Swami Vivekananda disembarked in Bombay and immediately entrained for Calcutta,
arriving at the Belur Math late in the evening of December 9, 1900. The Swami had
not informed anybody of his return. The gate of the monastery was locked for the
night. He heard the dinner bell, and in his eagerness to join the monks at their meal,
scaled the gate. There was great rejoicing over his homecoming.
At the Math Swami Vivekananda was told about the passing away of his beloved
disciple Mr. Sevier at Mayavati in the Himalayas. This was the sad news of which he
had had a presentiment in Egypt. He was greatly distressed, and on December 11 wrote
to Miss MacLeod: 'Thus two great Englishmen (The other was Mr. Goodwin.) gave up
their lives for us — us, the Hindus. This is martyrdom, if anything is.' Again he wrote
to her on December 26: 'He was cremated on the bank of the river that flows by his
ashrama, a la Hindu, covered with garlands, the brahmins carrying the body and the
boys chanting the Vedas. The cause has already two martyrs. It makes me love dear
England and its heroic breed. The Mother is watering the plant of future India with the
best blood of England. Glory unto Her!'
The Swami stayed at the Math for eighteen days and left for Mayavati to see Mrs.
Sevier. The distance from the railroad station to the monastery at Mayavati was sixty-
five miles. The Swami did not give the inmates sufficient time to arrange for his
comfortable transportation.
He left the railroad station in a hurry in the company of Shivananda and Sadananda.
The winter of that year was particularly severe in the Himalayas; there was a heavy
snowfall on the way, and in his present state of health he could hardly walk. He
reached the monastery, however, on January 3, 1901.
The meeting with Mrs. Sevier stirred his emotions. He was delighted, however, to see
the magnificent view of the eternal snow and also the progress of the work. Because of
the heavy winter, he was forced to stay indoors most of the time. It was a glorious
occasion for the members of the ashrama. The Swami's conversation was inspiring. He
spoke of the devotion of his Western disciples to his cause, and in this connexion
particularly mentioned the name of Mr. Sevier. He also emphasized the necessity of
loyalty to the work undertaken, loyalty to the leader, and loyalty to the organization.
But the leader, the Swami said, must command respect and obedience by his character.
While at Mayavati, in spite of a suffocating attack of asthma, he was busy with his
huge correspondence and wrote three articles for the magazine Prabuddha Bharata.
The least physical effort exhausted him. One day he exclaimed, 'My body is done for!'
The Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati had been founded, as may be remembered, with a
view to enabling its members to develop their spiritual life through the practice of the
non-dualistic discipline. All forms of ritual and worship were strictly excluded. But
some of the members, accustomed to rituals, had set apart a room as the shrine, where
a picture of Sri Ramakrishna was installed and worshipped daily. One morning the
Swami chanced to enter this room while the worship was going on. He said nothing at
that time, but in the evening severely reprimanded the inmates for violating the rules of
the monastery. As he did not want to hurt their feelings too much, he did not ask them