This day that year: Full text of Swami Vivekananda’s speech at Chicago
New Delhi, Sep 11: On 11th September 1893 Swami Vivekananda, delivered his first speech in the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago.
One of Vivekananda's most memorable speeches was at the Parliament of the World Religions in Chicago in 1893 where he introduced India and Hinduism to the West.
Here's full text of Swami Vivekananda's 1893 speech in Chicago:
Who was Swami Vivekananda?
Born on January 12 1862 into an affluent Bengali family, Narendra Natha Datta was considered special as he has all round talents.
His father Vishwanatha Datta was a well-known attorney. However, he took the spiritual route instead and introduced Hinduism to the world in 1893 when he spoke at the World's Parliament of Religion. The historic speech was given on September 11, 1893.
Full text of Swami Vivekananda's speech at Chicago
Sisters
and
Brothers
of
America,
It
fills
my
heart
with
joy
unspeakable
to
rise
in
response
to
the
warm
and
cordial
welcome
which
you
have
given
us.
I
thank
you
in
the
name
of
the
most
ancient
order
of
monks
in
the
world;
I
thank
you
in
the
name
of
the
mother
of
religions,
and
I
thank
you
in
the
name
of
millions
and
millions
of
Hindu
people
of
all
classes
and
sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.
We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth.
They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
Concluding Address
The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who labored to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labor.My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.
Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu?God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.
The
seed
is
put
in
the
ground,
and
earth
and
air
and
water
are
placed
around
it.
Does
the
seed
become
the
earth,
or
the
air,
or
the
water?
No.
It
becomes
a
plant.
It
develops
after
the
law
of
its
own
growth,
assimilates
the
air,
the
earth,
and
the
water,
converts
them
into
plant
substance,
and
grows
into
a
plant.
Similar
is
the
case
with
religion.
The
Christian
is
not
to
become
a
Hindu
or
a
Buddhist,
nor
a
Hindu
or
a
Buddhist
to
become
a
Christian.
But
each
must
assimilate
the
spirit
of
the
others
and
yet
preserve
his
individuality
and
grow
according
to
his
own
law
of
growth.
If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.
In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."