Swami Vivekananda's powerful speech full of wisdom

The Parliament of Religions began in Chicago on 11 September 1893. Swami Vivekananda's name was called. Swami Vivekananda reached the stage hesitantly. He was nervous. He wiped the sweat on his forehead. People thought that this young monk who had come from India would not be able to say anything. Swami Vivekananda meditated on Guru Religions kept listening to the words that came out of his mouth. Swami Vivekananda's first words were: Brothers and sisters of America. On hearing this, thunderous applause continued for about two minutes.

After this, Swami Vivekananda gave such a powerful speech full of knowledge which became history. The best description of his presence there is found in his own letter, which he wrote two months after that event –

 “After a grand procession we were taken to the stage in a line. Imagine that there was a hall below and inside it a huge gallery, filled with six or seven thousand men and women. And I, who had never given a public speech before, had to address that esteemed group!” “Of course, my heart was racing and my tongue was almost dry. I was so impatient that I didn't take the risk of speaking in the morning. They all came prepared and with pre-composed speeches. I was the fool who had no prepared speech, but I bowed to Goddess Saraswati and stood up. I gave a short speech. I addressed the group, “Sisters and brothers of America!' Which was welcomed with a thunderous sound for two minutes and then I moved ahead – and when it ended, I sat down expressionless.”

When news of this speech reached India, Vivekananda's ideas and the way they were received created a stir. Jawaharlal Nehru later wrote in 'Discovery of India' that Vivekananda "came as a tonic to the suppressed and enthusiastic Hindu mind and gave it self-respect and a sense of its roots from its past."

Sisters and brothers of America!

As I stand here to express my gratitude for the warm and affectionate welcome you have extended to us, my heart is filled with indescribable joy.

I thank you on behalf of the world's most ancient order of ascetics; I thank you on behalf of the mother of religions and I thank you on behalf of crores of Hindus of all classes and creeds.

I also thank some of the speakers who came to this forum, who while mentioning the representatives from the East, told you that these gentlemen who have come from distant countries can be entitled to the honor of spreading the message of tolerance in different countries.

I am proud to belong to religion believe in universal tolerance , but we accept the truth of all religions.

I am also proud to belong to a country that has given refuge to persecuted people and refugees of all religions and all countries on this earth.

I am proud to tell you that we have embraced the holy Israelites who came and took refuge in South India in the very same year when Roman tyrants destroyed their holy temple.

I am proud to belong to a religion which has given shelter to the displaced people of the great Zoroastrian nation and is still supporting their development.

Brothers, I will present before you a few lines of that hymn, which I have been repeating since my childhood and which is repeated by millions of people every day –

'Like different streams arising from different sources

merges its waters into the ocean,

Similarly, O God! due to various trends

The different paths that humans follow

even if it seems different

Directly or otherwise, they reach you only.

The present conference, one of the greatest that has ever taken place, is a confirmation and a declaration to the world of the wonderful principle set forth in the 'Song' itself –

'Whoever, in any form

comes to me, finds me;

all humans on those paths

They are struggling, which ultimately brings them to me.

Communalism, fanaticism and its dreadful product fanaticism have plagued this beautiful earth for a long time. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it with human blood, destroyed civilization and thrown entire nations into despair. If these monstrous acts had not been committed, human society would have been much more developed than it is today. But their end has come; And I sincerely hope that the bell tolling in the morning in honor of this Conference will put an end to all kinds of fanaticism, all kinds of atrocities, whether by the sword or by yesterday's - and individuals who are marching towards the same goal. It will become the death knell for all kinds of evils.

After this, whenever of Religions ran, Swami Vivekananda gave the world the knowledge about Hindu religion and India which created a new image of India. this of Religions , Swami Vivekananda became a world famous personality. His pose with folded hands came to be known as Chicago Pose. It was taken by a photographer named Thomas Harrison after the historic speech of Swami Vivekananda. Harrison had taken eight photographs of Swamiji, five of which were autographed by Swamiji. For the next three years, Swami Vivekananda continued to spread the teachings of Vedanta in America and London.

On 15 January 1897, Vivekananda reached Sri Lanka from America. He got a warm welcome. After this he proceeded by rail from Rameshwaram. People used to stop the train on the way and insist on listening to his speech. used to talk about the spiritual of India abroad He talked about ending poverty, caste system Vivekananda reached Kolkata from Rameshwaram via Madras, which was his birthplace and was his place of work for a long time.

Swami Vivekananda laid the foundation of Ram Krishna Mission on 1 May 1897 after returning to India from the Parliament of Religions in Chicago got involved in hospitals, schools, colleges and sanitation work Swami Vivekananda became the ideal of the youth. In 1898 he established the Belur Math. Swami Vivekananda died on 4th July 1902 in Belur Math, but his words are still an inspiration for the youth, the basic mantra of which is….Get up, wake up and do not stop before reaching the goal.