From: naik@nynexst.com (Jay Naik)
Subject: Re: West met Vivekananda in 1893
Organization: Nynex Science and Technology
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 05:21:24 GMT



In Message-ID: <1992Apr8.195146.7850@ucunix.san.uc.edu> (Raj Bhatnagar):

>> It was in August 1893 that Vivekananda from Indian
>> subcontinent became a celebrity in USA - mainly due 
>> to his speaches at the Parliament of Religions held
>> at Chicago in that year - and also due to his other

>> Next year will mark the hundredth year of those events.

	This brings me back fond memories of a play in which 
I played his role and repeated that grand speech of his! I
still remember those eloquent lines..  I am reproducing the 
speech in its entirety from the "Selections of SV". 
 
------------------------------------------------------------- 
	   Address at the Parliament of Religions
		    Response to Welcome 

        At the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago  
		    11th September 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
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 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 shall quote to you, brethren, a few lines form 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 waters in the sea, so, O
Lord, the 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 shall
come 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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

(*) from the verse  (by Pushpadanta ??) :

  trayee saankhyam yogaha pashumatimatam vaishnavamiti
  prabhinne prasthaane paramidamadaha pathyamiti cha
  rucheenaam vaichitryaat Rju kuTila naanaapathajushaam 
  nRNaamekogamyaha tvamasi payasaamarNava iva 

(+) from the Gita : 
 
  ye yathaa maam prapadyante taamstathaiva bhajaamyaham
  mama vartmaanuvartante manushyaha partha sarvashaha

-----------------------------
Jayant Naik 

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