Paper on Hinduism (3/3)
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Vivekananda at World Parliament of Religion: PAPER ON HINDUISM
Chicago, 19th September 1893
Three religions now stand in the world which have come down to us from time prehistoric - Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. They have all received tremendous shocks, and all of them prove by their survival their internal strength. But while Judaism failed to absorb Christianity and was driven out of its place of birth by its all-conquering daughter, and a handful of Parsees is all that remains to tell the tale of their grand religion, sect after sect arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the Vedas to its very foundations, but like the waters of the sea-shore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only for a while, only to return in an all-absorbing Hood, a thousand times more vigorous, and when the tumult of the rush was over, these sects were all sucked in, absorbed and assimilated into the immense body of the mother faith. From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the Buddhists and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in the Hindu’s religion.
Where then, the question arises, where is the common center to which all these widely diverging radii converge? Where is the common basis upon which all these seemingly hopeless contradictions rest? And this is the question I shall at- tempt to answer.
The Hindus have received their religion through revelation, the Vedas. They hold that the Vedas are without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous to this audience, how a book can be without beginning or end. But by the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits were there before their discovery, and would remain even if we forgot them.
The discoverers of these laws are called Rishis, and we honor them as perfected beings. I am glad to tell this audience that some of the very greatest of them were women.
Here it may be said that these laws as laws may be without end, but they must have had a beginning. The Vedas teach us that creation is without beginning or end. Science is said to have proved that the sum total of cosmic energy is always the same. Then, if there was a time when nothing existed, where was all this manifested energy? Some say it was in a potential form in God. In that case God is sometimes potential and sometimes kinetic, which would make Him mutable. Everything mutable is a compound and everything compound must undergo that change which is called destruction. So God would die, which is absurd-Therefore, there never was a time when there was no creation.
If I may be allowed to use a simile, creation and creator are two lines, without beginning and without end, zoning parallel to each other. God is the ever-active providence, by whose power systems after systems are being evolved out of chaos, made to run for a time, and again destroyed. This is what the Brahmin boy repeats every day:
‘The sun and the moon, the Lord created like the suns and the moons of previous cycles.’
And this agrees with modern science. Here I Stand and if I shut my eyes, and try to conceive my existence, ‘I,’ ‘I,’ ‘I’, what is the idea before me? The idea of a body. Am I, then, nothing but a combination of material substances? The Vedas declare, ‘No’ I am a spirit living in a body: I am not the body. The body will die, but I shall not die. Here I am in this body; it will fall, bull shall go on living. I had also a past. The soul was not created, for creation means a combination, which means a certain future dissolution. If then the soul was created, it must die. Some are born happy, enjoy perfect health with beautiful body, mental vigor, and all wants supplied. Others are born miserable; some are without hands or feet; others again are idiots, and only drag on a wretched existence. Why, if they are all created, why does a just and merciful God create one happy and another unhappy, why is He so partial? Nor would it mend matters in the least to hold that those who are miserable in this life will be happy in a ôare one. Why should a man be miserable even here in the reign of a just and merciful God?
In the second place, the idea of a creator God does not explain the anomaly, but simply expresses the cruel Rat of an all-powerful being. There must have been causes, then, before his birth, to make a man miserable or happy and those were his past actions.
Are not all the tendencies of the mind and the body accounted for by inherited aptitude? Here are two parallel lines of existence - one of the mind, the other of matter. If matter and its transformations answer for all that we have, there is no necessity for supposing the existence of a soul. But it cannot be proved that thought has been evolved out of matter; and if a philosophical monism is inevitable, spiritual monism is certainly logical and no less desirable than a materialistic monism; but neither of these is necessary here.
We cannot deny that bodies acquire certain tendencies from heredity, but those tendencies only mean the physical configuration through which a peculiar mind alone can act in a peculiar way. There are other tendencies peculiar to a soul caused by his past actions. And a soul with a certain tendency would, by the laws of affinity, take birth in a body which is the fittest instrument for the display of that tendency. This is in accord with science, for science wants to explain everything by habit, and habit is got through repetitions. So repetitions are necessary to explain the natural habits of a new born soul. And since they were not obtained in this present life, they must have come down from past lives.
There is another suggestion. Taking all these for granted, how is it that I do not remember anything of my past life? This can be easily explained. I am now speaking English. It is not my mother tongue; in fact, no words of my mother tongue are now present in my consciousness; but let me try to bring them up, and they rush in. That shows that consciousness is only the surface of mental ocean, and within its depths are stored up all our experiences. Try and struggle, they would come up. and you would be conscious even of your past life.
This is direct and demonstrative evidence. Verification is the perfect proof of a theory, and here is the challenge thrown to the world by the Rishis. We have discovered the secret by which the very depths of the ocean of memory can be stirred up - try it and you would get a complete reminiscence of your past life.
So then the Hindu believes that he is a spirit. Him the sword cannot pierce - him the fire cannot burn - him the water cannot melt - him the air cannot dry. The Hindu believes that every soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere but whose center is located in the body, and that death means the change of the center from holy to body. Nor is the soul bound by the conditions of matter.
In its very essence, it is flee, unbounded, holy, pure, and perfect. But somehow or other it finds itself tied down to matter and thinks of itself as matter. Why should the free, perfect, and pure be thus under the thraldom of matter, is the next question. How can the perfect soul be deluded into the belief that it is imperfect? We have been told that the Hindus shirk the question and say that no such question can be there- Some thinkers want to answer it by positing one or more quasi-perfect beings, and use big scientific names to fill up the gap. But naming is not explaining. The question remains the same. How can the perfect become the quasi-perfect; how can the pure, the absolute change even a microscopic particle of its nature? But the Hindu is sincere. He does not want to take shelter under sophistry. He is brave enough to face the question in a manly fashion; and his answer is: ‘I do not know.’ I do not know how the perfect being, the soul, came to think of itself as imperfect, as Joined to and conditioned by matter.’ But the fact is a fact for all that. It is a fact in everybody’s consciousness that one thinks of oneself as the body. The Hindu does not attempt to explain why one thinks one is the body. The answer that it is the will of God is no explanation. This is nothing more than what the Hindu says, ‘I do not know.’
Well, then, the human soul is eternal and immortal, perfect and infinite, and death means only a change of center from one body to another. The present is determined by our past actions, and the future by the present. The soul will go on evolving up or reverting back from birth to birth and death to death. But here is another question: Is man a tiny boat in a tempest, raised one moment on the foamy crest of a billow and dashed down into a yawning chasm the next, rolling to and from at the mercy of good and bad actions - a powerless, helpless wreck in an ever-raging, ever-rushing, uncompromising current of cause and effect - a little moth placed under the wheel of causation, which rolls on crushing everything in its way and waits not for the widow’s tears or the orphan’s cry? The heart sinks at the idea, yet this is the law of nature. Is there no hope? Is there no escape? - was the cry that went up from the bottom of the heart of despair. It reached the throne of mercy, and words of hope and consolation came down and inspired a Vedic sage, and he stood up before the world and in trumpet voice proclaimed the glad tidings: ‘Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! even ye that reside in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again. ‘Children of immortal bliss’ -what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name -heirs of immortal bliss - yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. We are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings divinities on earth - sinners! It is a sin to call a ma. so; it is standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.
Thus it is that the Vedas proclaim not a dreadful combination of unforgiving laws, not an endless prison of cause and effect, but that at the head of all these laws, in and through every particle of matter and force, stands One, ‘by whose command the wind blows, the fire burns, the clouds rain and death stalks upon the earth.’
And what is His nature?
He is everywhere, the pure and formless One, the Almighty and the All-merciful. ‘Thou art our father, Thou art our mother, Thou art our beloved friend, Thou art the source of all strength; give us strength. Thou art He that beareth the burdens of the universe; help me bear the little burden of this life.’ Thus sang the Rishis of the Veda. And how to worship Him? Through love He is to be worshiped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and the next life.’
This is the doctrine of love declared in the Vedas, and let us see how it is fully developed and taught by Krishna whom the Hindus believe to have been God incarnate on earth.
He taught that a man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by water; so a man ought to live in the world - his heart to God and his hands to work.
It is good to love God for hope of reward in this or the next world, but it is better to love God for love’s sake; and the prayer goes: ‘Lord, I do not want wealth nor children nor learning. If it be Thy will, I shall go from birth to birth; but grant me this, that I may love Thee without the hope of reward - love unselfishly for love’s sake.’
One of the disciples of Krishna, the then Emperor of India, wag driven from his kingdom by his enemies and had to take shelter with his queen, in a forest in the Himalayas and there one day the queen asked how it was that he, the most virtuous of men, should suffer so much misery. udhishthira answered, ‘Be hold, my queen, the Himalayas, how grand and beautiful they are; I love them. They do not give me any- thing but my nature is to love the grand, the beautiful, therefore I love them. Similarly, I love the Lord. He is the source of all beauty, of all sublimity. He is the only object to beloved; my nature is to love Him, and therefore I love. I do not pray for any- thing; I do not ask for anything. Let Him place me wherever He likes. I must love Him for love’s sake. I cannot trade in love.’
