The problem of translating Swamiji's spiritual ideology into active political programme was one that confronted Subhas Chandra Bose and kept him absorbed throughout the entire span of his political career as he evolved from a young Congressman to the statesman of global standing. He studied Swamiji deeply and tried to live the spiritual life to the level possible within the constraints of his hectic political life, maintaining physical continence throughout as the sine qua non for his service to the motherland. Psychological continence was a greater challenge to him but he even succeeded in overcoming the carnal impulses of the mind at the surface level. However, as he himself admitted in his autobiography, 'An Indian Pilgrim', the subtler impressions deep within the mind that lay latent under the cover of surface impressions posed a far greater challenge in his combat with lust and these had to be rooted out if one was to gain mastery of one's self. In this study of the mind thus, he was heavily influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and through him, of his spiritual teacher, Sri Ramakrishna. The spiritual duo held Subhas enthralled by their magnetic presence as he went about practising what they had enunciated as the essentials in the path towards God-realisation.
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