without emotion — peace that one feels alone, surrounded with statues and pictures.—
I come, Lord, I come.
The world is, but not beautiful nor ugly, but as sensations without exciting any
emotion. Oh, Joe, the blessedness of it! Everything is good and beautiful; for things are
all losing their relative proportions to me — my body among the first. Om That
Existence!
I hope great things come to you all in London and Paris. Fresh joy — fresh benefits to
mind and body.
But the arrow of Swami Vivekananda's life had not yet finished its flight. Next he was
to be seen in Paris participating in the Congress of the History of Religions, held on the
occasion of the Universal Exposition. This Congress, compared with the Parliament of
Religions of Chicago, was a rather tame affair. The discussion was limited to technical
theories regarding the origin of the rituals of religion; for the Catholic hierarchy,
evidently not wanting a repetition of the triumph of Oriental ideas in the American
Parliament, did not allow any discussion of religious doctrines. Swami Vivekananda,
on account of his failing health, took part in only two sessions. He repudiated the
theory of the German orientalist Gustav Oppert that the Siva lingam was a mere phallic
symbol. He described the Vedas as the common basis of both Hinduism and
Buddhism, and held that both Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita were prior to Buddhism.
Further, he rejected the theory of the Hellenic influence on the drama, art, literature,
astrology, and other sciences developed in India.
In Paris he came to know his distinguished countryman J. C. Bose, the discoverer of
the life and nervous system in plants, who had been invited to join the scientific section
of the Congress. The Swami referred to the Indian scientist as 'the pride and glory of
Bengal.'
In Paris Swami Vivekananda was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Leggett, at whose house he
met many distinguished people. Among these was the young Duke of Richelieu, a
scion of an old and aristocratic family of France. The title had been created by Louis
XIII, and one of the ancestors of the Duke had been Premier under Louis XVIII. Born
in Paris, educated at a Jesuit school in France, and later graduated from the University
of Aix-en-Provence, the Duke of Richelieu became greatly attached to the Swami and
visited him frequently. On the eve of Vivekananda's departure from Paris, the Swami
asked the Duke if he would renounce the world and become his disciple. The Duke
wanted to know what he would gain in return for such renunciation, and the Swami
said, 'I shall give you the desire for death.' When asked to explain, the Swami declared
that he would give the Duke such a state of mind that when confronted by death he
would laugh at it. But the Duke preferred to pursue a worldly career, though he
cherished a lifelong devotion to Swami Vivekananda.
During his stay in Paris the Swami met such prominent people as Professor Patrick
Geddes of Edinburgh University, Pere Hyacinthe, Hiram Maxim, Sarah Bernhardt,