The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukti - freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery- And this bondage can only fall off through the mercy of God, and this mercy comes on the pure. So purity is the condition of His mercy. How does that mercy act? He reveals Himself to the pure heart; the pure and the stainless see God, yea, even in this life; then and then only all the crookedness of the heart is made straight. Then all doubt ceases. He is no more the freak of a terrible law of causation. This is the very center, the very vital conception of Hinduism. The Hindu does not want to live upon words and theories, If there are existences beyond the ordinary sensuous existence, he wants to come face to face with them. If there is a soul in him which is not matter, if there is an all-merciful universal Soul, he will Rota Him direct. He must see Him, and that alone can destroy all doubts. So the best proof a Hindu sage gives about the soul, about God, is: ‘I have seen the soul; I have seen God.’ And that is the only condition of perfection. The Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realizing - not in believing, but in being and becoming.
Thus the whole object of their system is by constant struggle to become perfect, to become divine, to reach God, and see God; and this reaching God, seeing God, becoming perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect, constitutes the religion of the Hindus.
And what becomes of a man when he attains perfection? He lives a life of bliss infinite. He enjoys infinite and perfect bliss, having obtained the only thing in which man ought to have pleasure, namely God, and enjoys the bliss with God.
So far all the Hindus are agreed. This is the common religion of all the sects of India; but then perfection is absolute, and the absolute cannot be two or three. It cannot have any qualities. It cannot be an individual. And so when a soul becomes perfect and absolute, it must become one with Brahman, and it would only realize the Lord as the perfection, the reality, of its own nature and existence, the existence absolute, knowledge absolute, and bliss absolute. We have often and often read this called the losing of individuality and becoming a stock or a stone.
‘He jests at scars that never felt a wound.’
I tell you it is nothing of the kind. If it is happiness to enjoy the consciousness of this small body, it must be greater happiness to enjoy the consciousness of two bodies, the measure of happiness increasing with the consciousness of an increasing number of bodies, the Rim, the ultimate of happiness, being reached when it would become a universal consciousness.
Therefore, to gain this infinite universal individuality, this miserable little prison - individuality must go. Then alone can death cease when I am one with life, then alone can misery cease when I am one with happiness itself, then alone can all errors cease when I am one with knowledge itself; and this is the necessary scientific conclusion- Science has proved to me that physical individuality is a delusion, that really my body is one little continuously changing body in an unbroken ocean of matter, and Advaita (unity) is the necessary conclusion with my other counterpart, Soul.
Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus chemistry could not progress farther when it would discover one element out of which all others could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all the others are hut manifestations, and the science of religion become perfect when it would discover Him who is the one life in a universe of death, Him who is the constant basis of an ever-changing world, One who is the only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. Thus is it, through multiplicity and duality, that the ultimate unity is reached. Religion can go no farther. This is the goal of all science.
All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today; and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language and with further light from the latest conclusions of science.
Descend we now from the aspirations of philosophy to the religion of the ignorant. At the very outset, I may tell you that there is no polytheism in India. In every temple, if one stands by and listens, one will find the worshipers applying all the attributes of God, including omnipresence. to the images. It is not polytheism, nor would the name henotheism explain the situation.
‘The rose, called by any other name, would smell as sweet.’ Names are not explanations.
I remember, as a boy, hearing a Christian missionary preach to crowd in India. Among other sweet things he was telling them was, that if he gave a blow to their idol with his stick. what could it do? One of his hearers sharply answered, ‘If I abuse your God, what can He do?’ ‘ou would be punished,’ said the preacher, ‘when you die.’ ‘So my idol will punish you when you die,’ retorted the Hindu.
The tree is known by its fruits. When l have seen amongst them that are called idolaters, men, the like of whom, in morality and spirituality and love, I have never seen anywhere, l stop and ask myself, ‘Can sin beget holiness?’
Superstition is a great enemy of man, but bigotry is worse. Why does a Christian go to church? Why is the cross holy? Why is the face turned toward the sky in prayer? Why are there so many images in the Catholic Church? Why are there so many images in the minds of Protestants when they pray? My brethren, we can Do more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing- By the law of association the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he worships. He will tell you. it helps to keep his mind fixed on the Being to whom he prays. He knows as well as you do that the image is not God, is not omnipresent. finer all, how much does omnipresence mean to almost the whole world? It stands merely as a word, a symbol. Has God superficial area? If not, when we repeat that word ‘omnipresent’, we think of the extended sky. or of space - that is all.
As we find that somehow or other, by the laws of our mental constitution, we have to associate our ideas of infinity with the image of the blue sky, or of the sea, so we naturally connect our idea of holiness with the image of a church, a mosque, or a cross. The Hindus have associated the ideas of holiness, purity, truth, omnipresence, and such other ideas with different images and forms. But with this difference that while some people devote their whole lives to their idol of a church and never rise higher, because with them religion means an intellectual assent to certain doctrines and doing good to their fellows, the whole religion of the Hindu is centered in realization. Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples or churches or books are only the supports, the helps, of his spiritual childhood; but on and on he must progress.
He must not stop anywhere. ‘External worship, material worship’ ?,’ say the scriptures, ‘is the lowest stage,’ struggling to rise high, mental prayer is the next stage, but the highest stage is when the Lord has been realized., Mark, the same earnest man who is kneeling before the idol tells you, ‘Him the sun cannot express, nor the moon, nor the stars, the lightning cannot express Him, nor what we speak of as fire; through Him they shine.’ But he does not abuse anyone’s idol or call its worship sin. He recognizes in it a necessary stage of life. ‘The child is father of the man.’ Would it be right for an old man to say that childhood is a sin or youth a sin?
If a man can realize his divine nature with the help of an image, would it be right to call that a sin? Nor, even when he has passed that stage, should he call it an error. To the Hindu, man is not traveling from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from lower to higher truth. To him all the religions from the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, mean so many attempts of the human soul to grasp and realize the Infinite, each determined by the conditions of its birth and association, and each of these marks a stage of progress; and every soul is a young eagle soaring higher and higher, gathering more and more strength till it reaches the Glorious Sun.
Unity in variety is the plan of nature, and the Hindu has recognized it. Every other religion lays down certain fixed dogmas and tries to force society to adopt them. It places before society only one coat which must fit Jack and John and Henry, all alike. If it does not fit John or Henry he must go without a coat to cover his body. The Hindus have discovered that the absolute can only be realized, or thought of, or stated through the relative, and the images, crosses, and crescents are simply so many symbols - so many pegs to hang spiritual ideas on. It is not that this help is necessary for everyone, but those that do not need it have no right to say that it is wrong. Nor is it compulsory in Hinduism.
One thing I must tell you. Idolatry in India does not mean anything horrible. It is not the mother of harlots. On the other hand, it is the attempt of undeveloped minds to grasp high spiritual truths. The Hindus have their faults, they sometimes have their exceptions; but mark this, they are always for punishing their own bodies, and never for cutting the throats of their neighbors. If the Hindu fanatic burns himself on the pyre, he never lights the fire of Inquisition. And even this cannot be laid at the door of his religion any more than the burning of witches can be laid at the door of Christianity.
To the Hindu, then, the whole world of religions is only a traveling, a coming up, of different men and women, through various conditions and circumstances, to the same goal. Every religion is only evolving a God out of the material man, and the same God is the inspirer of all of them. Why, then, are there so many contradictions? They are only apparent, says the Hindu. The contradictions come from the same truth adapting itself to the varying circumstances of different natures.
It is the same light coming through glasses of different colors- And these little variations are necessary for purposes of adaptation. But in the heart of everything the same truth reigns. The Lord has declared to the Hindu in His incarnation as Krishna: ‘I am in every religion as the thread through a string of pearls. Wherever thou seest extraordinary holiness and extraordinary power raising and purifying humanity, know thou that I am there. ‘ And what has been the result? I challenge the world to find, throughout the whole system of Sanskrit philosophy, any such expression as that the Hindu alone will be saved and not others. Says Vyasa, ‘we find perfect men even beyond the pale of our caste and creed.’ One thing more. How, then, can the Hindu, whose whole fabric of thought centers in God, believe in Buddhism which is agnostic, or in Jainism which is atheistic?
The Buddhists or the Jains do not depend upon God; but the whole force of their religion is directed to the great central truth in every religion, to evolve a God out of man. They have not seen the Father, but they have seen the Son. And he that hath seen the Son bath seen the Father also.
