Chapter (অধ্যায়): VI-X SHRI PRIYA NATH SINHA PAGE-376Page: 376 of 537
hours away! Oh, if they only knew how they wasted their time!
X
[Shri Priya Nath Sinha]
Once I went to see Swamiji while he was staying in Calcutta at the house of the late Balaram Basu. After a long conversation about Japan and America, I asked him, "Well, Swamiji, how many disciples have you in the West?"
Swamiji: A good many.
Q. Two or three thousands?
Swamiji: Maybe more than that.
Q. Are they all initiated by you with Mantras?
Swamiji: Yes.
Q. Did you give them permission to utter Pranava (Om)?
Swamiji: Yes.
Q. How did you, Maharaj? They say that the Shudras have no right to Pranava, and none has except the Brahmins. Moreover, the Westerners are Mlechchhas, not even Shudras.
Swamiji: How do you know that those whom I have initiated are not Brahmins?
Myself: Where could you get Brahmins outside India, in the lands of the Yavanas and Mlechchhas?
Swamiji: My disciples are all Brahmins! I quite admit the truth of the words that none except the Brahmins has the right to Pranava. But the son of a Brahmin is not necessarily always a Brahmin; though there is every