Thundering voice of Swami Vivekananda that set cold Chicago afire in 1893
Sunday - July 22, 2018 12:43 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- Swami Vivekananda’s thumping success in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 is a glorious chapter in Indian history and the history of world religion. The tenets of Hinduism had never been so lucidly and forcefully expressed by anyone in the west before. He upheld Hinduism in a new light of glory that left the intellectuals in the Christian countries amazed and thinking. Their whole concept of Hinduism with all its rituals and beliefs was presented in a new logical and realistic diction that opened up unseen and unexpected vistas of spiritual realisation for a whole world.
Till then Hinduism in the west was no more than a religion of the heathen blacks who were though to be intellectual dimwits and spiritually unconscious. Christianity was celebrated as the only religion that was suited to the spiritual and material uplift of the people.
The militarily powerful and economically dominant nations of the 15th and 16th centuries were mostly Christians and hence, wherever they went as imperial powers, they carried their religion with them, introducing the same to the alien peoples, by force or by lure.
This way Christianity had spread far and wide and a large section of the world believed it to be the only sensible and progressive religion. This was the time when India had fallen into bad times under English subjugation and people had forgotten the rich past of Hinduism and its immense spiritual power. Indians themselves were mired in poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and bigotry and religion was a luxury for the poor, while for the rich, it had become a grand gimmick. No one was realising the spirit of Hinduism.
This pained Vivekananda and he took it upon himself to first make people aware of what strength lied in their religion and how they could resurrect its lost glory and grandeur through their work and thought.
He saw the presence of god in every spec of life on earth. He embraced the leper, the poor, the prostitute and the thug, all in his broad universe of love that blessed his heart. To him, every form of life was a manifestation of the almighty on earth. The spiritual and physical wellbeing of every being thus became the clarion call of Vivekananda. This is what he told the assembly at the Parliament of Religions.
He brought Hinduism out of the dungeon of bigotry and narrowness of priestly ceremonies it had fallen into, and showed to the world that actual Hinduism was not an exclusive property or privilege of a certain people, but it was all inclusive. It had the power to accommodate all religious beliefs and synthesise them into one.
He enhanced the scope and reach of Hinduism beyond what the west could imagine. Hinduism became a topic of renewed interest for religious scholars across the world, who found new angles in its study. The world found Hinduism to be on par with the Christianity it held so dear and in many ways found this religion so akin to their own beliefs and practices. This universality of Hinduism and its power of synthesis and assimilation of divergent beliefs, was forever established by Swami Vivekananda.
The Chicago speech had a deep and prolonged impact on the people of America far and wide. They too learnt to embrace Hinduism as their own because the path to salvation and the realisation of god was same, no matter what religion one believed in. This came as an ennobling revelation to millions of people after Swami Vivekananda showed them the path.
-Window To News
Till then Hinduism in the west was no more than a religion of the heathen blacks who were though to be intellectual dimwits and spiritually unconscious. Christianity was celebrated as the only religion that was suited to the spiritual and material uplift of the people.
The militarily powerful and economically dominant nations of the 15th and 16th centuries were mostly Christians and hence, wherever they went as imperial powers, they carried their religion with them, introducing the same to the alien peoples, by force or by lure.
This way Christianity had spread far and wide and a large section of the world believed it to be the only sensible and progressive religion. This was the time when India had fallen into bad times under English subjugation and people had forgotten the rich past of Hinduism and its immense spiritual power. Indians themselves were mired in poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and bigotry and religion was a luxury for the poor, while for the rich, it had become a grand gimmick. No one was realising the spirit of Hinduism.
This pained Vivekananda and he took it upon himself to first make people aware of what strength lied in their religion and how they could resurrect its lost glory and grandeur through their work and thought.
He saw the presence of god in every spec of life on earth. He embraced the leper, the poor, the prostitute and the thug, all in his broad universe of love that blessed his heart. To him, every form of life was a manifestation of the almighty on earth. The spiritual and physical wellbeing of every being thus became the clarion call of Vivekananda. This is what he told the assembly at the Parliament of Religions.
He brought Hinduism out of the dungeon of bigotry and narrowness of priestly ceremonies it had fallen into, and showed to the world that actual Hinduism was not an exclusive property or privilege of a certain people, but it was all inclusive. It had the power to accommodate all religious beliefs and synthesise them into one.
He enhanced the scope and reach of Hinduism beyond what the west could imagine. Hinduism became a topic of renewed interest for religious scholars across the world, who found new angles in its study. The world found Hinduism to be on par with the Christianity it held so dear and in many ways found this religion so akin to their own beliefs and practices. This universality of Hinduism and its power of synthesis and assimilation of divergent beliefs, was forever established by Swami Vivekananda.
The Chicago speech had a deep and prolonged impact on the people of America far and wide. They too learnt to embrace Hinduism as their own because the path to salvation and the realisation of god was same, no matter what religion one believed in. This came as an ennobling revelation to millions of people after Swami Vivekananda showed them the path.
-Window To News
