At this juncture the door of a fashionable residence opposite him opened and a regal-looking woman came across to him. She addressed him in a soft voice and accents of refinement, "Sir, are you a delegate to the Parliament of Religions?" The Swami told her his difficulties. Immediately she invited him into her house and gave orders to her servants that he should be taken to a room and attended to in every way. She promised the Swami that after he had had his breakfast she herself would accompany him to the offices of the Parliament of Religions. The Swami was grateful beyond words. His deliverer was Mrs. George W. Hale; she, her husband, and children became his warmest friends.

In a few moments, the front door of the house opposite opened, and out came a dignified, well-dressed woman, who, it happened, was Mrs. George W. Hale.* Mrs. Hale was not one to Fear a stranger; rather, she was ready to offer help. She was, moreover, evidently perceptive enough to recognize in the oddly dressed young man sitting quietly across the street the look of holiness and princeliness combined. She went up to him and ventured, "Sir, are you a delegate to the Parliament of Religions?" Learning that he was, she at once took him into her house, gave him breakfast, saw to it that his every need was attended to, and no doubt sent for his luggage from the station. Thus was Swamiji not only cared for, he was led to the Hale family at the very beginning of his American work-a family that was to become more dear to him than any other he would know in the West.

* The site of the Hale house is today occupied by a high-rise apartment building. Across the street, where Swamiji sat, stands Saint Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church, which was built and dedicated in 1894. In September of 1893, the property now occupied by the church was for the most part vacant. (What was once the 500 block of Dearborn Avenue is now designated to the 1400 block of North Dear born Street.)

It so happened that on the train he met a merchant who promised to direct him to his proper destination. But at the Chicago station the merchant was in such a hurry that he forgot to instruct the Swami how to reach that part of the city where Dr. John Henry Barrows, Chairman of the Parliament's General Committee, had his office; and the Swami, to his dismay, found that he had lost the address! He made inquiries of passers by, but it being the north-east side of the city where mostly Germans lived, no one could understand him.

There was only one hitch: he did not know where to go from the station; he had lost the address of whatever place he was supposed to present himself. What happened next is well known to everyone familiar with Swamiji's biography, for the story was told in the first edition of the Life and has since been often repeated. Yet it is possible that by the time it was recorded in the Life, twenty years after its occurrence, some of its details may have gone awry; indeed, they do not all stand up under close examination. But however that may be, Swamiji himself had often told the story, and thus we can be certain of the main facts._x000d_ Alone in a large and still strange American city, he could not, for one reason or another, make anyone understand where he wanted to go-indeed, he himself did not know.

Night was coming on. He could not even make anyone understand that he wanted a hotel. He was lost and knew not what to do. At length, he lay down in a huge empty box in the railway yards and, trusting to the guidance of the Lord, soon freed himself of all anxieties and fell asleep. Two days later he was to shake America with his address at the Parliament; but now, so destiny decided, he had to sleep like some outcast unknown, unaided, and despised or perhaps, more truly, like some sannyasi in his own land, sleeping where the evening found him.

This box has become legendary; even in stories of Swamiji's life written for children one finds drawings of it with him curled up most uncomfortably and implausibly inside. There is, I believe, no way to get rid of this box; engraved now on the minds of innumerable children, it is with us for all time. But the present writer along with many others who know the general state of things in an American freightyard-is inclined to think that Swamiji very sensibly spent the night in a ready-to-hand and roomy boxcar.

He was extremely hungry and, like the true sannyasi he was, commenced begging from house to house, asking for food and for directions to the offices of the Parliament Committee. Because of his strange and rumpled clothes and travel worn appearance, he was rudely treated; at some houses he was insulted by the servants, at others the door was slammed in his face. His heart sank; he knew nothing of city directories or telephones, so he could not seek help in that way. On and on he trudged. At length exhausted, he sat down on the street side determined to abide by the will of the Lord.

But box or boxcar, the next morning he set out, sannyasin like, to beg his food from door to door._x000d_ Dark skinned, unshaven, wearing what must have been by now a very rumpled orange robe and a strange looking turban, Swamiji was a matter for alarm. Housewives turned away; servants slammed doors in his face; some verbally insulted him. He walked on. He walked for at least two and a half miles, and at length, weary and hungry, he sat down on the west side of Dearborn Street (on the curbstone perhaps) and resigned himself to God's will.

A new spirit now took possession of him. He was convinced beyond doubt that the Lord was with him, and with the spirit of a Prophet he awaited the coming of events. With Mrs. Hale he called on the officers of the Parliament, gave his credentials, and was gladly accepted as a delegate.

