DEAR ALASINGA,

. . . I am surprised you take so seriously the missionaries' nonsense. . . . If the people in India want
me to keep
strictly to my Hindu diet, please tell them to send me a cook and money enough to keep him. This
silly bossism
without a mite of real help makes me laugh. On the other hand, if the missionaries tell you that I
have ever broken
the two great vows of the Sannyâsin — chastity and poverty — tell them that they are big liars.
Please write to the
missionary Hume asking him categorically to write you what misdemeanour he saw in me, or give
you the names
of his informants, and whether the information was first-hand or not; that will settle the question
and expose the
whole thing. . . .
As for me, mind you, I stand at nobody's dictation. I know my mission in life, and no chauvinism
about me; I
belong as much to India as to the world, no humbug about that. I have helped you all I could. You
must now help
yourselves. What country has any special claim on me? Am I any nation's slave? Don't talk any
more silly
nonsense, you faithless atheists.
I have worked hard and sent all the money I got to Calcutta and Madras, and then after doing all
this, stand their
silly dictation! Are you not ashamed? What do I owe to them? Do I care a fig for their praise or
fear their blame? I
am a singular man, my son, not even you can understand me yet. Do your work; if you cannot, stop;
but do not try
to "boss" me with your nonsense. I see a greater Power than man, or God, or devil at my back. I
require nobody's
help. I have been all my life helping others. . . . They cannot raise a few rupees to help the work of
the greatest man
their country ever produced — Ramakrishna Paramahamsa; and they talk nonsense and want to
dictate to the man
for whom they did nothing, find who did everything he could for them! Such is the ungrateful
world!
Do you mean to say I am born to live and die one of those caste-ridden, superstitious, merciless,
hypocritical,
atheistic cowards that you find only amongst the educated Hindus? I hate cowardice; I will have
nothing to do with
cowards or political nonsense. I do not believe in any politics. God and truth are the only politics in
the world,
everything else is trash.
I am going to London tomorrow. . . .