Much has been written about Swami Vivekananda\u27s appearance at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. On the whole, the assessments of his appearance from both academics and non-academics has been positive, emphasising Vivekananda\u27s contributions to religious harmony in the world. Vivekananda was and remains an exemplary spokesperson for the enduring themes of the Ramakrishna mission, in particular for the idea that all religions are true inasmuch as they lead to the same goal

Neufeldt, Ronald

Ronald Neufeldt

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Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893

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Journal of Hindu-Christian StudiesVolume 6 Article 41993Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches Atthe World Parliament of Religions, 1893Ronald NeufeldtFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcsThe Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by DigitalCommons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact cbauman@butler.edu. For more information aboutDigital Commons @ Butler University, please contact fgaede@butler.edu.Recommended CitationNeufeldt, Ronald (1993) "Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893," Journal ofHindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 6, Article 4.Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1073.1 Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893 Ronald N eufeldt University of Calgary MUCH HAS BEEN written about Swami Vivekananda's appearance at the World Par-liament of Religions in 1893. On the whole, the assessments of his appearance from both academics and non-academics has been posi-tive,emphasising Vivekananda's contribu-tions to religious harmony in the world. Vivekananda was and remains an exemplary spokesperson for the enduring themes of the Ramakrishna mission, in particular for the idea that all religions are true inasmuch as they lead to the same goal. In a previous analysis of the Mission I have written: The centrepiece for the approach to re-ligious pluralism is the statement, 'many paths, one goal', which is fre-quently translated into the assertion that all religions are true, and, the so-called scientific religious experiments of Raniakrishna (1836-1888) which supposedly justify this statement. This is so from the sayings of Ramakrishna as recorded in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna down through the writ ings of the Swamis to the present day. Most analyses of Vivekananda and the Mission tend to take such stock phrases or assertions of harmony or salneness at face value. The result too frequently is an uncriti-cal acceptance of the Mission's assertions about issues such as religious pluralism or harmony which in tum leads to an inadequate understanding of the views of the Mission. It might be instructive in this centennial of Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 6 (1993) 1-3 Vivekananda's visit to the Chicago parlia-ment to see what light his statements might shed on issues of religious harmony or plu-ralism. Vivekananda addressed the Assembly on six different occasions in 1893, the re-sponse to the welcome on September 11, 'Why We Disagree' on September 13, the paper on Hinduism on September 19, 'Religion Not the Crying Need of India' on September 20, 'Buddhism, the Fulfillment of Hinduism' on September 26, and the address at the final session on September 27. The major presentation is, of course, the paper on Hinduism presented on ·September 19. This, therefore will be the focils for this reflection. Much of the speech on Hinduism is taken up with explaining the major teachings of the Vedas, which Vivekananda sees as revelation, but not revelation in the sense of a book; rather revelation as 'the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws' discovered by dif-ferent persons in different times. ,2 The gist of this revelation is caught in four major points: creation is without beginning or end, the hu-man being is not body, but an eternal spirit, this spirit is subject to multiple births and deaths in its quest for perfection, and that perfection, mukti, means freedom from the bonds of imperfection, death, and misery. 3 The essence of ~duism is summarised by Vivekananda as follows: The Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a cer-1Neufeldt: Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 19932 Ron Neufeldt tain doctrine or· dogma, but in realising - not in believing, _but in being and becoming. Thus the whole object of their system is by constant struggle to become per-fect, to become divine, to reach God and see God, and this reaching God, seeing God, becoming perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect, consti-tutes the religion of the Hindus.lI-This summary and statement of essence is hardly surprising any more. It has become standard fare in introductory texts on Hindu- . ism. hnportant for our purposes is the frame in which this summary is set, that is what Vivekananda has to say both before and after his summary of the Vedas. The frame is made up of a number of important points or assertions about the place of Hinduism within the context of the world religions. At the outset of his talk Vivekanarida claims that Hinduism provides an umbrella large enough to encompass all of the so-called indigenous traditions of India. ... sect after sect arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the Ve-das to its very foundations, but like the waters of the· seashore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only for a while, only to return in an all absorbing flood, a thousand times more vigorous, and when the tumult of the rush was over these sects were all sucked in, absorbed: and