Vivekananda on Americans-Part II (Contd)

Sri Ramakrishna

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 18:40

He was a thundering realist who experienced both the bright and the dark side of the United States firsthand. Arriving in Canada on an ocean liner in the summer of 1893, he travelled unknown and alone to Chicago for the Parliament of Religions. Because of a communications mix-up, however, he arrived months early without enough money to last, and unaware that the wandering mendicant so revered in India would be seen as a vagrant in this country. He suffered cold, privation, and prejudice before he was welcomed as a celebrated wise man of the East.

And even after his widespread acclaim, he was the target of derision from envious clerics, those who had been missionaries and raised their funds criticising the 'pagan' religions. They spread vicious rumours about India and about the swami himself.'There is not one black lie imaginable that these latter did not invent against me,' Vivekananda said. 'They blackened my character from city to city, poor and friendless though I was in a foreign country. They tried to oust me from every house and to make every man who became my friend my enemy.'But attempts at character assassination did not rob him of tremendous support.

'I am here amongst the children of the Son of Mary, and the Lord Jesus will help me,' he wrote to a friend. 'They like much the broad views of Hinduism and my love for the Prophet of Nazareth. I tell them that I preach nothing against the Great One of Galilee. I only ask the Christians to take the Great Ones of India along with the Lord Jesus, and they appreciate it.'

Thus he urged the United States forward on the path of universal brotherhood, which begins first at the family level, then at the community, state, national and international levels. 'Step by step we reach broad generalizations and the world of abstract ideas,' he said. Thus, he again told the 'Times of London', a sense of oneness could spread throughout the world in a kind of 'spiritual renaissance.' His statement sparked a delightful exchange with the reporter:

Q: 'Excuse me saying that there do not seem many signs of it [a renaissance] just now.'

A: 'Perhaps not,' said the Swami, gravely. 'I dare say a good many people saw no signs of the old Renaissance and did not know it was there, even after it had come. But there is a great movement, which can be discerned by those who know the signs of the times. Oriental research has of recent years made great progress. At present it is in the hands of scholars, and it seems dry and heavy in the work they have achieved. But gradually the light of comprehension will break.'

Does the sectarian violence that destroyed the World Trade Centre on the 108th anniversary of Vivekananda's address at the World Parliament of Religions mean that his faith in a spiritual renaissance was misplaced? His answer would be a resounding, No! Like all great sages, Vivekananda knew that lasting change begins in the depths of the individual heart, and even though the effects may be too subtle to be visible for some time, that is no reason to despair. In fact, violence and massive unrest are often heralds of a transition to a new level of understanding.

When a kettle of water is coming to the boil, first one bubble rises, and then another, and so on, until at last they all join, and a tremendous commotion takes place. 'This world is very similar,' Swami Vivekananda said. 'Each individual is like a bubble, and the nations, resemble many bubbles. Gradually these nations are joining.… A tremendous stream is flowing towards the ocean carrying us all along with it; and though, like straws and scraps of paper, we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss.'