The first Parliament of the World's Religions started at the Art Institute of Chicago on September 11, 1893, near Lake Michigan.
In a written piece to promote the event, the organisers said that the goal was "to unite all religion against irreligion; to make the golden rule the basis of this union; and to show the world the substantial unity of many religions in the good deeds of the religious life."
Even though they all had good goals, the truth is that they were all different. They really wanted the Parliament to be a show of Protestantism, which they called "Protestant Modernism." Even though Americans were busy spreading their religion all over the world at the time, the curators of the Parliament wanted to show that this new form of their religion was actually anti-colonial. That, because they had studied comparative religion at the University of Chicago, they were actually open to the ideas of other faiths. However, a fair analysis showed that Protestant Christianity was clearly the best of all of them, especially when compared to strange and foreign religions like Hinduism, which was full of primitive practises like idol worship.
So, when a member of the so-called "primitive" church, who didn't look like one at all, stood up to speak, the crowd was shocked.
The 30-year-old Indian monk wore a flowing red turban and yellow robes tied together with a scarlet sash. He radiated dignity and grace and spoke to the crowd of 7,000 in English that was surprisingly well-spoken.
"Sisters and brothers of America," he started.
Before he even finished speaking, the crowd, which had been mostly quiet during the four speakers before him, stood up and started cheering loudly.
"Ladies and gentlemen" is usually an official, quiet, and even cold way to start a speech. But the monk's first words seemed to come from the heart, and the crowd cheered for several minutes because they felt it.
Even though he looked like a king, he had never spoken to a big group before and was nervous at first. Despite this, he kept going with a lot of spirit and vehemence.
"It brings me unimaginable joy to stand up and thank you for the warm and friendly welcome you have given us. I thank you on behalf of the oldest order of monks in the world, the oldest faith, and millions and millions of Hindus from all classes and sects.
He made a few hints about how famous and all-encompassing Hinduism was, and then he didn't waste any time getting into how famous and all-encompassing it was.
"I am proud to be a member of a faith that has taught the world to be tolerant and to accept everyone. We not only believe in tolerance for everyone, but also that all beliefs are true. I am happy to be from a country that has taken in refugees and people who have been persecuted from all over the world and from all religions. I am proud to tell you that we have taken in the purest residue of the Israelites. They came to Southern India and stayed with us in the same year that the Romans destroyed their holy temple. I'm proud to be a member of a religion that has taken care of and is still taking care of the few remaining members of the great Zoroastrian country. "Brethren, I'll read you a few lines from a hymn that I've been singing since I was a little boy and that millions of people sing every day: "As the different streams have their sources in different paths that men take through different tendencies, they all lead to Thee, no matter how different they look."
A chord was clearly struck in America that hadn't been touched in years, or maybe ever, and the person who did it was generally praised as the undisputed star of the event. But who was he, and how did he get there?
Narendranatha Datta was born into an aristocratic Bengali family in Calcutta, which is now called Kolkata. His journey to the West began with his upbringing, which was shaped by his mother, who was a religious and hardworking housewife. His early interest in spirituality was fueled by his mother's religious nature. As a kid, he was interested in wandering monks and ascetics, and he liked to meditate. This interest grew as he got older, and he became interested in many of Hinduism's most important texts, like the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas.
Narendra's father, an attorney at the Calcutta High Court, taught him to be logical, but he also had a very intelligent side that he explored in college by studying Western logic, Western philosophy, and European history. Immersed in the writings of people like David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Charles Darwin, his knowledge and intelligence astounded his teachers and leaders. This made many people call him a genius.
Yet, even though sense and logic were a big part of how he saw the world and earned him respect, praise, and opportunities for his unique ability, he was still not happy. Still full of the strong spiritual feelings of his youth, his soul longed for more. As luck would have it, he found it when he met Sri Ramakrishna, an ascetic whose background was very different from the academic one he was used to.
