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Essay on The Great Buddha: Who is He and How Has He Influenced the Eastern World
At the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda brought a new understanding of Advaita Vedanta. In his introductory address, Vivekananda spoke briefly 'in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world', and of 'the mother of religions'. That in it perhaps changed the perceptions of those who had regarded Hinduism as a reactionary and fossilized jumble of empty rituals and idolatrous practices. The implicit claim was that, underlying the apparently riotous confusion of Indian religious life was an ancient and enduring doctrine, sanatana dharma, the eternal way, of spiritual depth, tolerance, and universal acceptance.
We accept all religions as true,' he proclaimed, comparing different religions to different streams all leading to the one sea. That sea is the ocean of Advaita, of non-dualism, an all-inclusive unity which embraces all diversity and yet at the same time reduces it all to the level of appearance, or Maya . At once the central paradox of this version of Advaita leaps into view. All religions are true: 'Unity in variety is the plan of nature, and the Hindu has recognized it.' Christians are not, for example, to become Buddhists, but 'each must assimilate the spirit of the others, yet preserve his individuality'. In this respect, the diversity of faiths, as of things and souls, is a real, proper, and valuable feature of reality, and is not to be undermined--for example, by attempts to make all people conform to one faith, or to deny the development of distinct individuality.
On the other hand, there is higher and lower truth. Precisely when Vivekananda is speaking of the necessity of diversity in faith, he clearly ranks faiths: 'from the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta to the low ideas of idolatry all have a place.....
