Chapter (অধ্যায়): EPISTLES PAGE-399Page: 399 of 519
for self-even my wicked deed were not for the self. So I am content; not that I feel I have done anything specially good or great, but the world is so little, life so mean a thing, existence so, so servile- that I wonder and smile that human beings, rational souls, should be running after this self-so mean and detestable a prize.
This is the truth. We are caught in a trap, and the sooner one gets out, the better for one. I have seen the truth-let the body float up or down, who cares?
It is a beautiful mountain park I am living in now. On the north, extending almost all along the horizon, are peak after peak of the snow-clad Himalayas-forests abounding. It is not cold here, neither very warm; the evenings and mornings are simply delicious. I should like to be here this summer, and when the rains set in, I go down to the plains to work.
I was born for the life of a scholar-retired, quiet, poring over my books. But the Mother dispenses otherwise-yet the tendency is there.
Yours etc.,
Vivekananda.
CXXVII*
Almora,
14th June, 1897.
Dear Rakhal,
I am wholly in sympathy with the subject-matter of the letter of Charu that you have sent me.
In the proposed Address to the Queen-Empress the following points should be noted:
1. That it must be free from exaggeration, in other words, statements to the effect that she is God's regent and so forth, which are so common to us natives.
2. That all religions have been protected during her reign, we have been able fearlessly to preach our Vedantic doctrines both in India and England.