As the other day we could not proceed, owing to the crowd, I shall lake this oppoituiiily of thanking the people of Madras for the uniform kindness that I have received at their hand.s. I do not know how better to express my gialitude foi the beautiful words that have been expiessed m the addresses, than by praying to the Lord to make me woithy of the kind and generous expressions, and by working all my life foi the cause of our religion, and to serve our Motherland, and may the Lord make me worthy of them.
With all my faults, I think I have a little bit of boldness. I had a message from India to the West, and boldly I gave it to the American and the English peoples. I want, before going into the subject of the day, to speak a few bold words to you all. There have been certain ciicumstances growing around me, tending to thwart rnc, oppose my progress, and ciiish me out of existence, if they could, 'rhank God they have failed, as such attempts will always fail. But there has been, for the last three years, a certain amount of misunderstanding, and so long as I was in foreign lands, I held my peace and did not c\en speak one word, but now, standing upon the soil of my motheiland, I want to give a few woids of explanation. Not that I care what the result will be of these wouls not that I care what feeling 1 shall evoke from you by these woids; I caie very little, for I am tlie.sanve Saimyasm that entered youi city alxiivt foui years ago with his staff and kamandalu; the same bioad woild is befoie me. Without further piefacclet me begin.
Eirst of all, 1 have to say a few words about the Theosophical Society; it goes without saying that a certain amount of good woik has been done to- India by the Society; as such, every Hindu is grateful to it, and especially to Mrs, Besant, for, though I know very little of her, yet what little 1 know^ has impressed me with the idea that she is a sincere well-wisher of this mother- land of ours, and that.she is doing the liest in hei power to laise our country. For that, the eternal gialitude of every truc-boin Indian is hers, and all bless- ings be on her and hers for ever. But that is one thing — and joining liie Society of the Theosophists is anotlier. Regard and estimation and love are one thing, and swallowing everything any one has to.say, without reasoning, without criti- cising, without analysing, is quite another. There is a report going round, that the Theosophists helped the hide achievements of mine in America and in England, 1 have to tell you plainly that every word of it is wrong, every word of it is untrue, Wc hear so much tall talk in this world, of liberal ideas and sympathy with diffeiences of opinion. That is very good, but as a fact, we find that one sympathises with another only so long as the other lielieves in eveiything he has to say, but as soon as he dares to differ, that sympathy is gone, that love vanishes. 1 here are others, again, who have their own axe.s to grind, and if anything arises in a country which prevents the giinding of them, their hearts burn, any anaount of hatred comes out, and they do not know what to do. What harm does it do to the Christian missionary that the Hindus are trying to cleanse their own houses? What injury will it do to the Brahmo Samaj and other reform bodies that the Hindus are tKCrVRKS~FROM COLOMBO TO ALMORA trying then best to refoim thcmsclvc«! ^ Why should they stand in opposition? should they be the gieatesi enemies of these movements? Why? I ask. It seems! to me that their hatted and jealousy aie so bitter that no why or how can be asked there.
Four years ago, when I, a poor, unknown, fiiendlcss Sannyasin, was going to Ameiica, going beyond the waters to vVmoiica without any introduciion.s or ft lends there, I called on the leader of the Thcosophical Society. Naturally I thought he being an Ameiican and a lover of India, perhaps he would give me a letter of intro- (luction to somebody there. He asked me, “ VVhll you join my Society? ” “No,” I leplied, “ how can I? For I do not believe in most of your doctiines.’’ “Then, I am Sony, I cannot do anything for you,” he answeied. That was not paving the way for me. I reached America, as you know, through the help of a few friends of Madras. Most of them are present heie; only one is ab.sent, Afr. justice Subiamania Iyer, to ^^hom my deepest gratitude is due. He has the insight of genius, and is one of the blaunchesl fi lends I have in this life, a true fiiend indeed, a true child of India.
