Swami Vivekananda, the most illustrious disciple of Ramkrishna Pramahamsa, is one of the most revered Hindu monks of recent times. Born Narendranath Datta in 1863, he converted to various religions in order to search for spiritual truth, before reverting to Hinduism and taking up the name Swami Vivekananda.
One of his biggest achievements is considered to be the first of the speeches he delivered at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He began the speech with the phrase "Sisters and brothers of America" — and not "Brothers and sisters of America" — as some would have you believe, and managed to elicit a two-minute standing ovation just for that.
Such was his influence that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted him on Sunday while paying his tributes to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.
So what exactly did Swami Vivekananda say in his speech? Read the full text here:
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, and 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 people 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 them; all 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.
