Like most Americans, this Sunday morning I will think about the day that will always be known as 9/11. I will see the blood curdling images in my mind, and I will remember the hours of anxiety when my wife and I did not know what may have happened to our brothers, both of whom lived within walking distance of the World Trade Center, or of her parents, who were in a plane that morning, flying from Florida to Los Angeles. I will remember the relief we felt when our relatives turned up safely, and the gut-wrenching knowledge that thousands of other families will never have that feeling.
On Sunday afternoon I will attend a broad-based interfaith service at the Guibord Center in L.A.'s St. Johns Cathedral. At the event, called "Finding Hope in the Holy," I will think about an earlier September 11th. On that day, in 1893, an emissary from India spoke at the opening ceremonies of the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and the reverberations of his address lead directly to that cathedral 108 years later. His name was Swami Vivekananda, and he stole the show. Chances are, the Parliament would not even be remembered if not for the enthusiastic reception he received, much less have given rise to the modern interfaith movement and a revival of the Parliament on its centennial in 1993 and every few years since.
That the lecture halls were packed every time Vivekananda spoke, requiring him to give repeat performances, is rather remarkable considering the fact that most Americans at the time had not yet met a Jew, and many hadn't even met a Catholic. The exotic stranger with dark skin, a turban and an orange robe was not a mere curiosity, like a carnival attraction. What he had to say, in his erudite English, was a tonic to open-minded Americans. There was, of course, a predictable backlash from conservative Christians, in particular the Protestant clerics whose Parliament agenda was to demonstrate the superiority of their faith. But the newspaper and magazines were astonishing in their praise of the foreigner and his message, and the public for the most part treated him with honor and dignity. It was the beginning of an East-to-West transmission that has reshaped the spiritual landscape of America.
The welcome embrace Vivekananda received 118 years ago -- and the reverence in which he is held today, by more than just his fellow Hindus -- is a testament to the timeless universality of his message. That core Vedantic message is even more relevant today, because it stands as an antidote to both the insane fanaticism that gave rise to the 9/11 attacks and to the most extreme reactions to it. Here, in part, is what he had to say, then and now:
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects ...
I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true ... I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.