BIOGRAPHY OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

among whom he lived.To the accusation from some orthodox Hindus that the Swami was eatingforbidden food at the table of infidels, he retorted:Do you mean to say I am born to live and die as one of those caste-ridden,superstitious, merciless, hypocritical, atheistic cowards that you only findamong the educated Hindus? I hate cowardice. I will have nothing to dowith cowards. I belong to the world as much as to India, no humbugabout that. What country has a special claim on me? Am I a nation'sslave? ...I see a greater power than man or God or Devil at my back. Irequire nobody's help. I have been all my life helping others.To another Indian devotee he wrote in similar vein:I am surprised that you take the missionaries' nonsense so seriously....Ifthe people of India want me to keep strictly to my Hindu diet, please tellthem to send me a cook and money enough to keep him....On the otherhand, if the missionaries tell you that I have ever broken the two greatvows of the sannyasin — chastity and poverty — tell them that they arebig liars. As for me, mind you, I stand at nobody's dictation, and nochauvinism about me....I hate cowardice; I will have nothing to do withcowards or political nonsense. I do not believe in any politics. God andtruth are the only politics in the world; everything else is trash.Swami Vivekananda remained unperturbed by opposition. His lectures,intensely religious and philosophical, were attended everywhere by eminentpeople. Many came to him for private instruction. His aim was to preach theeternal truths of religion and to help sincere people in moulding their spirituallife. Very soon his dauntless spirit, innate purity, lofty idealism, spiritualpersonality, and spotless character attracted to him a band of sincere and loyalAmerican disciples, whom he began to train as future Vedanta workers inAmerica.It must be said to the credit of America that she was not altogether unpreparedto receive the message of Vivekananda. Certain spiritual ideas, which werecongenial for the reception of the Vedantic ideals presented by the Swami, hadalready begun to ferment underneath the robust, picturesque, gay, and dynamicsurface of American life. Freedom, equality, and justice had always been thecherished treasures of American hearts. To these principles, which theAmericans applied in politics and society for the material and ethical welfare ofmen, Swami Vivekananda gave a spiritual basis and interpretation.Religion had played an important part from the very beginning of AmericanColonial history. The pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic in the 'Mayflower' and