trying to force upon others whatever seems good to them, forgetting that what is good
for you may not be good for others. As such I am afraid you would try to force upon
others whatever turn your mind might take in contact with new friends. That was the
only reason I sometimes tried to stop any particular influence, and nothing else.
You are free. Have your own choice, your own work....
Friends or foes, they are all instruments in Her hands to help us work out our own
karma, through pleasure or pain. As such, 'Mother' bless all.
How did America impress Swami Vivekananda during his second visit to the West?
What impressions did he carry to India of the state of things in the New World? During
his first visit he had been enthusiastic about almost everything he saw — the power,
the organization, the material prosperity, the democracy, and the spirit of freedom and
justice. But now he was greatly disillusioned. In America's enormous combinations
and ferocious struggle for supremacy he discovered the power of Mammon. He saw
that the commercial spirit was composed, for the most part, of greed, selfishness, and a
struggle for privilege and power. He was disgusted with the ruthlessness of wealthy
business men, swallowing up the small tradespeople by means of large combinations.
That was indeed tyranny. He could admire an organization; 'but what beauty is there
among a pack of wolves?' he said to a disciple. He also noticed, in all their nakedness,
the social vices and the arrogance of race, religion, and colour. America, he confided to
Miss MacLeod, would not be the instrument to harmonize East and West.
During his trip through Eastern Europe, from Paris to Constantinople, he smelt war. He
felt the stench of it rising on all sides. 'Europe,' he remarked, 'is a vast military camp.'
But the tragedy of the West had not been altogether unperceived by him even during
his first visit. As early as 1895 he said to Sister Christine: 'Europe is on the edge of a
volcano. If the fire is not extinguished by a flood of spirituality, it will erupt.'
One cannot but be amazed at the Swami's prophetic intuition as expressed through the
following remarks made to Christine in 1896: 'The next upheaval will come from
Russia or China. I cannot see clearly which, but it will be either the one or the other.'
He further said: 'The world is in the third epoch, under the domination of the vaisya.
The fourth epoch will be under that of the sudra.'