I auived in America several months before the Parliament of Religions began. The money I had with me was little, and it was soon spent. Winter approached and I had only thin summer clothes. I did not know what to do in that cold, dreary climate, foi, if I went to beg in the streets, the result would have been that I should have been sent to jail. There 1 was with the last few dollars in my pocket. I sent a wire to my friends in Madras. This came to be kno\\n to the 'riieosophisls, and one of them wrote, Now the devil is going to die; God bless us all,” Was that paving the way for me? I would not have inenlioned this now, but, as my countiymcn wanted to know, it must come out. For three 5 ears I have not opened my lips about these things; silence has been my motto, but to-day the thing has come out. That was not all. 1 saw some Theosophists in the Pailiament of Religions, and 1 wanted to talk and rntx with them. I remember the looks of scorn which weie on theur faces, as much as to say — “ What business has the w'orm to be here in the midst of the gods?” After 1 had got name and fame at the Pailiament of Religions, thcnicame tremendous work foi me, but at every turn the Theosophists tried to cry me down, Theosophists were advised not to come and hear my lectures, for thereby they would lose all sympathy of the Society, because the laws of the esoteric section declare that any man who joins that esoteric section should receive instruction from Kuthumi and Moiia, of course through their visible representatives— Mr. Judge and Mrs. Besant. So that, to join the cBOtenc section means to surrender one’s independence. Certainly, 1 could not do any such thing, nor could I call any man a Hindu who did any such thing. I had a great respect for Mr. Judge, lie was a worthy man, open, fair, simple^ and he was the best representative the 'Fheosophists ever had. 1 have no light to ciiticise the dispute between him and Mrs. Besant, when each claims that his or her Mahatma is right. And the strange pait of it is, that the same Mahatma is claimed by both. Lord knows the truth: lie is the Judge, and no one has the light to pass judgment when the balance is equal.
Thus they prepared the way lot me all over America I They joined the other , opposition — the Christian missionaries, Tkere is not one black lie imaginable that these latter did not invent against me. They blackened my chaiacter from city to city, poor and friendless though 1 was in a foreign country. They tried to oust jme flora cvciy house, and to make every man who became my friend my enemy.
MV PT.AK OF CAMPAfi'.N They tried to starve me out, and I am ^orry to say that one of my own counhy- men took part ag-ainst me m this. He is the Ic.ufei of the refoim party in India. This gentleman is declaring everyday, “ Chiisl has come to India." Is this the way Christ is to come to India? Is this the way to lefoim India? And this gentleman 1 knew from my childhood; lie was one of my best fiiends; when I saw him I had not met for a long time one of my countrymen — I was so glad, and this was the treatment I received fiom him. The day the Parliament cheered me, the da\ 1 be- came populai in Chicago, fiom that day his tone changed, and in an uruleihand way, he tiied to do ever; thing he couhl to injure me. Is that the way that C'hiist will come to India? Is that the lesson that he had learnt after sitting twenty yeais at the feet of Chiist? Our gicai leformeis declaie, that C'hi istiamty and C'hiistian power are going to n])lift the Indian people. Is that the way to do it? Siiiely, if that gentle- man is an illustration, it does not look veiy hopeful.
One word more; I read m the oigan of the social leforiners that I am called a Sudra, and am challenged as to what light a Sudi a has to become a Sannvasin. To which 1 reply — ^1 tiace my descent to one at whose feet eveiy Ihahman lays flowers when he utters the words - Yamdva Dhanna} iijdva Chitrat^uptnya vai uamah whose descendants ate the purest of Kshatlnyas. If you heheve m your mvlhology, or your PoLiramc sciiptiiies, let these so-called lefoimers know that my caste, apait fiom other services in the past, i tiled h.ilf of India foi centuries. If m\ caste is left out of consideration, wdial will there he left of the piesenl-dav civilisation of India ^ In Bengal alone, my blood has furnished them with then gieatest philo^ophei. the gicatest poet, the greatest historian, the gieatest aidueologisl, the greatest leligious pieacheis; my blood has furnished India with the gieatest of hci modem scientists. 'Pliesc dctiactois ought to have known a little of oui own hisioiv, and to have studied onr three castes, and leaint that the Biahman. the Kshaltiiya, and the Vaisya have equal i ight to be Sannyasms; the Tiaivarmka have equal lights to the Vedas. This is only by the way.