Ramakrishna didn't want to learn anything other than how to pray and read the Bible, so he was mostly ignorant and did things that most "sane" and "normal" people wouldn't do. In addition to doing his job as priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, he spent a lot of time sitting or standing. He often fell into meditative states of "God consciousness," and he ate and drank very little.
Even though Narendra didn't agree with much of the religious dogma that Ramakrishna seemed to stand for when they first met, he couldn't help but be pulled to the saint, who seemed to have an undeniable and electric spiritual glow.
When Narendra asked Ramakrishna if he had seen God, as he had done with many other teachers, Ramakrishna gave an answer that was different from anything Narendra had heard before.
"Yes, I have," Ramakrishna said. "I see him the same way I see you, but in a much stronger way."
As simple as it was brave, the answer showed that spirituality is more than just a mysterious idea to be understood ethereally. It was a fact that could be felt and brought together faith and reason in a way that was very appealing to Narendra, who had spent his whole life balancing between the two.
So, because Ramakrishna inspired him, he went to Dakshineswar often, asking the priest for more and more advice until he finally made him his permanent guru. Over the years, Narendra became more and more committed to his lessons. He helped him start a new monastic order, and when he died, Narendra took the vows of a renunciate and became a wandering monk.
In the beginning of his time as a monk, he had a big idea to share Hinduism with the rest of the world. By walking and taking the train across his country, he got to know it very well. This gave him a lot of sympathy for the people who lived there, most of whom were living in poverty. This was partly because the British had taken all the resources from the once-rich area.
He told others about their situation and said:
"I've been all over India, but it was a terrible pain for me, my brothers, to see the terrible poverty and misery of the masses with my own eyes. I couldn't stop crying. Now, I'm sure that it's pointless to try to teach them about religion if we don't first try to help them get out of poverty and pain. I am now going to America to find more ways to help the poor in India.
He believed that his tradition had a message for everyone, but he also thought that people's economic conditions needed to get better before they could fully understand it. He set his sights on the Parliament, thinking that it would be the perfect place to get the attention of those who could make those changes.
And it was the right place, but only for someone like him who could bridge the gap between the two cultures. Before he left, he took a new name, Vivekananda, which means "the bliss of discerning wisdom." His ability to explain India's philosophical depth to people from other countries was so powerful that it made his mission in America a huge success.
After his first speech in Parliament, the occult community in the US welcomed him with open arms. This made it possible for him to give lectures all over the US. He went into more detail about Hindu spirituality and how it was open to other religions and sciences. Because of this, he quickly gained many followers, such as the writer Leo Tolstoy, the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and the philosopher William James, who was probably the most famous intellectual in the country at the time.
Using the momentum, Vivekananda set up The Vedanta Society of New York, where he taught meditation. He then wrote Raja Yoga, which was based on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the most famous book on yoga in Hinduism.
The book was an easy-to-read guide to spiritual methods. It focused on the spiritual goals of yoga rather than just the physical poses. It was a huge success, bringing Hinduism's ancient culture into the fabric of America in a way that had never been done before.
Even though he was happy with his success, he never forgot that he wanted to help the people in his own country. From afar, he gave advice and money to his followers and brother monks. In 1897, about four years after he left India for America, he took a big step towards realising his dream when he went back to India and started the Ramakrishna Mission, which was named after his favourite teacher.
The Ramakrishna Mission is now part of a bigger spiritual movement called the Ramakrishna Order. It is part of this movement along with the Ramakrishna Math, a legal entity that was made a little later to train young monks in the duties and standards of its teachings.
The order's historical impact can't be overstated. It had hundreds of centres all over the world, and some of them taught famous intellectuals like Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, and J.D. Salinger. These people helped prepare America for the cultural revolution that led to a growing interest in other religions in the country.
So, neither can the memory of the first Parliament of the World's Religions, whose stated goal was clearly met, making it the place where the worldwide interfaith movement started.
But, of course, the people who put it together can only get so much praise. Its real hero was Vivekananda, India's representative who broke new ground and was a proud Hindu.
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