthasârathi,and before Him who was friend to the poor and lowly cowherds of Gokula, who never shrank to embrace the Pariah Guhaka, who accepted the invitation of a prostitute in preference to that of the nobles and saved her in His incarnation as Buddha — yea, down on your faces before Him, and make a great sacrifice, the sacrifice of a whole life for them, for whom He comes from time to time, whom He loves above all, the poor, the lowly, the oppressed. Vow, then, to devote your whole lives to the cause of the redemption of these three hundred millions, going down and down every day.
It is not the work of a day, and the path is full of the most deadly thorns. But Parthasarathi is ready to be our Sârathi — we know that. And in His name and with eternal faith in Him, set fire to the mountain of misery that has been heaped upon India for ages — and it shall be burned down. Come then, look it in the face, brethren, it is a grand task, and we are so low. But we are the sons of Light and children of God. Glory unto the Lord, we will succeed. Hundreds will fall in the struggle, hundreds will be ready to take it up. I may die here unsuccessful, another will take up the task. You know the disease, you know the remedy, only have faith. Do not look up to the so-called rich and great; do not care for the heartless intellectual writers, and their cold-blooded newspaper articles. Faith, sympathy — fiery faith and fiery sympathy! Life is nothing, death is nothing, hunger nothing, cold nothing. Glory unto the Lord — march on, the Lord is our General. Do not look back to see who falls — forward — onward! Thus and thus we shall go on, brethren. One falls, and another takes up the work.
From this village I am going to Boston tomorrow. I am going to speak at a big Ladies' Club here, which is helping Ramâbâi. I must first go and buy some clothing in Boston. If I am to live longer here, my quaint dress will not do. People gather by hundreds in the streets to see me. So what I want is to dress myself in a long black coat, and keep a red robe and turban to wear when I lecture. This is what the ladies advise me to do, and they are the rulers here, and I must have their sympathy. Before you get this letter my money would come down to somewhat about £70 of £60. So try your best to send some money. It is necessary to remain here for some time to have any influence here. I could not see the phonograph for Mr. Bhattacharya as I got his letter here. If I go to Chicago again, I will look for them. I do not know whether I shall go back to Chicago or not. My friends there write me to represent India. And the gentleman, to whom Varada Rao introduced me, is one of the directors of the Fair; but then I refused as I would have to spend all any little stock of money in remaining more than a month in Chicago.
In America, there are no classes in the railway except in Canada. So I have to travel first-class, as that is the only class; but I do not venture in the Pullmans. They are very comfortable — you sleep, eat, drink, even bathe in them, just as if you were in a hotel — but they are too expensive.
It is very hard work getting into society and making yourself heard. Now nobody is in the towns, they are all away in summer places. They will all come back in winter. Therefore I must wait. After such a struggle, I am not going to give up easily. Only try your best to help me as much as you can; and even if you cannot, I must try to the end. And even if I die of cold or disease or hunger here, you take up the task. Holiness sincerity, and faith. I have left instructions with Cooks to forward any letter or money to me wherever I am. Rome was not built in a day. If you can keep me here for six months at least, I hope everything will come right. In the meantime I am trying my best to find any plank I can float upon. And if I find out any means to support myself, I shall wire to you immediately.
First I will try in America; and if I fail, try in England; if I fail, go back to India and wait for further commands from High. Ramdas's father has gone to England. He is in a hurry to gone home. He is a very good man at heart, only the Baniya roughness on the surface. It would take more than twenty days for the letter to reach. Even now it is so cold in New England that every day we have fires night and morning. Canada is still colder. I never saw snow on such low hills as there.
Gradually I can make my way; but that means a longer residence in this horribly expensive country. Just now the raising of the Rupee in India has created a panic in this country, and lots of mills have been stopped. So I cannot hope for anything just now, but I must wait.
Just now I have been to the tailor and ordered some winter clothings, and that would cost at least Rs. 300 and up. And still it would not be good clothes, only decent. Ladies here are very particular about a man's dress, and they are the power in this country. They. . . never fail the missionaries. They are helping our Ramabai every year. If you fail in keeping me here, send some money to get me out of the country. In the meantime if anything turns out in my favour, I will write or wire. A word costs Rs. 4 in cable!!
Yours,
Vivekananda.
Notes
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。