Swami Vivekananda's Speech at Chicago
First Online: May 29, 2011
Page Last Updated: August 20, 2024
Full Text of Swami Vivekananda's Famous Speech at Chicago, 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. l 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 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:
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.
Audio of the Speech
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