233 - Why did Vivekananda ignore lakshmi nArain?
.The above photo is kind courtesy commons.wikimedia.org. Here is the link, where you can see more details:
Description
English: Swami Vivekananda in World Parliament of Religions, 1893 in Chicago. In the photo: (from left to right) "Narasimha Chaira [Narasimhacharya of Chennai], Lakeshnie Narain [Lakshmi Narain, a barrister from Lahore], Swami Vivekananda, H. Dharmapala [Anagarika Hewivitarne Dharmapala, a Buddhist from Ceylon and later the founder of the Mahabodhi Society in Kolkata], and Vichand Ghandi [Virchand Gandhi, a lawyer of Mumbai and the chief exponent of the Jain religion.]"
Date 1893(1893)
Source http://www.vivekananda.org/archivedphotoslideshow.asp?id=30
Author Unknown
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swami_Vivekananda_1893_with_The_East_Indain_Group.jpg.
ybrem 1
The first from left was narasimhacharya, whom I have already covered in post No. 232.
The second from left was Shri Lakshmi Narain (in the photo mentioned as Lakeshnie Narain, a barrister from Lahore.).
ybrem 2
Who this lakshmi nArain was apart from being a barrister from Lahore? Whom did he represent?
--According to the Parliament of Congress program papers (link I have already given in my post No. 231), lakshmi nArAin represented the kAyastha Society of India. He was one of the speakers on the stage along with Vivekananda, narasimhacharya, dharmapala and virchand gandhi.
--Rev. Barrows, No. 2 in command, in the organisers of the World Parliament of Religions, in his memoirs, mentioned lakshmi nArain as representing Arya sAmAj. This might have been owing to an inadvertance. Reason: In 1892-93, Arya SamOj underwent a split, and it was most unlikely that they would have sent a representative to the Parliament. However, punjab and lAhore were the pioneers of the Arya samAj movement, we cannot rule out lakshmi nArain representing the Arya Samaj. If any of the leaders of the Arya Samaj of 2012 sees this blog and digs out the Arya Samaj records of 1892-93, they may be able to provide more details.
--Anyway, the most important question: Why did Swami Vivekananda TOTALLY ignore lakshmi nArain, whether he was the fellow kAyastha or the representative of the Arya Samaj.
(To continue).
Comments
This "ignoring" is important for two reasons:- 1) Swamiji tried to belittle every Indian, who represented India at the 1893 Chicago Parliament of Religions. 2) Swamiji tried to portray himself as the sole representative of India. 3) Swamiji ignored persons who helped him in getting an entry to the Parliament of Religions. 4) Swamiji tried to insult those who visited USA prior to him, for the purpose of expressing their cultural and religious views.