Chapter (অধ্যায়): LETTERS (FIFTH SERIES) PAGE-5Page: 5 of 548
grace to be taught by any other man__truly, such a new incarnation must be visited. I hope that if the government should discover the identity of this person, he will be handled with special care and be placed in the Alipore garden [zoo]. If you happen to know this man, please ask him to bless me, so that even a dog or a jackal may be my Guru__not to speak of a great soul like Pavhari Baba.
I have many things to learn. My master used to say: "As long as I live, so long do I learn". Also please tell this fellow that unfortunately I do not have the time to "cross the seven seas and thirteen rivers" or to go to Sri Lanka in order to sleep after having put oil in the nostrils.1
Your servant,
Narendra
P.S. Please have the rose‑water brought from Ishan Babu's [Ishan Chandra Mukherjee's] residence if there is delay [in their sending it to the Baranagore Math]. The roses are still not in bloom. The rose‑water has just been sent to the residence of Ishan Babu.
IV
To Tulsiram Ghosh
[Ghazipur (Baghbazar)
10 March [?] 1890]
Dear Tulsiram:2
A basket of roses will be sent to you in a few days at Chitpur. Do you please send them up immediately to Shashi [Swami Ramakrishnananda, at the Baranagore Math]. They
1 Here the Swami is referring to Kumbhakarna, the brother of the villain Râvana of the Râmâyana. He was of such a lethargic and evil nature that Brahmâ granted the boon that he should sleep for six months at a stretch. Putting mustard oil in the nostrils is considered to be an aid to sleeping soundly.
"Crossing seven seas and thirteen rivers" is a Bengali phrase meaning to travel a great distance. Sri Lanka is the ancient name for the island of Ceylon and was the capital of Ravana's kingdom.
2 The eldest of three brothers (Tulsiram, Baburam, and Shantiram) and a sister (Krishnabhavini), married to Balaram Bose.