For the regeneration of India, in the Swami's view, the help of the West was
indispensable. The thought of India had been uppermost in his mind when he had
journeyed to America. On April 6, 1897, the Swami, in the course of a letter to the lady
editor of an Indian magazine, had written: 'It has been for the good of India that
religious preaching in the West has been done and will be done. It has ever been my
conviction that we shall not be able to rise unless the Western countries come to our
help. In India no appreciation of merit can be found, no financial support, and what is
most lamentable of all, there is not a bit of practicality.'
The year 1898 was chiefly devoted to the training of Vivekananda's disciples, both
Indian and Western, and to the consolidation of the work already started. During this
period he also made trips to Darjeeling, Almora, and Kashmir.
In February 1898, the monastery was removed from Alambazar to Nilambar
Mukherjee's garden house in the village of Belur, on the west bank of the Ganga. The
Swami, while in Calcutta, lived at Balaram Bose's house, which had been a favourite
haunt of Shri Ramakrishna's during his lifetime. But he had no rest either in the
monastery or in Calcutta, where streams of visitors came to him daily. Moreover,
conducting a heavy correspondence consumed much of his time and energy; one can
not but be amazed at the hundreds of letters the Swami wrote with his own hand to
friends and disciples. Most of these reveal his intense thinking, and some his superb
wit.
While at the monastery, he paid especial attention to the training of the sannyasins and
the brahmacharins, who, inspired by his message, had renounced home and dedicated
themselves to the realization of God and the service of humanity. Besides conducting
regular classes on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the physical sciences, and the
history of the nations, he would spend hours with the students in meditation and
devotional singing. Spiritual practices were intensified on holy days.
In the early part of 1898, the site of the Belur Math, the present Headquarters of the
Ramakrishna Math and Mission, was purchased with the help of a generous donation
from Miss Müller, the devoted admirer of the Swami. Mrs. Ole Bull gave another
handsome gift to complete the construction, and the shrine at the Belur Math was
consecrated, as we shall see, on December 9, 1898. Sometime during this period the
Swami initiated into the monastic life Swami Swarupananda, whom he considered to
be a real 'acquisition.' This qualified aspirant was given initiation after only a few days'
stay at the monastery, contrary to the general rule of the Ramakrishna Order. Later he
became editor of the monthly magazine Prabuddha Bharata, and first president of the
Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati, in the Himalayas, founded on March 19, 1899.
Among the Western devotees who lived with Swami Vivekananda at this time were
Mr. and Mrs. Sevier, Mrs. Ole Bull, Miss Henrietta F. Müller, Miss Josephine
MacLeod, and Miss Margaret E. Noble, all of whom travelled with him at various
times in Northern India. The Seviers identified themselves completely with the work at
the Mayavati Advaita Ashrama. Mrs. Ole Bull, the wife of the famous Norwegian
violinist, and a lady of social position, great culture, and large heart, had been an ardent