00:00:01
sisters and brothers of America
00:00:04
[Applause]
00:00:10
it fills my heart with joy unspeakable
00:00:13
to rise in response to the warm and
00:00:17
cordial welcome which you have given us
00:00:20
I thank you in the name of the most
00:00:22
Ancient Order of monks in the world
00:00:25
I thank you in the name of the mother of
00:00:28
religions
00:00:29
and I thank you in the name of the
00:00:31
millions and millions of Hindu people of
00:00:34
all classes and sects
00:00:37
my thanks also to some of the speakers
00:00:40
on this platform who referring to the
00:00:43
delegates from the Orient have told you
00:00:46
that these men from far off nations may
00:00:49
well claim the honor of bearing to
00:00:52
different lands the idea of Toleration
00:00:56
I am proud to belong to a religion which
00:00:59
has taught the world both tolerance and
00:01:02
Universal acceptance
00:01:04
we believe not only in Universal
00:01:07
Toleration but we accept all religions
00:01:11
as true
00:01:13
I am proud to belong to a nation which
00:01:15
has sheltered the persecuted and the
00:01:18
refugees of all religions and all
00:01:20
nations of the Earth
00:01:22
I am proud to tell you that we have
00:01:24
gathered in our bosom the purest remnant
00:01:27
of the Israelites who came to Southern
00:01:30
India and took Refuge with us in the
00:01:33
very year in which their Holy Temple was
00:01:36
shattered to Pieces by Roman tyranny
00:01:39
I am proud to belong to the religion
00:01:42
which has sheltered and is still
00:01:44
fostering the remnant of the grand
00:01:46
zoroastrian Nation
00:01:48
I will quote to you Brethren a few lines
00:01:51
from A Hymn which I remember to have
00:01:54
repeated from my earliest Boyhood which
00:01:57
is every day repeated by millions of
00:01:59
human beings
00:02:01
as the different streams having their
00:02:04
sources in different places all mingle
00:02:07
their water in the sea so oh Lord the
00:02:11
different paths which men take through
00:02:13
different Tendencies various though they
00:02:16
appear crooked or straight all lead to
00:02:20
thee
00:02:21
the present convention which is one of
00:02:24
the most August assemblies ever held is
00:02:26
in itself a Vindication a declaration to
00:02:29
the world or the wonderful Doctrine
00:02:32
preached in the Gita
00:02:34
whosoever comes to me
00:02:36
through whatsoever form I reach him
00:02:40
all men are struggling through paths
00:02:43
which in the end lead to me
00:02:47
sectarianism bigotry and its horrible
00:02:51
descendant fanaticism have long
00:02:53
possessed this beautiful Earth they have
00:02:56
filled the Earth with violence drenched
00:02:58
it often and often with human blood
00:03:00
destroyed civilization and sent whole
00:03:03
Nations to despair
00:03:05
had it not been for these horrible
00:03:08
demons human society would be far more
00:03:11
advanced than it is now
00:03:14
but their time has come
00:03:16
and I fervently hope that the bill that
00:03:19
told this morning in honor of this
00:03:21
convention may be the death knell of all
00:03:25
fanaticism of all persecutions with the
00:03:28
sword or with the pen and of all
00:03:31
uncharitable feelings between persons
00:03:34
wending their way to the same goal
00:03:37
[Applause]
00:03:43
ladies and gentlemen
00:03:45
on the agenda for today the 15th of
00:03:48
September 1893 a galaxy of eminent
00:03:52
speakers are scheduled to address us and
00:03:55
it gives us great pleasure to once again
00:03:57
invite Swami Vivekananda to speak
00:04:01
his subject for today
00:04:04
why we disagree I will tell you a little
00:04:07
story
00:04:08
you have heard the eloquent speaker who
00:04:10
has just finished say let us cease from
00:04:13
abusing each other
00:04:15
and he was very sorry that there should
00:04:17
be always so much variance
00:04:20
but I think I should tell you a story
00:04:22
which would illustrate the cause of this
00:04:24
variants
00:04:26
a frog lived in a well
00:04:29
it had lived there for a long time
00:04:31
it was born there and brought up there
00:04:34
and yet was a little small frog
00:04:38
of course the evolutionists were not
00:04:40
there then to tell us whether the Frog
00:04:42
lost its eyes or not but for our story's
00:04:46
sake we must take it for granted that it
00:04:49
had its eyes and that it every day
00:04:52
cleansed the water of all the worms and
00:04:54
bacilli that lived in it with an energy
00:04:57
that would do credit to our modern
00:04:59
bacteriologists
00:05:01
in this way it went on and became a
00:05:04
little sleek and fat
00:05:06
well one day another frog that lived in
00:05:10
the sea came and fell into the well
00:05:13
where are you from
00:05:15
I am from the sea the sea how big is
00:05:19
that is it as big as my well and he took
00:05:23
a leap from one side of the well to the
00:05:25
other
00:05:26
my friend said the Frog of the sea how
00:05:30
do you compare the sea with your little
00:05:31
girl
00:05:33
then the Frog took another leap and
00:05:36
asked is you see so big for what
00:05:39
nonsense you speak to compare the sea
00:05:42
with your will
00:05:43
then said the Frog of the well nothing
00:05:46
can be bigger than my will there can be
00:05:48
