Swami Nirmalananda - His life and teachings - Swami Vivekananda

was present, the same intellectual brilliance shone forth, thesame spiritual fervour was always uppermost." Song andSankirtan, reading and study, Japam and meditation mingledwith philosophical discussions, question-classes in which theleader would invite the members to raise philosophical doubtsand he would give illuminating solutions of the problems atissue. The Swami shone at these discussions and it wasadmitted on all hands that, next to the leader, the Swami wasthe best in giving ready, lucid and fitting answers to all sorts ofquestions. In this connection it may be interesting to cite thewords of Jnana Maharaj of Belur Math, a disciple of SwamiVivekananda: "I know Tulasi Maharaj and I have associated withhim for a very long time in those old days. He had a very strongbody and mind. He was very healthy in those days. He used totake exercise and teach others to do so. He used to play on the'Dugi Tabla' and also 'Pakhuaj' generally whenever SwamiVivekananda used to sing. He knew how to play theseinstruments pretty well although he was not an expert. SwamiVivekananda was very friendly with him and used to like himvery much. Swami Vivekananda used to complain to TulasiMaharaj if any of us commited any mistake. Tulasi Maharaj usedto play with Swamiji and also with us. We used to play All-today,Hudududu, Football, Badminton, etc. Swami Vivekananda couldnot play with us always, as he used to do, due to his bad health,but his presence was an encouragement for us, Tulasi Maharajused to work with us in the gardens and fields. He was veryhardy and knew the secret of work and how to work. He nevertried to please or satisfy others. He was top to bottom an uprightman. He liked frank and upright men. He was very loving and atthe same time very strict. In the Mutt and outside he used to mixwith select friends only who were of his type. We have attendedhis classes in the Mutt and outside. His explanations of high andhard philosophies were so very clear and easy to understand.He was a specialist in conversation classes. His question and