This, brethren, is a short sketch of the religious ideas of the Hindus. The Hindu may have failed to carry out all his plans, but if there is ever to be a universal religion, it must be one which will have no location in place or time; which will be infinite like the God it will preach, and whose sun will shine upon the followers of Krishna and of Christ, on saints and sinners alike; which will not be Brahminic or Buddhistic, Christian or Mohammedan, but the sum total of all these. and still have infinite space for development; which in its catholicity will embrace in infinite arms, and find a place for, every human being from the lowest grovelling savage, not far removed from the brute, to the highest man towering by the virtues of his head and heart almost above humanity, making society stand in awe of him and doubt his human nature. It will be a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its own true, divine nature.
Offer such a religion and all the nations will follow you. Asoka’s council was a council of the Buddhist faith. Akbar’s. though more to the purpose. was only a parlor meeting. It was reserved for America to proclaim to all quarters of the globe that the Lord is in every religion.
May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians, give strength to you to carry out your noble idea! The star arose in the East; it traveled steadily towards the West, sometimes dimmed and sometimes effulgent, till it made a circuit of the world, and now it is again rising on the very horizon of the East, the borders of the Sanpo(1), a thousand fold more effulgent than it ever was before.
Hail Columbia, motherland of liberty! It has been given to thee, who never dipped her hand in her neighbor’s blood, who never found out that the shortest way of becoming rich was by robbing one’s neighbors, it has been given to thee to march at the vanguard of civilization with the flag of harmony.
(1) A Tibetan name for the Bramaputra River
Administrator@TUW from United States said,
July 14, 2005 @ 11:21 pm
Debasish Tikadar from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 1:42 am
One thing is that, the voice is original or not it does not matter.
It will influence young generation.
Mahendra Varma Raju from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 1:50 am
Hi Guys….
Why? you are bothering about… wheather the audio is original or fake… Please try to get the speech… Swamiji’s speech… We are very proud to be INDIAN and also Hindu..Thank you very much - those who provided this speech…In the internet.
Regards,
Mahendra Varma Raju
Suresh VS from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 6:07 am
Hi,
I thank God for this great opportunity to hear Swamiji’s voice and I thank u very much the peoples who provide this great one. I never mind the voice is original or not.
Once again Thank u very much.
Suresh VS
Stalin Selvam from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 8:11 am
I am really lucky to be born as Indian and even lucky to be born as Hindu, but it struck me again with the words of swamiji, He say’s that we should concentrate on the one ness of whole centered God, not on the religion which you belong to…., I thank to the person who provided me such an honour to listen to the wording of swamiji…. I would ask my fellow friends to follow the words of swamiji…
Lochana J from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 9:07 am
I have never thought that I will get a chance to hear such an owsome speech given by Swami Vivekananda. I liked it very much.Thank you for providing such a wonderfull gift. This is very heart touching speech which encourages all to have a common enlightenment.
jagadish from India said,
July 15, 2005 @ 1:07 pm
really the speech of swamijy, irrespective of its authenticity in this recording, i owe my deep sence of gratitude to the way the hinduism has been illustrated,the dimentions it has, the message it takes to world… it is indeed incredible message one has to reverbarate and know the essence of hinduism and be proud of hindu.
subbarao uppalapati from United States said,
July 15, 2005 @ 3:16 pm
I am thankful and express my deep sense of gratitude for giving the opportunity to listen to the great message given to the world by swami vivekananda.
I once again thank you
Meena Desai from India said,
July 19, 2005 @ 4:49 am
This is just GREAT to hear Swami Vivekananda’s voice. Feeling proud of being an Indian. Thank you very much for providing this on internet.
shyam sunder reddy.g from India said,
July 25, 2005 @ 9:27 am
Thats great to hear swamiji’s voice. why we should have doubts over the authenticity of the voice?. Please can anybody find in the written records whether the “parliament of relegions” had been recorded or not? to eliminate the doubts.
Thank you.
shyam
Senthil Kumar from India said,
July 29, 2005 @ 7:53 am
It’s GREAT to hear swamiji’s voice. Feeling proud of being an Indian. Thank you very much for providing this on internet.
srinivas from United States said,
July 31, 2005 @ 1:21 pm
First of all let me thank those people who did a great job of placing these audio tapes over internet.
I am happy to born in a philosophy which respects all the religions equally without condemning anyone.
Hinduism is an idea. Thought process. Many great people through out the human history preached the same again and again.
I am happy that I belong to that kind of spiritually civilzed society.
Whom so ever came to know about this site please share this information with all the friends and family
Thanks
Shiva Prasad from United States said,
August 2, 2005 @ 12:21 pm
I thank the people who have put the efforts in bringing forth the wonderful speech of Swamiji. I have read about Swamiji, and now am glad to read and hear his speech. I am now reading the book, “Autobiography of a Yogi”, What a perfect compliment this speech has been. As I hear read and hear the speech, I feel, there is so much more to know.
Thank you all
Ramakrishnan from India said,
August 10, 2005 @ 11:20 pm
Hi All,
This is the first time am hearing that a debate is going on in the Internet Community about the originality of that audio. My humble opinion is that we humans need not worry about the originality of the audio. Because it was not labelled as a message from a terrorist. It was a message given by a holy Hindu monk to the world community stating that “No religions are superior or inferior to any other religion”. And according to my view no religions says that you should not communicate or keep contact with people from other religions. So those who comply with this monk’s speech are none other than themselves who are true to their own religion. So lets not hear to the debate regarding the originality of this audio.
Long live the unity between the religions.
Thank you all.
Bye.
Vinayak Naik from United States said,
August 20, 2005 @ 11:02 pm
Its time to ACT rahter than to THINK after listeneing to the lecture. I feel bad that we have had only one Swamy Vivekananda till date, to remind us of the essence of religion. The words that were said years back still hold good, but forgotten. We claim to have made great progress, NOT towards the absolute religion. Aren’t we fools still fighting as to which religion is superior?
Swamiji is one source of light, and his thoughts are the the rays. We are fortunate to have an everlasting light in this world. Why are we hiding from this, whcih gives us an illusion of darkness. Our goal is to move towards light.
I appeal to all the people who have heard this message to convey it to their friends/relatives/neighbours. Let everyone in this world taste the spiritual wisdom.
Thanks you for giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts and thank you for inserting the link on the world wide web.
Vinayak
Asish Kumar Das from Austria said,
August 23, 2005 @ 5:45 pm
This is undoubtedly the greatest effort to bring the richest Religion of the World againg in the front line of Global attention. We are so tired to find something better than Hinduism, but in vain, yet to find a better alternative. Sometimes I get depressed to be aware that our people hardly feel proud about our Religion, some are very shaky even to proclaim themselves as a hindu origin. There is certain reason behind this plight of our religion today. Because we’ve hardly got any opportunity to know our own culture which has been over-shadowed by some unreal and unstable philosophies and we are continuously shedding our sweat from dawn to dusk and simultaneously live in fear of comprehensive insecurity, which is nothing but imaginery.
The base of Himduism is respect to the seniors or Gurus, worship of knowledge, truthfulness, greedlessness, politeness, amiability, sacrifice and feeling and cooperation for each other.
But, unfortunately our present system of education is devoid of those abstract nouns, rather we are proudly approaching towards hard core materialism and getting tired and frustrated; because that’s not our culture, not our genetic behaviour as we inherit from our ancestors.
This has made the hindus shaky and dragging them away from their richest culture. But, we are yet to be finished, as we are, “Amritassyya Putra.”
Regards,
Asish Kumar Das
“Luster of Eternity”
www.astroevent.com
suresh from India said,
August 25, 2005 @ 1:37 pm
Really God Bless Me,
Becoz i read only viveka books,really i m not think i hear him voice.Now its true.Its Dream or real.oooooo God,ooooo My Gurji.But i can’t belive it. This is real.
Thank u thank u thank u i say 1000000 times i give to U
Aravinda Babu Boyapati from India said,
August 30, 2005 @ 10:17 am
Hi,
Thanks for providing the great speeches of Swami Vivekananda.I am really enjoying his great speeches and trying to follow in my real life.
Bye
Aravind
Brahmaiah Manam from India said,
August 31, 2005 @ 10:20 am
My dear young Indian brethern, let us cherish for being Indians and for being Hindus. I dont mind in what name your religion is called. For me all that matters is we are humans and the children of God.
Every Human has God in him. Let us build a society which will be free from hatred and agony.
As Swamiji says “The Hindus have their faults, they sometimes have their exceptions; but mark this, they are always for punishing their own bodies, and never for cutting the throats of their neighbors”. We Hindus enbrace any religion just to make us reach perfection in loving.
Let the LOVE flow to every human. Any forceful religion coversions can not shake the roots of this legendary philosophy “HINDUISM - Love and nothing but Love”
I sincerely thank for those who put swamiji’s words on net.
Jai Hind.
Harish Vanjare from India said,
September 2, 2005 @ 10:56 am
Proud to be Hindu !!
Jai Hind !!!