nothing bigger than this this fellow is
00:05:51
a liar so turn him out
00:05:53
that has been the difficulty all the
00:05:56
while
00:05:58
I am a Hindu I am sitting in my own
00:06:01
little well and thinking that the whole
00:06:04
world is my little well
00:06:06
the Christian sits in his little well
00:06:09
and thinks the whole world is his will
00:06:13
the sits in his little well
00:06:16
and thinks that is the whole world
00:06:20
I have to thank you of America for the
00:06:22
great attempt you are making to break
00:06:24
down the barriers of this little world
00:06:27
of ours and hope that in the future
00:06:31
the Lord will help you to accomplish
00:06:34
your purpose
00:06:34
[Applause]
00:06:41
friends
00:06:42
today the 19th of September 1893 is the
00:06:47
ninth day of the world's parliament of
00:06:49
religions
00:06:51
we have had the privilege of listening
00:06:53
to many distinguished speakers from the
00:06:55
world over address us on a variety of
00:06:57
subjects
00:06:59
the time is at hand to now listen to The
00:07:02
Great monk from India Swami Vivekananda
00:07:05
read his paper on Hinduism
00:07:08
ladies and gentlemen
00:07:10
Swami Vivekananda
00:07:12
from the high spiritual flights of the
00:07:15
vedanta philosophy of which the latest
00:07:18
discoveries of science seem like echoes
00:07:21
to the low ideas of idolatry with its
00:07:25
multifarious mythology
00:07:27
the agnosticism of the Buddhists and the
00:07:30
atheism of the Giants
00:07:32
each and all have a place in the Hindus
00:07:35
religion
00:07:37
where then the question arises where is
00:07:41
the Common Center to which all these
00:07:43
widely diverging radii converge
00:07:46
where is the common basis upon which all
00:07:50
these seemingly hopeless contradictions
00:07:52
rest and this is the question
00:07:55
I shall let him to answer
00:07:58
the Hindus have received their religion
00:08:00
through revelation
00:08:02
The Vedas they hold that The Vedas are
00:08:06
without beginning and Without End
00:08:09
it may sound ludicrous to this audience
00:08:11
how a book can be without beginning or
00:08:15
end
00:08:16
but by The Vedas no books are meant they
00:08:20
mean they accumulated treasury of
00:08:23
spiritual laws discovered by different
00:08:25
persons in different times
00:08:28
just as the law of gravitation existed
00:08:30
before its Discovery and would exist if
00:08:35
all Humanity forgot it so is it with the
00:08:38
laws that govern the spiritual world
00:08:40
the moral ethical and spiritual
00:08:43
relations between soul and soul and
00:08:46
between individual spirits and the
00:08:48
father of all Spirits were there before
00:08:51
their Discovery and would remain even if
00:08:54
we forgot them
00:08:56
the discoveries of these laws are called
00:08:59
rishis and we honor them as perfected
00:09:03
beings I'm glad to tell this audience
00:09:05
that some of the very greatest of them
00:09:07
were women
00:09:10
here it may be said that these laws as
00:09:13
laws may be without end but they must
00:09:16
have had a beginning
00:09:18
The Vedas teach us that creation is
00:09:21
without beginning or end
00:09:24
science is said to have proved that the
00:09:26
sum total of cosmic energy is always the
00:09:29
same then if there was a time when
00:09:33
nothing existed
00:09:34
where was all this manifested energy
00:09:38
some say it was in a potential form in
00:09:41
God
00:09:42
in that case God is sometimes potential
00:09:46
and sometimes kinetic which would make
00:09:49
him mutable
00:09:51
everything mutable is a compound and
00:09:54
everything compound must undergo that
00:09:57
change which is called destruction
00:10:00
so God would die which is absurd
00:10:04
therefore there never was a time when
00:10:07
there was no creation
00:10:09
if I may be allowed to use a simile
00:10:12
creation and Creator are two lines
00:10:16
without beginning and Without End
00:10:18
running parallel to each other
00:10:21
God is the ever active Providence by
00:10:25
whose Power Systems after systems are
00:10:28
being evolved out of chaos made to run
00:10:31
for a time and again destroyed this is
00:10:34
what the Brahmin boy repeats every day
00:10:37
the Sun and the Moon the Lord created
00:10:40
like the Suns and moons of previous
00:10:43
cycles and this agrees with modern
00:10:46
science
00:10:47
here I stand
00:10:49
and if I shut my eyes and try to
00:10:51
conceive my existence
00:10:53
I I what is the idea before me the idea
00:10:59
of a body am I then nothing but a
00:11:02
combination of material substances
00:11:05
The Vedas declare no
00:11:08
I am a spirit living in a body I am not
00:11:12
the body the body will die but I shall
00:11:16
not die
00:11:17
here am I in this body it will fall but
00:11:20
I shall go on living
00:11:22
I had also passed the soul was not
00:11:26
created for creation means a combination
00:11:29
which means a certain future dissolution
00:11:32
if then the Soul was created it must die
00:11:37
some are born happy enjoy perfect health
00:11:41
with beautiful body mental Vigor and all
00:11:44
wants supplied others are born miserable
00:11:49
some are without hands or feet others
00:11:51
again are idiots and only drag on a
00:11:54
wretched existence why if they are all