Later she took him to the offices of the Parliament, where he was awaited.

He felt with the passing of each moment that the Parliament of Religions would be the great test, the crucial experience for him. The time glided by in prayer, in meditation, and in earnest longing that he might be made the true instrument of the Lord, the true spokesman of Hinduism, the true bearer of his Master's message. He became acquainted with many distinguished persons who were to attend the Parliament. In this grand circle of ecclesiastics he moved as one lost in rapture and in prayer. He had no personal feelings in the matter save as related to the carrying out of the mission entrusted to him by his Master and perceived by him as a command from on high.

It was with the humility of true greatness that Swamiji expected to learn much from the Parliament and from the representatives of religions other than his own, and he was indeed to learn a great deal but not all of it in accordance with his hopes.

Neely's History of the Parliament of Religions tells us that "the idea of a series of congresses for the consideration of the greatest themes in which mankind is interested, and so comprehensive as to include representatives from all parts of the earth originated with Charles Carroll Bonney in the summer of 1889."

Mr. Bonney was a well known lawyer of that time and the author of many im portant constitutional and economic reforms. His voice carrying weight, his idea was given wide publicity and met with general approval.

A committee was formed, and on October 30, 1890, the World's Congress Auxiliary of the Columbian Exposition was organized with Mr. Bonney as its president. For the next two and one-half years elaborate and complex plans were made, involving an untold number of letters to and from all corners of the earth.

The congresses, which finally met between May 15 and October 28, 1893, were twenty in all and embraced such things as woman's progress, the public press, medicine and surgery, temperance, commerce and finance, music, government and law reform, economic science, Sunday rest, and-"since faith in a Divine Power . . . Has been like the sun, a light-giving and fructifying potency in man's intellectual and moral development"

"So numerous," says Houghton, "were these congresses and so extensive the proceedings that their programmes bound in one volume constitute an interesting book of 160 pages." (Italics mine.)

The Parliament of Religions, which was held in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition in the city of Chicago from September 11 to 27, 1893, was undoubtedly one of the great epoch making events of the world, marking as it did an era in the history of religions, especially in that of Hinduism.

The primary purpose of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was to bring together the fruits of man's material progress. Everything imaginable was on exhibit not only the achievements of Western civilization but, the better to show these off, life size models of the more backward cultures of the world. The Fair, however, would not have been complete without a representation of the world's thought.

Of these congresses, the Parliament of Religions was by far the most famed and widely heralded. "No one gathering ever assembled," wrote the Reverend John. Henry Barrows in The World's Parliament of Religions, "was awaited with such universal interest "

From all parts of the world delegates came, representing every form of organized religious belief. It was not only a Parliament of Religions, it was a parliament of humanity. To unify the religious vision of mankind was the motive of the workers who made possible this assembly of religious ideas and creeds, and if the Parliament had done nothing more than make the whole of human society aware of the "Unity in diversity" and the "diversity in Unity" of the religious outlook of man, it would still have been unequalled among ecumenical conventions in character and importance. But it did far more than that. It roused a wave of new awareness in the Western world, causing it to be conscious of the profundity and vitality of Eastern thought.

The Parliament was indeed a unique phenomenon in the history of religions. It is true that throughout the history of India meetings of different religions had taken place; it is also true that before 1893 there had been from time to time ecumenical conventions of Christians and also of Mohammedans. But it can be correctly said that never before had the representatives of the world's great religions been brought together in one place, where they might without fear tell of their respective beliefs to thousands of people.

One of its chief advantages has been in the great lesson which it has taught the Christian World, especially to the people of the United States, namely that there are other religions more venerable than Christianity, which surpass it in philosophical depth, in spiritual intensity, in independent vigour of thought, and in breadth and sincerity of human sympathy, while not yielding to it a single hair's breadth in ethical beauty and efficiency. Eight great nonchristian religious groups were represented in its deliberations ¬Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Mohammedanism and Mazdaism.

It was an unparalleled meeting, and when first proposed in that day of intolerance and materialism it seemed to many impossible of human achievement. To even a casual observer it might almost appear that some superhuman force was propelling it forward, and one is not surprised to learn that Swamiji, before embarking for America, had said to Swami Turiyananda, "The Parliament of Religions is being organized for this", (pointing to himself). "My mind tells me so. You will see it verified at no distant date."

In the words of the Rev. John Henry Barrows, one of the principal organizers of the Parliament and Chairman of the General Committee: "Since faith in a Divine Power to whom men believe they owe service and worship, has been like the sun, a life giving and fructifying potency in man's intellectual and moral development; . . . It did not appear that Religion any more than Education, Art, or Electricity should be excluded from the Columbian Exposition."