1 have just quoted this, but 1 am not at all hint if they call me a Sudra. It will be a little reparation for the tviannv of my ancestois over the poor. If I am a Panah I will be all the moie glad, foi I arn the thsciple of a man, who — tlie Biahman of BiAhmans — wanted to cleanse the house of a Paiiah. Of course the Paiiah would not allow him; how could he let this Brahman Sannyasm come and cleanse his house ' And this man woke up in the dead of night, entered surrepUliously the house of this Paiiah, cleansed his latiine, and with his long hair wiped the place, and that he did day afiei day in older that he might make himself the iervant of all. I bear the feet of that man on my head; he is my hero; that hero’s life I will try to imitate. By being the servant of all a Hindu seeks to uplift himself, that is how the Hindus should uplift the masses, and not by looking for any foreign influence. Twenty years of occidental civilisation brings to my mind the illustration of the man who wants to starve his own friend in a foreign land, simply because this friend is popular, simply because he thinks that this man stands in the way of liis making money. And the other, is the illustra- tion of what genuine, orthodox Hinduism itself will do at home. Let any one of our reformers bring out that life, ready to serve even a Pariah, and then I will sit at his feet and learn, and not before that. One^omtee of practice is worth Iwenly- thousand tons of big talk.
Now I come to the reform s6cieties in Madras. They have been very kind to me. They have given me very kind words, and they have pointed out, and I lieartily agree with them, that there is a difference between the reformers of Bengal and 62 Oiose of M.nli.is, ]\Ian) of voii ^\iU rememhei wlut I ha\e \e!) olicn told you, that Madias is in a veiy beautiful state just now. It has not ROt into the play of action and reaction as Bengal has done Here, theie is steady and slow piogiess all ilirough; here is giowth, and not reaction In many cases, and to a ceilain extent, theie IS a revi\al in Bengal, hut in Madias it is nut a levival, it is a growth, a uatuial giowth. As such, I entirely agiee wnth wdiat the lefoimeis point out as the clillerence between the two 1 aces; hut there is one diflerence which they do not understand. S<iine of these societies, I am afraid, tiy to intimidate me to join them. That is a stiange thing toi them to attempt. A man who has met staivation face to face for founeeii yea is of Ins life, who has not known whcie he will get a meal the next day, and whole to sleep, cannot he intimidated so easily. A man almost without clothes, who diied to live wlieie the theimoineter legisteied thiity degiees below' zeio, witliout knowing wheie the next meal was to come tiom, cannot he so easily intimi- dated, in India, 'i’hi«> is the fust thing 1 will tell them 1 have a little will of my own.