00:11:57
created why does a just and merciful god
00:12:01
create one happy and another unhappy why
00:12:05
is he so partial
00:12:07
nor would it mean matters in the least
00:12:09
to hold that those who are miserable in
00:12:12
this life will be happy in a future one
00:12:14
why should a man be miserable even here
00:12:18
in the reign of a just and merciful god
00:12:22
in the second place
00:12:24
the idea of a Creator God does not
00:12:27
explain the anomaly but simply expresses
00:12:29
the cruel feat of an all-powerful being
00:12:33
there must have been causes then before
00:12:36
his birth to make a man miserable or
00:12:38
happy and those were his past actions
00:12:43
or not all the Tendencies of the mind
00:12:45
and the body accounted for by inherited
00:12:48
attitude here are two parallel lines of
00:12:51
existence one of the Mind the other of
00:12:54
matter
00:12:55
if matter and its Transformations answer
00:12:58
for all that we have there is no
00:13:01
necessity for supposing the existence of
00:13:03
a soul
00:13:04
but it cannot be proved that thought has
00:13:08
been evolved out of matter and if a
00:13:12
philosophical monism is inevitable
00:13:14
spiritual monism is certainly logical
00:13:17
and no less desirable than a
00:13:20
materialistic monism but neither of
00:13:22
these is necessary here
00:13:25
we cannot deny that bodies acquire
00:13:28
certain Tendencies from heredity
00:13:30
but those Tendencies only mean the
00:13:33
physical configuration through which a
00:13:36
peculiar mind alone can act in a
00:13:38
peculiar way
00:13:40
there are other Tendencies peculiar to a
00:13:42
soul caused by his past actions and a
00:13:46
soul with a certain tendency would by
00:13:49
the laws of affinity take birth in a
00:13:52
body which is the fittest instrument for
00:13:54
the display of that tendency
00:13:57
this is in accord with science for
00:14:00
science wants to explain everything by
00:14:02
habit and habit is got through
00:14:04
repetitions so repetitions are necessary
00:14:07
to explain the natural habits of the
00:14:10
newborn soul and since they were not
00:14:12
obtained in this present life they must
00:14:15
have come down from past lives
00:14:18
there is another suggestion
00:14:20
taking all these for granted how is it
00:14:23
that I do not remember anything of my
00:14:26
past life this can be easily explained I
00:14:29
am now speaking in English it is not my
00:14:32
mother tongue in fact no words of my
00:14:35
mother tongue are now present in my
00:14:37
Consciousness but let me try to bring
00:14:39
them up and the Russian that shows that
00:14:43
Consciousness is only the surface of the
00:14:46
mental ocean and within its depths are
00:14:48
stored up all our experiences try and
00:14:52
struggle they would come up and you
00:14:54
would be conscious even of your past
00:14:56
life
00:14:57
this is direct and demonstrative
00:15:00
evidence
00:15:01
verification is the perfect proof of a
00:15:03
theory and here is the challenge thrown
00:15:05
to the World by the rishis we have
00:15:07
discovered the secret by which the very
00:15:10
depths of the ocean of memory can be
00:15:12
stirred up try it and you would get a
00:15:15
complete reminiscence of your past life
00:15:17
so then the Hindu believes that he is a
00:15:21
spirit him the sword cannot Pierce him
00:15:24
the fire cannot burn him the water
00:15:27
cannot melt him the air cannot dry
00:15:30
is nowhere but whose Center is located
00:15:33
in the body and that death means the
00:15:37
change of the center from body to body
00:15:40
nor is the soul Bound by the conditions
00:15:43
of matter in its very essence it is free
00:15:46
unbounded holy pure and perfect
00:15:49
but somehow other it finds itself tied
00:15:52
down to matter and thinks of itself as
00:15:55
matter
00:15:57
why should the free perfect and pure
00:15:59
being be thus under the thrall them of
00:16:02
matter is the next question
00:16:04
how can the perfect Soul be deluded into
00:16:06
the belief that it is imperfect
00:16:09
we have been told that the Hindus sharp
00:16:12
the question and say that no such
00:16:14
question can be there
00:16:16
some thinkers want to answer it by
00:16:18
positing one or more course hyperfect
00:16:20
beings and use big scientific names to
00:16:23
fill up the Gap but naming is not
00:16:26
explaining the question Remains the Same
00:16:29
how can the perfect become the Cosi
00:16:33
perfect how can the Pure the absolute
00:16:36
change even a microscopic particle of
00:16:39
its nature
00:16:40
but the Hindu is sincere he does not
00:16:43
want to take shelter under sophistry he
00:16:46
is brave enough to face the question in
00:16:48
a manly fashion and his answer is I do
00:16:52
not know
00:16:53
I do not know how the perfect being the
00:16:57
soul came to think of itself as
00:16:59
imperfect has joined to and conditioned
00:17:02
by matter
00:17:04
but the fact is a fact for all that it
00:17:06
is a fact in everybody's Consciousness
00:17:08
that one thinks of oneself as the body
00:17:12
the Hindu does not attempt to explain
00:17:14
why one thinks one is the body the
00:17:17
answer that it is the will of God is no
00:17:21
explanation this is nothing more than
