NOT THE FIRST TIME

Knowledge of Vedanta did not enter the Western world for the first time with Vivekananda in 1893.  Schopenhauer, Emerson, Thoreau, and their circle, along with Max Muller and his fellow orientalists, to name just a few, had all studied, discussed, and publicized the philosophy years before that date.  What Vivekananda did bring to the West was the living example of a man entirely dedicated to the practice of the philosophy.  His example was far more inspiring and convincing than any book could be, as Emerson himself would have been the first to confess.