1 have my little expel lence too, and I have a iness.ige foi the woild which I will cielivei without fear, and without caie for the futuie. 'I'o the relorineis I will point out, that I am a greater lefoimci tlian an\ one of them. 'I'liey w'ant to icfoim only little bits. I want loot an<l-hianch refotm. Wheo* we diffei is in the method, Theiis is the method of desti action, mine is that of consti action. 1 do not believe in icfmin; I believe in growth. I do not daic to juit myself 111 the [losition of Hod and dictate to oni society ‘ 'I'liis way thou shonldst move and not that I simply want to he like tiie viuuiel in llie building of Rama’s hiidge, who was (piite content to put on the budge his little cjnota ol sand-dusi. 'J'hat is my position. This w’ondei- ful national machine has woiketl llnough ages, this wondc'ilul iivci of national life is llowing hefote us. \\ ho knows, and who dates to sa\ whether it is and how It shall move'' '1 liousands of ciicumstancos aio ciowding lound it, giving it a special impulse, making It dull at one time, and (pnckei at anoihoi Who claies command its motion? Ouis is only to woik, as the Gila sa\s, without looking for .results. Feed the national life with the fuel it w'ants, hut the giowth is us ow’n; none can dictate its giowlh to it. F.vils aie plentiful in oui socieiv, hut so ate theie evils in euMv othei society. Here, the eailh is soaked sometimes w'lth w’ldows’ teais; there, in the W'est, the aii.^is lent with the sighs ol the unmairied. Here, poverty IS the gieai banc of life; thciei the hfe-weai moss of luxuiy is the great bane that is upon the race. Hcie, men want to commit suicide because they have nothing to eat; theie. they commit suicide because they have so much to eat. Kvil is every- where; it IS like chiomc rheumatism. Drive it fiom the foot, it goes to the head; diive it from theie, it goes somewhere else, li is a cpiestion of chasing it from place to place; that is all. A}c, children, to lemcdy evil is the ti ue way. Our philosophy leaches that evil and good are eleinally conjoined, the obvetse and the icverse of the same com. If you have one, you must have the other; a w'ave m the ocean must be at the co^t of a hollow elsewhcie. Nay, all life is evil. No hiealh can be breathed without killing some one else; not a moisel of food can he eaten without depriving some one of it. 'I'his is the law; this is philosophy. Therefore the only thing we can do, IS to understand that all this woik against evil is more subjective than objective. The work against evil is more educational than actual, however big we may talk. This, lirst of all, is the idea of w'oik against evil, and it ought to make us calmer, it ought to take fanaticism out of our blood. The history of the woild teaches us that wherever there have been lanalical icfoirns, the only icsult has been that they have \ Jiry p/,A,v OF cAjrPAiGy 6?
defeated theif own ends. No gtoatei upheaval for the estaMishment of nglu and liheily can be imagined than the ^^.u foi the ahohuon ol slaveiy m Amenca You all know about it. And what has been Us lesulls? The slaves are a lu.nd.ed limes v-oise off to-day than they wcio beh.ic the abolition. lidOre the abolition, these poor negioes were llie piopeily of someluKh. and, as piopeiiies, they had to be looked after, so that lliey might not deleiioiale To-da) lhe> aio the piopeih of nobody. 1 hen lives aic of no value, ihev aie buint alive on meie pieleiues 'I'hey are shot down without any law loi then numleieis; foi the) aie niggeis, thev aie not human beings, they aic not even animals, and lh.it is the elfeU of siuh violent taking away of evil by law, oi b\ lanatuism. Such is the testmioii} of history against cveiy fanatical movement, even foi doing good. I have seen that. I\Iy own expeiience has taught me that. 'I'herefoie I cannot join anv one of these condemn- mg societies. W'hy condemn? Theie aie evils m eveiv soi icl). evciv bodv knows It, every child of to-day knows it; he can stand upon a plalfoim and give us a haiangue on the avvliil evils in Hindu.Society hverv uneducated foieigncr who comes hcic globe-ltolling, takes a vanishing lailway view of Iiidi.i, and lectuies most leatnedl) on the awful evils in Jndia We admit ih.il iher4; aic evils. Kvei^body can show what evil is, but he is the fiieiid of mankind who linds a way out of the difliculty Like the (how ning bov,md the philosophei. when the iihilosojihei was lediiimg him the boy cued “ 'L-ike me out of the vv.Uer fust so oui people ( ry “ W'e have bad lectuies enough, societies enough, p.tj»ers enough, whore is the man who will lend us a hand to diag ns out > Whcio is the man who leali) loves us? Wheic IS the m.in who has sjnijufliy with ns Ave, (h.il man is wanted. That is whcio I (lillei entiiely fioni these lelorm movements h'oi a hundied ycai s they h.ive liccn hole. What good ims been done, except the creation of a most Mtiijieia- live, a most condcmnatoi) lilci.itme ^ Would to (iod it was not iieie ' 'i'hey have c I ilicisod, c ondcunned, abused the orthodox, until the orthodox have caught their 1(jnc, and paid them back in their (jvvn C(mi, and the lesult is the creation of a litera- liiie m eveiy veinaculai which is the shame of the i.ice, the sh.nne of the country. Ii this lofoim? Is this leading the n.ition to gloiy? Whose fault is this?