00:17:24
what the Hindu says I do not know
00:17:28
well then the human soul is eternal and
00:17:30
Immortal perfect and infinite and death
00:17:34
means only a change of center from one
00:17:37
body to another
00:17:38
the present is determined by our past
00:17:40
actions and the future by the present
00:17:44
the soul will go on evolving up or
00:17:47
reverting back from birth to birth and
00:17:49
death to death
00:17:51
but here is another question is man A
00:17:55
tiny boat in a tempest raised one moment
00:17:58
on the foamy crest of the Billow and
00:18:00
dashed down into a yawning Chasm the
00:18:02
next rolling to and fro at the mercy of
00:18:05
good and bad actions a powerless
00:18:07
helpless wreck in an Ever raging ever
00:18:10
rushing uncompromising current of cause
00:18:12
and effect a little moth placed under
00:18:15
the wheel of causation which rolls on
00:18:18
crushing everything in its way and waits
00:18:20
not for the Widow's tears or the orphans
00:18:23
cry
00:18:24
the heart sinks at the idea yet this is
00:18:29
the law of nature
00:18:30
is there no hope is there no Escape was
00:18:34
the cry that went up from the bottom of
00:18:36
the heart of despair
00:18:38
it reached the Throne of mercy and words
00:18:41
of Hope and consolation came down and
00:18:44
inspired a Vedic sage and he stood up
00:18:46
before the world and in trumpet voice
00:18:48
proclaimed the Glad Tidings
00:18:52
children of immortal Bliss even he that
00:18:56
reside in higher spheres I have found
00:18:58
the ancient one who is beyond all
00:19:01
Darkness all delusion knowing him alone
00:19:04
you shall be saved from death over again
00:19:09
children of immortal Bliss what a sweet
00:19:13
what a hopeful name allow me to call you
00:19:16
Brethren by that sweet name Heirs of
00:19:19
immortal Bliss ye the Hindu refuses to
00:19:23
call you Sinners we are the children of
00:19:26
God the sharers of immortal Bliss holy
00:19:29
and perfect beings ye Divinity is on
00:19:32
Earth Sinners it is a sin to call a man
00:19:35
so
00:19:36
it is standing libel on human nature
00:19:38
come up o lions and shake off the
00:19:41
delusion that you are sheep you are
00:19:44
souls Immortals Spirits free blessed and
00:19:47
eternal you are not matter you are not
00:19:49
bodies matter is your servant not you
00:19:53
the servant of matter
00:19:55
thus it is that The Vedas Proclaim not a
00:19:58
dreadful combination of unforgiving laws
00:20:00
not an endless prison of cause and
00:20:02
effect but that at the head of all these
00:20:05
laws in and through every particle of
00:20:08
matter and force stands one by whose
00:20:11
command the Wind Blows the fire burns
00:20:14
the clouds rain and death stalks upon
00:20:17
the Earth
00:20:18
and what is his nature
00:20:20
he's everywhere the pure and formless
00:20:23
one the almighty and the all-merciful
00:20:27
Thou Art Our Father Thou Art our mother
00:20:31
Thou Art our beloved friend Thou Art the
00:20:34
source of all strength give us strength
00:20:37
Thou Art he that buried the burdens of
00:20:40
the universe help me bear the little
00:20:42
burden of this life
00:20:44
thus sang the rishis of The Vedas
00:20:47
and how to worship Him
00:20:49
through love he is to be worshiped as
00:20:52
the one beloved dearer than everything
00:20:55
in this and the next life
00:20:57
this is the doctrine of Love declared in
00:21:00
The Vedas and let us see how it is fully
00:21:03
developed and taught by Krishna whom the
00:21:06
Hindus believed to have been God
00:21:08
incarnate on Earth
00:21:09
he taught that a man ought to live in
00:21:13
this world like a Lotus Leaf which grows
00:21:16
in water but is Never moistened by water
00:21:19
so a man ought to live in the world his
00:21:23
heart to God and His Hands to work it is
00:21:27
good to love God for Hope of reward in
00:21:30
this or the next world but it is better
00:21:33
to love God for Love's sake and the
00:21:36
prayer goes Lord I do not want wealth
00:21:40
nor children nor learning if it be thy
00:21:43
will I shall go from birth to birth but
00:21:46
grant me this that I may love thee
00:21:48
without the hope of reward love
00:21:51
unselfishly for Love's sake
00:21:53
one of the Disciples of Krishna the then
00:21:56
emperor of India was driven from his
00:21:58
kingdom by his enemies and had to take
00:22:01
shelter with his Queen in a forest in
00:22:03
the Himalayas and there one day the
00:22:06
queen asked him how it was that he the
00:22:09
most virtuous of men should suffer so
00:22:12
much misery
00:22:14
answered behold my queen the Himalayas
00:22:18
how Grand and beautiful they are I love
00:22:21
them they do not give me anything but my
00:22:24
nature is to love the grand the
00:22:26
beautiful therefore I love them
00:22:29
similarly I love the Lord
00:22:32
he is the source of all beauty of all
00:22:34
Sublimity he is the only object to be
00:22:37
loved my nature is to love him and
00:22:40
therefore I love
00:22:42
I do not pray for anything I do not ask
00:22:45
for anything let him Place me wherever
00:22:48
he likes I must love him for Love's sake
00:22:51
I cannot treat in Love The Vedas teach
00:22:55
that the soul is divine only held in the
00:22:58
bondage of matter
00:23:00
