Tantine' presents the reminiscences, conversations, letters, and autobiographical notes of a woman who, in her love for India and for Swami Vivekananda exceeded the bounds of 'Eastern' and 'Western'. Her strong and colourful personality provides many though-provoking and charming anecdotes and her interesting observations also document the pioneering stage in the history of the Ramakrishna Order.
Those who have succeeded in attaching or detaching their minds at will have succeeded in Pratyahara, which means gathering towards, checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. When we can do this, we shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long step towards freedom. Before that, we are mere machines.
-Swami Vivekananda