SANDY from India said,
September 5, 2005 @ 5:41 am
GUD audios. u doing gr8 job. pls try to collect more audio on that.
thanks & Rgeards,
Sandy
vishal from India said,
September 15, 2005 @ 6:03 am
Well, its a good thing and we feel honured by hearing His speech, but shall we belive it? RK Math or RK Mission even don’t have this version why it’s
so?
any way good thing!
Manoj Motiani from India said,
September 23, 2005 @ 5:48 pm
It was an eye opner speech to understand that religion is part of us . Rather then we part of religion
shakti from India said,
October 15, 2005 @ 3:04 am
Friends here is the orginal
http://jdk.phpkid.org/index.php?p=1188
pls put this on ur site
if you are Indian, then Lt. Swami Vivekananda needs no introduction. You would have also heard about his famous speech in Chicago in 1893, where he addressed the attendees as ‘Sisters and Brothers’. Did you ever wanted to listen to the actual speech? Find it right here.
Swami Vivekananda’s Speech - Part 1 Size - 7.16mb
Swami Vivekananda’s Speech - Part 2 Size - 4.78mb
There is bit of noise in starting of speech but overall the quality is good.
Mukund from United States said,
October 20, 2005 @ 5:50 am
Thanks to all who made this possible.
Shunmugasundaram from India from Germany said,
October 22, 2005 @ 5:48 am
I thank the almighty who gave me the oppurtunity to listen this speech,I am proud to be from the land of Swami Vivekananda
Madana Gopal from India said,
October 25, 2005 @ 12:43 pm
What a grand speech……….. this is the speech coming out the true soul or the one which has attained the truth…. look at the way he combines the purpose of science and religion….. yes it is true that everything has a purpose and when it finishes its purpose it is no more…..
Look at the way he supports that idol worship…. infact the childhood experience of swami vivekananda where he sees the christian persons trying to preach their religion by degrading our religion……. that had a very deep impact on him…. that made him read the upanishads,vedas,bible,quran what else? he wanted to know the truth and so he did find it in the books which he read…… till now i was doubtfull why idol worship is being followed…. my teacher used to say that idol worship came into hinduism due to the greeks contact with India which is quite true…… but you see Hinduism is able to absorb anything which is good…. is there any religion older than hinduism? tell me….? perhaps egyptians followed their own religion which was also old…. but look where it is? it is now restricted to the tombs and the wonderfull pyramids….. but hinduism is able to survive….. why ? because it is adaptive……..
perhaps you can realize this truth when vivekananda says that contradictions arise since the eternal truth adapts itself into various forms depending upon the situation……. yes Hinduism is like the grass….. even though there might be a big storm the grass bends and saves itself unlike the proud trees which fail to acknowledge the power of the storm…..
Also it is totally unjustifiable to compare any religion with Hinduism….. infact judaism is like a child to hinduism…… so is christianity which is a child to judaism and Islam a child to christianity…… but i was awe struck when he says that our past experiences and knowledge remains buried…. he explains it with his own speech saying that his mother tongue is not english yet he is able to speak english as his own mother tongue without a hitch……
But as a hindu i do believe in the concept of souls and body…. yes it is true that this body is not an eternal one…… once we realize this eternal truth perhaps man will tread his way and try to work towards the perfect goal of unity or god!………
Jai Hind and may the truth of hinduism spread its wings……!
Kiran K N from India said,
October 27, 2005 @ 1:46 pm
Really fortunate to hear the speech. Have found answers to questions which were circling round my mind for years. Now, am even more inspired to dig through my roots on hinduism and really know who I am.
Ojovathi from India said,
December 14, 2005 @ 9:48 am
Thank you, waiting for such an occasion. Thanks very much.
Anup from Canada from United States said,
December 17, 2005 @ 1:33 pm
Thanks a lot.. find my self more closer to hinduism…
Chandra S Ganduri from United States said,
December 30, 2005 @ 6:46 am
I think this should be made available to all people who want to understand what is the “Vedic culture”. I’m afraid.. the way Hinduism is potrayed today, will this masterpiece will find acceptance to be made available to masses .. Or would this also fall flat…the way ‘Saraswati Vandana’ happened..
It is paining see the present state of our country…Where media is equating Saffron to Fanatism…(Due to haste acts of handfull vote-mongers..)
I pray to God!…Let this not get burried in the name of ‘Secularism’…today practised by our polictical community.
Mahadev samapriya.. from India said,
January 10, 2006 @ 10:30 am
every hindu must hear this great speech
Srinivasa Chowdary Alluri from United Kingdom said,
February 3, 2006 @ 6:37 pm
Thank you very much for sharing this great speech. I felt that I am very lucky to hear Swamiji’s voice.
Vivek Patil from India said,
February 7, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
I think , Vivek anand was having a greate comand over the Philosophy.
He gives us a greate potential through his ideology .
But the Question arose before me why the ideology of vivekanand cannot spread over with a greate aenthuzianism.
What he thinks is wondersome . THOUGH IT IS WITH A GREAT SPIRIT . THE YOUTH ALWAYS AFRAID TO ADOPT .
we have to follow not only the principles but also the the efforts to go with the ideology.
srikanth from India said,
February 13, 2006 @ 5:40 am
This is simply great. The true voice recorded while he was speaking. Its nice to listen his teachings lively.
Badrinath from United States said,
February 26, 2006 @ 4:56 pm
Thanks a lot its great experience to listen to Swami Vivekananda Live.
Vamshi from United States said,
March 4, 2006 @ 5:24 am
I don’t bother if it was Swamiji’s true voice or not… it has given me the text and also the audio for cross reference. Thats enough to get the message of Swamiji. That is what is important and not the audio recording.
I am very happy to listen/read the entire speech. Thank you.
Pradeep kumar from India said,
March 6, 2006 @ 8:54 am
It’s very unfortunate that India lost and has been losing great people like Swamy Vivekananda, Lal Bahadur shastry, Subhas Chandra Bhose to name a few, at their young ages. On the other hand, idiotic “Secular??” leaders live for a long time.
A wonderful speach, I have no words to explain.
But if these pseudo secularists continue their idiotic activities, Hinduism will soon vanish. I don’t know why Hindus don’t have unity.
Hindus,
please understand that ours is the richest religion in the world, please respect it (especially women).
Thanks
Pradeep
Kumar SBK from United States said,
March 7, 2006 @ 11:53 am
Feel gifted for the opportunity to listen to this speech. Have a better understanding of our religion now. Great religion !!!
Lets all spread that Love and make this world a better place even for others. Lets all pray for a peaceful and loving atmosphere.
Lets all enjoy every moment of this life through love and peace.
Lets all forget the physical/religious boundaries and learn to respect and help everyone, which will make this world a wonderful place like heaven.
Sincerely thank the one who shared this message.
Amit Sen from India said,
March 14, 2006 @ 4:23 am
Thanks for collecting information. Why people are really so much bothered about the genuity of the tape. What is important is the message and better understanding of Hinduism. India is full of great soul and rishies and it is ignorance of some who believe that there was no greater person or rishi other than Vivekanand. It is very myopic view. Even today India is full of greater souls and great mystic one can learn a great deal from to evolve in their journey on the to discover themselves, and discovery of self is the discovery of GOD and end of one journey and begining of another. Only prerequisite is to move away from rat race and go in the exploratary journey of the world outside and within..and keep moving on the path without too much expectation of reward and media coverage.
arun from India said,
March 19, 2006 @ 4:56 pm
The speech is superb..thanx for the audio..
keep up the good work !!
Inside Out » Blog Archive » Arise, awake and stop not… from United States said,
March 20, 2006 @ 9:13 am
[…] Paper on Hinduism — The Masterpiece. Text of speech here […]
Nagamani k from India said,
March 25, 2006 @ 9:08 am
Really Great and Wonderfull to hear the wordings of Swami Vivekananda.
rakesh mohan singhal from Saudi Arabia said,
March 25, 2006 @ 3:40 pm
This audio is tremendous enough in nature to ignite the fire in belly of young hindu and more important young indians to know the core crux of hinduism.
I am grateful to the people behind this effort which enabled us to revisit our core fundamentals in their exact meaning.
Anne Naveen from India said,
March 27, 2006 @ 12:23 am
Really Great and Wonderfull to hear the wordings of Swami Vivekananda
RAMA KRISHNA .S from India said,
March 28, 2006 @ 2:41 am
TOO GOOD…………………… FANTASTIC
Abhijit from Canada said,
April 7, 2006 @ 10:00 am
This is really great efforts to share these speeches. I will be the one of the luckiest person on the earth who got chance to hear Swamiji’s voice.
Thanks a lot……
Kalyan from India said,
April 11, 2006 @ 5:55 pm
Thanks to hin who recorded took the work to collect this lectures. Let us work to live like him.Purity,patience and preservence.