Perfection will be reached when this
00:23:02
Bond will burst and the word they use
00:23:05
for it is therefore mukti
00:23:08
freedom freedom from the bonds of
00:23:11
imperfection freedom from death and
00:23:14
misery
00:23:15
and this bondage can only fall off
00:23:18
through the mercy of God and this Mercy
00:23:21
comes on the pure
00:23:23
so Purity is the condition of his Mercy
00:23:27
how does that Mercy Act
00:23:30
he reveals himself to the Pure Heart the
00:23:33
pure and the stainless sea god
00:23:36
ye even in this life then and then only
00:23:39
all the crookedness of the Heart Is Made
00:23:42
straight then all doubt ceases he is no
00:23:46
more the freak of a terrible law of
00:23:48
causation
00:23:49
this is the very center the very vital
00:23:52
conception of Hinduism
00:23:54
the Hindu does not want to live upon
00:23:56
words and theories
00:23:58
if there are existences beyond the
00:24:00
ordinary sensuous existence
00:24:03
he wants to come face to face with them
00:24:06
if there is a soul in him which is not
00:24:08
matter
00:24:09
if there is an all-merciful Universal
00:24:11
Soul he will go to him Direct
00:24:15
you must see him and that alone can
00:24:17
destroy all doubts so the best proof a
00:24:21
Hindu Sage gives about the soul about
00:24:24
God is I have seen the soul I have seen
00:24:29
God
00:24:30
and that is the only condition of
00:24:32
perfection
00:24:33
the Hindu religion does not consist in
00:24:36
struggles and attempts to believe a
00:24:39
certain doctrine of Dogma but in
00:24:41
realizing not in believing but in being
00:24:45
and becoming
00:24:47
thus the whole object of the system is
00:24:50
by constant struggle to become perfect
00:24:52
to become Divine to reach God and see
00:24:56
God and this reaching God seeing God
00:24:59
becoming perfect even as the father in
00:25:02
Heaven is perfect constitutes the
00:25:05
religion of the Hindus
00:25:06
and What Becomes of a man when he
00:25:09
attains perfection
00:25:10
he lives a life of bliss infinite he
00:25:13
enjoys infinite and perfect bliss having
00:25:17
obtained the only thing in which man
00:25:20
ought to have pleasure namely God and
00:25:23
enjoys the Bliss with God
00:25:26
so far all the Hindus are agreed this is
00:25:30
the common religion of all the sects of
00:25:32
India but then Perfection is absolute
00:25:35
and the absolute cannot be two or three
00:25:39
it cannot have inequalities it cannot be
00:25:42
an individual and so when a soul becomes
00:25:45
perfect and absolute it must become one
00:25:48
with Brahma and it would only realize
00:25:50
the Lord as the Perfection the reality
00:25:53
of its own nature and existence the
00:25:56
existence absolute knowledge absolute
00:25:59
and Bliss absolute we have often and
00:26:03
often read this called the losing of
00:26:06
individuality and becoming a stock or a
00:26:09
stone
00:26:10
he just sets cars that never felt a
00:26:13
wound
00:26:14
I tell you it is nothing of the kind if
00:26:18
it is happiness to enjoy the
00:26:19
consciousness of this small body it must
00:26:22
be greater happiness to enjoy the
00:26:24
consciousness of two bodies the measure
00:26:27
of happiness increasing with the
00:26:29
consciousness of an increasing number of
00:26:31
bodies the aim the ultimate of Happiness
00:26:34
being reached when it would become a
00:26:37
universal consciousness
00:26:39
therefore to gain this infinite
00:26:42
Universal individuality this miserable
00:26:45
little prison individuality must go then
00:26:49
alone can death cease when I am one with
00:26:51
life then alone can misery cease when I
00:26:55
am one with happiness itself then alone
00:26:57
can all error sees when I am one with
00:27:01
knowledge itself
00:27:03
and this is the necessary scientific
00:27:05
conclusion
00:27:06
science has proved to me that physical
00:27:09
individuality is a delusion that really
00:27:12
my body is one little continuously
00:27:15
changing body in an unbroken notion of
00:27:18
matter and or Unity is a necessary
00:27:22
conclusion with my other counterpart
00:27:25
soul
00:27:27
science is nothing but the finding of
00:27:29
unity as soon as science would reach
00:27:32
perfect Unity it would stop from further
00:27:35
progress because it would reach the goal
00:27:38
thus chemistry could not progress
00:27:41
farther when it would discover one
00:27:43
element out of which all others could be
00:27:45
made
00:27:46
physics would stop when it would be able
00:27:49
to fulfill its services in discovering
00:27:51
one energy of which all the others are
00:27:54
but manifestations and the science of
00:27:57
religion become perfect when it would
00:28:00
discover him who is the one life in a
00:28:03
universe of death him who is the
00:28:06
constant basis of an ever-changing world
00:28:09
one who is the only soul of which All
00:28:12
Souls are but delusive manifestations
00:28:16
that is it through multiplicity and
00:28:19
Duality that the ultimate unity is
00:28:21
reached religion can go no further this
00:28:25
is the goal of all science
00:28:28
all science is bound to come to this
00:28:30
conclusion in the long run
00:28:32
manifestation and not creation is the
00:28:35
word of science today
00:28:37
