Swami Vivekananda in Shillong

(See photo information under photograph 102.) ❊ ❊ ❊ Swamiji’s playful and boyish nature became increasingly transparent. He wrote to Sister Christine in July 1901 after returning from Shillong: I am trying to be as dull as possible. I have got a few goats and sheep, one deer, and several cows. Then there are the flower beds, fish ponds, and kitchen gardens. I rise very early, then milk my goats, feed them. A dog puppy and a beautiful black kid are my special favorites. I take some exercise on a pair of dumbbells, and then, the heat having got great, I loll about on a stretcher till ten a.m. Who can understand the nature of a great prophet? On the day of his mahasamadhi while Swamiji was returning from the shrine, Swami Premananda heard this same childlike Swamiji say: If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood what Vivekananda has done! And yet, how many Vivekanandas shall be born in time! (LSV [Kolkata, 1981] 2:652)