Vivekananda at the World's Parliament of Religions
A young Bengali monk tells a Chicago audience that Hinduism teaches tolerance and the truth of all religions, and introduces Vedanta and yoga to the West.
- Vivekananda — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Response to Welcome, World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 11 September 1893 (Complete Works, vol. 1) — Swami Vivekananda (1893)
- An Introduction to Hinduism — Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press (1996)
Narendranath Datta, a Calcutta graduate, became a disciple of the mystic Ramakrishna, who taught that all religions are paths to the same God. After Ramakrishna’s death he took the name Vivekananda and wandered India as a monk, shocked by its poverty.
- Vivekananda — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- An Introduction to Hinduism — Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press (1996)
At the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he began his first address “Sisters and Brothers of America”, to a long ovation. He told the audience he was proud to belong to a religion that had taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance, and that accepted all religions as true.
- Response to Welcome, World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 11 September 1893 (Complete Works, vol. 1) — Swami Vivekananda (1893)
He founded Vedanta Societies in the US and, back in India, the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, which combines spirituality with service in schools and hospitals. He died in 1902, aged 39. He presented Hinduism, especially Advaita Vedanta, as a rational, spiritual world religion and urged Indians to self-confidence; nationalists of many kinds, including Hindu nationalists, took inspiration from him.
- Vivekananda — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- An Introduction to Hinduism — Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press (1996)
Why it matters today
Vivekananda's picture of Hinduism, tolerant, philosophical and universal, is how many Hindus describe their faith today, and the start of yoga and Vedanta in the West. Both liberal and nationalist Hindus claim him.