Vivekananda as wandering Monk (contd-1)

In July 1890, Swami Vivekananda took leave of Sarada Devi, the holy consort of Sree Ramakrishna, who was the spiritual guide of the young monks after the death of their Master.He also took leave of his brother monks, with the firm resolve to cut himself free from all ties and to go into the solitude of the Himalayas, for he felt it essential to be alone.In the words of Romain Rolland , " This was the great departure . Like a diver he plunged into the Ocean of India and the ocean of India covered his tracks.  Among its flotsam and jetsam he was nothing more than one nameless sannyasin in safron robe among a thousand others. But the fires of genius burned in his eyes. He was prince despite all disguise."
His wandering took him various placesof pilgrimage and historical interest in Uttarpradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, tamilnadu, Karnatak, Hyderabad, and Kerala. Everywhere the glory of ancient India vividly came before his eyes, whether political, cultural, or spiritual. In the midst of this great education, the abject misery of the Indian masses stood out before his mind. He moved from one princely state to another, everywhere to explore avenues  of mitigating their lot.  
Thus he came to meet many leading personalities and rulers of the princely states. Among them , Maharaja Ajit Singh of Khetri became his fast friend and ardent disciple. At Alwar he studied the Mahabhasya of Patanjali. At Poona Swami Vivekananda met Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Lokmanya Tilak, born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak, was an Indian nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and independence activist who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement) at national leader . At first Tilak talked with Swami with scant regard, but later, impressed by Swami's depth of learning and profoundity of thought, he invited him to be his guest. From  there, after a stay of Belgaum, he went to Bangalore and Mysore.The Maharaja of Mysore gave him the assurance of financial support  to enable him to to go to the West to seek help for India and to prech the eternal religion . From Mysore he visited Trivandrum and Kannya Kumari.