Shyam from United States said,
April 17, 2006 @ 12:54 am
What eloquence! I wish I could write like that…
The audio is definitely not the ‘real’ deal as this kind of recording could never have existed in 1893….but the text of the speech was brilliant and shows Vivekananda’s grasp of other religions’ core philosophies as well…
Anyway, good work in putting it up online!!
Anjaiah Yalla from India said,
April 17, 2006 @ 8:08 am
Hi This is really inspiring speech.
Sunil from India said,
May 18, 2006 @ 8:42 am
Thanks for linking this great speech here. Feeling Proud Hindu and a Hindu more closer to Hinduism then everbefore. This speech should be played in all schools and colleges of India and i am confident Hinduism will start sending it’s age old spiritual rays with full power and will enrich spiritually not just India but every corner of the world.
Naresh N. Rimal from Australia said,
June 4, 2006 @ 10:19 am
This is full of potential and kinetic energy to all.
Naresh N. Rimal
Jhamsikhel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Sri Iyer from Canada said,
July 20, 2006 @ 9:37 am
In a world where religion asbecome the root coause of evil and distruction, perhaps one of us can send this URL to the representatives of the more theological religions, be it the vatican or the Imams of Sauidi Arabia.
Perhaps it will make a difference and alleviate the suffering of millions under the name of religion.
Sachin Telang from United States said,
August 13, 2006 @ 10:32 pm
Besides listening and studying this speech more than once, I have also made it a point to share it with as many of my friends/groups.
I think all of us present in this information technology era should make most of this powerful medium (internet) to spread this “Universal Wisdom” of swami vivekanand.
I think all of us are following “a Universal Wisdom thru’ a Universal Medium”. It seems that we (and hence science) are all moving towards oneness - finding unity.
To quote in swamji’s words -
“Science is nothing but the finding of unity…..”
Regards,
sactel
vivek singh from India said,
August 27, 2006 @ 3:36 am
ya…this is the voice of a Yogi….Full control over volume,strong voice,clear and filled with spirit….If anybody has any doubt,then try this speech on your own,u will find the answer yourself !!
Nirmal from India said,
August 27, 2006 @ 3:57 pm
Firstly thanks for the link,
Instead of debating whether the voice of SWAMI if genuine or fake, lets march towards understanding “THE UNIVERSIAL TRUTH”
Marx from Korea (South) said,
August 30, 2006 @ 8:51 am
Dear friends
i tried to download all speech of swamy vivekananda but could not.Please let me know where from i can download all his speech.
thank you
rakesh singh from India said,
September 21, 2006 @ 7:47 am
i tried to download all speech of swami ji .pls tell me where from i can download all speech
rakesh singh from India said,
September 24, 2006 @ 6:33 pm
i tried to download all speech of swami ji .pls tell me where from i can download all speech my email id is rakesh_kumar94@yahoo.com
rakesh singh
anupam from Japan said,
September 29, 2006 @ 8:56 pm
Thanks for revealing the secrects of authenticity of this record.
But may this be an immitated one, Mr. Viswanath (the speaker) has indeed done a great job by giving us a rough idea of what that SUN OF ALL SUNs was like.
Also it helps us quickly reinforce those ever charming jweles of our own Indian Culture. It again redifines Hinduism.
My endless pranams to that great Hindu Monk of India.
Pradeep from India said,
October 12, 2006 @ 12:12 am
Its Really wonderfull.
premnath Reddy from USA from United States said,
October 20, 2006 @ 7:17 pm
Dear friends
This is excellent idea to post the swamiji speeches in audio fromat.I have been looking for smamiji voice for years and eventually i got it.It does not matter whether it is authentic or not,but i can listen to it every day.
Please,try to propagate his teachings to others and educate not only fellow indians but also non-hindus with his philosophy .Try to get his books and read.most importantly,talk ,talk ,talk ,talk and talk his teachings and philosophy wherever you go ..
Jai Hindu
Lijesh.N.C from India said,
October 21, 2006 @ 2:38 am
namasthe,
i am sure he might have merged with god
” sarvadharman parithyagya mam ekam sharanam vraja: ”
pranams
Vincente Jumping Eagle from United States said,
October 25, 2006 @ 3:40 pm
I thought this was very informative about the Hindu religion. I was so in the dark about this religion and now I know more than what I did before. I am currently doing a paper on Hinduism and this will help me greatly. I wish that if there were anyone out the that could help me with my paper could…thank you!
Ragu from India said,
October 29, 2006 @ 3:16 am
The speech of swami vivekananda is greater than any explanation given for an invention. As said “When the knowledge is spread it get’s multiplied”, thanks for “The universal wisdom” organisation for spreading this information to the modern world.
I am proud to been an Indian/Hindu.
Jay Dave from United States said,
November 3, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
I have been truly blessed today on hearing Swamiji’s speech. I do not really care whether it is the original or not, what I do care about is how I can try to incorporate the message of Swamiji in my daily life. I have been reading the Collected Works and have really been trying to incorporate some of the ideas in life. But it is a struggle, struggle against nature, against my own self which has been going on.
Whenever I do something I should not have done, I realize the thing only after the event has taken place, but someday I hope to become so much aware that I am able to recognize the emotions, feelings, etc before I am going to do a particular act and as such act and think in the proper manner.
India is truly a blessed country and a spiritual giant to have such great personalities as Shri Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Raman Maharishi, Swami Rama.
One thing I seriously think about is the message of strength from Swamiji, no outside force or Guru is going to come to help you out with your problems, but you have to be bold and strong and fight against the problems yourself.
It is in the fighting and conquering the nature, that we are what we are and not with the conformity to things. As Swamiji has pointed out that this world is a great gymnasium for our growth and development.
Wishing all of you great strength and spirit.
V.Sivagurunathan from India said,
November 6, 2006 @ 11:43 am
Respected person who provided this audio file, I really thank you from the depth of my heart. There are going to be millions who will definitely get great inspirations from this speech by the greatest monk and guru I’ve ever known about, Swami Vivekananda. Thank you again. My kind request to you is to start a service through e-mail like sending inspirational speeches (text) and articles. Thanking you with due respect. Jai Hind. Jai Gurudeve Swami Vivekananda.
Yours truly
V.Sivagurunathan
Biswanath Basu from United States said,
December 9, 2006 @ 11:47 pm
This is just awesome! The best commentary on religion, theology and philosophy that I have ever heard and perhaps can hope to hear. Great job to the guy who put it up there. I don’t care if it is original or not.
As long as we get the essence of Swamiji’s teachings I think it serves it’s purpose.
kiran from India said,
December 14, 2006 @ 2:36 am
Iam proud to be indian
Ganesh from United States said,
December 30, 2006 @ 2:01 am
Thank you very much for putting up this great peace of knowledge. I don’t really care now as to which religion is best; Hinduism, Christianity or Zoroastriniasm. All that matters is that there is a Supreme being whom we should love with all our heart. In Swamiji’s words, I found these two very important, one to love God for love’s sake, and second to rise from notions of individuality to be one with the God.
Nagesh from United States said,
December 30, 2006 @ 5:13 pm
Thx fo the adio file brother
Pradeepta Kumar Bal from United States said,
January 12, 2007 @ 7:05 am
What a great great Speech. It makes all the Indians very proud of our culture & religion.
ennar from India said,
January 12, 2007 @ 11:14 am
நன்றாக உள்ளது இப்படி ஒரு பேச்சைக் கேட்க கொடுத்து வைத்திருக்க வேண்டும் இதை வெளியிட்டவர்களுக்கு நன்றி சொல்லவேண்டும்
Karthik from India said,
January 17, 2007 @ 1:12 am
He said it not only to make Indians proud he had a great ambitions,that younger generations come up with there voices and shake out the deliusions that we are cowards and he ultimatley showed us that we are lions not cowards,he also said” Arise , Awake and not to stop untill the goal is reached”,
He was a great saint ,having a great master Ramakrishna paramahamsa himself…
any ways thanks for the audio Brother…
Srinivas Kusampudi from United States said,
February 10, 2007 @ 2:39 am
Thank you very much for providing this incredible audio and text message. We as indians should be very proud to have such spiritual Gurus.
V.Chandrasekaran from Malaysia said,
February 20, 2007 @ 1:07 am
It was wonderful to hear an Indian Guru speaking with so much commitment and believe in the Hindu religion, and that too in the English Language. What more - without any flaws whatsoever. I am real proud of you Swamiji. Long live your teachings and may it open hearts and minds to the existence of GOD and the greatness of the Hindu religion.
subbarao yalla from France said,
February 23, 2007 @ 2:33 am
Really I thank u from the depth of my heart, the millions hindu people who will definitely get great inspiration from the speech by the greatest person
Sri Swami Vivekananda.
srinivasarao.ganpisetii from France said,
February 23, 2007 @ 3:14 pm
tnq for providing swamiji lecture
it was believed that swamiji in incorination of great soul from heaven
these words must be followed by all the young persons of world to create
a peaceful environment.we must proud due to birth in india,great country with great history .it is responsibility of each and every humanbeing to protect this type of speaches
Geet Bhatt from United States said,
February 25, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
I am truly proud to be an Indian and a Hindu. Swami Vivekananda conveyed the aspects of Hinduism and its connection to the world with such ease, and power of expression. Indeed, this great masterpiece should be spread and understood by all of mankind. This ocean of knowledge has inspired me to my very core and I am sure it will inspire many others for generations to come!
