A Way to Proceed

We are all signed up in this group to study the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Some of us have read his works for years and some of us may just be starting out. It would be helpful to look at where and when he spoke. To begin with we will focus on the talks given in the west.

The Parliament of the Worlds Religions
The Parliament was in session from September 11, 1893 to September 27 th . During this time he gave six talks that are to be found in the Complete Works, Volume 1, page 3. He did give some other talks on economic subjects, but we don't know much about them.

The Period Oct 1893 to Dec 1894
During this period he had traveled extensively across much of the mid-western, southern and eastern states giving talks extensively – some on India and its people and some on the religion of India . By the middle of 1894 he was very tired of traveling and meeting new people. He wanted to settle in one place and teach a few students in the hope that they would become future teachers. Even though he spent several weeks in Boston teaching classes and giving talks the real teaching work didn't begin until 1895. We may have a few talks during this period which have been taken down but they are not many and we will consider them with other miscellaneous at the end.

The Period Jan 1895 to Dec 1896
Marie Louse Burke refers to him as a ‘World Teacher' during this period. Josiah J. Goodwin took down most of the talks in the latter part of this period. This is where we are going to find most of our material. But this period can be divided into sub-periods.

Jan 1895-June 1895 ( New York ):
During this period he rented lodgings at 54 West 33 rd Street in New York . During January and part of February he gave a series of talks at the Brooklyn Ethical Association. The lodgings were rented towards the end of January when he began to give free daily classes. This is where Joe Macleod, her sister, Mrs. Sturges, and Francis Leggett first came to his classes. He also gave six or seven lectures in New York . We don't have a record of most of this. All we have is some class notes on his yoga classes. He mainly taught the Vedanta and meditation.

June 19 to August 6, 1895 (Thousand Island Park):
This is where 12 of his disciples met for seven weeks at Ms Dutcher's cottage. He gave classes all day long with breaks for lunch and dinner. We have a record of these talks in ‘Inspired Talks'. These were recorded by Ms. Sara Ellen Waldo. We also have records of the experience of these classes by several people and these are found in Swamiji's biography by his eastern and western disciples. Everyone in that group received initiation and two of them were given sannyas.

August to November 1895 ( London ):
He went to London at the invitations from Miss Henrietta Muller and Mr. E.T. Sturdy. He spent time with Miss Muller and then with Mr. Sturdy. The Lecture season in London didn't begin till October. He gave many parlor talks, public lectures and some daily classes between October 17 and November 16. For this period we have some class notes on The Religion of Love, and Jnana and Karma.

December 1895 to February 1896 ( New York ):
These months were the most productive. They had rented lodgings at 228 West 39 th Street . J.J. Goodwin had been hired. During part of this period he gave nine talks a week. There were two each, on the four yogas (beginner and advanced), and a class for answering questions, if new comers needed to know more. He also gave public Sunday lectures. This is the main body of his teachings in the US and all these talks can be found in the Complete Works.

March and April 1896:
During this period he gave about a dozen talks in Boston and some regular classes at Mrs. Bull's home. He visited Detroit and Chicago before he left from New York for London . We have two of these talks in the Complete Works: one given at Harvard University and the other at the Twentieth Century Club in Boston .

May 7 to July 18, 1896 ( London ):
We have two talks and two Public Sunday Lectures in the Complete Works. We also have some class notes on Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. He then left for a two month vacation to Europe with Captain and Mrs. Sevier because everyone left London for the summer.

October 6 to December 10, 1896 (London):
During this period he gave a talk in Wimbledon, at least four Sunday talks at a Unitarian Church in Croyden and a talk in London. We have the Wimbledon and London talk in the Complete Works. In October and November space was rented at 39 Victoria Street . Here he gave six Wednesday evening classes. Four of these are in the Complete Works. But most important of all were the Tuesday and Thursday morning classes. These form the material in the book, Jnana Yoga.

The Period December 1899 to June 1900 ( California ):
But there is one more set of talks that need to be read. These are the ones given in California from December 1899 and to the end of June 1900. He spoke in the Los Angeles area December through early January and then he was in Pasadena for a month. He was in Northern California ( San Francisco , Oakland and Alameda ) till the end of June. Many of these talks have been recorded in full and some are in the form of brief class notes . We will read whatever is available . He spoke his highest thoughts here. Marie Louise Burke talks about a new teaching, a new gospel. We will read and discover for ourselves what is new here.