Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/199

THE CLOSE OF THE PARLIAMENT. I/I of his own and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion would soon be written, in spite of their resistance : " Help, and Not Fight," "Assimilation, and Not Destruction," "Harmony, and Peace, and Not Dis- sension." Swami Vivekananda was always heard with interest by the Parliament, but very little approval was shown to some of the sentiments expressed in his closing address. Mr. Virchand Ghandi was then presented by Dr. Barrows as one whom he had come to esteem greatly as a guest in his own household. Mr. Ghandi was greeted with much applause as he came forward to speak. He said : Are we not all sorry that we are parting so soon ? Do we not wish that this Parliament would last seventeen times seventeen days ? Have we not heard with pleasure and interest the speeches of the learned representatives on this platform ? Do we not see that the sublime dream of the organizers of this unique Parliament has been more than realized ? If you will only permit a heathen to deliver his message of peace and love, I shall only ask you to look at the multifarious ideas presented to you in a liberal spirit, and not with superstition and bigotry, as the seven blind men did in the elephant story. Once upon a time in a great city an elephant was brought with a cir- cus. The people had never seen an elephant before. There were seven blind men in the city who longed to know what kind of an animal it was, so they went together to the place where the elephant was kept. One of them placed his hands on the ears, another on the legs, a third on the tail of the elephant, and so on. When they were asked by the people what kind of an animal the elephant was one of the blind men said, " Oh, to be sure, the elephant is like a big winnowing fan." Another blind man said, " No, my dear sir, you are wrong. The elephant is more like a big, round post." The third, "You are quite mistaken; it is like a tapering stick." The rest of them gave also their different opinions. The proprietor of the circus stepped forward and said : " My friends, you are all mistaken. You have not examined the elephant from all sides. Had you done so you would not have taken one-sided views." Brothers and sisters, I entreat you to hear the moral of this story and learn to examine the various religious systems from all standpoints. I now thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kindness with which you have received us and for the liberal spirit and patience with which you have heard us. And to you. Rev. Dr. Barrows and President Bonney, we owe the deepest gratitude for the hospitality which you have extended to us.