SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
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previous visits to this noted city had been only casual. He had given only a few public lectures but was not in a position to begin any constructive work. With a view to starting regular work the Swami now readily accepted the invitation of the Brooklyn Ethical Association to deliver a series of lectures. These lectures produced the desired effect and opened a new avenue for organizing the work in America. He soon found a group of earnest souls who were seriously bent on following the guidance of the Swami for spiritual enlightenment. The Swami gave his whole time to teaching by means of talks and lectures, and every day instructed this band of chosen followers in the exercise of the double method of Raja-Yoga and Jnana-Yoga. His lectures at this time were replete with the deepest philosophical insight and with extraordinary outbursts of devotion, revealing his nature as essentially a combination of the Jnani and Bhakta—the illumined saint and true mystic in one. Prominent among those who became his ardent followers at this time were Mrs. Ole Bull, Dr. Day, Miss S.E. Waldo, Professors Wyman and Wright, Dr. Street, and many clergymen and laymen of note. Mr. and Mrs. Francis Leggett and Miss MacLeod, well-known society people of New York, became his most intimate friends. By the month of June 1895, the Swami had placed his real