It was no doubt also around this time that Swamiji met and conversed with the famous agnostic Robert Green Ingersoll, who had been outraging good Christians for many years with his attacks on the credibility of the Bible and the dogmatic aspects of Christianity. Finding the myths and dogmas of Christianity at variance with scientific thought, he repudiated religion altogether. But scandalous as his doctrines were to nineteenth century ears, his lectures were highly popular.

In America there was a great agnostic, a very noble man, a very good man, and a very fine speaker. He lectured on religion, which he said was of no use; why bother our heads about other worlds? He employed this simile: we have an orange here, and we want to squeeze all the juice out of it. I met him once and said, "I agree with you entirely. I have some fruit, and I too want to squeeze out the juice. Our difference lies in the choice of the fruit. You want an orange, and I prefer a mango. You think it is enough to live here and eat and drink and have a little scientific knowledge. . . . I want to understand the heart of things, the very kernel itself. Your study is the manifestation of life, mine is the life itself . . . I must know the heart of this life, its very essence, what it is, not only how it works and what are its manifestations. I want the why of everything, I leave the how to children.

It was no doubt also in Chicago that the It was no doubt also in Chicago that the Swami first met the famous agnostic and orator Robert Ingersoll and more than once discussed religious and philosophical matters with him. During the course of these conversations the great agnostic cautioned the Swami not to be too bold and outspoken, to be careful in his preaching of new doctrines and in his criticisms of the ways of life and thought of the people. When asked why, Mr. Ingersoll replied, "Fifty years ago you would have been hanged if you had come to preach in this country, or you would have been burned alive. You would have been stoned out of the villages if you had come even much later:" The Swami was surprised; he could not believe that there was so much fanati¬cism and bigotry in the American nation, and he told Mr. Ingersoll as much. But there was a difference in the approaches of these two great preachers; for Mr. Ingersoll was antagonistic toward all religious ideals, whereas the Swami, though presenting a new order of religious thought, was tolerant of all religions and was a devotee of Christ. The difference between these two great men is best shown in an anecdote told by the Swami himself in the course of a class talk: "Ingersoll once said to me, `I believe in making the most out of this world, in squeezing the orange dry, because this world is all we are sure of' I replied, `I know a better way to squeeze the orange of this world than you do; and I get more out of it. I know I cannot die, so I am not in a hurry. I know that there is no fear, so I enjoy the squeezing. I have no duty, no bondage of wife and children and property; and so I can love all men and women. Everyone is God to me. Think of the joy of loving man as God! Squeeze your orange this way and get ten thousand-fold more out of it. Get every single drop!' "