On 8 August the party arrived at Srinagar, where they remained until 30 September. During this period the swami’s mood was directed to Kali, the Divine Mother. He composed a poem about her, and later went to visit Kshir Bhavani, a temple dedicated to the Mother that had long ago been destroyed by Muslim invaders. Here he had a vision of the Goddess. Observing the ruins of the temple, Vivekananda felt sad and said to himself: “How could the people have permitted such sacrilege without offering strenuous resistance? If I had been here then, I would never have allowed such a thing. I would have laid down my life to protect the Mother.” Thereupon he heard the voice of the Goddess saying: “What if unbelievers should enter my temple and defile my image? What is that to you? Do you protect me, or do I protect you? My child, if I wish I can have innumerable temples and magnificent monastic centres. I can even this moment raise a seven-storeyed golden temple on this very spot.” After his return, referring to this experience, he said to his disciples: “All my patriotism is gone. Everything is gone. Now it is only ‘Mother! Mother!’ I have been very wrong… . I am only a little child.” (Source: God Lived with Them)