Jai Hind
Biren from United States said,
February 27, 2007 @ 1:02 am
Thanks you for this wonderful service and information. Swami Vivekanandji represented India in all its facets. His take on the Sanatan Dharama, I believe, his understanding of it in unparalleled by anyone else out there. I bow to him and Mother India. I am so proude to be a Bharatiya and a Sanatani.
Jai Hind
Aum Shanti
PRABHAT from India said,
March 11, 2007 @ 10:02 am
its good for all human beings on the earth as well as for others
Ranganath Varma from India said,
April 1, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Great speech , he is India, the essence of Hinduism…..
Proud to be a Hindu and proud to be an Indian
ashwani gogia from United Arab Emirates said,
April 3, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
I am 48 years old. After listening swami ji’ lecture.now i have come to know what really hinduism is.still nothing is gone to improve my self. sorry to tell u that I think Even 2 % hindus does not know what is HINDUISM is.
ennar from India said,
April 4, 2007 @ 8:35 am
ashwani gogia
You must read lot of hindu books
Hitesh Bhardwaj from India said,
April 16, 2007 @ 8:39 am
Thank to all. This is great.
I. Yakubovich from United States said,
April 16, 2007 @ 5:32 pm
I am not a Hindu, but a Pantheist. It seems to me that what Vivekananda is saying is nearly the same as what Baruch Spinoza was saying in the 17th century. I especially like the lines about the universal religion at the end (it is what my blog is about). I added this paper to my blog.
Senthil Kumar Vasudevan from India said,
April 18, 2007 @ 3:21 am
Dear friend,
I think we all have understood this speech but i feel the must important thing is to understand this statement ” Verification is the perfect proof of a theory, and here is the challenge thrown to the world by the Rishis. We have discovered the secret by which the very depths of the ocean of memory can be stirred up - try it ”
And what i feel is this is the challenge which is give to us and we need to accept this challenge.
Thanks,
Senthil
Abhijit from India said,
April 20, 2007 @ 7:57 am
My Hero, My Sole Salutes you. Tell me how to realise the Supreme. I donot have a guru, but I want to see Him, love Him just for the sake of Love, not to get anything in return. Will u help me?
Senthil Kumar Vasudevan from India said,
April 23, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
Sure My Friend,
What ever little knowledge i have i will share with all of you.
Before making you understand about the supreme i would like to recall one statement which the vades say and even swami Vivekananda sad in his speeach, That is
“So the best proof a Hindu sage gives about the soul, about God, is: ‘I have seen the soul; I have seen God.’”
So what we need to understand is all about our soul. Below is a small example of human soul.
I am looking at you. The external sensations are brought to me by the eyes; they are carried by the sensory nerves to the brain. The eyes are not the organs of vision. They are but the external instruments, because if the real organ behind, that which carries the sensation to the brain, is destroyed, I may have twenty eyes, yet I cannot see you. The picture on the retina may be as complete as possible, yet I shall not see you. Therefore, the organ is different from its instruments; behind the instruments, the eyes, there must be the organ. So it is with all the sensations. The nose is not the sense of smell; it is but the instrument, and behind it is the organ. With every sense we have, there is first the external instrument in the physical body; behind that, in the same physical body, there is the organ; yet these are not sufficient. Suppose I am talking to you, and you are listening to me with close attention. Something happens, say, a bell rings; you will not, perhaps, hear the bell ring. The pulsations of that sound came to your ear, struck the tympanum, the impression was carried by the nerve into the brain; if the whole process was complete up to carrying the impulse to the brain, why did you not hear? Something else was wanting–the mind was not attached to the organ. When the mind detaches itself from the organ, the organ may bring any news to it, but the mind will not receive it. When it attaches itself to the organ, then alone is it possible for the mind to receive the news. Yet, even that does not complete the whole. The instruments may bring the sensation from outside, the organs may carry it inside, the mind may attach itself to the organ, and yet the perception may not be complete. One more factor is necessary; there must be a reaction within. With this reaction comes knowledge. That which is outside sends, as it were, the current of news into my brain. My mind takes it up, and presents it to the intellect, which groups it in relation to pre-received impressions and sends a current of reaction, and with that reaction comes perception. Here, then, is the will. The state of mind which reacts is called Buddhi, the intellect. Yet, even this does not complete the whole. One step more is required. Suppose here is a camera and there is a sheet of cloth, and I try to throw a picture on that sheet. What am I to do? I am to guide various rays of light through the camera to fall upon the sheet and become grouped there. Something is necessary to have the picture thrown upon, which does not move. I cannot form a picture upon something which is moving; that something must be stationary, because the rays of light which I throw on it are moving, and these moving rays of light, must be gathered, unified, co-ordinated, and completed upon something which is stationary. Similar is the case with the sensations which these organs of ours are carrying inside and presenting to the mind, and which the mind in its turn is presenting to the intellect. This process will not be complete unless there is something permanent in the background upon which the picture, as it were, may be formed, upon which we may unify all the different impressions. What is it that gives unity to the changing whole of our being? What is it that keeps up the identity of the moving thing moment after moment? What is it upon which all our different impressions are pieced together, upon which the perceptions, as it were, come together, reside, and form a united whole? We have found that to serve this end there must be something, and we also see that that something must be, relatively to the body and mind, motionless. The sheet of cloth upon which the camera throws the picture is, relatively to the rays of light, motionless, else there will be no picture. That is to say, the perceiver must be an individual. This something upon which the mind is painting all these pictures, this something upon which our sensations, carried by the mind and intellect, are placed and grouped and formed into a unity, is what is called the soul of man.
Hope you have understood.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Thanks,
Senthil
ennar from France said,
April 24, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
அந்த நிகழ்ச்சிக்கு அனுப்பிவைத்தவர் நமது தமிழ் நாட்டுக்காரர்தான் செலவுக்க பணமும் கொடுத்தனுப்பினார் தெரியுமா? தங்களுக்கு
Ivan Solntsev from Russia said,
May 11, 2007 @ 5:07 pm
Our dear brothers and sisters - Hindus, there is no country in the world that is so loved and respected in Russia as India. You can respect the USA, admire France, but you can only love India. Our modern artists create sculptures of Vivekananda, paintings of Ramakrishna - the truly pearls of Hindu’s soul. I’m so glad to see so much wonderful messages of reverence and adoration about Swamiji. In Him is your future, in Him is our future. India, hear the voice of your great son!
With fiery and cordial wishes, Ivan.
Sayak Boral from France said,
June 24, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
Thank you Ivan (We Indians also have the greatest love and goodwill for the people of Russia)
I had heard of this speech all my life and was always curious to know what it really was. I always wanted to read it but fate eluded me the magnificent wisdom contained in the words by Swamiji.
I had been disillusioned with God for a while and almost became an atheist - until now I feel as if I’ve awoken my spirit at last. I feel so freshly inspired that words fail me. As if all my ego is now destroyed, forever.
I would recommend this website to anybody who feels down, and out in his/her life.
God bless everybody
Cordial wishes
Sayak
Krishnan from India said,
July 27, 2007 @ 3:04 am
A great pleassure indeed !
How much we follow is what matters, hearing is only partial, but imbibing is what matters, hope we get the strength and courage to make his teachings a way of life.
Krishnan
Ahmed bin fairuz al balushi from Oman said,
July 29, 2007 @ 3:11 am
Dear Hindu brothers & sisters,
Swami Vivekanand is one of the many Hindu personages who have come like a light on this world.
It is with the help of this and many other lights that I have begun my wonderful journey as new Hindu, in my war-torn country. It is dangerous, as now I am different from the rest. But I dont fear because ‘Dharmah Rakshati, Rakshitah” (The Hindu Dharm protects those who protect it) Hoping to see the light of love in everyone’s eyes to fulfil my life’s quest, my new direction.
Jai Shri Ram, Jai Sita Mata, Jai Hindu Dharma…
Pranam from Ahmed, Lebanon
Gurudutt Verma from Germany said,
August 4, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
Main ish speech ko sun kar dhanya ho gaya.
Thank you very much for this, I haven’t thought about hearing voice of Guru Swami Vivekanand.
it is like dream comes true.
Thank you 1 million times
Gurudutt
Anil Bhan from India said,
August 18, 2007 @ 8:07 am
I have been going to swamiji’s ashram with m grandfather since the age of ONE. Presently I am 37 and Swamiji’s philosophy is in my upbringng.
