THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS

On Monday, September 11, 1893 the Parliament of Religions opened its

deliberations with due solemnity. This great meeting was an adjunct of the
World's Columbian Exposition, which had been organized to celebrate the four
hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
One of the main goals of the Exposition was to disseminate knowledge of the
progress and enlightenment brought about in the world by Western savants and
especially through physical science and technology; but as religion forms a vita
l
factor in human culture, it had been decided to organize a Parliament of
Religions in conjunction with the Exposition.
Dr. Barrows, in his History of the Parliament of Religions, writes:
Since faith in a Divine Power to whom men believe they owe service and
worship, has been like the sun, a life-giving and fructifying potency in
man's intellectual and moral development; since Religion lies at the back
of Hindu literature with its marvellous and mystic developments; of the
European Art, whether in the form of Grecian statues or Gothic
cathedrals; and of American liberty and the recent uprisings of men on
behalf of a juster social condition; and since it is as clear as the light, that
the Religion of Christ has led to many of the chief and noblest
developments of our modern civilization, it did not appear that Religion
any more than Education, Art, or Electricity, should be excluded from the
Columbian Exposition.
It is not altogether improbable that some of the more enthusiastic Christian
theologians, among the promoters of the Parliament, thought that the
Parliament would give them an opportunity to prove the superiority of
Christianity, professed by the vast majority of the people of the progressive
West, over the other faiths of the world. Much later Swami Vivekananda said, in
one of his jocular moods, that the Divine Mother Herself willed the Parliament
in order to give him an opportunity to present the Eternal Religion of the Hindu
s
before the world at large, and that the stage was set for him to play his
important role, everything else being incidental. The appropriateness of this
remark can be appreciated now, six decades after the great event, from the fact
that whereas all else that was said and discussed at the Parliament has been
forgotten, what Vivekananda preached is still cherished in America, and the
movement inaugurated by him has endeared itself to American hearts.
'One of the chief advantages,' to quote the words of the Hon. Mr. Merwin-Marie
Snell, president of the Scientific Section of the Parliament, 'has been in the g
reat
lessons which it has taught the Christian world, especially the people of the
United States, namely, that there are other religions more venerable than
Christianity, which surpass it in philosophical depths, in spiritual intensity,
in
independent vigour of thought, and in breadth and sincerity of human
sympathy, while not yielding to it a single hair's breadth in ethical beauty and
efficiency.'
At 10 a.m. the Parliament opened. In it every form of organized religious belief
,
as professed among twelve hundred millions of people, was represented. Among
the non-Christian groups could be counted Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Shintoism, Mohammedanism, and Mazdaism.
The spacious hall and the huge gallery of the art Palace were packed with seven
thousand people men and women representing the culture of the United
States. The official delegates marched in a grand procession to the platform, an
d
in the centre, in his scarlet robe, sat Cardinal Gibbons, the highest prelate of
the
Roman Catholic Church in the Western hemisphere. He occupied a chair of state
and opened the meeting with a prayer. On his left and right were grouped the
Oriental delegates: Pratap Chandra Mazoomdar of the Calcutta Brahmo Samaj,
and Nagarkar of Bombay; Dharmapala, representing the Ceylon Buddhists;
Gandhi, representing the Jains; Chakravarti and Annie Besant of the
Theosophical Society. With them sat Swami Vivekananda, who represented no
particular sect, but the Universal Religion of the Vedas, and who spoke, as will
presently be seen, for the religious aspiration of all humanity. His gorgeous ro
be,
large yellow turban, bronze complexion, and fine features stood out prominently
on the platform and drew everybody's notice. In numerical order the Swami's
position was number thirty-one.
The delegates arose, one by one, and read prepared speeches, but the Hindu
sannyasin was totally unprepared. He had never before addressed such an
assembly. When he was asked to give his message he was seized with stagefright,
and requested the chairman to call on him a little later. Several times he
postponed the summons. As he admitted later: 'Of course my heart was
fluttering and my tongue nearly dried up. I was so nervous that I could not
venture to speak in the morning session.'
At last he came to the rostrum and Dr. Barrows introduced him. Bowing to
Sarasvati, the Goddess of Wisdom, he addressed the audience as 'Sisters and
Brothers of America.' Instantly, thousands arose in their seats and gave him
loud applause. They were deeply moved to see, at last, a man who discarded
formal words and spoke to them with the natural and candid warmth of a
brother.
It took a full two minutes before the tumult subsided, and the Swami began his
speech by thanking the youngest of the nations in the name of the most ancient
monastic order in the world, the Vedic order of sannyasins. The keynote of his
address was universal toleration and acceptance. He told the audience how
India, even in olden times, had given shelter to the religious refugees of other
lands for instance, the Israelites and the Zoroastrians and he quoted from
the scriptures the following two passages revealing the Hindu spirit of
toleration:
'As different streams, having their sources in different places, all mingle
their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take
through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or
straight, all lead to Thee.'
'Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him. All men
are struggling through many paths which in the end lead to Me.'
In conclusion he pleaded for the quick termination of sectarianism, bigotry, and
fanaticism.
The response was deafening applause. It appeared that the whole audience had
been patiently awaiting this message of religious harmony. A Jewish intellectual
remarked to the present writer, years later, that after hearing Vivekananda he
realized for the first time that his own religion, Judaism, was true, and that t
he
Swami had addressed his words on behalf of not only his religion, but all
religions of the world. Whereas every one of the other delegates had spoken for
his own ideal or his own sect, the Swami had spoken about God, who, as the
ultimate goal of all faiths, is their inmost essence. And he had learnt that tru
th
at the feet of Sri Ramakrishna, who had taught incessantly, from his direct
experience, that all religions are but so many paths to reach the same goal. The
Swami gave utterance to the yearning of the modern world to break down the
barriers of caste, colour, and creed and to fuse all people into one humanity.
Not a word of condemnation for any faith, however crude or irrational, fell from
his lips. He did not believe that this religion or that religion was true in thi
s or
that respect; to him all religions were equally effective paths to lead their
respective devotees, with diverse tastes and temperaments, to the same goal of
perfection. Years before, young Narendra had condemned before his Master, in
his neophyte zeal, a questionable sect that indulged in immoral practices in the
name of religion, and Ramakrishna had mildly rebuked him, saying: 'Why
should you criticize those people? Their way, too, ultimately leads to God. Ther
e
are many doors to enter a mansion. The scavenger comes in by the back door.
You need not use it.'
How prophetic were the master's words that his Naren would one day shake the
world! Mrs. S.K. Blodgett, who later became the Swami's hostess in Los Angeles,
said about her impressions of the Parliament: 'I was at the Parliament of
Religions in Chicago in 1893. When that young man got up and said, "Sisters
and Brothers of America," seven thousand people rose to their feet as a tribute
to
something they knew not what. When it was over I saw scores of women walking
over the benches to get near him, and I said to my self, "Well, my lad, if you c
an
resist that onslaught you are indeed a God!"'