AT THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS
In September 1893, during the Chicago Exposition, there took place in that city, among all sorts of other congresses, the famous 'Parliament of Religions'. All the religious or semi-religious organizations of the world had been asked to send their most authoritative representatives to explain their beliefs and opinions. This truly American idea had been launched several years earlier; in France, its most ardent propagandist was Fr Victor Charbonnel, who at the time frequented the salon of the Duchess of Pomar, and who was later to leave the Church for Masonry, where he had several misadventures. If the Catholics of Europe prudently abstained from appearing at this Congress, such was not the case with those in America; but the great majority was formed, as was natural, by the representatives of the innumerable Protestant denominations, joined by other fairly heterogeneous elements. Thus this 'Parliament' was the appearance of Swāmi Vivekānanda, who completely distorted the Hindu doctrine of 'Vedānta' under the pretext of adapting it to the Western mentality. If we mention him here, it is because Theosophists have always regarded him as one of their allies, even calling him 'one of our brothers of the Elder race' [1] (a designation which they also applied to their 'Mahātmās') and 'a prince among men.' The pseudo-religion invented by Vivekānanda had a certain success in America, where it has still a certain number of
'missions' and 'temples', just as it does in Australia. Of course it had nothing to do with 'Vedānta' except the name, for there could not be the least connection between a purely metaphysical doctrine and a sentimental and consoling 'moralism' differing from Protestant preaching only in the use of a somewhat specialized terminology.
Mrs Besant also appeared at the 'Parliament of Religions' to represent the Theosophical Society, which of the seventeen days the Congress was to last had obtained two whole days to be devoted to the exposition of its theories; it would seem that to have granted it such a large share, the organizers must have been particularly favorable to it. The Theosophists naturally profited by putting forward a large number of speakers. Judge and Mrs Besant appeared side by side, for as long as the split between them was not an accomplished fact, the effort was made to hide from the public as much as possible the inner dissensions of the Society, although as we have seen above, this did not always succeed. Mrs Besant was accompanied by two rather odd persons, Chakravarti and Dharmapāla, with whom she had journeyed from England to America, and about whom it is fitting to say a few words here.
Gyanendra Nath Chakravarti (the 'Babu Chuckerbuthy' of Rudyard Kipling), [2] founder and secretary of the Yoga Samāj and mathematics teacher at Allahabad College, delivered an address at the official opening session of the 'Parliament'. In spite of his name and position, and although he claimed to be a Brahmin, he was not a Hindu by origin but a more or less 'hinduized' Mongol. In December 1892 he tried to contact English spiritists by claiming that there were close connections between Hindu 'Yoga' and 'spiritist' phenomena; we do not wish to decide whether this was ignorance or insincerity on his part, and perhaps it was both at the same time; in any case, it goes without saying that the connections in question are purely imaginary. What is interesting to note is the similarity of this attempt with that to which Mrs Besant was to devote herself, in 1898, at the 'Spiritualist Alliance' of London; and what is most interesting about this rapprochement is that Chakravarti, who though
anything but a true 'Yogi' was at least a remarkable hypnotist, had found an excellent 'subject' in Mrs Besant, and it seems well-established that he held her under his influence for a fairly long time. [3] It is to this fact that Judge was referring when in the circular he addressed on November 3, 1894 to the 'esoteric sections' of the Theosophical Society ('by order of the Master,' as he said) to dismiss Mrs Besant, he accused her of having 'unwittingly entered into the conspiracy of black magicians, who always fight against white magicians', at the same time denouncing Chakravarti as 'a minor agent of the black magicians.' No doubt, too great an importance should not be attached to these stories of 'black magic', and what we said previously must be remembered. Nonetheless, it remains true that it was Chakravarti, a very suspect person in many respects, who for some time directly inspired the deeds and conduct of Mrs Besant.