I'lieic IS. then, anothei great consideiaiion. Here in India, we have always been governed by klng•^, kings have made all our laws. Now the kings are gone, and there is no one left to make a move. The Government daie not; it has to fashion its ways accoidmg to the giowth of j>nblic ojmuon It lakes time, i]iiite a long lime, tepmake a healthy, stiong,- public opinion which will solve its own piohlems, and m the mleiim waTshall h.ivo to vvait. Tim whole jiroblem of social reform, iherefoie, icsolves itself into this wheie are those who w.mt lefoim? Make them ^n^t. Whcic aie the jieojile? 'J'he lyianny of a mmoiity is the worst tyianny that the vvoild evei secs. A few men who think that ceilain things aie evil will not make a nation move. Why docs not the nation move? First educate the nation, g cieate youi legislative body, and then the law will be foilhcoinmg. First cieate the* povvei, the sanction fiom which the law will spring. 'J'he kings arc gone; where isf the new sanction, the new power of the people? Hiiiig it up. 'riierefoie, even for bocial lefortn, the fust duty is to educate the people, and }ou will have to wail till that lime comes. Most of the reforms that have been agitated for dining the last ceniuiy have been ornamental. Isvcry one of these reforms only touches the first two castes, and no other. 'Fhc question of widow mariiagc would not touch seventy per cent, of the Indian women, and all such questions only reach the higher castes 64 LECTL'RKS—FRO.if COLOMBO TO ALMOUa ol Indian people wlio aie educated, maik you, at the expense of the masses. E\eiy clToi L has been spent in cleaning theii own houses, Ihit that is no reforma- tion You must go iloun to the basis of the thing, to the very root of the matter. 'I'lial IS what I call ladical lefoim. Put the (iie there and let it bum upwards and make an Indian nation. And the solution of the ptoblcin is not so easy, as it is a big and a vast one. Be not in a huiiy, this problem has been known several hundred )ears. 'I'o-day il is the fashion to talk of Buddhism, and Buddhistic agnosticism, especially in the Soulh. Little do they dieam that this degiadation which is with us to-day has been hdt b) Buddhism.
'Phis IS the legacy which Buddhism has left to us. You read in books W’ritten by men who had never studied the rise and fall of Buddhism, that the spread of Buddhism was owing to the wondciful ethics and the wonderful personality of (jaulaui.i Buddha. 1 have evei} lespect ami veneiation fot f.ord Buddha, but maik my words, the spiead of liuddlustn was less owing to llie doctrines and tlie peisona- lity of the gicat preachei, than to the temples that weie built, the idols that were elected, and the goigeous ceieinonials that weie put before the nation. Thus Bud- dhism piogiesscd The little (iieplaces in the houses, in which the people poured their libations weie not stiong enough to bold their own against these gorgeous icmiiles and ceiotnonies, but lalci on the whole tiling degeneiated. It became a mass of coiiuiilion of vvlucli 1 cannot speak befoic this audience, but those who want to know about it may see a little of it in those big temples, full of sculpluics, in Soulhein India, and this is all the inheiilance we have from the Buddhists. Then aiosc the gieat lefoiiiKM' Sankaiach.ii \a and his followeis, andduiing these hundieds of yeais, since his time to the picsent dav, iheic has been the slow bunging back of the Indian inas-,es to the piisiinc puiily of the Vedantic leligion. 'I'liese leformers knew full well the evils which existed, }el they did not condemn, 'riicv did not say, “All that )0U have isvviong, and you must thiow il away.” ll can ncvci be so, 'Po-day I lead that ni) fiieud, Di. Barrows sa\s, that in tliiee bundled yeais C'hnsUanity oveilhicw the Roman and Gieek leligious influences. 