and the Hindu is only glad that what he
00:28:40
has been cherishing in his bosom for
00:28:42
ages is going to be taught in more
00:28:45
forcible language and with further light
00:28:47
from the latest conclusions of science
00:28:50
descend me now from the aspirations of
00:28:53
philosophy to the religion of the
00:28:55
ignorant
00:28:56
at the very outset I may tell you that
00:28:59
there is no polytheism in India in every
00:29:02
Temple if one stands by and listens one
00:29:05
will find the worshipers applying all
00:29:08
the attributes of God including
00:29:10
omnipresence to the images it is not
00:29:13
polytheism nor would the name henotheism
00:29:17
explain the situation
00:29:19
the rose called by any other name would
00:29:22
smell as sweet names are not
00:29:24
explanations
00:29:26
the tree is known by its fruits when I
00:29:30
have seen amongst them that are called
00:29:32
idolaters men the like of whom in
00:29:35
Morality and spirituality and love I
00:29:37
have never seen anywhere I stop and ask
00:29:40
myself can sin beget holiness
00:29:44
Superstition is a great enemy of man but
00:29:47
bigotry is worse why does a Christian go
00:29:50
to church why is the cross holy why is
00:29:53
the face turned toward the sky in prayer
00:29:55
why are there so many images in the
00:29:57
Catholic Church why are there so many
00:30:00
images in the minds of Protestants when
00:30:02
they pray
00:30:03
my pattern we can no more think about
00:30:06
anything without a mental image then we
00:30:09
can live without breathing
00:30:10
by the law of Association the material
00:30:13
image calls up the mental idea and vice
00:30:16
versa this is why the Hindu uses an
00:30:20
external symbol when he worships he will
00:30:23
tell you it helps to keep his mind fixed
00:30:26
on the being to whom he prays
00:30:28
he knows as well as you do that the
00:30:31
image is not God is Not omnipresent
00:30:36
after all how much does omnipresence
00:30:38
mean to almost the whole world it stands
00:30:41
merely as a word a symbol has God
00:30:45
superficial area
00:30:47
if not when we repeat that word
00:30:49
omnipresent we think of the extended sky
00:30:52
or of space that is all
00:30:56
as we find that somehow or other by the
00:30:59
laws of our mental Constitution we have
00:31:02
to associate our ideas of Infinity with
00:31:04
the image of the blue sky or of the sea
00:31:07
so we naturally connect our idea of
00:31:09
Holiness with the image of a church a
00:31:12
mosque or a cross
00:31:14
the Hindus have Associated the ideas of
00:31:17
Holiness Purity truth omnipresence and
00:31:20
such other ideas with different images
00:31:22
and forms
00:31:24
but with this difference that while some
00:31:27
people devote their whole lives to their
00:31:29
Idol of a church and never rise higher
00:31:32
because with them religion means an
00:31:34
intellectual Ascent to certain doctrines
00:31:37
and doing good to their fellows
00:31:40
the whole religion of the Hindu is
00:31:43
centered in realization
00:31:45
man is to become Divine by realizing the
00:31:49
divine Idols or temples or churches or
00:31:52
books are only the supports the helps of
00:31:55
his spiritual childhood but on and on he
00:31:59
must progress
00:32:00
he must not stop anywhere
00:32:02
external worship material worship say
00:32:06
the scriptures is the lowest stage
00:32:08
struggling to rise High mental prayer is
00:32:12
the next stage but the highest stage is
00:32:15
when the Lord has been realized
00:32:18
Mark the same Earnest man who is
00:32:21
kneeling before the idol tells you him
00:32:24
the son cannot express nor the moon nor
00:32:27
the Stars the lightning cannot express
00:32:29
him nor what we speak of as fire
00:32:33
through him they shine
00:32:35
but he does not abuse anyone's Idol or
00:32:38
called its worship sin
00:32:41
he recognizes in it a necessary stage of
00:32:44
life
00:32:45
the child is Father of the man
00:32:47
would it be right for an old man to say
00:32:50
that childhood is a sin or youth is a
00:32:52
sin
00:32:53
if a man can realize his divine nature
00:32:56
with the help of an image would it be
00:32:58
right to call that a sin
00:33:01
nor even when he has passed that stage
00:33:04
should he call it an error to the Hindu
00:33:07
man is not traveling from error to truth
00:33:10
but from truth to truth from lower to
00:33:14
higher truth to him all the religions
00:33:18
from the lowest fetishism to the highest
00:33:21
absolutism means so many attempts of the
00:33:24
human soul to grasp and realize the
00:33:26
infinite each determined by the
00:33:29
conditions of its birth and Association
00:33:31
and each of these marks a stage of
00:33:34
progress and every soul is a young Eagle
00:33:37
soaring higher and higher Gathering more
00:33:41
and more strength till it reaches the
00:33:44
Glorious Sun
00:33:46
unity in variety is the plan of Nature
00:33:50
and the Hindu has recognized it every
00:33:53
other religion lays down certain fixed
00:33:55
dogmas and tries to force Society to
00:33:58
adopt them it places before Society only
00:34:01
one quote which must fit Jack and John
00:34:04
and Henry all alike if it does not fit
00:34:07
Jon or Henry he must go without a court
00:34:10
to cover his body
