was always before them. He got up at three and went to the chapel, where he sat facing
the north, meditating motionless for more than two hours. No one was allowed to leave
his seat before the Swami set the example. As he got up, he chanted softly, 'Siva! Siva!'
Bowing to the image of Sri Ramakrishna, he would go downstairs and pace the
courtyard, singing a song about the Divine Mother or Siva. Naturally his presence in
the chapel created an intense spiritual atmosphere. Swami Brahmananda said: 'Ah! One
at once becomes absorbed if one sits for meditation in company with Naren! I do not
feel this when I sit alone.'
Once, after an absence of several days on account of illness, he entered the chapel and
found only two monks there. He became annoyed; in order to discipline the absentees
he forbade them to eat their meals at the monastery. They had to go out and beg their
food. He did not spare anyone, even a beloved brother disciple for whom he cherished
the highest respect and who happened to be absent from the chapel that morning.
Another day, he found a brother disciple, Swami Shivananda, in bed at the hour of
meditation. He said to the latter 'Brother! I know you do not need meditation. You
have already realized the highest goal through the grace of Sri Ramakrishna. But you
should daily meditate with the youngsters in order to set an example to them.'
From that day on, Shivananda, whether ill or well, always communed with God during
the early hours of the morning. In his old age, when it became physically impossible
for him to go to the chapel, he used to sit on his bed for meditation.
But the Swami, preoccupied as he was with the training of his Indian disciples, never
forgot his Western ones. Their welfare, too, was always in his thought and prayer.
To Miss MacLeod he wrote on June 14, 1901:
Well, Joe, keep health and spirits up....Gloire et honneur await you — and mukti. The
natural ambition of woman is, through marriage, to climb up leaning upon a man; but
those days are gone. You shall be great without the help of any man, just as you are,
plain, dear Joe — our Joe, everlasting Joe....
We have seen enough of this life not to care for any of its bubbles, have we not, Joe?
For months I have been practising to drive away all sentiments; therefore I stop here,
and good-bye just now. It was ordained by Mother that we should work together; it has
been already for the good of many; it shall be for the good of many more. So let it be.
It is useless planning useless high flights; Mother will find her own way...rest assured.
To Mary Hale, on August 27, 1901 he wrote with his usual wit:
I would that my health were what you expected — at least to be able to write you a
long letter. It is getting worse, in fact, every day — and so many complications and