When this quite unknown young man of thirty ap peared in Chicago at the inaugural meeting of the Parlia-ment of Religions, opened in September 1893, by Cardinal Gibbons, all his fellow-members were forgotten in his commanding presence. His strength and beauty, the grace and dignity of his bearing, the dark light of his eyes, his imposing appearance, and from the moment he began to speak, the splendid music of his rich deep voice en-thralled the vast audience of American Anglo-Saxons, previously prejudiced against him on account of his colour. The thought of this warrior prophet of India left a deep mark upon the United States.
It was impossible to imagine him in the second place. Wherever he went he was the first... Everybody recogni-sed in him at sight the leader, the anointed of God, the man marked with the stamp of the power to command. A traveller who crossed his path in the Himalayas without knowing who he was, stopped in amazement, and cried, "Shiva!..."
It was as if his chosen God had imprinted His name upon his forehead....
He was less than forty years of age when the athlete lay stretched upon the pyre....
But the flame of that pyre is still alight today. From his ashes, like those of the Phoenix of old, has sprung anew the conscience of India-the magic bird-faith in her unity and in the Great Message, brooded over from Vedic times by the dreaming spirit of his ancient race - the message for which it must render account to the rest of mankind.
- Romain Rolland
Pocket sized soft cover book
BBCol

Condition: Good