Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 228)

December 21, 2004

Earlier postings can be seen at http://www.vivekananda.btinternet.co.uk/veda.htm

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 228

2. My Preaching Vedic Truths Has Brought to the West the Waters of Life from the Fountain of Light, the Vedas

The Parliament of Religions, it seems to me, was intended as a "heathen show" before the world; but it turned out that the heathens had the upper hand and made it a "Christian show" all around. So the Parliament of Religions was a failure from the Christian standpoint, seeing that the Roman Catholics (who were the organizers of the Parliament) are, now when there is talk of another Parliament in Paris, are steadily opposing it. But the Chicago Parliament was a tremendous success for India and Indian thought. It helped on the tide of Vedanta which is flooding the world. The American people - of course, minus the fanatical priests and church-women - are very glad of the results of the Parliament. (73)

[However], when I returned to India after my visit to the West, several orthodox Hindus raised a howl against my association with Western people and my breaking the rules of orthodoxy. They did not like me to teach the truths of the Vedas to the people of the West. (74)

But my reply to the Madras Address[1894]… has produced a tremendous affect [in India]. A recent speech by the president of the Madras Christian College, Mr. Miller, embodies a large amount of my ideas and declares that the West is in need of Hindu ideas of God and humanity and called upon the young men to go and preach in the West. This has, of course, created quite a furor among the missions. (75)

Is it not curious that, whilst under the terrific onset of modern scientific research all the old forts of Western dogmatic religion are crumbling into dust; whilst the sledgehammer blows of modern science are pulverizing the porcelain mass of systems whose foundations are either in faith or in the majority of votes of church synods; whilst Western theology is at its wit’s end to accommodate itself to the ever-rising tide of aggressive modern thought; whilst in all other sacred books the texts have been stretched to their utmost tension under the ever-increasing pressure of modern thought, and the majority of them are broken and have been stored away in lumber rooms; whilst the vast majority of thoughtful Western humanity has broken asunder all their ties with the Church and are drifting about in a sea of unrest, the religions which have drunk the water of life at that fountain of light, the Vedas - Hinduism and Buddhism - alone are reviving? (76)