assimilated intg the immense body of the mother faith. In the context of this image of the um-brella, Vivekananda sets up a hierarchy of indigenous faiths with the 'high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy' at the top, and the 'agnosticism of the Buddhists' the 'atheism of the Jains', and the 'low ide~s of idolatr;r' r~?ed ~d~meath in descending order. This IS the VISIOn which Vivekananda will apply to the relationship of Hinduism" to the world religions. The Hindu religion is the superior religion because it 'does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma ... but ill being and becoming.'7 Furthennore: To the Hindu, man is not travelling from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from lower to higher truth. To him all the religions, from the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, mean so many attempts of the human soul to grasp and realise the InfInite each determined by the conditions of it~ birth and association, and 1rch of these marks a stage of progress ... These assertions and images surface in the other shorter speeches of Vivekananda before the world parliament of religions, and are repeated often in his other writings imd speeches, and the writings and speeches of the swamis coming after him. Does this vision of Vivekananda's hold promise for the peaceful interaction and co-existence of religious traditions in the modem era? Wilhelm Halbfass, in his work India and Europe, makes the point that nineteenth century re-interpreters of Hindu--ism such as Vivekananda expanded the tra-ditional concept of 'many paths, one goal' to make a place for the many faiths of the world under the umbrella of Hinduism. In the clas-sical world the image of many paths leading to the same goal had been applied within the context of the darsanas or Vedic traditions. In the modem world Hindu thinkers used it to include non-Vedic traditions within the world of Hinduism.9 Vivekananda's view then could be seen as a progressive one for his day, aimed at eliminating the conflict that so often accompanies the interaction between traditions. This is surely what Vivekananda had in mind in his many critical references to the tendency of traditions to force fixed dog-mas or doctrines on people and societies. It might even be seen as progressive today in the face of the apparent resurgence of vari-ous fonns of religious fundamentalism which tend to paint opposing viewpoints as evil and false. 1 2Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 6 [1993], Art. 4http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol6/iss1/4DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1073There are however, limitations in Vivekananda's vision. As some of the quota-tions contained in this paper indicate, Vivekananda's vision of religious traditions is a hierarchical one with Hinduism sitting on top of the heap. Furthermore, his definition of essential Hinduism is Advaita Vedanta. From his perspective Advaita is the common religion of all sects of India 1 0, and that· to which all religions point. We have here, in effect, the language of fulfillment which was being used by some Christian missionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centu-ries. Here, of course, Hinduism or Advaita, not Christianity is the fulfillment of the tra-ditions of the world. It is this hierarchical vision which in-forms Vivekananda's view that all religions are true. This may be a palatable vision to those who see the truth of all religions in the mystical experience of a unity of some sort. It may also be palatable to those who believe that harmony among religions is not possible· unless one assumes that all religions are, in essence, the same. Otherwise we are con-demned to a world of religious strife. This is what Vivekananda seems to have had in mind in his September 15 address, 'Why We Dis-agree'. He states: I am a Hindu. I am sitting in my own little well and thinking that the whole world is my little well. The Christian sits in his little well and thinks the whole world is his well. The Mo-hammedan sits in his little well and thinks that is the whole world. 11 . Reflections on Vivekananda 3 But, is agreement a necessary condition for religious harmony? I think not. The chal-lenge is not to create unity out of diversity as Vivekananda seems to think, but to live in harmony in spite of disagreements, some of which may be rather fundamental. This will require an attitude of openness, of seeing the other as significant in the exchange of ideas and argumentation over ideas. This may achieve the breaking down of barriers as Vivekananda wanted, but may not lead to his assumption that all religions are in essence the same in that they all point to the same goal. Notes 1 See R.N. Neufeldt, 'The Response of the Ramakrishna Mission', in H. G. Coward (ed.), Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987, p. 66. 2 The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Mayavati Edition, Volume 1, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1970, pp 6-7. hereafter referred to as Cw. 3 See Cw, Volume 1, pp. 7-13. 4 Ibid., p. 13. 5 Ibid., p. 6. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid., p. 13. 8 Ibid.,p.17. 9 See particularly chapters 18 and 22 in Wilhelm Halbfass, India and Europe, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. 10 CW, Volume 1, p. 13. 11 Ibid., p. 5. 3Neufeldt: Reflections on Swami Vivekananda's Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 1993

Reflections on Swami Vivekananda\u27s Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893

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Reflections on Swami Vivekananda\u27s Speeches At the World Parliament of Religions, 1893

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