2013 is a special year marking the 150 years of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. He was an exceptional individual and path breaking visionary.
Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta into an aristocratic family in 1863, is well known for being the major force in the revival of Hinduism in India and for raising interfaith awareness across the world. He passed away at the very young age of 39 while meditating in 1902 at Belur Math, the Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengal.
The life and journey of Vivekananda is well documented. His precocious childhood, yogic temperament and deep quest for knowledge were evident from early life. Narendranath’s interest in the spiritual led him towards Sri Ramakrishna at the age of 18. The guru and disciple relationship continued to strengthen during the coming years. Sri Ramakrishna inspired Narendranath to start a new monastic order.
After the passing away of their Master in 1886, fifteen of his young disciples formed a new monastic brotherhood under the leadership of Narendranath who now became Swami Vivekananda. After establishing the new monastic order, Vivekananda embarked on the journey of exploration and discovery of India. He saw widespread poverty and hunger and was convinced that centuries of oppression had crushed the Indian spirit. What the people of the country needed first and foremost, he decided, was inner strength and deep faith of their own convictions. Vivekananda also realised that providing education in an institutionalised framework would reduce their misery and this led to the establishment of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Vivekananda’s intellect became evident to the world when he gave the moving and brilliant speech of 473 words in the United States in 1893 in which he introduced Hinduism at the first Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Parliament, held on the shore of lake Michigan, Chicago, was the largest and most spectacular event among many other Parliaments and Congresses during the six month event that was held to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492. The opening ceremony of the Parliament on September 11 was glorious with more than 4,000 people in the Hall of Columbus. At 10.00 AM, a dozen representatives from the 10 greatest faiths of the world marched into the grand hall hand in hand together. The inaugural ceremony began with a prayer as an act of common worship to Almighty God.
During the Parliament 152 of the 194 papers were presented by Christian representatives while leaders from other religions delivered the balance papers. Vivekananda’s speech undoubtedly drew most attention from the American public. Dr John Henry Barrows, Chairman of the General Committee for the Parliament, recorded that when Vivekananda addressed the audience as “sisters and brothers of America”, they went into rapture with “a peal of applause that lasted for several minutes”.
What was so special about Vivekananda’s speechIJ
Since the speech was only 473 words long and delivered extempore, it could not have lasted for more than three to four minutes. Vivekananda’s message of gratitude, pride, tolerance and hope that was magically woven around the core value of Hinduism and it’s wide spread acceptance of all faiths and religions has often been labelled as one of the greatest speeches ever made in the world. Intelligent life, the sister publication of The Economist recently asked six writers, “which was the greatest speech ever”.
Mark Tully, the former BBC India chief who rated the speech as “the greatest speech ever” explained why he chose this speech as the greatest of all time: “Vivekananda’s speech at Parliament resonates today for the many who claim to be spiritual but not religious, who reject religion based on faith and seek experience of God. The Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realising - not in believing, but in being and becoming. That is the religion so many seek today.”
Vivekananda started with earnest gratitude by thanking the delegates and participants when he said, “It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us.” He continued with the sincere expression of gratitude. “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.”
Vivekananda, having immediately created that electrifying bond between the audience and himself, quickly came to the central theme of his speech of universal tolerance and acceptance of Hinduism and built it on the plank of pride and nationalism, “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.” He continued, “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. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.”
Vivekananda continued to enthrall his audience with the following quote, “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 though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to thee.”
Vivekananda ended by giving the message of faith and hope. He said, “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 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.”
Vivekananda was an iconic figure that walked this earth. He was a Hindu but his belief, philosophy and ideology was beyond religion. He had little respect for rituals and ceremonies.
His constant focus was on the spirit of the individual. He wrote, “Men in general lay all the blame of life on their fellowmen, or, failing that, on God, or they conjure up a ghost, and say it is fate. Where is fate, and who is fateIJ We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise. The wind is
blowing; and those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have their sails furled do not catch the wind. Is that the fault of the windIJ” What an inspiring 473 word speech!
(The writer is the former COO of EMRI-108 emergency services in Uttarakhand)