00:34:11
the Hindus have discovered that the
00:34:14
absolute can only be realized or thought
00:34:17
of or stated through the relative and
00:34:19
the images crosses and crescents are
00:34:22
simply so many symbols so many pigs to
00:34:25
hang spiritual ideas on
00:34:28
it is not that this help is necessary
00:34:30
for everyone but those that do not need
00:34:32
it have no right to say that it is wrong
00:34:35
nor is it compulsory in Hinduism
00:34:38
one thing I must tell you idolatry in
00:34:41
India does not mean anything horrible
00:34:43
it is not the mother of harlots on the
00:34:46
other hand it is the attempt of
00:34:48
undeveloped Minds to grasp High
00:34:51
spiritual truths
00:34:52
the Hindus have their faults they
00:34:55
sometimes have their exceptions but Mark
00:34:57
this they are always for punishing their
00:35:00
own bodies and never for cutting the
00:35:02
throats of their neighbors
00:35:04
if the Hindu fanatic Burns himself on
00:35:06
the pile he never lights the fire of
00:35:09
Inquisition
00:35:10
and even this cannot be laid at the door
00:35:12
of his religion any more than the
00:35:14
burning of witches can be laid at the
00:35:16
door of Christianity
00:35:18
to the Hindu then the whole world of
00:35:20
religions is only a traveling a coming
00:35:23
up of different men and women through
00:35:26
various conditions and circumstances to
00:35:28
the same goal
00:35:29
every religion is only evolving a God
00:35:33
out of the material man and the same God
00:35:35
is the inspirer of all of them
00:35:39
why then are there so many
00:35:41
contradictions they are only apparent
00:35:43
says the Hindu the contradictions come
00:35:46
from the same truth adapting itself to
00:35:49
the varying circumstances of different
00:35:51
natures
00:35:52
it is the same light coming through
00:35:55
glasses of different colors and these
00:35:58
little variations are necessary for
00:36:00
purposes of adaptation
00:36:02
but in the heart of everything the same
00:36:05
truth Reigns the Lord has declared to
00:36:08
the Hindu in his Incarnation as Krishna
00:36:11
I am in every religion as a thread
00:36:14
through a String of Pearls wherever thou
00:36:17
ceased extraordinary Holiness and
00:36:19
extraordinary power raising and
00:36:21
purifying Humanity know thou that I am
00:36:25
there
00:36:26
and what has been the result
00:36:28
I challenge the world to find throughout
00:36:30
the whole system of Sanskrit philosophy
00:36:32
any such expression as that the Hindu
00:36:36
alone will be saved and not others
00:36:39
we find perfect men even beyond the peel
00:36:43
of our caste and Creed
00:36:45
one thing more how then can the Hindu
00:36:48
whose whole fabric of thought centers in
00:36:50
God believe in Buddhism which is
00:36:53
agnostic or in Jainism which is
00:36:56
atheistic
00:36:57
the Buddhists or the Giants do not
00:37:00
depend upon God but the whole force of
00:37:02
their religion is directed to the Great
00:37:05
Central truth in every religion to
00:37:07
evolve a God out of man they have not
00:37:10
seen the father but they have seen the
00:37:13
son and he that hath seen the son had
00:37:17
seen the father also this Brethren is a
00:37:20
short sketch of the religious ideas of
00:37:23
the Hindus the Hindu may have failed to
00:37:25
carry out all his plans but if there is
00:37:29
ever to be a universal religion it must
00:37:31
be one which will have no location in
00:37:33
place or time which will be infinite
00:37:36
like the god it will preach and whose
00:37:38
son will shine upon the followers of
00:37:41
Krishna and of Christ on Saints and
00:37:43
Sinners alike which will not be
00:37:46
brahminic or buddhistic Christian or
00:37:49
muhammadan but the sub total of all
00:37:51
these and still have Infinite Space for
00:37:54
development which in its catholicity
00:37:57
will Embrace in infinite arms and find a
00:38:01
place for every human being from the
00:38:03
lowest groveling Savage not far removed
00:38:06
from the brute to the highest man
00:38:08
towering by the virtues of his head and
00:38:11
heart almost above Humanity making
00:38:14
Society stand in awe of him and doubt
00:38:17
his human nature it will be a religion
00:38:20
which will have no place for persecution
00:38:22
or intolerance in its quality which will
00:38:25
recognize Divinity in every man and
00:38:27
woman and whose whole scope whose whole
00:38:30
force will be centered in aiding
00:38:32
Humanity to realize its own True Divine
00:38:36
Nature may he who is the Brahma of the
00:38:40
Hindus
00:38:41
of the zoroastrians the Buddha of the
00:38:44
Buddhists the Jehovah of the Jews the
00:38:47
Father in Heaven of the Christians give
00:38:50
strength to you to carry out your Noble
00:38:53
idea
00:38:54
the star arose in the east
00:38:57
it traveled steadily towards the West
00:39:00
sometimes dimmed and sometimes effulgent
00:39:04
till it made a circuit of the world
00:39:07
and now it is again Rising on the very
00:39:10
Horizon of the East the borders of the
00:39:13
sunbow
00:39:14
a thousand-fold more refugent than it
00:39:18
ever was before
00:39:20
[Applause]
00:39:26
today the 26th of September 1893 is the
00:39:31
penultimate day of this parliament of
00:39:33
