Swami Vivekananda - London Photo series

“The formal meeting between Swami Vivekananda and England—the beginning of what was to be a long and mutually satisfactory friendship—took place on the evening of Tuesday, October 22, in Prince’s Hall, London. Fittingly, Swamiji chose for his subject ‘Self-Knowledge,’ the key, as he said in an interview, to his philosophy.” 31 Announcements began to appear in various London newspapers. “In addition, the Daily Graphic, a smaller paper than the Gazette, but, as it said of itself, ‘The most popular home newspaper in the world,’ published on October 21 [actually 22] a brief article about Swamiji accompanied by a photograph. (The Daily Graphic also boasted that it was ‘the only illustrated morning newspaper published in the world.’) Its article [“An Indian Monk in London”] reads: SWAMI VIVEKANANDA An interesting figure has lately arrived in this country in the person of Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Yogi—one who formally renounces the world, and gives himself to study and devotion. He left India to express his interpretation of the Vedanta philosophy to Western people at the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893. Since that event he has been teaching and lecturing in America. He has now reached England, but will, after a short visit, return to America to carry on his self-appointed task there during the winter. He will lecture at Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly, tomorrow evening.” 32 In New Discoveries it is mentioned that “the portrait of Swamiji that accompanied the above [41] was taken at the Walery Photographers, then located on Regent Street in London, and is all the proof needed that this now well-known picture, which shows him in profile, wearing a black astrakhanlike hat and a clerical collar, was taken in London in 1895 and not, as had long been supposed, in Cairo five years later. We may judge, incidentally, that Swamiji had come into London some time before Sunday, October 19, to sit for his photograph, for on Monday, the twentieth, he wrote from Caversham to Miss MacLeod, who had recently arrived in the city, that he would not be able to come in to see her until the day of the lecture.” 33 It can be reasonably assumed that the next five photographs (42 to 46) were taken at the same sitting. In two of these photographs Swamiji is without his cap, but in every other detail he appears the same, including his robe and buttoned clerical collar. ❊ ❊ ❊ The greatest force is derived from the power of thought. The finer the element, the more powerful it is. The silent power of thought influences people even at a distance, because mind is one as well as many. The universe is a cobweb; minds are spiders. (CW [1977] 8:225)