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A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

This passage from Tantine is very moving.

Tantine, the Life of Josephine MacLeod, Friend of Swami Vivekananda, Pravarajika Prabuddhaprana

pp. 116 - 118

On the sixteenth Joe met Bois in front of the great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta. She took him the next day, which was Shivaratri, from Calcutta to Belur by boat. Jules Bois described the journey and visit in a chapter of his book about India, Visions de l'Inde in which he refers to Joe as the 'American lady'. It was translated in the Prabuddha Bharata:

We have fled past the town. The docks with their length of 12 English miles have come to an end. The waters of the Ganges are rising around us and a favourable tide is carrying us towards the monastery, all white--in the palmgrove--over which rises the trident of the Pagoda--the monastery beckons to us from its complaisant terraces.

The American lady has become grave. She remembers having heard at New York this Vivekanando (sic) who charms the Souls. She agreed at once when I asked her to accompany me. She is an indefatigable traveller. I was presented to her in Paris during the Exposition. .....Vivekandanda is standing at the terrace. His big eyes seemed to have eaten up his visage.
The man--with almost a swarthy complexion--and dressed as the Aryans of six thousand years ago--born so far from my corner of the earth--speaking another tongue and adoring another God--has been my best friend. he lived at Paris for several weeks in my residence. Together we travelled to Constantinople, Greece and Egypt. He incarnated for me--with genius and his perilous frenzy--that India which I cherish as the Fatherland of my dreams--the Eden where lives the Ideal....
These are the first words at the threshold of his house--"I am free, my friend--I am liberated anew. I have given all. The money weighed me down like chains. I am now the poorest man in the poorest country in the world. But the house of Ramkrishno (sic) has been built and his spiritual family has received a shelter....
....The old people snatched themselves from their meditation of the Vedas--their bent foreheads marked with the Shivait symbol. Sudras, Brahmans--and Parrias also were united here, as,for the Prophet, the caste is abolished...He took a narghile (hooka pipe) which a disciple was smoking and drew from it a puff which perfumed the air round as with an odour of the rose. Then he gave us some lotus flowers--"Some upon the terraces." Said he, "My friends are about to prepare the tiffin." (In Anglo-India they call thus the repast of the middle of the day.) From there we saw the most moving spectacle. It was India--her fields fresh under the burning sun--the ponds like some mirrors which a goddess might have let fall in her flight--the forests (from afar) soft like velvet fleece--and the Ganges like a virile arm which folds the earth--in love."
__________________________________

There are more beautiful descriptions concerning the environment of the Math and of Swamiji's words, but for now it is time to move on with my day, as people are waiting on me to go down and east and spend the day with them.

In Holy Mother's Grace,
Rosemary

.

Location: North Carolina

Re: A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

Dear Rosemary,

Very nice description, which falls down however in one aspect; namely:
"speaking another tongue and adoring another God"

I guess the fellow (Jules Bois) hadn't discovered the fact that there
is only One God, at that point in his development.

Here are some interesting facts about Jules Bois:



Henri Antoine Jules-Bois (or simply Jules Bois), born in (1868, Marseille - 1943),
was a French writer with an interest in the occult.

He wrote Le Satanisme et la magie (Satanism and Magic). He has been described
as a "Notorious Satanist" and was a noted friend of McGregor Mathers, the founder
of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

In a 1909 essay for The New York Times, Bois successfully predicted the rise of
suburbia, the onset of gender equality and technical innovations such as a flying
bicycle (though he overestimated its success).
Wikipedia

HERE is a nice article about his travels with Swami Vivekananda.

Om Shanthi Om
=============

Re: A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

That is a very interesting article on Bois. I must do more research on him. It is funny that the one line jumped out at you. It didn't mean the same to me as it did to you and I lay no importance to it.

However, his description of Swamiji's life at the Math is vivid and moving and I have been savoring it. These were some of the last day's of Swamiji's time on the earth, and the facts and perceptions are important (to me).

Also, in reading through the web article that you provided, I remembered having read before the part about Vivekananda being "happy" while staying with a male companion in Europe and I was surprised to find this statement again and that it was connected with Bois (whom I knew nothing about on reading the statement some time ago, and having just filed it away in my brain.)

Swamiji, obviously, was not put off or "afraid" of Bois' interests in Satanism.

Let a member of my family get ahold of this fact and I'll be put out of the family for good!!

I am almost through with Tantine and I must say that it has been very enjoyable reading. I'm so glad to have gotten to know her in this way. Her life speaks for her. Not for many in my experience (including myself) can I make the same assessment.

Yours in Mother's Grace,
Rosemary

Location: North Carolina

Re: A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

Dear Rosemary,

I hope nobody in your family finds out about your interest in a known satanist.

I, for one, will keep my lips sealed on the subject.

Personally, I discovered Theosophy before Vedanta; my first book being
"the Secret Doctrine", written by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (HPB); and I still
have a photo of Her, proudly hanging on my bedroom wall.



Here is a quote:

Some of her statements are controversial. For example, she wrote:
"It is 'Satan who is the god of our planet and the only god,' and this
without any allusive metaphor to its wickedness and depravity. In this
reference Blavatsky says that he whom the Christian dogma calls Lucifer
originally was never the representative of the evil but, on the contrary,
was the light-bringer (which is the literal meaning of the name Lucifer).
According to Blavatsky the church turned him into Satan (which means the
opponent) to fit him into the newly framed Christian dogmas. A similar view
is also shared by the Christian Gnostics, ancient and modern.


So, Rosemary, if you promise to keep quiet about Madame Blavatsky; I will
do the same for Mr. Bois.

Om Shanthi Om
=============

Re: A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

Blavatsky is indeed a very interesting persona. She is fascinating to look at.

I can never think of Blavatsky without (somehow) linking her to Krishnamurti.

If you ever want to hear Helen Nearing's side of Krishnamurti just read "Loving and Leaving the Good Life". She dedicates a full chapter to "The Young Impressionable Krishnamurti." (Nearing was the young violinist who was Krishnamurti's "almost".) I think that Nearing, in old age, still had issues about Krishnamurti or she would have let it go.

Josephine MacLeod had no such issues with Vivekananda. She once said that when she met Vivekananda that she had met her "soul."

I love this book, "Tantine".

Gotta get to work.

Yours in Mother's Grace,
Rosemary

Location: North Carolina

Re: A beautiful description of Belur Math and Vivekananda by Jules Bois

Dear Rosemary,

I used to be in contact with a Theosophist British author, named Jean Overton Fullar,
who passed away at age 94 in April 2009.

I have been hosting a website for her since 1999. You may visit it HERE

She wrote a book, entitled "Blavatsky and Her Teachers", which is very interesting.

She also authored a book in German about Krishnamurti, entitled:
"Krishnamurti, Der Geist weht, wo er will"....which translates to:
"The Spirit blows where it wills". Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to translate
it into English.

I came into contact with Miss Fuller, due to her friendship with (previously
mentioned) British Spy, Noor Inayat Khan; and her book about her, published
in 1954, entitled: "Madeleine".

We do have a page of quotes from Jiddu Krishnamurti HERE

Of course, Annie Besant is considered as the founder of "Home Rule", and is
greatly respected in Mother India. Early in their relationship, Krishnamurti
and Besant had developed a very close bond and he considered her a surrogate
mother.





Om Shanthi Om
=============