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The Complete Works: Volume VPage 1 of 1

Epistles: First Series

Look not at me, look to yourselves

WASHINGTON,

27th October, 1894.

BLESSED AND BELOVED,1

By this time you must have received my other letters. You must excuse me for certain harshness of tone sometimes, and you know full well how I love you. You have asked me often to send over to you all about my movements in this country and all my lecture reports. I am doing exactly here what I used to do in India. Always depending on the Lord and making no plans ahead.… Moreover you must remember that I have to work incessantly in this country, and that I have no time to put together my thoughts in the form of a book, so much so, that this constant rush has worn my nerves, and I am feeling it. I cannot express my obligation to you, G. G., and all my friends in Madras, for the most unselfish and heroic work you did for me. But it was not at all meant to blazon me, but to make you conscious of your own strength. I am not an organiser, my nature tends towards scholarship and meditation. I think I have worked enough, now I want rest and to teach a little to those that have come to me from my Gurudeva (venerable Guru). You have known now what you can do, for it is really you, young men of Madras, that have done all; I am only the figurehead. I am a Tyāgi (detached) monk. I only want one thing. I do not believe in a God or religion which cannot wipe the widow’s tears or bring a piece of bread to the orphan’s mouth. However sublime be the theories, however well-spun may be the philosophy—I do not call it religion so long as it is confined to books and dogmas. The eye is in the forehead and not in the back. Move onward and carry into practice that which you are very proud to call your religion, and God bless you!

Look not at me, look to yourselves. I am happy to have been the occasion of rousing an enthusiasm. Take advantage of it, float along with it, and everything will come right. Love never fails, my son; today or tomorrow or ages after, truth will conquer. Love shall win the victory. Do you love your fellow men? Where should you go to seek for God—are not all the poor, the miserable, the weak, Gods? Why not worship them first? Why go to dig a well on the shores of the Gangā? Believe in the omnipotent power of love. Who cares for these tinsel puffs of name? I never keep watch of what the newspapers are saying. Have you love?—You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible. It is character that pays everywhere. It is the Lord who protects His children in the depths of the sea. Your country requires heroes; be heroes! God bless you!

Everybody wants me to come over to India. They think we shall be able to do more if I come over. They are mistaken, my friend. The present enthusiasm is only a little patriotism, it means nothing. If it is true and genuine, you will find in a short time hundreds of heroes coming forward and carrying on the work. Therefore know that you have really done all, and go on. Look not for me. Akshoy Kumār Ghosh is in London. He sent a beautiful invitation from London to come to Miss Müller’s. And I hope I am going in January or February next. Bhattacharya writes me to come over. Here is a grand field. What have I to do with this “ism” or that “ism”? I am the servant of the Lord, and where on earth is there a better field than here for propagating all high ideas? Here, where if one man is against me, a hundred hands are ready to help me; here, where man feels for man, weeps for his fellow-men and women are goddesses! Even idiots may stand up to hear themselves praised, and cowards assume the attitude of the brave when everything is sure to turn out well, but the true hero works in silence. How many Buddhas die before one finds expression! My son, I believe in God, and I believe in man. I believe in helping the miserable. I believe in going even to hell to save others. Talk of the Westerners? They have given me food, shelter, friendship, protection—even the most orthodox Christians! What do our people do when any of their priests go to India? You do not touch them even, they are Mlechchhas! No man, no nation, my son, can hate others and live; India’s doom was sealed the very day they invented the word Mlechchha and stopped from communion with others. Take care how you foster that idea. It is good to talk glibly about the Vedānta, but how hard to carry out even its least precepts!

Ever yours with blessings,
VIVEKANANDA.

PS. Take care of these two things—love of power and jealousy. Cultivate always “faith in yourself.”

