Everyone is God to me. Think of the joy of loving man as God! Squeeze your orange
my way, and you will get every single drop!' Ingersoll, it is reported, asked the Swami
not to be impatient with his views, adding that his own unrelenting fight against
traditional religions had shaken men's faith in theological dogmas and creeds, and thus
helped to pave the way for the Swami's success in America.
Nikola Tesla, the great scientist who specialized in the field of electricity, was much
impressed to hear from the Swami his explanation of the Samkhya cosmogony and the
theory of cycles given by the Hindus. He was particularly struck by the resemblance
between the Samkhya theory of matter and energy and that of modern physics. The
Swami also met Sir William Thomson (afterwards Lord Kelvin) and Professor
Helmholtz, two leading representatives of Western science. Sarah Bernhardt, the
famous French actress, had an interview with the Swami and greatly admired his
teachings.
Madame Emma Calve, the well-known prima donna, described the Swami as one who
'truly walked with God.' She came to see him in a state of physical and mental
depression. The Swami, who did not at that time know even her name, talked to her
about her worries and various personal problems. It was clear that he was familiar with
them, even though she had never revealed them to him or to anyone else. When
Madame Calve expressed surprise, the Swami assured her that no one had talked to
him about her. 'Do you think that is necessary?' he asked. 'I read you as I would an
open book.' He gave her this parting advice: 'You must forget. Be gay and happy again.
Do not dwell in silence upon your sorrows. Transmute your emotions into some form
of eternal expression. Your spiritual health requires it. Your art demands it.'
Madame Calve later said: 'I left him, deeply impressed by his words and his
personality. He seemed to have emptied my brain of all its feverish complexities and
placed there instead his clean and calming thoughts. I became once again vivacious
and cheerful, thanks to the effect of his powerful will. He used no hypnosis, no
mesmerism — nothing of that sort at all. It was the strength of his character, the purity
and intensity of his purpose, that carried conviction. It seemed to me, when I came to
know him better, that he lulled one's chaotic thoughts into a state of peaceful
acquiesences, so that one could give complete and undivided attention to his words.'
Like many people, Madame Calve could not accept the Vedantic doctrine of the
individual soul's total absorption in the Godhead at the time of final liberation. 'I
cannot bear the idea,' she said. 'I cling to my individuality — unimportant though it
may be. I don't want to be absorbed into an eternal unity.' To this the Swami answered:
'One day a drop of water fell into the vast ocean. Finding itself there, it began to weep
and complain, just as you are doing. The giant ocean laughed at the drop of water.
"Why do you weep?" it asked. "I do not understand. When you join me, you join all
your brothers and sisters, the other drops of water of which I am made. You become
the ocean itself. If you wish to leave me you have only to rise up on a sunbeam into the
clouds. From there you can descend again, little drop of water, a blessing and a
benediction to the thirsty earth."'