BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

appropriate manner. An American flag was made with the help of a brahmintailor, and the Swami composed the following poem:TO THE FOURTH OF JULYBehold, the dark clouds melt awayThat gathered thick at night and hungSo like a gloomy pall above the earth!Before thy magic touch the worldAwakes. The birds in chorus sing.The flowers raise their star-like crowns,Dew-set, and wave thee welcome fair.The lakes are opening wide, in loveTheir hundred thousand lotus-eyesTo welcome thee with all their depth.All hail to thee, thou lord of light!A welcome new to thee today,O sun! Today thou sheddest liberty!Bethink thee how the world did waitAnd search for thee, through time and clime!Some gave up home and love of friendsAnd went in quest of thee, self-banished,Through dreary oceans, through primeval forests,Each step a struggle for their life or death;Then came the day when work bore fruit,And worship, love, and sacrifice,Fulfilled, accepted, and complete.Then thou, propitious, rose to shedThe light of freedom on mankind.Move on, O lord, in thy resistless path,Till thy high noon o'erspreads the world,Till every land reflects thy light,Till men and women, with uplifted head,Behold their shackles broken and knowIn springing joy their life renewed!As the Swami's mood changed he spoke of renunciation. He showed scorn for theworldly life and said: 'As is the difference between a fire-fly and the blazing sun,between a little pond and the infinite ocean, a mustard seed and the mountain ofMeru, such is the difference between the householder and the sannyasin.' Had itnot been for the ochre robe, the emblem of monasticism, he pointed out, luxuryand worldliness would have robbed man of his manliness.Thus the party spent their time on the river, the teacher providing a veritableuniversity for the education of his disciples. The conversation touched upon allsubjects — Vedic rituals, Roman Catholic doctrine, Christ, St. Paul, the growthof Christianity, Buddha.Of Buddha, the Swami said that he was the greatest man that ever lived. 'Aboveall, he never claimed worship. Buddha said: "Buddha is not a man, but a state. I