American cities¹³

What is the great similarity between Chicago and my disciples? Unpredictable weather! Chicago’s outer weather is unpredictable. My disciples’ inner weather is unpredictable. That is the great similarity!

When I was seven years old, when I was in the primary school, I liked the name “Chicago” because of Swami Vivekananda. I came of a spiritually oriented family, so I knew that Swami Vivekananda had travelled to Chicago.

Then, when I was twelve or thirteen, I came to learn of Ohio because of Jesse Owens the great. This was all long before I heard the name “New York.” I think I was familiar with the name “San Francisco” before I knew “New York.” In San Francisco, there is east and west. It is a spiritual place, a cultural place. The name “New York,” when did I hear? God knows!