But although it was Bonney's inspiration that lay behind the Parliament, it was actually not he but the Reverend John Henry Barrows, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, who was Chairman of the General Committee and responsible for carrying out the elaborate preparations.

Swamiji later wrote in a letter: "The Parliament of Religions was organized with the intention of proving the superiority of the Christian religion. 6 And again, during the course of an interview, he said, "The Parliament of Religions, as it seems to me, was intended for a `heathen show' before the world”

It has sometimes been thought that Swamiji may have been unfair in this judgment of the Congress which introduced him to the Western world, but a reading of the accounts of both the preparations and the proceedings leaves one without a doubt that the Parliament was permeated with Christian prejudice. That Christianity would gloriously and unequivocally prove its superiority was a foregone conclusion in the minds of many of its promoters.

On the other hand, there were some connected with the Parliament who, having no religious commitments no religious axe to grind conceived of it in broader and more realistic terms. To them it was an unprecedented opportunity for promoting understanding and good will among all seekers of truth.

One of these was President Bonney, of whom Swamiji wrote: "Think of that mind that planned and carried out with great success that gigantic undertaking, and he, no clergyman, a lawyer presiding over the dignitaries of all the churches, the sweet, learned, patient Mr. Bonney with all his soul speaking through his bright eyes . . ."

Bonney himself described his dream of what the Parliament might accomplish: "I became acquainted with the great religious systems of the world in my youth, and have enjoyed an intimate association with leaders of many churches during my maturer years. I was thus led to believe that if the great religious faiths could be brought into relations of friendly intercourse, many points of sympathy and union would be found, and the coming unity of mankind in the love of God and the service of man be greatly facilitated and advanced."

The task of assembling this unprecedented gathering had its delicate as well as its cumbersome aspects. The initial action of the Committee, which was appointed in the spring of 1891 and was formed largely of zealous Protestant ministers, was to advise religious leaders of the proposed objectives of the Parliament, which were in brief: "1. To bring together in conference, For the first time in history, the leading representatives of the great Historic Religions of the world. 2. To show to men, in the most impressive way, what and how many important truths the various Religions hold and teach in common. . . . 4. To set forth, by those most competent to speak, what are deemed the important distinctive truths held and taught by each Religion, and by the various chief branches of Christendom. . . . 7. To inquire what light each Religion has afforded, or may afford, to the other Religions of the world. . . . 9. To discover, from competent men, what light Religion has to throw on the great problems of the present age, especially the important questions connected with Temperance, Labor, Education, Wealth and Poverty. 10. To bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly Fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace."

News that the Parliament was to be held was heralded to all parts of the globe. Committees of various kinds were formed to organize it on a proper basis, and invitations were sent out to the heads or executive bodies of all acknowledged religious organizations the world over. Stipulations were made and instructions given, and the process of sending delegates was mapped out. Every religious creed was to send its own delegate or delegates, as the case might be, and reception committees were to receive them on their arrival in Chicago. There were many necessary formalities to be observed in order to systematize the movement.

The work of the Committee was voluminous. More than 10,000 letters and 40,000 documents were sent out, and answers from all parts of the globe were received by the bushel. Barrows writes pridefully: "For thirty months nearly all the railroads and steamship lines of the world were unconsciously working for the Parliament of Religions. The post office clerks at Chicago handled great bundles of letters which had previously passed through the brown fingers of the postal clerks in Madras, Bombay and Tokyo."

Advisory Councilors were selected from all parts of the world, their number finally reaching 3,000. Among the Councilors chosen from India were G. S. Iyer, editor of the Madras Hindu, B. B. Nagarkar of Bombay, and P. C. Mazumdar of Calcutta, the last two of whom represented the Brahmo Samaj at the Parliament. The Com¬mittee was also in communication with H. Dharmapala, the General Secretary of the Maha-Bodhi Society in Calcutta, who later became the delegate for the Southern Buddhists of Ceylon, and Muni Atmaramji, High Priest of the Jain community of Bombay.

Unfortunately, as has been seen earlier, the group of disciples who had sent the Swami as a representative of Hinduism to the Parliament were unaware of these. They had simply recognized the worth of the man and his ideas, and they felt sure that he could introduce himself, as, in one sense, he did.

This abundance of correspondence was not all: articles, lectures, sermons, and editorials were written, which either extravagantly praised or bitterly condemned the attempt to bring together all the religions of the world. It was through articles in the Hindu by its editor, G. S. Iyer, that the plans of the Parliament were made generally known in India, and it is probably through this channel that Swamiji, not being affiliated with any sect or organization, came to learn of what was afoot in America.

