The Storyline
None before him, or even later, moved in the West with so much pride for his country, people, religion, and glorious civilisation as did Swami Vivekananda. It’s no exaggeration to say that no one ever presented India so magnificently in her true light as he did. Those who are more or less acquainted with the last ten years of his life will easily understand this. In a letter to Alasinga Perumal, his leading Madras disciple, Vivekananda wrote this on 6 May 1895: “I am the one man who dared to defend his country and I have given them what they never expected from a Hindu.” True, his mettle was judged when he first stood before the enlightened West on the inaugural day of the religious parliament in 1893. We all know the setting was ready to proclaim the foregone conviction of the West about the supremacy of Christianity over all other religions; none took great notice of the pagan Hindu monk representing the leading religion of a country allegedly immersed in head-high superstitions and devilish rituals. No, they did no wrong, for they acted on the basis of what they knew for centuries. None, ever, from India dared to contradict them until Vivekananda stood on the mammoth podium of the historical World’s Parliament of Religions and challenged them with sublime truth. We all know what followed when Vivekananda uttered his first words; they gave birth to enduring history.
Nonetheless, a more critical testing phase, akin to a battlefield, became ready for the Swami for what he did and said during the days of the religious parliament. But many of us, perhaps, have yet to exactly know how Vivekananda fought that battle—alone, amidst the powerful lobby of antagonistic Christian missionaries in Detroit, the City historically acclaimed as the centre of Christianity, often referred to as the City of Faith. This is our story; we shall briefly narrate how one young Indian monk faced the collective onslaught of the clergy and eventually silenced them all, without hurling a single unfriendly word, winning over all provocations. The irony of the fact is that a pagan Hindu was finally able to teach the people of Detroit what Jesus Christ truly stands for—and how to bring Him into our lives.
Prelude
When the religious parliament was over, Swami Vivekananda remained in Chicago for about two months before leaving for a lecture tour to America’s Midwestern and Southern Cities on 20 November 1893. This was the second phase of his Western mission, during which he decided to earn money for his work in India and to sustain himself in the West. He knew by this time that he could enthral people with his words, though he would soon realise that it was not what he was born.
Before he moved to Chicago at Christmas, Swamiji lectured in cities of Madison (Wisconsin), Minneapolis (Minnesota), and Des Moines (Iowa). The topics of his lectures were on India—her religion, life and customs, people, and similar subjects. These were what the Americans mostly wanted to hear from him. Reasons for such curiosity were three: first, the Christian missionaries in America had for long depicted India and her people with the darkest possible stories, concocted with alleged superstitions and prejudices. They did it deliberately, for such untruth brought immense donations to their coffers. Secondly, none from India who visited the West before Vivekananda were known to have refuted what the missionaries propagated; and thirdly, the outstanding brilliance of Vivekananda made people curious about India anew. This glaring contrast between what the American people till then knew, and what Vivekananda inspired them to rethink—made them curious and eager to learn more from him about his country. If the urge had begun at the religious parliament, its intensity multiplied as his public lectures began. As a natural consequence, the hitherto resentful Christian missionaries decided to consolidate their attacks against the Swami to disprove his worth and words before the American people. And in their venture, the clergies felt no need to remain righteous.
On the evening of November 20, Vivekananda delivered his first lecture at the Congregational Church in Madison. The next day, he moved to Minneapolis in Minnesota. Following two lectures in Minneapolis, he went to Des Moines, the Capital of Iowa, on November 27. We know of three lectures there. He remained in Des Moines a little beyond his plan by cancelling a few engagements farther west. While reporting the impact of his visit to their city, the Iowa State Register on December 3 wrote something which shows that there were some people ready to check their arsenals with the young monk—and, as also, what came of that:
“… It was woe to the man who undertook to combat the monk on his own ground, and that was where they all tried it who tried it at all. His replies came like flashes of lightning, and the venturesome questioner was sure to be impaled on the Indian’s shining intellectual lance. The workings of his mind, so subtle and so brilliant, so well stored and so well trained, sometimes dazzled his hearers, but it was always a most interesting study.”[2]
Interestingly, the same report reveals the unruffled, gentle disposition of the Swami regardless of all provocations: “He said nothing unkind, for his nature would not permit that. Those who came to know him best found him the most gentle and lovable of men, so honest, frank, and unpretending, always grateful for the many kindnesses that were shown him. Vivekananda and his cause found a place in the hearts of all true Christians” (ibid).
More lectures followed at different places, though the details are scarcely known today. This much we know: Vivekananda delivered another lecture at the First Unitarian Church in Minneapolis on December 14 before returning to Chicago.
Notes and References[1]
[1] Marie Louise Burke, Swami Vivekananda in the West : New Discoveries (Kolkata, Advaita Ashrama, Six Volumes) vol. 2 (1994).346
[2] Life of Swami Vivekananda – By His Eastern and Western Disciples (Kolkata, Advaita Ashrama, 2 vols, 1989), 1.453.
(Cont’d in Detroit, the Battleground)
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