THE BEGINNING

2. Younghusband's life

Because the World Congress of Faiths both in its origins and throughout its history has been inspired by Younghusband's vision, some outline of his life is in place. It was perhaps fitting that Francis Younghusband was in India. His father, John Younghusband, was in the Indian army. He taught his son to show respect to people of all races and religions (1). His mother was Clara Jane Shaw. Her brother was Robert Shaw, an explorer of Central Asia, who as a teenager encouraged Francis to be an explorer (2).

Francis was born on May 31st, 1863. As an infant, he was taken home to Britain to Bath by his mother, who wished to care for her dying mother. When she returned to India Francis, now four and a half, was sent to live with two austere and strictly religious aunts. Three years later, Francis' parents returned to England and the reunited family moved back to Bath but the strict religious regime continued. In 1873, when he was ten, he travelled out to India with his parents. Three years later he returned to Britain to start at Clifton College, Bristol. There he was expected to conform to the rather conventional public school version of Christianity. Yet already at his confirmation he was thinking for himself. He had some doubts about the virgin birth and the physical resurrection and ascension of Jesus. During this time, he paid a visit to the Alps, which he said, 'did far more for me than all the sermons I had ever heard' (3). In 1881 he entered Sandhurst. He was a solitary figure, spending his spare time reading biographies or going for long walks by himself. The only person with whom he could share his intimate feelings was his sister Emmie.

The following year in 1882, Younghusband set sail for India. His choice of reading for the journey showed that already he had considerable interest in religion.

The highlights of these years of military service were his journeys of exploration to Manchuria and across the Gobi Desert. He was in his element as an explorer, but even at this time spoke of leaving the service and devoting his life to the conduct of a spiritual campaign. In 1894 he wrote in his diary ‘I think I have had from time to time the feeling that I was born to recognise the divine spark within me... I shall through my life be carrying out God's Divine message to mankind' (4) . A little after this entry, he was thrown from his horse and lay unconscious for fourteen hours. As he began to recover, he read Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You - a book which deeply impressed him and was also to influence Mahatma Gandhi profoundly. Younghusband had been reading books on evolution by Herbert Spencer, who almost convinced him, but did not inspire him. Tolstoy made his heart leap.

With Lord Curzon’s appointment as Viceroy of India in 1899, Younghusband’s prospects improved and in 1903, he was asked by Lord Curzon to lead a mission to Tibet. This was a difficult and dangerous undertaking. Controversy has continued to surround what happened. At Lhasa, where he met the Dalai Lama’s Regent, he successfully signed a treaty, but his work was repudiated by the politicians. It was as he was leaving Lhasa that he had the spiritual experience, which was to be a decisive turning point, and which he describes in one of his books, Vital Religion.

The day after leaving Lhasa I went off alone to the mountainside, and there gave myself up to all the emotions of this eventful time. Every anxiety was over - I was full of good-will as my former foes were converted into stalwart friends. But now there grew up in me something infinitely greater than mere elation and good-will. Elation grew to exultation, exultation to an exaltation which thrilled through me with overpowering intensity. I was beside myself with untellable joy. The whole world was ablaze with the same ineffable bliss that was burning within me. I felt in touch with the flaming heart of the world. What was glowing in all creation and in every single human being was a joy far beyond mere goodness as the glory of the sun is beyond the glow of a candle. A mighty joy-giving Power was at work in the world - at work in all about me and at work in every living thing. So it was revealed. Never again could I think evil. Never again could I bear enmity. Joy had begotten love (5).

Elsewhere he mentioned other mystical experiences. It was such mystical experiences that were to be one of the spiritual roots from which the World Congress of Faiths was to grow. In some private notes, Younghusband admitted 'I was too slow and hesitant in my middle life in developing my religious concern' (6). Younghusband was in his seventies before he founded WCF.

On his return to Britain after the Tibetan venture, Younghusband was regarded as a hero, except by the government. In 1906, Younghusband returned to India to become British Resident in Kashmir. The following year his father died, so he was now free to pursue a spiritual mission. In December 1909, Younghusband sailed from Bombay. It would be nearly thirty years before he returned to Asia. During the next years, he was involved in many activities and societies. He wrote a number of books. He was a well known public figure but did not have a steady career.

A continuing interest was the wish to see a greater sense of fellowship between members of different religions. It is clear that this was inspired by Younghusband's own mystical experiences. The 'brotherhood of man' was for him not a slogan but a truth realized in religious experience. For him, the aim of the Congress was to help members of all faiths to become aware of the universal experience which had been his. ‘The ultimate aim of the Fellowship’, he said, ‘can only be to intensify our sense of kinship with the universe to the mystic degree - to that point when the individual feels as if he and the universe were madly in love with one another' (7). The human fellowship that he sought to promote was inextricably linked to communion with the divine. WCF, therefore, was an attempt to give practical expression to a mystic's vision of unity.

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