Thats something which I longed for years. Great. Many thanks - Anil
MONISH MATHPAL from France said,
August 27, 2007 @ 10:08 am
Dear friends,
i would like to elucidate my incredible discovery in few sentences as follows,i would say that it’s a historical lucid elucidation which has ever been given by any of the monk ,the compilation of mythology & scientific facts has amazed me.He has contributed to the community of Hindus which is priceless & made world amazed about hindus.Iam priviliged that i do belong to hindu religion,at last i would say u did a great work by making this precious,admirable & inspirational speech online !!!expressing gratitude to u all.
MONISH MATHPAL
Binay Pandey from India said,
September 14, 2007 @ 8:20 am
This audio shall be made available to all Indians including Muslims and Christians, so that everyone should get enlightened. When Americans could listen to Swami ji why not we Indians.
Had I been fortunate enough to hear this speech in my student days, I would have been a different person altogether. Now I am 4o yrs old but feel fully reformed now.
It seems I was not knowing anything about the Indian-ness and Hinduism.
Thanks a lot to Universal Wisdom. Great Work.
Prof. Deena Bandhu Pandey from India said,
September 18, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
I searched it on your web-site on the eave of the 115th Smriti-Divas of the Lecture of Svami Vivekanand, which we are to celebrate at Vishv Samvad Kendr, Lanka, Varanasi (India).
Its a joyful inspiration for we Indians.
Thanks for the service rendered by your organization.
—- Prof. Deena Bandhu Pandey
Former Head, Dept. of History of Art,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (India)
sooryan from France said,
October 12, 2007 @ 2:55 am
Hi
This is really a inspiration for all Hindus.
Sathya Manavan from India said,
October 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Most narrow minded speach ever made. Vivekananda does not know the eternal truth of salvation by Jesus Christ who is alive, resurrected from the dead. Truth is in the person Jesus and not in any religion or philosophy. “Thou shalt know the Truth and Truth can set you Free”. Only Jesus can set you free. Salvation is only thru Jesus. Jesus never founded any religion. No not even Christianity which is founded by men in Europe. Every religion, ism and ity is Satanic. For every Hindu, including Vivekananda, Hinduism is great because he/she is born in that religion. It is the worst religion of the world, full of fictitious legends, idol worship, evil, superstitions, casteism etc. Every Hindu including Vivekananda, must be Born Again, baptised in the Holy Spirit by accepting Jesus as saviour. Vivekananda has not experienced Jesus personally else he would not have spoken as he did. Like most men who are not saved by grace through faith in Jesus, Vivekananda’s spiritual eyes have been blinded by satan that he could not perceive the Truth. Whoever comes across this site please read the Bible, the one and only TRUE book. It speaks about the only true living God. Poor Vivekananda he never read the Bible. Else he would not have commited this blasphemy of a speach. Why is India reeling in poverty while yet having all the natural resources? Because of Hinduism. Indians do not gloriy the true God. A tiny nation ruled India 400 years. Shame!!! Disgrace!!! Hinduism if full of deceptive evil. Hindu Gods are demons disguised as angels of light. Hinduism is a demonic relgion. Jesus is coming soon. Repent every Indian. Else you will all face judgement. Turn your hearts to Jesus. Get into a personal relationship with Him. He alone can save. There is not much time left. God of Israel is True God. Idolatry is sin. Vivekananda is dead now. So are many so called Hindu leaders and saints. Indian youth take pride in westernism. Present generation is disillusioned with Hinduism. Everyone wants to go to America. India is getting Americanised. Hinduism is almost dead. Thanks to modern day youth. Few years from now no one will follow hinduism. It will be wiped off from the earth. There will be not a single Hindu left. It is not universal. It is full of rituals not applicable to times and growth of civilazation. Indian girls love biknis and jeans. Hinduism is posing a hurdle for modern girls. Rakhi Sawant and Aiswarya Rai are a great inspiration and influence of modern Indian girls. Not Mirabhai. Indian girls want to have many boy friends, sex before marriage. Only Jesus can stall this degeneration. Hinduism cannot. Absolutely no chance. More and more Benny Hinns must come to India. Only then India can be saved from the onslaught of the west. Stop hero worshipping Vivekananda, Cinema stars, Cricket stars and politicians. Worship the God of Israel. RSS, VHP, BJP will take this nation to the dogs. They are all hypocrites. Enough is said. Let him who has wisdom understand.
Mahadevan, Tamil Nadu from India said,
October 17, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
Vivekananda is the most intelligent and courageous man ever born in India. How Indians wish Vivekananda should have lived in the present India!! There would have been more values and virtues in India. Truly Indian Hindus are missing Vivekananda a lot.
Srinivasan, Mangalore from India said,
October 17, 2007 @ 3:49 pm
Truly an inspiring speach. There is no parallel for this speach in Hinduism. Every Hindu must read this. Hinduism is presented in a nutshell.
lalit from India said,
October 27, 2007 @ 6:04 am
vivekananda is messanger of god,he says that our life is itself areligion,weakness & hesitatiion are sin,we hindus are children of lions & now adays feel like mice..Cowardness is biggest sin in the world.
lalit from India said,
October 27, 2007 @ 6:09 am
it is a great feeling to be born in a country where swamiji was born.he is a true face of humanity.we love him,oh god kindly pour us the ability to understand & feel swamiji
Bhargav Modha from United Kingdom said,
October 27, 2007 @ 10:50 am
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA from India said,
November 3, 2007 @ 2:50 am
I THANK YOU FOR SHOWING YOUR INTEREST’S TOWARDS THE SPIRITUALITY OR SO CALLED THE REALITY. I THANK YOU ALL FOR TALKING MERELY OR GREATLY ABOUT ME AND GOD.
I LAUGH AT YOU PEOPLE WHEN YOU GREATLY SHOW INTEREST TOWARDS THE SPIRITUALITY, YOU PEOPLE DISCUSS ABOUT THEE, BUT HAVE ANYONE BEEN PRACTICAL ? JUST DISCUSSING ABOUT ME OR PRAISING ME MIGHT GIVE YOU SO MUCH OF HAPPINESS, THEN THINK OF THE HAPPINESS YOU GET WHEN YOU PRACTICALLY STRIVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR “SELF” AND ASSOCIATE WITH THE ETERNAL EXISTANCE OF INFINITE ENERGY SO CALLED THE GOD.
YOU PEOPLE MIGHT BE CONFUSED WHETHER HOW TO THINK OF ONES SELF. NOW THE QUESTION ARISES, ” HOW TO BEGIN ? “.
AS I HAVE TOLD YOU EARLIER, YOUR MEMORIES ARE STORED IN THE INFINITE OCEAN OF YOUR MEMORY. GO BACK, THINKING OF YOUR DAYS YOU HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED. YES, ONE DAY YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO SEE THAT YOU CAN RECOLLECT THE MEMORIES OF YOUR PAST LIFE. DONT STOP THERE. KEEP GOING ON UNTILL YOU FIND THE ORIGIN OF YOUR “SELF”. THE ORIGIN IS NOTHING ELSE BUT THE INFINITE ENERGY OR GOD.
FOR EXAMPLE:- OCEAN IS A HUGE COLLECTION TANK OF WATER. TAKE THAT OCEAN TO BE INFINITE. THE WATER IS VAPOURISED FROM THAT BIG TANK AND POURS DOWN AS RAIN IN DIFFERENT PLACES. THUS THE WATER FROM THE SINGLE SOURCE IS DIVIDED. THESE DIVIDED WATERS ARE USED UP FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES AND FINALLY AFTER A SHORT/LONG PERIOD THOSE WATERS RETURN BACK TO THE ALMIGHTY OCEAN. THE SAME HOLDS GOOD TO YOUR SOUL. YOU ARE ALL PART OF A SINGLE SOUL, DIVIDED INTO MANY ACCORDING TO YOUR KARMA’S.
YOU ARE ALL POTENTIALLY EQUAL, IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU AS TO HOW FAR YOU KNOW YOUR CAPABILITY. TRY HARD AND YOU ARE SURE TO SUCCEED.
- SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Kishore from United States said,
November 9, 2007 @ 1:39 am
Hi,
Thanks a ton for providing this wonderful piece of materiall…. its just awe-inspiring to read the words of Swamiji… it makes so much sense to me, that I think I am saved from a verge of becoming an atheist… now all the Gods, scriptures makes complete sense to me….
Ommmmmm….
Namasthe,
Kishore.