The historic and unprecedented Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago's newly constructed and imposing Art Institute on Michigan Avenue. Here, during the seventeen days of the Parliament proper, assembled a great concourse of humanity, which included in its midst many of the most distinguished people of the world: the audience was sprinkled liberally with eminent men of every profession, many of the greatest philosophers of the West were in daily attendance, and among the delegates were high ecclesiastics of various faiths. The main sessions of the Parliament were held morning afternoon and evening in the large Hall of Columbus, whose floor and gallery had a combined seating capacity of 4,000. Generally, the Hall of Columbus was full to overflowing; indeed, at times the overflow was so great that it nearly filled the adjoining twin Hall of Washington, where the speakers repeated their lectures to a second vast audience. Hundreds of papers and addresses were delivered during the main sessions. In addition, many talks were given before the thirty-five denominational congresses and auxiliary sections, which were held either in the Hall of Washington or in smaller halls of the building. One of the most important auxiliary sections was known as the Scientific Section, where papers and addresses of more scientific and less popular character were delivered, and were often followed by conferences on the topics treated. As will be seen later, the Swami was to speak several times here, in addition to his scheduled addresses and impromptu talks in Columbus Hall.

The Parliament of Religions opened on the morning of September 11, 1893, at the Art Institute of Chicago, which is not to be confused with the "Art Palace" a temporary though grandiose structure in the Fair Grounds. The Art Institute was a permanent, newly constructed building on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, not yet ready to house the art exhibits for which it was intended. Except that its thirty-odd halls accommodated at various times all the congresses, the building proper had no real connection with the Fair, nor did it disappear with time as did most of the Exposition buildings; rather, it stands today, a large gray limestone structure in the style of the Italian Renaissance, serving as one of the world's finest museums of art.

In 1893 the building had by no means attained its present size; only the first unit, so to speak, had been completed-and this not fully. Its central dome was unfinished, as was its grand staircase; and the elegant bronze lions that today guard its entrance did not make their appearance until the following year. For the purpose of the World's Congresses, two large halls, each of which could accommodate some 3,000 people with standing room for at least a thousand more, had been temporarily constructed between the wings of the building the Hall of Columbus on the north, and the Hall of Washington, to which an extra gallery had been added, on the south.* It was in the former that the delegates of the Parliament gathered on that memorable morning._x000d_ _x000d_ *In reply to an inquiry, Miss Margot Schutt of the Art Institute of Chicago writes: “As for as we can tell, the two halls or audience rooms located between the wings of the Art Institute building at the time of the Columbian Exposition, are still part of the museum. The north Hall of Columbus presumably corresponds to what is now Fullerton Hall (a lecture hall seating 473); the south Hall of Washington, to what is now the Burnham and Ryerson Libraries. Fullerton Hall and the libraries are directly on either side of the main hall.” (See floor plans reproduced in this book.)

This platform was approximately fifty feet long, running less than the full width of the auditorium, and about ten feet deep. Empty of delegates, it must have presented a somewhat dreary and hodgepodge appearance. Against the back wall, upon which hung what appear to have been a Japanese and a Hebrew scroll, giant marble statues of Cicero and Demosthenes stood some twenty-five feet apart and brooded over the scene. On Demosthenes' left a comparatively small and sprightly bronze maiden held a nest of fledglings, one of which she was letting fly from her upraised right hand.

At first the responses that flowed in were mostly favorable and enthusiastic. To be sure, a missionary of the Presbyterian Board in India expressed some "misgivings through fear lest the faith we loved and the Saviour we preached might seem to us to be dishonored." But further acquaintance with the plans served to remove these misgivings and to bring about his hearty approval.

In what this further acquaintance consisted may be gathered from a quotation in Barrows's book. "The Christian conviction back of this Parliament," he writes approvingly, "was well expressed by Pere Hyacinth in the Contemporary for July, 1892: `It is not true that all religions are equally good; but neither is it true that all religions except one are no good at all. The Christianity of the future, more just than that of the past, will assign to each its place in that work of evangelical preparation which the elder doctors of the church discern in heathenism itself and which is not yet completed.' "

But this assurance was not enough to remove all misgivings, and as the plans became more widely known, dissent was soon loud and strong. Many Christian journals in America came out in decided opposition, largely on the same grounds that had given pause to the Presbyterian missionary, but also out of fear that the Parliament would only aggravate discord.

The worst blow of all, however, was struck by the powerful Arch bishop of Canterbury, who after due consideration finally wrote in a letter to the Committee: ". . . The difficulties which I myself feel are not questions of distance and convenience, but rest on the fact that the Christian religion is the one religion. I do not understand how that religion can be regarded as a member of a Parliament of Religions without assuming the equality of the other intended members and the parity of their position and claims."