Notes

  1. Alasinga Perumal ↩
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Contents

Epistles: First Series
  1. NOTE
  2. Be moral. Be brave.
  3. We must travel, we must go to foreign parts
  4. Calm and silent and steady work
  5. Feel for the miserable and look up for help — it shall come
  6. The Hindu must not give up his religion
  7. Do you know who is the real “Shakti-worshipper”?
  8. My whole ambition in life is to set in motion a machinery
  9. Up, up, my boys, we are sure to win!
  10. Whenever anyone of you is sick
  11. Appreciation or no appreciation, sleep not, slacken not.
  12. Fight on bravely! Life is short! Give it up to a great cause
  13. XII
  14. You will have to take charge of the whole movement, not as a leader, but as a servant
  15. Asians are the most charitable race in the world
  16. Wait, have patience, everything will come right in time
  17. XVI
  18. I care only for the Spirit—when that is right everything will be righted by itself
  19. Hope and do not despair
  20. XIX
  21. XX
  22. Look not at me, look to yourselves
  23. The life of Shri Ramakrishna was an extraordinary searchlight
  24. Preach Shri Ramakrishna. Pass the Cup that has satisfied your thirst. Preach Bhakti
  25. Remember that "Never one meets with evil who tries to do good"
  26. It is jealousy and want of combination which cause and perpetuate slavery
  27. XXVI
  28. Go to work, the rest will come
  29. I owe much to the Hale family
  30. Even after death I shall work for the good of the world
  31. Work for the idea, not the person
  32. 31. Coming and going is all pure delusion. The soul never comes nor goes
  33. 32. One cannot serve the God of Truth who leans upon somebody
  34. 33. Do not lose heart, do not lose faith in your Guru, do not lose faith in God
  35. 34. All’s well that ends well
  36. 35. Do not figure out big plans at first, but begin slowly, feel your ground, and proceed up and up
  37. 36. Hoping you the best dreams (for that is the only way to be happy)
  38. 37. Be cheerful.… Hold on to your own idea. Be the servant of all.
  39. 38. Love makes the whole universe as one's own home.
  40. 39. Be the servant of all, and do not try in the least to govern others.
  41. 40. Men are more valuable than all the wealth of the world.
  42. 41. A pestle must pound even if it goes to heaven.
  43. 42. Work on, my boy. Rome was not built in a day.
  44. 43. My disciples must not be cowards.
  45. 44. I wish you a life that will be like a torch to generations to come
  46. 45. May the Lord bless you and yours for ever and ever
  47. 46. May all happiness be yours for ever
  48. 47. Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance.
  49. 48. It is unnecessary to repeat my everlasting love and blessings for you and yours.
  50. 49. Truth is my God, the universe my country
  51. 50. Man is the greatest of all beings.
  52. 51. E. T. Sturdy
  53. 52. God and truth are the only politics in the world, everything else is trash.
  54. 53. So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail.
  55. 54. Any other Hindu would have died if he had to work as hard as I have to.
  56. 55. Be perfectly pure in money dealings.
  57. 56. The whole life is a succession of dreams.
  58. 57. I am working a good deal now upon the cosmology and eschatology of the Vedānta
  59. 58. The dry, abstract Advaita must become living
  60. 59. The greatness of a teacher consists in the simplicity of his language.
  61. 60. So long as you have faith in your Guru, nothing will be able to obstruct your way.
  62. 61. Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country
  63. 62. The lotus is a symbol of regeneration.
  64. 63. Nothing can resist truth.
  65. 64. Work on! Hold on! Be brave! Dare anything and everything!
  66. 65. E.T. Sturdy
  67. 66. Work unto death—I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work with you.
  68. 67. Work on with all energy.
  69. 68. I wish at least that a million Hindus had travelled all over the world!
  70. 69. We Hindus are so slow that when we have done a work, the opportunity has already passed away, and thus we are the losers.
  71. 70. We must remember that gratitude and hospitality are the peculiar characteristics of Indian humanity
  72. 71. Goodwin is an Englishman, through whose shorthand notes it has been possible for the pamphlets to be published.
  73. 72. You must not forget that my interests are international and not Indian alone
  74. 73. We have to learn that evil is destroyed by the growth of good.
  75. 74. Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world.
  76. 75. In Darjeeling I always felt that I was not the same man. Here I feel that I have no disease whatsoever
  77. 76. The word Vedas includes the three parts, the Samhitās, the Brāhmanas, and the Upanishads
  78. 77. For us, it is not to pity but to serve. Ours is not the feeling of compassion but of love
  79. 78. May I be born again and again, and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists
  80. 79. I am going down to the plains to be harnessed once more for work.
  81. 80. The work of the Mother will not suffer; because it has been built and up to date maintained upon truth
  82. 81. I have no more faith in all this noise and humbug which brings no practical good.
