Omaha daily bee, December 16, 1900
Helena’s First Lover
A Hindoo Swami
The recent marriage of Miss Helena Zimmerman of Cincinnati to the duke of Manchester has revived the story of a former love affair of the heiress. Miss Zimmerman, it is stated, was on her way to India to become a life disciple of Hindoo philosophy, Raja Yoga, when she met the duke of Manchester in London. But desire for knowledge of the mysticism of the east led almost directly to the beginning of the romance which culminated in the wealthy American girl secretly becoming the wife of the financially barren British duke.
Miss Zimmerman’s trip to Hindostan was interrupted by the death of the man who had taught her all she knew of mystic lore, and under whose guidance she hoped to become an adept—the Swami Vivekananda. She had grown firm in the belief that she could not die. The teachings of Raja Yoga are that there is no necessity for the cessation of life in the body; that by right living and practices the corporeal being will wear on until the spirit has attained a certain perfection, when body and soul will go together into the next cycle of existence.
The Cincinnati heiress believed all this and had faith in Vivekananda. Therefore, when he lay down and died like common clay the shock was great enough to break all the bonds of faith which held her to this peculiar religion. Moreover, it released her from what her family considered a kind of mental fascination exercised over her by the Swami.
Many Americans remember Vivekananda well. Several years ago he was the rage of society in New York; that is, of the female portion. He gave a series of lectures upon how to obtain “soul liberation,” or how to reach omnipotence through exercise of mental will and adherence to certain physical practices. It became the fad of rich women to attend these discourses, to fete the Swami—which word, by the way, signifies teacher—to talk Raja Yoga, but seldom to practice the precepts.
Helena Zimmerman was an exception in the latter respect. She went in for the philosophy earnestly. She not only attended Vivekananda’s public lectures, but had long talks with him privately and in her daily life practiced faithfully what these interviews taught her. The first step in attaining Hindoo perfection is the observance of certain bodily laws—washing at stated intervals, rising and retiring at fixed hours and going through set physical exercises. The second is the following of a certain prescribed diet, called the practice of “pranasayama.” This is all for the purifying of the body, without which mind and soul development cannot come.
All these things did Miss Zimmerman. Her parents and friends protested. They viewed with growing alarm the influence of Vivekananda over her. But their pleadings and threats did no good. She declared her hatred of society and announced her intention of devoting her life to spiritual search. And as she went into it with all the determination and energy with which she was wont to ride dangerous horses on her father’s western ranch she had her own way.
Finally Vivekananda received a “call of the spirit” to return to India. As a social rage he had been falling by the wayside because of the advent of a pianist with blonde locks. The future duchess of Manchester was one of the few who did not desert him. After he had gone she became restless and moody. She continued to practice “pranasayama,” but it now failed to bring the peace which it was warranted to furnish.
The Zimmerman family was elated over the Hindoo’s departure, but this elation ended when the girl announced her intention of going to India to pursue her way toward Samadhi. It was her intention to hurry through London, but she missed a Dover train. Next morning she read of the prosaic death of Vivekananda. That ended the pilgrimage.