'Pbat is not the vvoid of a man who has seen Ivurope, and Gieecc, and Rome. The inlluence of Roman and Gieek religion is all theie, even in Protestant ccuntiies, only with changed names, old gods le-chrislened in a new fashion. The} change then names, tlie goddesses become Maiys and the gods become saints, and the ceieinonials become new'; even the old title of Pontifex Maximus is there. So, sudden changes cannot be, and Sankaiachaiya knew it. So did Ramanuja. The only vva) left them was slowly to bring up to the iiighest ideal, the existing lehgion. B' they had sought to apply the other method they would have been h>pociitcs, foi the very fundamental doctrine of their religion is evolution, the soul going towauls the highest goal, tin ough all these various stages and phases, which aie thcietorc necessaiy and helpful. And who daics condemn them } Il has become a tiite saving, that idolatry is wrong, and every man swallows it at the present time without questioning. I once thought so, and to pay the penalty of that 1 had to learn my lesson silling at the feet of a man w'ho realised everything through idols; 1 allude to Rarnakiishna Parainalramsa. If such Rarnaluishna Parama- liamsas aie produced by idol woiship, what will you liave---lhe reformer's creed Ol any number of idols } I want an answer. Take a thousand idols more if you can ]>iodnre Ramakii'^lrna Paiatnahamsas through idol woiship, and may God speed )ou! Produce such noble natures by any means you can. Yet idolatry is con- Afy P/.AiV OF CAJ/PAIG.V 65 demlled! Why? Nobody kno\Vs. Because some luindieds of years ap:o some man of Jewish blood happened to condemn it? That is, he happened to condemn everybody else’s idols except his own. If God is lepiesented in any beautiful foini, or any symbolic form, said the Jew, it is awfully bad; it is sin. But if he is represented in the form of a chest, with two angeN sitting on each side, and a cloud hanging over it, it is the holy of holies. If God comes in the form of a dove, it is holy. But if He comes in the foim of a cow, it is heathen superstition; condemn It! That is how the woild goes. That is wh) the poet s.ns, “What fools w'e moitalsbe!” Howdilliciilt it is to look ihiough eacii othei's eves, and that is the banc of humanity. That is the basis of hatred and jealousy, of quaiicl and of fight. Boy.s, moustaclied babies, who never w^ent out of Madias, standing up and wanting to dictate laws to three liundied millions of people, with thousands of tiaditions at theii back! Aic }ou not ashamed? Stand back ft om such blasphemy, and leain fiist youi lessons 1 Irreverent boys, simply because }ou can.sciawl a few lines upon paper and get some fool to publish them foi } 011, vou think vou ate the cdiicalois of the woild, you think )ou are the public opinion of India’ Is it so? Tins I have to tell to the social letoimeis of Madias, that I have the gieatest lespcct and love for them. 1 love them for their great hearts and then love foi then countiy, fui the poor, for the oppiessed. But what I would tell them with a biothei’s love is, that then method is not light; it has been tiicd a hundied vcais and failed. Let us iiy some new method. Did India ever stand in w'ant of lefoimeis? Do you read the hisloiy of India? Who was Ramanuja? Who was Sankaia? Who was Kanaka Who was Chaiianya? Who was Kabira? Who w'as Dadu? Who weie all these great jneacheis, one following the other, a galaxy of stars of the fiist magnitude? Did not Ramanuja feel for the lower classes? Did he not tiy all his life to admit even the i’aiiah to liis community? Did he not liy to admit even Mahommedans to his own fold? Did not Nanaka confci witii Hindus and Mahommedans. and liy to bung