  83. 82. Our Teacher and Lord was so original, and each one of us will have to be original or nothing.
  84. 83. I want a couple of tiger skins, if I can, to be sent to the Math as present to two European friends
  85. 84. I have no shame to beg of one person in the world and that is yourself.
  86. 85. For the last ten years or so I have not seen the Pujā of Shri Durgā in Bengal which is the great affair there.
  87. 86. Do not lose heart if anything befalls, the “Mother” is your protection.
  88. 87. There is only one element in life which is worth having at any cost, and it is love.
  89. 88. Ever praying for you and yours
  90. 89. Those institutions should be encouraged by which men advance in the path of freedom.
  91. 90. My last breath will be on the battlefield.
  92. 91. May you be protected from all dangers and may all blessings ever attend you!
  93. 92. The secret of life is not enjoyment, but education through experience.
  94. 93. Give my love to all. Don’t work too hard.
  95. 94. Kāli has taken two sacrifices; the cause has already two European martyrs. Now, it is going to rise up splendidly.
  96. 95. This life is full of shocks, but the effects pass away anyhow, that is the hope.
  97. 96. I am going to take my mother on pilgrimage next week.
  98. 97. I am going with my mother to Rameswaram
  99. 98. Everybody is praising Margot's Kali the Mother; but alas! they can't get a book to buy
  100. 99. I am ever so glad to hear that Bois is coming to Calcutta.
  101. 100. I am so glad you saw Mr. Tata and find him so strong and good.
  102. 101. Good solid work must wait.
  103. 102. I have just returned from my tour through East Bengal and Assam.
  104. 103. The subtle Hindu's gratitude runs through generations.
  105. 104. Know this for certain that my love can never cease.
  106. 105. Certainly it is very desirable to establish a connection between India and Japan.
  107. 106. Never mind, I am trying my best. Only my terribly poor health
  108. 107. I can’t even in imagination pay the immense debt of gratitude I owe you.
  109. 108. The snake represents mysticism; the sun knowledge; the worked up waters activity; the lotus love; the swan the soul in the midst of all.
  110. 109. I have dedicated you to the Mother. She is your shield, your guide.
  111. 110. Meeting or no meeting, I remain, Ever your loving brother
  112. 111. “Mother” knows best. That is all I know too.
  113. 112. The idea of taking a house for a whole year must be worked out with deliberation.
  114. 113. Lord Curzon was not allowed inside.
  115. 114. A total revolution has occurred in my mind about the relation of Buddhism and Neo-Hinduism
  116. 115. The reception Nivedita had in Madras was for the good of both Nivedita and Madras.
  117. 116. If there was any truth in Shri Ramakrishna, may He take you into His leading
  118. 117. Continue doing your work as the Lord guides. Why bother about the opinion of this man and that?
  119. 118. Give a little money—whatever is needed.
  120. 119. Write me in detail about the matter of the Nepal Minister.
  121. 120. Now I shall be relieved if I get the accounts.
  122. 121. How did you like Mayavati? Write me a line about it.
  123. 122. A great idea of quiet has come upon me.
  124. 123. A race must first cultivate a great respect for motherhood, through the sanctification and inviolability of marriage
Interviews
  1. Miracles
  2. An Indian Yogi in London
  3. India's Mission
  4. India and England
  5. Indian Missionary's Mission to England
  6. With the Swami Vivekananda at Madura
  7. The Abroad and the Problems at Home
  8. The Missionary Work of the First Hindu Sannyasin to the West
  9. Reawakening of Hinduism on a National Basis
  10. On Indian Women — Their Past, Present and Future
  11. On the Bounds of Hinduism
Notes from Lectures and Discourses
  1. On Karma-Yoga
  2. On Fanaticism
  3. Work Is Worship
  4. Work Without Motive
  5. Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life
  6. The Cosmos and the Self
  7. Who Is a Real Guru?
  8. On Art
  9. On Language
  10. The Sannyasin
  11. The Sannyasin and the Householder
  12. The Evils of Adhikarivada
  13. On Bhakti-Yoga
  14. Ishvara and Brahman
  15. On Jnana-Yoga
  16. The Cause of Illusion
  17. Evolution
  18. Buddhism and Vedanta
  19. On the Vedanta Philosophy
  20. Law and Freedom
  21. The Goal and Methods of Realisation
  22. World-Wide Unity
  23. The Aim of Raja-Yoga
Questions and Answers
  1. I. A Discussion
  2. II. At the Twentieth Century Club of Boston, U. S. A.
  3. III. At the Brooklyn Ethical Society, Brooklyn, U. S. A.
  4. IV. Selections from the Math Diary
  5. V. Yoga, Vairagya, Tapasya, Love
  6. VI. in Answer to Nivedita
  7. VII. Guru, Avatara, Yoga, Japa, Seva
Conversations and Dialogues
  1. I
  2. II
  3. III
  4. IV
  5. V
  6. VI
  7. VII
  8. VIII
  9. IX
  10. X
  11. XI
  12. XII
  13. XIII
  14. XIV
  15. XV
Sayings and Utterances
  1. Sayings and Utterances
Writings: Prose and Poems
  1. Reason, Faith and Love
  2. Six Sanskrit Mottoes
  3. The Message of Divine Wisdom
  4. The Belur Math: an Appeal
  5. The Advaita Ashrama, Himalayas
  6. The Ramakrishna Home of Service Varanasi: an Appeal
  7. Who Knows How Mother Plays!
  8. To the Fourth of July
  9. The East and the West