VEDANTA IN AMERICA
After the meetings of the Parliament of Religions were concluded, Swami
Vivekananda, as already noted, under took a series of apostolic campaigns in order to
sow the seed of the Vedantic truths in the ready soil of America. Soon he discovered
that the lecture bureau was exploiting him. Further, he did not like its method of
advertisement. He was treated as if he were the chief attraction of a circus. The
prospectus included his portrait, with the inscription, proclaiming his cardinal virtues:
'An Orator by Divine Right; a Model Representative of his Race; a Perfect master of
the English Language; the Sensation of the World's Fair Parliament.' It also described
his physical bearing, his height, the colour of his skin, and his clothing. The Swami felt
disgusted at being treated like a patent medicine or an elephant in a show. So he
severed his relationship with the bureau and arranged his own lectures himself. He
accepted invitation from churches, clubs, and private gatherings, and travelled
extensively through the Eastern and Midwestern states of America, delivering twelve
to fourteen or more lectures a week.
People came in hundreds and in thousands. And what an assorted audience he had to
face! There came to his meetings professors from universities, ladies of fine breeding,
seekers of truth, and devotees of God with childlike faith. But mixed with these were
charlatans, curiosity-seekers, idlers, and vagabonds. It is not true that he met
everywhere with favourable conditions. Leon Landsberg, one of the Swami's American
disciples, thus described Vivekananda's tribulations of those days:
The Americans are a receptive nation. That is why the country is a hotbed of all kinds
of religious and irreligious monstrosities. There is no theory so absurd, no doctrine so
irrational, no claim so extravagant, no fraud so transparent, but can find their numerous
believers and a ready market. To satisfy this craving, to feed the credulity of the
people, hundreds of societies and sects are born for the salvation of the world, and to
enable the prophets to pocket $25 to $100 initiation fees. Hobgoblins, spooks,
mahatmas, and new prophets were rising every day. In this bedlam of religious cranks,
the Swami appeared to teach the lofty religion of the Vedas, the profound philosophy
of Vedanta, the sublime wisdom of the ancient rishis. The most unfavourable
environment for such a task!
The Swami met with all kinds of obstacles. The opposition of fanatical Christian
missionaries was, of course, one of these. They promised him help if he only would
preach their brand of Christianity. When the Swami refused, they circulated all sorts of
filthy stories about him, and even succeeded in persuading some of the Americans who
had previously invited him to be their guest, to cancel the invitations. But Vivekananda
continued to preach the religion of love, renunciation, and truth as taught by Christ,
and so show him the highest veneration as a Saviour of mankind. How significant were
his words: 'It is well to be born in a church, but it is terrible to die there!' Needless to
say, he meant by the word church all organized religious institutions. How like a
thunderbolt the words fell upon the ears of his audience when one day he exclaimed:
'Christ, Buddha, and Krishna are but waves in the Ocean of Infinite Consciousness that