Vivekananda – Pt 4

A brief catch-up on where we left Vivekananda.

Shortly after the death of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda grew restless and wanted to travel. According to Nikhilananda he did travel and have deep expansive thoughts about his spirituality, the state of India, and how he could make it great again. Through his letters to others, however, we see a completely different Vivekananda.

A Vivekananda prone to illness. Who traveled some but was often at the mercy of sickness. And a Vivekananda who was not above begging his rich friends for help, only to break his promises to them.

So we left 1890 with Vivekananda growing restless, yet again.

1891

This is a year that where not having any letters makes things difficult to trace.

At some point early in the year, Vivekananda left Meerut. It’s unclear where he went from there, but it doesn’t seem likely he went back to the Math. There is no record from any of his fellow monks at the Math that he had returned, at any rate.

Instead, it seems more likely that he had traveled to Khetri. Why? Some point early in the year he had met the Maharaja Ajit Singh of Khetri. It is known that he had met the Maharaja at some point early in the year, traveled to Khetri, and then stayed there until October.

When he left in October is unknown. All that is known is that Vivekananda spent some time traveling around Gujrat province, but more on that in the next year.

1892

This year we have a return of the letters! We have 3 sent this year.

Even though we have those letters…this year is still pretty messy.

Vivekananda decides to confuse everyone by choosing to go by the name Satchidananda while traveling around Gujrat. This causes some confusion later when one of his fellow monks visits the area and is told about a Satchidananda from Belur Math. By the time this monk visits, however, Vivekananda had already left the area and so there is some doubt that this Satchidananda was actually Vivekananda.

That said, Vivekananda did end up with quite a lot of friends in high places out of this visit. He had letters of introduction to high ranking officials – Rajas and Dewans (essentially regional PMs) – as well as the Pandit Shankar Pandurang. Pandurang was the acting administrator of the kingdom of Gujrat at the time, as the crown prince was a minor and unable to rule. Vivekananda had apparently curried so much favor and attention that he had been invited to stay in the palace for several months.

Here is where Nikhilananda’s version of Vivekananda comes into question.

In a letter to Pandurang at this time, Vivekananda was requesting tutelage in Sanskrit – a language that Nikhilananda claimed he was proficient in. Specifically, he requests that he have access to the Vedas, which he had never had the pleasure of reading before. This was a large portion of what he seemed to be up to while staying with Pandurang.

Another person that Vivekananda had the privilege to meet was the Dewan of Junagad, Haridas Viharidas. Haridas was having an issue with a letter from the local government that had been written in English. Vivekananda translated it for him and that was all it took for Haridas to become a fervent believe of Vivekananda’s.

Chattopadhayaya notes here that around this time, when Vive was meeting a lot of important people, others would begin adding themselves to the narrative. Well after his death, people would claim to have come across him during this period. As with everything surrounding Vive, there are just too many discrepancies to know the truth, but we can make educated guesses that people inserting themselves suddenly nearly 30 years after his death probably didn’t actually meet him then and are only clout chasing.

Lastly, this may have been the origin point for Vivekananda considering going West. It is suggested that at this time Pandurang initially proposed that Vivekananda head to the US to fundraise. While he never followed through on it at this time, it’s certainly possible the suggestion had been made given that Vivekananda had a few helping hands to sail him to the US.

1893

What is beginning to become clear about this time of Vivekananda’s life is that he had friends in high places and they were willing to dote upon him.

There is little doubt that at this time he had ceased walking to many of the places he was visiting. Instead he was getting receiving train tickets in order to be at all the places he is recorded as having visited. Which, in itself, isn’t an issue, it’s that during this time he and his followers insist that he was a broke sannyasin who only traveled by foot.

It’s also important to note that his brother monks at the Math had no idea where Vivekananda had gone off to until the family he was traveling with at the time – the Bhattacharya family – did their own inquiry into him. Manmatha Bhattacharya wrote to his brother and had him visit the Math to ask after Vivekananda’s character. This is how his brother monks learned where he was and learned that he was using the Satchidananda name.

This confusion over what name Vivekananda was ultimately using wouldn’t be solved until he attended the World Parliament using the Vivekananda name.

This is also when Vivekananda would finally be introduced to the larger and wider audience. Or “into society” as they used to say.

