The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Reports in American Newspapers/From far off India
FROM FAR OFF INDIA
(Saginaw Courier-Herald, March 22, 1894)
Seated in the lobby of the Hotel Vincent yesterday evening was a strong and
regular featured man of fine presence, whose swarthy skin made more
pronounced the pearly whiteness of his even teeth. Under a broad and high
forehead his eyes betoken intelligence. This gentleman was Swami Vive
Kananda, the Hindoo preacher. Mr. Kananda's conversation is in pure and
grammatically constructed English sentences, to which his slightly foreign
accent lends piquancy. Readers of the Detroit papers are aware that Mr.
Kananda has lectured in that city a number of times and aroused the
animosity of some on account of his strictures upon Christians.
The Courier-Herald representative had a few moments' conversation with the
learned Buddhist [?] just before he left for the Academy, where he was to
lecture. Mr. Kananda said in conversation that he was surprised at the
lapses from the paths of rectitude which were so common among Christians,
but that there was good and bad to be found among members of all religious
bodies. One statement he made was decidedly un-American. Upon being asked if
he had been investigating our institutions, he replied: "No, I am a preacher
only." This displayed both a want of curiosity and narrowness, which seemed
foreign to one who appeared to be so well versed upon religious topics as
did the Buddhist [?] preacher.
From the hotel to the Academy was but a step and at 8 o'clock Rowland Connor
introduced to a small audience the lecturer, who was dressed in a long
orange colored robe, fastened by a red sash, and who wore a turban of
windings of what appeared to be a narrow shawl.
The lecturer stated at the opening that he had not come as a missionary, and
that it was not the part of a Buddhist to convert others from their faiths
and beliefs. He said that the subject of his address would be, "The Harmony
of Religions". Mr. Kananda said that many ancient religions had been
founded, and were dead and gone.
He said that the Buddhists [Hindus] comprise two-thirds of the race, and
that the other third comprised those of all other believers. He said that
the Buddhists have no place of future torment for men. In that they differ
from the Christians, who will forgive a man for five minutes in this world
and condemn him to everlasting punishment in the next. Buddha was the first
to teach the universal brotherhood of man. It is a cardinal principle of the
Buddhist faith today. The Christian preaches it, but does not practice its
own teachings.
He instanced the condition of the Negro in the South, who is not allowed in
hotels nor to ride in the same cars with white men, and is a being to whom
no decent man will speak. He said that he had been in the South, and spoke
from his knowledge and observation.