The 'Anagarika' H. Dharmapāla (or Dhammapāla), [4] a Buddhist from Ceylon, was delegated to the 'Parliament of Religions' with the title 'lay missionary' by the 'Great-Priest' Sumangala to represent the Mahā-Bodhi Samāj (Society of Great Wisdom) of Colombo. [5] It is said that during his stay in America he 'officiated' in a Catholic church; but we think this must be only a legend, all the more in that
he had declared himself 'lay person'; perhaps he did give a talk there, which ought not to overly astonish those who know American ways. Be that as it may, he spent several years traveling in America and Europe giving talks on Buddhism in many places. In 1897 he was in Paris, where he spoke at the Guimet Museum and took part in a Congress of orientalists. The last appearance of this person that we know of is a letter he wrote from Calcutta on October 13, 1910 to the head (designated only be the initials T.K.) of an American secret society called the 'Order of Light', which also calls itself the 'Great School', and which recruits its adherents especially from the high grades of Masonry. One of the most active members of this organization is a known Theosophist, Dr J.D. Buck, who is at the same time a dignitary of Scottish Masonry and who was also one of the speakers at the 'Parliament of Religions'. Mme Blavatsky showed a special regard for this Dr Buck, whom she called 'a great Philaletheian, [6] and on whom, citing a passage from a speech he had made in April 1889 before the Theosophical Society Convention of Chicago, she bestowed this eulogy: 'No living theosophist has better expressed and understood the real essence of Theosophy than our honoured friend Dr Buck.' It must also be said that the 'Order of Light' is marked by a very strong anti-Catholic tendency; now, in his letter Dharmapāla warmly complimented the American Masons for their efforts to 'protect the people from servitude to papal diabolism' [sic] and wished them complete success in this struggle, adding
that 'seemingly the only desire of the clergy in all countries and all ages is to reduce people to slavery and hold them in ignorance.' We wonder if such language had the approval of the 'Great-Priest of the Buddhist Church of the South,' who really claimed to be the head of a 'clergy' although nothing of the kind existed in the original conception and organization of Buddhism.
The Theosophists seemed very satisfied with the excellent occasion for propaganda afforded them in Chicago, and they even went so far as to proclaim that 'the true Parliament of Religions had been, in fact, the Theosophical Congress.' [8] Thus, 'neo-spiritualist' groups were talking of preparing a second congress of the same kind, which would be held in Paris in 1900; a more ambitious idea was even put forward by an engineer from Lyons, P. Vitte, who signed himself with the pseudonym Amo and wanted to transform the 'Congress of Religions' into a 'Congress of Humanity'
gathering together all the religions, spiritists, humanitarians, seekers, and thinkers of all kinds, and having as a common aim the progress of Humanity toward a better ideal and faith in its realization. [9]
All the religions of the world, and even all the doctrines, whatever their character, would be 'called to a sympathetic union of the great common principles ably ensuring the safety of Humanity and preparing Unity and future peace on earth. [10] Theosophists, as well as spiritists and occultists of various schools joined in this project, whose promoter was believed to have brought about the reconciliation of these fraternal enemies, as a prelude to the 'sympathetic union' he dreamed of. He wrote:
the issues for May 1896 of Lotus Bleu and Initiation, respective organs of the French Theosophists and Martinists, repeat in warm and resolute terms their support for the Congress of Humanity. The collaboration of these two great spiritualist
movements which shine on the whole earth would already suffice to communicate an intense vitality to the Congress. [11]
But this would not suffice, and would turn out to be a great illusion; the 'neo-spiritualists', among whom moreover quarrels would continue as in the past, could still not claim to form by themselves the 'official Conference of Humanity'; and as hardly anyone else but they were interested, the congress did not take place in 1900. Regarding Vitte, we shall note another strange trait: after Saint Yves d'Alveydre told him that 'the Celtic spirit is today in India,' he wished to go there, and embarked in September 1895. Hardly had he arrived, however, when he was seized by a kind of irrational fear and hastened back to France, where he arrived less that three months after his departure. At least he was a sincere soul, but this simple fact shows he was rather unstable. The occultists, however, were not discouraged by the failure of their 'Congress of Humanity'; waiting for a more favorable moment, he set up a kind of permanent office, holding occasional meetings in more or less empty rooms and indulging in vague pacifist and humanitarian declarations. The feminists too had a certain place in this organization whose last heads were Albert Jounet and Julien Hersent; the latter, whom his friends had nominated for the presidency of the future 'United States of the World' when it should be formed, began in 1913 by putting forward his candidacy for the Presidency of the French Republic; these people truly have no sense of the ridiculous!
There was nonetheless to be a sequel in Paris to the 'Parliament of Religions' in Chicago, but it was only in 1913 that it took place, under the name of the 'Congress of Religious Progress', and under the presidency of Boutroux, whose philosophical ideas also have some relationship with 'neo-spiritualist' tendencies, although in a much less marked way than those of Bergson. This congress was almost entirely Protestant, particularly 'liberal Protestant'; but the Germanic influence was preponderant over the Anglo-Saxon, and thus the Theosophists loyal to Mrs Besant's leadership were not
invited, whereas Edouard Schuré was heard there representing Rudolf Steiner's dissident organization, of which we shall have to speak in what follows. [12]