He would be brought into the Literary Society of Triplicane which is what launched him into the eyes of the Theosophical Society. Here he would meet Dr Subrahmaya Aiyar, who was a member of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, and who contributed the funding for Vivekananda to travel to Chicago. This was not the only person who would offer to pay, or even suggest that Vivekananda attend the World Parliament of Religions, but it would be the first person to actually organize and pay for the trip. While the Raja of Ramnad did originally offer 10,000 rupees to Vivekananda to travel to Chicago, Vive refused and — possibly feeling slighted — the Raja did not re-extend that offer.

After this time, because of his growing fame, we see a lot of tall tales about Vivekananda addressing large crowds that simply never existed. Records contradict one another; those of his followers and contributors say he addressed thousands in India before leaving to America, those from outside sources say the events either never happened or happened with much smaller crowds. Given how much has been done posthumously to inflate both his and Ramakrishna’s image, it’s difficult to say for certain what really happened, but the truth likely lies somewhere in between the two stories.

In total, however, Vive managed to raise 4,000 rupees to travel to Chicago, which around 1,200 was used to secure passage on a ship. The rest was given to him in cash. The Maharaja of Mysore contributed about 1,500 rupees while the rest was collected through others in Madras. The Raja of Ramnad did contribute 500 rupees eventually, at the request of Manmatha Bhattacharya. The Raja of Khetri — Ajit Singh — also contributed to the total upon the birth of his son – just as Nikhil’s biography described – but the sum I could not find.

It was confirmed that on both legs of his voyage to the US, Vive stayed in first class accommodations. The first, a ship to Japan, had likely been bought with the money raised in Madras, but the second – Japan to Vancouver, BC — seems to have been upgraded with the help of Ajit Singh’s money.

From BC, Vivekananda would hop on a train to Chicago.

Parliament of World Religions

It’s important to discuss what the Parliament was and what it aimed to accomplish.

In 1983 Chicago was hosting the World Columbian Expedition, an early world’s fair style event. Because so many people would be descending upon Chicago there were smaller conventions – called Congresses or Parliaments – that were organized to take advantage of the crowds. The Parliament of World Religions was largely organized by Charles Bonney, an Illinois State Supreme Court Judge, and Jenkin Lloyd Jones.

It was intended to be a way to encourage interfaith discussions. There were a variety of faiths represented, some of whom were clergy and others who were devout lay followers. We even see a disciple from the Christian Science world who would read a speech written by Mary Eddy. Even the Theosophical Society was in attendance! It was indeed a melting pot of popular and dominant beliefs of the time.

Of note, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Native spiritual leaders, Skihs, and other Indigenous spiritual movements were excluded from this Parliament. They would later be included in the 1993 Parliament.

From India, however, there were only 17 delegates. Their breakdown is as follows: 4 Christian missionaries, 3 Hindu representatives, 2 Muslim reps, 2 from the Bhramo Samaj, 2 unaffiliated, 1 Jain, 1 Parsee, 1 Theosophist, and 1 Buddhist. Pretty much all gave speeches at the time. Vivekananda, perhaps surprisingly, was not a member of the Hindu group but had been given some credence by the Bhramo Samaj.

Vivekananda’s speech was not recorded in full. Several newspapers have snippets of his speech and a complete collection can be found here.

With the background out of the way, let’s return to Vivekananda and his journey to the Parliament. Last we left him, he was on a train to Chicago from BC, Canada.

We have two narratives again, though they don’t diverge much in this case. I’ll be presenting it as a united story with notes on where stories change as we go.

So, Vivekananda arrives in Chicago and goes to register for the Parliament. He’s told that things have been postponed until September and that he’s too late to register. Additionally, as he doesn’t have anyone to vouch for him, which he’ll need in order for anyone to know who he is.

It’s fair to say that at this point Vivekananda began freaking out. He only had enough to get him to Chicago and barely any leftover for room and board. This is when he gets the idea to turn to the Theosophical Society for help.

The society agrees to help him but with a condition. They want him to agree to the creed of the society before they’ll help him out. He declines and instead decides to head to Boston, following the advice of others he’d met that he might meet prominent people who could help him there. At least, this is the series of events according to Nikhilananda, there is little actual record backing this up.

