SWAMI VIVEKANANDA - Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture

Memorable Events in the Life of Swami Vivekananda37
her mental balance. At this moment, a friend of hers
wanted to take her to Swamiji, but Madame Calve
refused, for she thought there was only one way left for
her to get permanent peace and that was to commit
suicide. She tried four times to do this but failed. At last
she decided to go to Swamiji, having seen how he had
helped some of her friends.
She went to the place where he was staying and was
admitted to the study. When she was called in, she
found Swamiji 'seated in a noble attitude of meditation,
his robe of saffron-yellow falling in straight lines to the
floor, his head, swathed in a turban, bent forward, his
eyes on the ground'.
Swamiji did not look up, but in a gentle, affectionate
voice said, 'My child, what a troubled atmosphere you
have about you! Be calm! It is essential!' In her
memoirs Madame Calve wrote : 'Then in a quiet voice,
untroubled and aloof, this man, who did not even know
my name, talked to me of my secret problems and
anxieties. He spoke of things that I thought were
unknown even to my nearest friends.' When it was time
for her to leave, Swamiji showered blessings on her and
said : 'You must forget. Become gay and happy again.
Build up your health. Do not dwell in silence upon your
sorrows.' In a moment Madame Calve felt she had no
more sorrows, no more anxieties. In her words, 'He
seemed to have emptied my brain of all its feverish