Indian Mirror January 21, 1897
Swami Vivekananda was accorded a most enthusiastic reception at Colombo, where he landed on the 15th instant. All classes of the Colombo community, whether Hindus or Buddhists, forgot their differences, and went to work together to render fitting honour, where honour was so eminently due. The appreciation of his splendid record of work in the West is by no means confined to his brethren in the faith, for the fact of the Buddhists having co-operated with the Hindus in acknowledging the debt of gratitude, under which he has laid all followers of the several Eastern creeds, is a proof positive of his services having been estimated at their true worth, outside the ranks of Hinduism. The Swami stayed only for four days at Colombo, and then started for Madras, where arrangements are being made on a magnificent scale to extend to him an impressive and enthusiastic welcome. We learn from a letter from the Southern Presidency that the Hindu community there to a man is animated by a sincere desire to celebrate, in a fitting manner, the return of the "conquering hero," and, on this behalf, it has set about its work in sober earnest. It is but in the fitness of things that the Province, which was the first to recognise the Swami's genius, and which paid the greater portion of the expenses of his voyage, should also be the first to welcome him with open arms on his return to the country of his birth. The Swami, after stopping in Madras for a few days, will leave for Calcutta -- his native city -- where he is expected to arrive by the middle of February. A prophet, they say, is not honored in his own country, but, we hope, that, in this case, there will be a departure from this rule, and that all sections of our community will combine to welcome the Swami home in a right royal fashion. He may not be a Roman hero, returning from the field of battle with the laurels of many victories on his brow. But peace hath her victories no less than war, and, in the bloodless battle that he has fought on behalf of a religion, which teaches the highest doctrines of peace and brotherhood amongst mankind, entitles him to the eternal gratitude of his fellow-believers. He has raised the Hindu nation in the estimation of the Western world, and has created for the Hindu faith an interest, which will last through all time. It is impossible to over-estimate the value of his services in America to the cause of Hinduism. Hundreds of men and women have enlisted themselves under the standard, which he unfolded in America, and some of them have even taken to the bowl and the yellow-robes. The work, that he had to do, speedily assumed such proportions as to necessitate the despatch of fresh re-inforcements from India to keep it live in America. Swami Saradananda is busy in Boston in watering the seeds, which were sown there by Swami Vivekananda. The classes opened in several places in America, and even in England , for the teaching of Hinduism in its purer form, are a sufficient token of the leaning towards Vedantism, which the West has begun to manifest under the inspiring and soul-stirring eloquence of Swami Vivekananda. Those that attended the lectures, delivered the other day at the Emerald Theatre by Mr. Turnbull of Chicago, must have been thoroughly impressed with the magnitude of the change, which has been wrought by Swami Vivekananda in the hearts and convictions of the American people. The Swami delivered his first memorable address on Hinduism in the Parliament of Religions, which was held in Chicago, in September, 1893. He made a tour of almost all the principal places in the United States, and wherever he went, he won.
Source : https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/unpublished/indianmirror_01211897.htm
The main theme of my life is to take the message of Sanatana Dharma to every home and pave the way for launching, in a big way, the man-making programme preached and envisaged by great seers like Swami Vivekananda. - Mananeeya Eknathji
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