Sisters and brothers of America (Chicago, September 1893) SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (1863–1902)

Sisters and brothers of America (Chicago, September
1893)
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (1863–1902)

Swami Vivekananda was an unknown young monk when he travelled to

America to attend the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893.

e occasion was historic as it was the first time that so many

representatives of all the major religions had gathered together in one place.

Vivekananda spoke on the opening day, September 11, and simply

mesmerized his audience. His appearance there is best described in a letter

he wrote two months after the event. ‘ere was a grand procession, and we

were all marshalled on to the platform. Imagine a hall below and a huge

gallery above, packed with six or seven thousand men and women… And I,

who never spoke in public in my life, to address this august assemblage!!…

Of course my heart was fl uttering and my tongue nearly dried up; I was so

nervous and could not venture to speak in the morning…ey were all

prepared and came with ready-made speeches. I was a fool and had none,

but bowed down to Devi Sarasvati and stepped up. I made a short speech. I

addressed the assembly as “Sisters and brothers of America”, a deafening

applause of two minutes followed, and then I proceeded, and when it was

finished, I sat down, almost exhausted with emotion.’ e news of

Vivekananda’s speech and its reception, once it reached India, caused a stir.

Jawaharlal Nehru was to write in e Discovery of India that Vivekananda

‘came as a tonic to the depressed and demoralized Hindu mind and gave it

self-reliance and some roots in the past.’

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 the 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 honour 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 the 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 places all mingle their

water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different

tendencies, various thougb they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to ee.’

e 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. ey 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

has come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in

honour 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.