It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: "Help and not Fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."
In the year 1893, the city of Chicago hosted the World's Colombian Exposition; a world's fair to celebrate 400 years of Christopher Columbus' arrival to the New World. The fair consisted of exhibitions of art, architecture and industry; it also consisted of several smaller conferences called Congresses or Parliaments. It was in one of these Parliaments, held at the World's Congress Auxiliary Building that an Indian monk stood up to speak on 11 September 1893. His first words elicited a rapturous response from the seven thousand strong audience, giving him a standing ovation that lasted a full two minutes. The conference was the Parliament of World's Religions, and the monk, if you have not already guessed it, was Swami Vivekananda, and the first words that he spoke were "Sisters and Brothers of America". Today, January 12, 2020 is the hundred and fifty-eighth birth anniversary of Vivekananda.
The Parliament of World's Religions was an initiative of Charles C. Bonney, a Chicago lawyer and the President of the Colombian Exposition. It was chaired by John Henry Barrows, an American Presbyterian clergyman and sought to bring together representatives of the diverse religions of the world, in a first-of-its-kind, interfaith dialogue for communal harmony. Virchand Gandhi, a Jain scholar from Bombay was the representative of the Jains, Anagarika Dharmapala, a Sri Lankan monk who would go ahead to play an important role in the Sri Lankan movement for Independence represented the Buddhist order. Also representing Buddhism from a different school of thought was the Zen Master from Japan, Soyen Shaku. Islam was represented by Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, one of the first prominent American converts to Islam after being influenced by the works of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed the Indian founder of the Ahmeddiya sect of Muslims. Others included Annie Besant representing the Theosophical Society, the Brahmo Samaji, Pratap Chandra Majumdar, and Gaston Bonet-Maury a French Protestant historian representing Christianity.
Vivekananda, born Narendranath Dutta, was an apprentice of the sage, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He had already traveled extensively throughout India and had made the journey to the West, via the East, stopping at China, Japan and Canada. He entered North America at Vancouver, Canada and traveled to Chicago hoping to attend the conference. Initially disappointed that one could only become a delegate if one had a bona fide sponsor, he traveled to Boston, where Professor John Henry Wright urged him to attend the conference. Vivekananda would address the conference five times, including the opening address mentioned above, a story of the Frog in the Well presented as an analogy on why religious strife existed, a short address now titles "Religion not the Crying Need of India" lamenting Christian Missions, a speech on how Buddhism completes and complements Hinduism, and a closing address. He also presented a paper on Hinduism talking about the three ancient religions of the world, Hinduism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, as well as Vedanta, spirituality and the concept of body, soul and god in Hinduism. This article reproduces the words of his opening address. The headline of this article is also Vivekananda's closing statement from the closing address.
A century later, the Parliament of World's religions reconvened, this time calling in delegates from other religions like Sikhism, Native American religions and earth-centric religions from around the world, that were missing in the original conference. The key note address at the Parliament was given by the shining beacon of World Peace and Harmony today, Dalai Lama. Since then, the Parliament of Religions has met five more times, at Chicago for a third time in 1999, at Cape Town, South Africa in 2004, at Melbourne, Australia in 2009, at Salt Lake City, USA in 2015, and most recently at Toronto, Canada in 2018. Among the prominent delegates and speakers from India attending these conferences have been the Hindu spiritual leaders, Mata Amritanandamayi, Swami Agnivesh and His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Indian scholar, environmentalist and anti-globalization activist, Vandana Shiva. The Parliament now maintains a website as well as a YouTube channel (links below).
Swami Vivekananda's Opening Address at the Parliament:
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 honour 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, 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.”
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 civilisation 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.
Note: The two quotations in bold are from the Shiva Mahima Stotram.
Sources:
3. "The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" by Swami Vivekananda
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