religions at Chicago
00:39:35
we have listened to engrossing
00:39:38
discourses on the religions and
00:39:40
theologies of the participating
00:39:41
countries in these past two weeks
00:39:44
in continuing the series Swami
00:39:47
Vivekananda will now speak on Buddhism
00:39:50
the Fulfillment of Hinduism
00:39:54
the religion of the Hindus is divided
00:39:56
into two parts the ceremonial and the
00:40:00
spiritual
00:40:02
the spiritual portion is specially
00:40:04
studied by the monks
00:40:06
in that there is no cost
00:40:09
a man from the highest caste and a man
00:40:11
from the lowest may become a monk in
00:40:14
India and the two castes become equal
00:40:18
in religion there is no caste caste is
00:40:23
simply a social institution
00:40:26
when Buddha was teaching Sanskrit was no
00:40:29
more the spoken language in India it was
00:40:32
then only in the books of the learned
00:40:35
some of Buddha's Brahmin disciples
00:40:38
wanted to translate his teachings into
00:40:40
Sanskrit but he distinctly told them I
00:40:44
am for the poor for the people let me
00:40:48
speak in the tongue of the people
00:40:50
and so to this day the great bulk of his
00:40:53
teachings are in the vernacular of that
00:40:56
day in India
00:40:59
whatever may be the position of
00:41:00
philosophy
00:41:02
whatever may be the position of
00:41:03
metaphysics
00:41:05
so long as there is such a thing as
00:41:07
death in the world so long as there is
00:41:10
such a thing as weakness in the human
00:41:12
heart so long as there is a cry going
00:41:16
out of the heart of man in his very
00:41:18
weakness there shall be a faith in God
00:41:22
let us then join the wonderful intellect
00:41:25
of the Brahmin with the heart the noble
00:41:28
Soul the wonderful humanizing power of
00:41:32
the Great Master
00:41:33
[Applause]
00:41:40
ladies and gentlemen in a short while
00:41:43
from now the world's parliament of
00:41:45
religions at Chicago will come to a
00:41:48
close
00:41:49
and to this day the 27th of September
00:41:52
1893
00:41:54
we'll go down in history as a landmark
00:41:56
for more reasons than one
00:41:59
it is in the fitness of things that we
00:42:02
now call upon Swami Vivekananda from
00:42:06
India to address this final session
00:42:10
the world's parliament of religions has
00:42:13
become an accomplished fact and the
00:42:16
merciful father has helped those who
00:42:19
labored to bring it into existence and
00:42:21
crown with success their most unselfish
00:42:24
labor
00:42:26
my thanks to those Noble Souls whose
00:42:30
large hearts and love of fruit first
00:42:33
dreamed this wonderful dream and then
00:42:36
realized it
00:42:37
my thanks to the shower of liberal
00:42:40
sentiments that has overflowed this
00:42:42
platform
00:42:43
my thanks to this enlightened audience
00:42:46
for their uniform kindness to me and for
00:42:50
their appreciation of every thought that
00:42:53
tends to smooth the friction of
00:42:55
religions
00:42:56
a few jarring notes were heard from time
00:42:59
to time in this harmony my special
00:43:03
thanks to them for they have by their
00:43:06
striking contrast made the general
00:43:09
Harmony the sweeter
00:43:12
much has been said of the common ground
00:43:15
of religious unity I'm not going just
00:43:18
now to venture my own Theory but if
00:43:22
anyone here hopes that this Unity will
00:43:25
come by the Triumph of any one of the
00:43:28
religions and the destruction of the
00:43:31
others to him I say
00:43:33
brother yours is an impossible hope
00:43:37
do I wish that the Christian would
00:43:39
become Hindu God forbid
00:43:42
do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist
00:43:45
would become Christian God forbid
00:43:50
the seed is put in the ground and Earth
00:43:54
and air and water are placed around it
00:43:57
does the seed become the Earth or the
00:44:00
air or the water
00:44:02
no it becomes a plant it develops after
00:44:07
the law of its own growth assimilates
00:44:10
the air the earth and the water converts
00:44:14
them into plant substance and grows into
00:44:18
a plant
00:44:19
similar is the case with religion the
00:44:23
Christian is not to become a Hindu or a
00:44:26
Buddhist nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to
00:44:29
become a Christian but each must
00:44:32
assimilate the spirit of the others and
00:44:35
yet preserve his individuality and grow
00:44:38
according to his own law of growth
00:44:41
if the parliament of religions has shown
00:44:44
anything to the world it is this
00:44:47
it has proved to the world that Holiness
00:44:51
Purity and charity are not the exclusive
00:44:55
possessions of any church in the world
00:44:57
and that every system has produced men
00:45:02
and women of the most exalted character
00:45:05
in the face of this evidence if anybody
00:45:08
dreams of the exclusive survival of his
00:45:12
own religion and the destruction of
00:45:14
others I pity him from the bottom of my
00:45:18
heart
00:45:19
and point out to him that upon the
00:45:22
banner of every religion will soon be
00:45:25
written in spite of resistance help and
00:45:29
not fight
00:45:30
assimilation and not destruction
00:45:34
Harmony and peace and not dissension
00:45:38
[Applause]
