Eliot, ME 27 July to 13 August 1894 Part 4

A defence of Mahomet

Source: Vivekananda Abroad Collection @ 2016

Swami Vivekananda was invited to speak at Greenacre on Friday 3rd August on “The Religion of India” according to the printed program.

Historians have pored over the sketchy notes taken of Swamiji's Greenacre classes and were excited to report that he was indeed teaching Advaita Vedanta. His method was “à la Hindu,” as he described it, seated on the ground in the woods encircled by students, chanting slokas in Sanskrit and translating them to English. This was a real change from his travelogue-type public lectures on the manners and customs of India. In a letter to the Hale sisters on 31st July, he wrote, “I teach them Shivo'ham, Shivo'ham.” 

Of course. In a series of previous posts I discussed some of Swamiji’s possible activities when he was in Chicago the preceding June. Music making was a home based activity then. Friends gathered around the piano in the parlor. Surely Swamiji was welcomed to make a musical contribution. When the mood and the time of day were right, he had felt free to sing or chant. The Nirvana Shatkam was dear to his heart and being amongst friends, at some point he had chanted it and explained its meaning. Otherwise, why would he have referred to “Shivo'ham, Shivo'ham” in his letter if they had no clue what he was talking about?

Source: Boston Evening Transcript 15 August 1894

The response of Swamiji's Chicago friends showed him the way forward when the opportunity came to teach at Greenacre. The clipping above from the Boston Evening Transcript, 15 August, quotes from the Nirvanashatkam: "I am existence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute." 

Source: Digital Commons @ U Maine

Given this background, it comes as a surprise that Swamiji's featured lecture at Greenacre was not an exposition of the life of Shankaracharya as might be expected, but a review of the faith of the Prophet Mohammed. In keeping with the history of the times, practitioners of Islam are referred to in nineteenth century English as Muslim/Moslem/Mohammedan, etc.

Source: Boston Evening Transcript 4 August 1894

Sara Chapman Bull signed the article printed in the Boston Evening Transcript on 4 August, which ML Burke transcribed in New Discoveries Vol. 2. 

Asim Chaudhuri also found an article in the New Hampshire Gazette, 9 August 1894, which read, in part: 

“To see a Hindoo monk stand and defend Mahomet, was an object lesson in universal religion which will never be forgotten. The more we hear this eloquent speaker and the closer we come to him, the more we are impressed with the spirit of brotherly love with which he is possessed.”

Source: Vivekananda Abroad Collection @ 2016

Although all faiths were welcome at Greenacre, the conference was not conducted along the formal lines of a Parliament of Religions. No one was obliged to defend or expound a particular faith. Vivekananda had not been invited there specifically to represent Hinduism. “The Religion of India” was no small topic, but this was not an attempt to survey the myriad religions of India. It appears that to do justice to the topic of religion in India—Swamiji felt it necessary to explain its two major faiths. In this case, the pluralism of India was a singular concept: one plus one equals one.

Source: Vivekananda Abroad Collection @ 2016

Sara’s article reveals that he talked about both Hinduism and Islam, but the general perception was that his plea for the “service done the human race” by the Prophet Mohammed was particularly eloquent. He always spoke extemporaneously. I think that considering the informal and discursive nature of the intellectual exchange at Greenacre, Swamiji spoke passionately on Islam because someone needed to hear what he had to say on the subject.

Source: Tuck DB

One reason that people were impressed with Vivekananda’s defense of the Muslim faith was because in August 1893 there had been a fair amount of coverage in American newspapers of Hindu/Muslim internecine riots in Bombay. Americans paid attention to such news because any incidence of instability within India might affect world markets—especially silver. New Englanders were naturally concerned about the question of home rule for Ireland, and that made them tangentially sympathetic to the idea of home rule for India. Politically, home rule for India hadn't a prayer, but since it was Britain’s problem, Americans were willing to entertain the idea, speculating on the benefit to Yankee commerce. 

Source: Vivekananda Abroad Collection @ 2016

I think that Vivekananda’s defense of Islam was deeper and more personal that the noble—but abstract—principle of equality for all faiths. I think his respect for the Muslim faith was entwined with his respect for his father, Vishvanath Datta, an attorney with the High Court in Calcutta. Vishvanath, who spoke several languages including Urdu and Arabic, was particularly fond of Persian literature. Many of his clients were Muslim and he worked with Moulvies, i.e. Muslim lawyers, both as clients and colleagues in liaison with the English court. 

The British India postcard above is titled Moulvies at Prayer. 

Tuck DB

When he was fifteen, Narendra (Vivekananda’s pre-monastic name), journeyed to Raipur where his father was engaged in legal business. There, according to Swami Nikhilananda, he “was encouraged by his father to meet notable [presumably Muslim] scholars and discuss with them various intellectual topics usually considered too abstruse for boys his age.” In college, Narendra studied music with a Moslem teacher, no doubt delighting his father with Persian and Urdu songs. In 1884 when he was reading for his BA exams, Vishvanath died suddenly. 

Vivekananda’s grief for his father was intense. The memory of Viswanath’s cordial relations and mutual respect with his Muslim clients and colleagues became understandably precious. Swamiji did not care what American newspapers printed about Hindu/Muslim conflicts in India; when he praised Islam, he spoke from experience; he spoke from the heart.