methods of concentrations are discussed. The book well served two purposes. First, the
Swami demonstrated that religious experiences could stand on the same footing as
scientific truths, being based on experimentation, observation, and verification.
Therefore genuine spiritual experiences must not be dogmatically discarded as lacking
rational evidence. Secondly, the Swami explained lucidly various disciplines of
concentration, with the warning, however, that they should not be pursued without the
help of a qualified teacher.
Miss S. Ellen Waldo of Brooklyn, a disciple of the Swami, was his amanuensis. She
thus described the manner in which he dictated the book:
'In delivering his commentaries on the aphorisms, he would leave me waiting while he
entered into deep states of meditation or self-contemplation, to emerge therefrom with
some luminous interpretation. I had always to keep the pen dipped in the ink. He might
be absorbed for long periods of time, and then suddenly his silence would be broken by
some eager expression or some long, deliberate teaching.'
By the middle of the year 1895 the Swami was completely exhausted. The numerous
classes and lectures, the private instruction, the increasing correspondence, and the
writing of Raja-Yoga had tired him both physically and mentally. It was a herculean
task to spread the message of Hinduism in an alien land and at the same time to mould
the lives of individuals according to the highest ideal of renunciation. Besides, there
were annoyances from zealous but well-meaning friends, especially women. Some
suggested that he should take elocution lessons, some urged him to dress fashionably
in order to influence society people, other admonished him against mixing with all
sorts of people. At time he would be indignant and say: 'Why should I be bound down
with all this nonsense? I am a monk who has realized the vanity of all earthly
nonsense! I have no time to give my manners a finish. I cannot find time enough to
give my message. I will give it after my own fashion. Shall I be dragged down into the
narrow limits of your conventional life? Never!' Again, he wrote to a devotee: 'I long,
oh, I long for my rags, my shaven head, my sleep under the trees, and my food from
begging.'
The Swami needed rest from his strenuous work, and accepted the invitation of his
devoted friend Francis H. Leggett to come to his summer camp at Percy, New
Hampshire, and rest in the silence of the pine woods. In the meantime Miss Elizabeth
Dutcher, one of his students in New York, cordially asked the Swami to take a vacation
in her summer cottage at Thousand Island Park on the St. Lawrence River. The Swami
gratefully accepted both invitations.
About his life at the camp, he wrote to a friend on June 7, 1895: 'It gives me a new
lease of life to be here. I go into the forest alone and read my Gita and am quite happy.'
After a short visit at Percy, he arrived in June at Thousand Island Park, where he spent
seven weeks. This proved to be a momentous period in his life in the Western world.