The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Reports in American Newspapers/India's Gift to the World
INDIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD
(Brooklyn Standard Union, February 27, 1895)
Swami Vivekananda, the Hindoo monk, delivered a lecture Monday night under
the auspices of the Brooklyn Ethical Association before a fairly large
audience at the hall of the Long Island Historical Society, corner
Pierrepont and Clinton streets. His subject was "India's Gift to the World".
He spoke of the wondrous beauties of his native land, "where stood the
earliest cradle of ethics, arts, sciences, and literature, and the integrity
of whose sons and the virtue of whose daughters have been sung by all
travelers." Then the lecturer showed in rapid details, what India has given
to the world.
"In religion," he said, "she has exerted a great influence on Christianity,
as the very teachings of Christ would [could] be traced back to those of
Buddha." He showed by quotations from the works of European and American
scientists the many points of similarity between Buddha and Christ. The
latter's birth, his seclusion from the world, the number of his apostles,
and the very ethics of his teachings are the same as those of Buddha, living
many hundred years before him.
"Is it mere chance," the lecturer asked, "or was Buddha's religion but the
foreshadowing of that of Christ? The majority of your thinkers seem to be
satisfied in the latter explanation, but there are some bold enough to say
that Christianity is the direct offspring of Buddhism just as the earliest
heresy in the Christian religion — the Monecian [Manichaean] heresy — is now
universally regarded as the teaching of a sect of Buddhists. But there is
more evidence that Christianity is founded in Buddhism. We find it in
recently discovered inscriptions from the reign of Emperor Oshoka [Asoka] of
India, about 300 B.C., who made treaties with all the Grecian kings, and
whose missionaries discriminated [disseminated ?] in those very parts,
where, centuries after, Christianity flourished, the principles of the
Buddhistic religion. Thus it is explained, why you have our doctrine of
trinity, of incarnation of God, and of our ethics, and why the service in
our temples is so much alike to that in your present Catholic churches, from
the mass to the chant and benediction. Buddhism had all these long before
you. Now use your own judgment on these premise — we Hindoos stand ready to
be convinced that yours is the earlier religion, although we had ours some
three hundred years before yours was even thought of.
"The same holds good with respect to sciences. India has given to antiquity
the earliest scientifical physicians, and, according to Sir William Hunter,
she has even contributed to modern medical science by the discovery of
various chemicals and by teaching you how to reform misshapen ears and
noses. Even more it has done in mathematics, for algebra, geometry,
astronomy, and the triumph of modern science — mixed mathematics — were all
invented in India, just so much as the ten numerals, the very cornerstone of
all present civilization, were discovered in India, and are in reality,
Sanskrit words.
"In philosophy we are even now head and shoulders above any other nation, as
Schopenhauer, the great German philosopher, has confessed. In music India
gave to the world her system of notation, with the seven cardinal notes and
the diatonic scale, all of which we enjoyed as early as 350 B.C., while it
came to Europe only in the eleventh century. In philology, our Sanskrit
language is now universally acknowledged to be the foundation of all
European languages, which, in fact, are nothing but jargonized Sanskrit.
"In literature, our epics and poems and dramas rank as high as those of any
language; our 'Shaguntala' [Shakuntala] was summarized by Germany's greatest
poet, as 'heaven and earth united'. India has given to the world the fables
of Aesop, which were copied by Aesop from an old Sanskrit book; it has given
the Arabian Nights, yes, even the story of Cinderella and the Bean Stalks.
In manufacture, India was the first to make cotton and purple [dye], it was
proficient in all works of jewelry, and the very word 'sugar', as well as
the article itself, is the product of India. Lastly she has invented the
game of chess and the cards and the dice. So great, in fact, was the
superiority of India in every respect, that it drew to her borders the
hungry cohorts of Europe, and thereby indirectly brought about the discovery
of America.
"And now, what has the world given to India in return for all that? Nothing
but nullification [vilification] and curse and contempt. The world waded in
her children's life-blood, it reduced India to poverty and her sons and
daughters to slavery, and now it adds insult to injury by preaching to her a
religion which can only thrive on the destruction of every other religion.
But India is not afraid. It does not beg for mercy at the hands of any
nation. Our only fault is that we cannot: fight to conquer; but we trust in
the eternity of truth. India's message to the world is first of all, her
blessing; she is returning good for the evil which is done her, and thus she
puts into execution this noble idea, which had its origin in India. Lastly,
India's message is, that calm goodness, patience and gentleness will
ultimately triumph. For where are the Greeks, the onetime masters of the
earth? They are gone. Where are the Romans, at the tramp of whose cohorts
the world trembled? Passed away. Where are the Arabs, who in fifty years had
carried their banners from the Atlantic to the Pacific? and where are the
Spaniards, the cruel murderers of millions of men? Both races are nearly
extinct; but thanks to the morality of her children, the kinder race will
never perish, and she will yet see the hour of her triumph."
At the close of the lecture, which was warmly applauded, Swami Vivekananda
answered a number of questions in regard to the customs of India. He denied
positively the truth of the statement published in yesterday's [February 25]
Standard Union, to the effect that widows are ill-treated in India. The law
guarantees her not only her own property, before marriage, but also all she
received from her husband, at whose death, if there be no direct heirs, the
property goes to her. Widows seldom marry in India, because of the scarcity
of men. He also stated that the self-sacrifices of wives at the death of
their husbands as well as the fanatical self-destruction under the wheels of
the Juggernaut, have wholly stopped, and referred his hearers for proof to
Sir William Hunter's "History of the Indian Empire".