Chicago Daily Southtown

A Chicago street is named for him.
A plaque inside the Art Institute bears a tribute to him.
And next Sunday, several thousand people, some from as far away as India,
are expected to attend the unveiling of a 10-foot bronze statue of his likeness at a
temple in Lemont.
But do you know who Swami Vivekananda is?
The first Hindu monk to come to the West, Swami Vivekananda made his American debut at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions during the Chicago World's
Fair.
The 30-year-old monastic stole the show at the Parliament and won world-wide fame by beginning with Swami Vivekananda was the first Hindu monk to come to the West.
five simple words:"Sisters and brothers of America"
Through his addresses on the integrity of all religions and oneness of all people,
Vivekananda is credited variously with spurring religious tolerance, awakening
modern interest in spirituality, catalyzing the Indian Freedom Movement and
introducing yoga to the United States.
"He was one of the first ways Hinduism was introduced to the West," said Dirk Ficca, director of the Metropolitan Chicago Interreligious Initiative, a pro-
ject of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions.
"It was the quality of his rhetoric, the message of the need to end religious
bloodshed and the need for tolerance, that made his message so powerful at
that time and it's still relevant today." Vivekananda impressed the American
audience with articulate and profound speeches and with a vast knowledge of
religion and philosophy. He changed the way many Westerners thought about
"the other."
"He was the first person who actually succeeded at getting people to look at
Hinduism as something beyond superstition and idolatry," said Jim Lochtefeld, a
religion professor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.
In India, where Vivekananda's birthday is a national holiday, schoolchildren
study his teachings and his journey to Chicago.
"When I was growing up, this was a separate chapter in our history books."
said Ashok Easwaran, Chicago bureai chief for India Abroad, the largest Indial
newspaper outside of India.
"He is revered as one of our greatest saints. Everyone knows who he is,'
Easwaran said.
Born Narendranath Dutta in 1863 tc an upper-caste Bengal family
Vivekananda studied western philosophy in college and later enrolled in law
school.
In his late teens, Vivekananda met Sri Ramakrishna, a monk who pursued the
young man, believing he possessed extraordinary spiritual potential. Vivekanan-
da was not a particularly religious man, eschewing the traditional Hindu worship
with its many deities and rituals.
After a few years of rejecting Ramakrishna's spiritual instruction, Vivekananda became one of his disciples, championing his swami's message that all religions lead to the same goal.
Shortly after Ramakrishna's death in 1886, Vivekananda became a monk and wandered through India for a few years.
Legends say he walked from the Himalayas to the southernmost tip of the subcontinent, swam out to a tiny island and had a spiritual revelation.
When he returned to the mainland he decided to go to the West, to the World Parliament of Religions.
"He wanted to appeal to the West to save India," said Frank Parlato, a yogi and Vivekananda scholar who lives at the Vivekananda Vedanta Society in Hyde Park.
"At the time there were millions of Indians eating only one meal a day and that of wildflowers," Parlato said.
A wealthy maharaja bought him a rust-colored robe and saffron turban and paid for his passage to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he arrived July 25, 1893.
At first he was rejected by Parliament officials, who said he did not have proper clerical credentials and had not registered in time to participate But after a wealthy Chicago family befriended him and introduced him to a Harvard Univer-
sity professor who vouched for his authenticity as a learned monk, Vivekananda was invited to join the Parliament activities.
He hopped a train back to Chicago and. practically penniless, spent the night in an open boxcar at the train station, just two days before he would become
a worldwide phenom.
Vivekananda delivered several speeches during the 17 days of the Parliament. Then he was signed by a rather unscrupulous lecture bureau, which advertised
his lectures throughout the Midwest as the "Cyclonic Hindoo"— something of a sideshow attraction, Parlato said.
On Jan. 1, 1895. Vivekananda taught the first yoga class in Chicago and soon after headed to New York. where he continued to lecture, preach and give yoga
instruction.
His fame and popularity among the socially and intellectually elite inspired a hit Broadway musical, "My Friend from India." in which a nouveau rich family attains entrance into high society by dressing up their butler like a Hindu monk.
Vivekananda published what are thought to be the first Western book on yoga, "Karma Yoga"
and "Raja Yoga," in 1896. He also traveled to England and Europe, winning many followers before heading home.
Vivekananda returned to India in 1897 to a triumphal reception. In Calcutta. 20,000 people greeted him at the train station: in Madras, the city was shut down for more than a week in celebration of his arrival, Parlato said.
"Simple folk thought he had converted the whole West," he said. "He stimulated them out of their lethargy ...showed them that Hinduism was not dead."
When the plague broke out in Calcutta, Vivekananda drafted a plague manifesto and, broom in hand, swept filth from the city's open sewers himself. "Through
his efforts the plague was conquered." Parlato said.
Out of the plague efforts. Vivekananda established the Ramakrisna Mission, today the largest social service agency in India, and the Ramakrishna monastic order. There are 138 Ramakrishna monasteries and missions worldwide, including 12
in the United States. Parlato said. Vivekananda died at age 39 on July 4,1902.
The Vivekananda Vedanta Society is a branch of his mission and monastic order. In 1929, a monastery was established in Chicago. About 30 years ago, the
Vivekananda Vedanta Society moved into a building on Hyde Park Boulevard, thought lo be the former residence of Al Capone'a brother. Five monks and a few
other followers live there today Thousands of visitors come to the Vedanta Society each year.
Parlato said, many making the pilgrimage to Chicago to see where Vivekananda made his first impact on the world scene.
Vivekananda and his followers adhere to a more intellectualized and inclusive form of Hinduism than what is traditionally practiced by many Hindus in India, Lochtefeld said.
A worship area in the Hyde Park monastery includes images of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda alongside icons of Jesus Christ and Buddha.
"You can follow any path you want. but you are reaching the same goal." explained Swami Chidananda. head monk at the Hyde Park monastery "You pick
the path you want." Today there are about as many American-born followers of
Vivekananda's teachings as native Indians, and it is not uncommon to hear the devout describe themselves with amalgamated labels like "Hindu Christian" or "Buddhist-Hindu."
"He did preach the integrity of all religions." Lochtefeld said. "He wanted to promote religious tolerance. This sort of tolerance at the time was not very common, particularly for people who are were beyond the JudeoChristian pale.
"He was more than a bit of an iconoclast."
Vivekananda's followers have been a driving force behind inter-faith dialogue in Chicago, one of the most religiously diverse cities in the world, according to the Rev.
Stan Davia, executive director of the Chicago's National Conference, a group that promotes interfaith cooperation.
"They have brought glory to themselves and in that light of glory, really acted as a window through which many other non-Western religions have been seen."