Swamiji in Kashmir: A rare photo

Here is a rare photograph of Swamiji in Kashmir. According to the website of Vivekananda Vedanta Network, Josephine MacLeod, Swami Vivekananda, Mrs. Ole Bull, Sister Nivedita are on the houseboat.


[Source:Vivekananda.org]




From the site:
--------------
Swamiji received the terrible news of Goodwin's death while he was staying at Almora. Apparently he had become impatient and restless to leave the place where he had received this sad news. According to the Life, "It was decided to spend some time in Kashmir. On June l1, 1898, therefore, with the women disciples who had come with him from Calcutta, he left Almora for Kashmir."

Although not shown in the photograph, Mrs. Patterson, wife of the American consul general in Kolkata and friend and admirer of Swamiji, was also in the party. In the four dungas (houseboats) their memorable travel began. Josephine MacLeod "was fascinated by the practicality of the dungas. She described them:

These boats called dungas are about seventy feet long [perhaps thirty feet] and broad enough to have two single beds in them and a corridor between, covered with a matting house; so wherever we wanted a window we only had to roll up the matting. The whole roof could be lifted in the daytime and thus we lived in the open, yet knew there was always a roof over our heads. We had four of these dungas, one for Mrs. Ole Bull and me, one for Mrs. Patterson [who accompanied them only to Anantnag and then left them to join her husband] and Sister Nivedita and one for swami and one of his monks. [Until the end of their stay in Kashmir Vivekananda was alone in the boat. It was only just before they left the valley that Swami Saradananda was sent for to join them.] We stayed in Kashmir four months, said Joe, the first three in these simple little boats until after September, when it got so cold, we took an ordinary houseboat with fireplaces and there enjoyed the warmth of a real house. "

The Western pilgrims were in raptures. In the words of Sister Nivedita, "The whole was a symphony in blue and green and white, so exquisitely pure and vivid that for a while the response of the soul to its beauty was almost pain!" They were all enchanted by the company of Swamiji who charmed them with his knowledge of the countryside and its history. He was often so deeply absorbed in his own thoughts and various exalted moods that he completely forgot all thought of food or drink.
--------------

Swamiji wrote the poem Kali the Mother when he was on a houseboat on Dal Lake. It may be this boat. Here is the poem.

The stars are blotted out,
The clouds are covering clouds.
It is darkness vibrant, sonant.
In the roaring, whirling wind
Are the souls of a million lunatics
Just loosed from the prison-house,
Wrenching trees by the roots,
Sweeping all from the path.
The sea has joined the fray,
And swirled up mountain-waves,
To reach the pitchy sky.
The flash of lurid light
Reveals on every side
A thousand, thousand shades
Of Death begrimed and black-
Scattering plagues and sorrows,
Dancing mad with joy,
Come, Mother, come!
For terror is Thy name,
Death is in thy breath,
And every shaking step
Destoys a world for e'er.
Thou Time, the All-destroyer!
Come, O Mother, come!
Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of Death,
Dance in destruction's dance
To him the Mother comes.

[originally posted by Arijit Chatterjee in Rkmvidyalaya-narendrapur yahoogroups]

Read More...

Summary only...