Sw. Vivekananda's Sermons to World Parliament of Religions, 1893

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Sw. Vivekananda's Sermons to World Parliament of Religions, 1893

The World Parliament of Religions, Chicago

WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

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THE AMERICANS & THEIR RELIGIONS NOW CONFORM TO AN ERRONEOUS NORM

 

Since 1893, Americans have been devolving back to the Dark Ages and before, when

only spineless, mindless invertebrates roamed the land. Swami Yukteshwar's

worries about a coming unbridgeable communication gap between east and west, is

now a nightmare reality. The devil has attained a 99% " blaspheming Goliath "

majority!

 

The Americans, the organized churches, and all their subordinate, subservient

peoples and nations, now willfully and knowingly conform to an erroneous norm,

without being forced to in any way and without any rational enquiry whatsoever.

They simply " quarantined the cure " , and now have " hell to pay " for it.

 

Scientific and theological matters are were never decided by scriptures and

scientific evidence, but by threats, intimidation, deception, propaganda,

indoctrination, coercion and violence.

" Behavior which was previously anathema becomes the norm. " - Guru Rimpoche

Padmamsambhava. Jai Om. - Sw. Tantrasangha

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WELCOME ADDRESS TO WORLD PARLIAMENT BY SW. VIVEKANANDA

Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

 

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.

 

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CONCLUDING ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 27, 1893

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The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the

merciful Father has helped those who laboured to bring it into existence, and

crowned with success their most unselfish labour.

 

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. "

 

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http://www.salvationscience.com/v224.htm

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