BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

To his beloved disciple Nivedita he wrote on February 12, 1902: 'May all powerscome unto you! May Mother Herself be your hands and mind! It is immensepower — irresistible — that I pray for you, and, if possible, along with it infinitepeace.... 'If there was any truth in Sri Ramakrishna, may He take you into Hisleading, even as He did me, nay, a thousand times more!'And again, to Miss MacLeod: 'I can't, even in imagination, pay the immense debtof gratitude I owe you. Wherever you are you never forget my welfare; and there,you are the only one that bears all my burdens, all my brutal outbursts....' Thesun, enveloped in a golden radiance, was fast descending to the horizon. The lasttwo months of the Swami's life on earth had been full of events foreshadowingthe approaching end. Yet few had thought the end so near.Soon after his return from Varanasi the Swami greatly desired to see hissannyasin disciples and he wrote to them to come to the Belur Math, even if onlyfor a short time. 'Many of his disciples from distant parts of the world,' writesSister Nivedita, 'gathered round the Swami. Ill as he looked, there was noneprobably who suspected how near the end had come. Yet visits were paid andfarewells exchanged that it had needed voyages half round the world to make.'More and more the Swami was seen to free himself from all responsibilities,leaving the work to other hands. 'How often,' he said, 'does a man ruin hisdisciples by remaining always with them ! When men are once trained, it isessential that their leader leave them, for without his absence they cannotdevelop themselves.' 'Plants,' he had said some time before, 'always remain smallunder a big tree.' Yet the near and dear ones thought that he would certainlylive three or four years more.He refused to express any opinion on the question of the day. 'I can no moreenter into outside affairs,' he said; 'I am already on the way.' On anotheroccasion he said: 'You may be right; but I cannot enter any more into thesematters. I am going down into death.' News of the world met with but a far-awayrejoinder from him.On May 15, 1902, he wrote to Miss MacLeod, perhaps for the last time: 'I amsomewhat better, but of course far from what I expected. A great idea of quiethas come upon me. I am going to retire for good — no more work for me. Ifpossible, I will revert to my old days of begging. All blessings attend you, Joe;you have been a good angel to me.'But it was difficult for him to give up what had been dearer to him than his life:the work. On the last Sunday before the end he said to one of his disciples: 'Youknow the work is always my weak point. When I think that might come to anend, I am all undone.' He could easily withdraw from weakness and attachment,