school and the girls; and the girls trained from the school may become ideal girls.’ Nivedita was delighted and recorded her feelings later as "I cannot imagine a grander omen than her blessings, spoken over the educated Hindu womanhood of the future." The first photograph of Sarada Devi was taken at Nivedita's house. Nivedita wrote in a letter to her friend Nell Hammond about Sarada Devi after her first few meetings with her, "She really is, under the simplest, most unassuming guise, one of the strongest and greatest of women." An excerpt is provided here from the Gospel of Holy Mother, where Sarada Devi's impressions about Nivedita are captured vividly: Travels Nivedita travelled to many places in India, including Kashmir, with Swami Vivekananda, Josephine MacLeod, and Sara Bull. This helped her in connecting to the Indian masses, Indian culture, and its history. She also went to the United States to raise awareness and get help for her cause. On 11 May 1898, she went with Swami Vivekananda, Sara Bull, Josephine MacLeod, and Swami Turiyananda, on a journey to the Himalayas. From Nainital, they travelled to Almora. On 5 June 1898, she wrote a letter to her friend Nell Hammond exclaiming, "Oh Nell, Nell, India is indeed the Holy Land." In Almora, she first learned the art of meditation. She wrote about this experience, "A mind must be brought to change its centre of gravity... again the open and disinterested state of mind welcomes truth." She also started learning Bengali from Swami Swarupananda. From Almora, they went to Kashmir valley, where they stayed in houseboats. In the summer of 1898, Nivedita travelled to Amarnath with Swami Vivekananda. Later in 1899, she travelled to the United States with Swami Vivekananda and stayed in Ridgely Manor in upstate New York. She later recorded some of her tour and experiences with her master (guru) in the book The Master as I Saw Him and Notes on Some Wanderings with Swami Vivekananda. She often used to refer to Swami Vivekananda as "The King" and considered herself as his spiritual daughter (Manaskanya in Bengali). Swami Vivekananda's death Sister Nivedita saw Swami Vivekananda for the last time on 2 July 1902 at Belur Math. Vivekananda was observing the Ekadashi fasting on that day. However, when his disciples took their meal, he himself served them joyfully. After the meal, Vivekananda poured water over Nivedita's hands, and dried them