Echoes were heard. For example, a letter from a minister in Hong Kong: ". . . If misled yourself, at least do not mislead others nor jeopardize, I pray you, the precious life of your soul by playing fast and loose with the truth and coquetting with false religions. . . . You are unconsciously planning treason against Christ."

Although the stand of the Archbishop and others like it were criticized by many, the opposition to them was for the most part based on the conviction that, after all, Christianity had nothing to fear. "In my judgment," wrote one bishop in America, "no Christian believer should hesitate one moment to make the presentation of the Religion of Jesus Christ grand and impressive, so that it may make itself felt powerfully in the comparison of religions. . . . Who can tell but that the great Head of the Church may, in his providence, make use of the immense gathering to usher in the triumph of his truth, when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow?"

"One result," wrote another bishop, "will be to show that the Christian faith was never more widely or more intelligently believed in, or Jesus Christ more adoringly followed. Civilization, which is making the whole world one, is preparing the way for the reunion of all the World's religions in their true center Jesus Christ."

Dozens of similar letters flowed in, approving of the Congress for evangelical reasons. Barrows, apparently without the slight¬est consciousness that these letters were hardly in the spirit of the proposed objectives, added his own voice to them. He found it part of his work, in replying to the criticisms of the Parliament, to write articles and give many public addresses explaining the Christian and Scriptural grounds on which its defense, as he says, "securely rested," namely, that Saint Paul "was careful to find common ground for himself and his Greek auditors in Athens, before he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection." "We believe," Barrows went on to say, "that Christianity is to supplant all other religions, because it contains all the truth there is in them and much besides, revealing a redeeming God." Patronage was taken to be enlightened brotherly love. "Though light has no fellowship with darkness, light does have fellowship with twilight. God has not left himself without witness, and those who have the full light of the Cross should bear brotherly hearts towards all who grope in a dimmer illumination."

Generally speaking, this was as liberal as the Christian ministry could get. There were of course letters and articles which expressed the thought of more open minds. But in Barrows's history, these are in the minority and almost all came from the pens of laymen. Representative is the following from Count Goblet d'Alviella of Brussels: "The significance of such an attempt cannot be too much insisted upon. In opposition to sectarian points of view which identify Religion with the doctrines of one or another particular form of worship, it implies, 1. That religious sentiment possesses general form and even a sphere of action independent of any particular theology; 2. That men belonging to churches the most diverse can and should come to an understanding with each other in order to realize this program common to all religions. "

But views such as this, though they represented a fair portion of public opinion, missed the main point as far as the General Committee was concerned. "The Parliament was conceived and carried on," Barrows says, "in the spirit of Milton's faith that `though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worst in a free and open encounter?' " Truth, in this instance, was, of course, Christianity; falsehood, every other faith.

While this sort of thing had the effect of allaying the fears of the more bigoted section of the Christian Church (though not those of the Archbishop of Canterbury), it also had the effect of repelling the leaders of other religions. It became necessary for Barrows hastily to assure certain alarmed foreign delegates that "the spirit of kindness and fraternity would prevail in the Parliament "

The General Committee had many a ticklish problem on its hands, and there were some beyond its control. At the last moment, for instance, in the summer of 1893, the Baptists and the Christian Endeavor Society withdrew all connections with the World's Fair, the reason being that after long-drawn-out debates the managers of the Fair had decided that its doors were to remain open on Sundays-a decision which was obviously the work of Satan. "For other reasons the Congress of the Anglican Churches . . . Was given up." Russia refused to send a representative, as did Turkey.

But at length all plans were in order, and on August 11, 1893, the General Committee sent out a request for Universal Prayer "to the advance of spiritual enlightenment, to the promotion of peace and good will among nations and races, and to the deepening and widening of the sense of universal human brotherhood."

An editorial that appeared in the Chicago Evening Post on the day of the opening expressed the expectations of many:_x000d_ We look for great results from this great gathering; and not at once; not, perhaps in near future. But in the wisdom of that Providence which men of all creeds profess to worship, and whose movements are slow but sure, the energy here concentrated will be felt upon all the world, and its effect will be for the unification and uplifting of mankind.

There was without question a, sincere and open minded search in America for spiritual truth and an eagerness to welcome it wherever it might be found. But while this need existed, a truly liberal attitude could not, in those days, obtain acceptance among the clergy or the public as a whole. Ironically, however, the Parliament, which could be convened only through a spirit of Christian evangelism, became in spite of itself an instrument for the destruction of bigotry.