On the train to Boston Vivekananda meets Katherine Sanborn. She takes him in and sets him up with a talk circuit at the local ladies clubs. Additionally, she introduces him to her cousin – Frankling B Sanborn – a Transcendentalist and the secretary of the MA Board of Charities. These would prove to be good connections to have at the time as they unlocked access to people who would ultimately allow Vivekananda to speak at the Parliament.

Now, Nikhilananda claims that Vivekananda met Professor J.H Wright on the way to Boston. That the two hit it off and Wright writes a recommendation to his friend who just so happens to be the chairman of the recommendation committee for the Parliament. The only seemingly true thing is that Wright did make the recommendation to his friend and that was what got Vivekananda a seat at the discussions.

How they had actually met is at a resort spa called Annisquam. He had been there for a brief weekend rest before moving on to give a talk Saratoga Springs, NY. Wright had heard of Vivekananda and wanted to make up his own mind about the man, so the two spoke at some length while at the resort. From there Wright would make the recommendation and would also supply him with the ticket back to Chicago.

Before returning though, Vivekananda continues to give some talks in and around the MA/NY area. He also gets into it with some ministers who don’t like that he criticizes Christians for importing their religion instead of helping industrialize India. This will be a theme that continues on for awhile.

At one point, and I believe Nikhilananda does include this episode, he is berated by a small group of ministers and does his best to remain calm in the face of their vitriol. That said, Nikhilananda takes a lot of time to discuss how much Vivekananda loves America. American industry and American women mostly. This is yet another theme that continues on for awhile.

Speaking of themes that continue, Vivekananda has a certain version of Indian culture he would like to present. He lies pretty handily at times about certain aspects of Indian culture – treatment of women and widows mostly – but he does consistently seem to fight for less Christianizing and more economic help. This is another theme that comes up again and again, but could be read as Vive fighting against Christian colonization.

But let’s skip ahead in time to Vivekananda arriving back in Chicago for the Parliament.

Vivekananda had everything he needed to have a comfortable time. A bit of money in his pocket, a place for him to sleep on the other side, and finally invited to the talk of the year. Everything should go smoothly

Except as soon as he gets off the train in Chicago, Vivekananda realizes that he’s lost the address for the delegates building where he was supposed to stay that night. Nikhilananda perhaps embellishes the story here when he discusses Vivekananda being forced to sleep on the street for the night; he presents a story that shows Vivekananda being treated unkindly for his dress, going door to door asking for help only to be refused. We don’t know for certain what happened that night, all we do know is that in the morning he met the Hale family.

Luck would have it that the Hale family was going to the Parliament. They invited Vivekananda in to freshen himself up before personally escorting him to the correct place for check-in. This would begin a nearly life-long friendship between the family and Vivekananda, as we’ll see in later chapters. He would call upon their hospitality often and write to their daughters frequently.

We once again return to Nikhilananda embellishing the story. Vivekananda spoke later in the day and, as Nikhilananda put it, was treated to uproarious applause that took two whole minutes to calm down. Then everyone was so moved by his speech that called for universalism, the end of caste, and the fusion of all people into one. Nikhilananda conveniently does not add anything from the actual speech into his discussion of it.

From here, Nikhilananda claims that Vivekananda was praised as a ‘voice of India’ and gave many more talks during the Parliament. That he made front page headlines because of his talk. The truth, as far as can be found, is that Vivekananda did not appear on any front pages, largely appearing several pages in. What coverage he did receive was sparse.

And that, was the Parliament of World Religions.

After the Parliament, Vivekananda stayed around in Chicago and began the lecture circuit. Most of these lectures were not recorded and several of them included prominent people, such as: Lord Kelvin and Lord Helmholtz, Elisha Gray, and Robert Ingersoll. Vivekananda then signed a three year lecture contract with the Slaton Lyceum Lecture Bureau.

These Lyceum Lecture Bureaus — of which there were several operating at the time — were very popular adult education programs in the Northeast and Midwest. Many started in the early part of the 19^th century and lasted until the early part of the 20^th. They were also frequently used for minstrel and vaudeville shows after the Civil War.

Which is where we’ll close out this portion of the story for now. We’ll next talk about the lecture tour and his early days in the US, traveling the East Coast and converting his first followers. Of course, that isn’t the end of the story, but his Europe trip and West Coast tour will have to wait.

Until then, stay safe and sane!