13th Dec., 1896.
DEAR FRANKINCENSE,
So Gopâla1 has taken the female form! It is fit that it should be so — the time and the place considering. May all blessings follow her through life. She was keenly desired, prayed for, and she comes as a blessing to you and to your wife for life. I have not the least doubt.
I wish I could have come to America now if only to fulfil the form “the sages of the East bringing presents to the Western baby”. But the heart is there with all prayers and blessings, and the mind is more powerful than the body.
I am starting on the 16th of this month and take the steamer at Naples. Will see Alberta in Rome surely. With all love to the holy family,
Yours ever in the Lord,
VIVEKANANDA.
- ^Lit. Child Krishna. The Swami refers to the birth of a girl in place of an expected son.