Peter from India said,
November 23, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
Hello Vivekananda
How are you? Wonder how I got here. When you can reach from hell can’t I reach from heaven. At least now, being in hell, you would have realized the truth. Yet your arrogance has not left you. You still continue to prefix your name with Swami. I thought at least now through this blog you would reveal Who the Truth, the Way and the Life is. Sad you did not. You cannot be reformed. You are like a dog’s tail that cannot be straightened. You are still like someone pretending to sleep who cannot be woken up, pretending blind who cannot be given vision. Even being in hell you want people to glorify you. You want to lead many to hell. You are sadly mistaken. God is going to pour out His Spirit on all. People are going to know the Truth. You and your master can no longer deceive them and blind their eyes. What has your speech done to enlighten, educate and liberate your countrymen? Look at your countrymen perverted, full of hypocrisy, aping the west, carrying a begging bowl to western countries for alms. This is what your countrymen’s religion and their hazaar number of gods done to them. Even your speach cannot revitalize them. Your country is drowned in poverty, corruption, disease, bankruptcy, etc etc etc ……. Thankfully the second coming of our Lord is nearing. Only through our LOrd is your nation going to be delivered.
Rakhi Bedi from United States said,
November 24, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
I would like to thank the people who were able to give me access to Swami Vivekanand’s speech. I am happy to see that a lot of people share my feelings. I am sorry to see that people are still disillusioned about the great truth & purpose of life. I guess everyone has their own life journey to live & are entitled to their views. I was hoping people are more respectfule & have greater tolerance than they appear to have. We are all ultimately going to the same place after this relatively short journey of life. I guess your karmas will lead you in different directions, & this is what I see everyday in life. I am living in the great USA, I am not impressed with the daily routine of the people of this great country. Children, teenagers, young adults, & the elderly are all hooked on drugs. I think if there was a way to analyze all the feces & urine of our citizens, there would be a great shock. People don’t seem to have any faith left of a higher purpose in life. Everything is all about me, myself & I. There is no sense of community left anymore. I know that India is not the greatest place in the world with regards to this concept either. However, are as many children & young adults on ADD & depression medicine as the US. I highly doubt it. Our future, our children, seem to be an unimportant second priority in life. Is this the way to achieve & maintain great power in the world? I don’t think so. Maybe our good old fashioned culture of respecting the elders & our parents is not so bad after all. Maybe giving our mothers, respect for there great sacrifices is not a terrible thing. Cursing our mothers, sisters, & elders nowadays seems to be second nature to the common man. Are we not cursed for this kind of attitude? There is only 1 way to overcome, & that is by listening to the wise people who have contributed so much to society. Again I want to thank all the people who have made it possible to hear such great words from Swami Ji.
Peter from United States said,
December 3, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
Dear Rakhi, you are grossly mistaken. You are in a small shell. Salvation is by Grace and not by works of righteousness. Your self imposed self righteousness which is accounted for by your karmas will not give you salvation. You can do nothing to get salvation. Religion will not relate you with God. Separate Relationship from Religion. Everything that is needed for relationship with God has already been done and finished on the cross 2000 years ago. You need to accept that Grace. If you reject that Grace and bank on your karma, you are sure to perish. You have revealed your conditioned and programmed mind. Your parents have imposed religion on you. You have no conviction. You have no testimony. Sad. Introspect into yourself. You do not know your true identity. Someone have put a mask on you and you yourselves are deceiving yourselves. You are deluded. You are living someone else’s life, accomplishing someone else’s goal in your life, not your own. Come out of your shell. Remove the mask. Thou shalt know the Truth and the Truth will set you free. Religion will not set you free. Unless and until you are born again in water and spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Vivekananda is an intelligent man and asolutely no doubt. That does not mean whatever he says is Truth. Vivekananda is dead. He who is the TRUTH, the WAY and the LIFE, is alive forevermore. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in Truth and in Spirit. He is the creator of the heavens and earth. Heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him much less an idol. Worship the creator and not the creation. Trust saner counsel will prevail.
Vinod from United States said,
December 4, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Vivekananda has made a great oration indeed. The speach may be admired for its eloquence and oratory. Hinduism may be a religion with exemplary ideals, precepts, principles and philosophy. It may be the oldest of all religions. But to claim it as mother of all religions is glorifying too much. Religous protoganists, especially hindu protoganists must realize that chronological seniority of a religion does not ensure its authenticity to claim it to be TRUTH. In fact Vivekananda himself has sounded more of a fanatic than a disciple. The TRUTH of a path is evidenced only by the life, character and conduct of its followers on a community level than on an individual level. You cannot claim your religion to be True and to be relating one to God, when your religous members demolish mosques, torch churches and brutally and dastardly murder a humble foreigner and his 2 innocent sons by burning them alive. May be few individuals like Vivekananda have lived exemplary lives. For that matter there are numerous individuals in every people group who have lived high quality lives. ‘RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION’. A religion which does not instill righteousness in all its members cannot be True. Hindus have only been making empty and hollow claims that their religion is the greatest. What does your life reflect? Does your life attract others to your religion? Most hindus just mechanically follow some routine rituals. Is the entire global hindu community a testimony? NO!!. No hindu follows a discipline of reading and meditating on their scriptures daily. No one hindu practices what they preach. It goes on to prove that hindus are just HYPOCRITES. No hindu follows a conviction. Hinduism is only imposed on them by their parents over generation. It has become a mere tradition. But hindus pretend as if they chose hinduism being convinced it is true. No hindu is convinced of hinduism. Few hindus know their scriptures. Hindus engage only in empty boasting and vainglorious display of pride. I am challenging the entire hindu community worldwide to live a life of testimony and prove by your life that your religion relates one with God. I am sure no hindu will accept this challenge. Because they know they cannot win this challenge. Quit boasting and being hypocrites. Seek the Truth. Every hindu shall introspect into himself/herself. Aspire to be sincere, honest. Don’t put on false identities. You are all human beings first and human beings last. This alone is your identity. Rest are masks.
Bhargav Modha from United Kingdom said,
December 4, 2007 @ 5:11 pm
It was great to hear the speech and Namaste to all my hindu brothers and sisters.
Jai Shree Ram
Sandhya from India said,
December 7, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Dear D,
One more humble request. Please don’t make this blog like the other blogs. Vivekananda is a great man. Please honor him.
Srinivasan from United States said,
December 13, 2007 @ 1:37 am
what an amazing speech! There is so much wisdom and beauty in the speech that definitely no ordinary man could have made it. Swami vivekananda is truly a great sage
Rdahakrishnan from India said,
December 19, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
wonderful speech…… must here all indians…..
Very Very thanks
yaramallasunil from India said,
December 24, 2007 @ 3:02 am
Guruvarya,
I will ask some hindu god questions tell me the answers 1)durga bhavani has power in his hand what is that power name? 2)durga bhavani creates all things with one power what is that power name? 3)Tadasthu or any other power is there to create any thing what power there is in durga bhavani hand? 4)durga bhavani desires power is what? 5)desires should be done what power durga bhavani will use what is that power name? send this questions answers on my e-mail is yaramalla_sunil2000@yahoo.co.in
varadaraj from India said,
December 27, 2007 @ 7:45 am
iam blessed to here and read about swami vivekananda, recently read his biography. i believe he has seen god and had a perfection that a man can have on this earth. May all live in peace
Kamlesh Kumar ASE/CRIS MUMBAI from India said,
December 29, 2007 @ 7:26 am
vivekanand is my favouret person ..
sai krishna from India said,
January 5, 2008 @ 6:25 am
Thanks to the person who provided this audio tape.It is great to hear the words of a real spiritual mind
surya from United States said,
January 13, 2008 @ 9:06 am
i have never seen a speach like this about hinduism. At the very outset i used to think that hinduism is not a acceptable religion as they got more than 1 god and in different form and iam about to convert to islam. But after listeing to this awesome speach i have understood the reason behind the idol worship and polythesim in hinduism. I will never convert to any religion. This has changed my life and i hounour to the person who has posted this speach on iternet. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shreya Datta from India said,
January 15, 2008 @ 12:55 am
Peter from the Uniter States proudly comments that “Salvation is by Grace and not by works of righteousness.” Further, everything that God wanted to say has been said on the cross more than 2000 years ago.If even after 2000 years, more than two thirds of the world’s population have not got the word, or refused to accept it then your God definitely needs to improve his communication skills! “Unless and until you are born again in water and spirit you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Hitler burnt Anne Frank for a short while and he becomes the epitome of evil.God burns Anne Frank in Hell forever as she has not been perfected by accepting Christ’s teachings and still remains a Jew and that God becomes Great!Spare me from such a judgmental God.Moreover, granted even if Vivekananda is mistaken in his beliefs about the true nature of God, he did lead an exemplary life, committed to charitable works, upliftment of the downtrodden etc.The is not the slightest evidence to support that he was ever hypocritic unlike Billy Graham who publicly praises the Jews only to make disparaging remarks about them when he felt they would not be aired in public.Why should I be willing or compelled to worship a God who judges not on the basis of righteous actions and deeds but belief in one path of which He has given no clear evidence so that mankind should believe in it.Sathya Manavan and Peter have asserted that only Jesus is true and all other Goddesses are fictitious inventions.Sorry to say, but faith in Jesus and the Christian God is dwindling day by day.While the Hindu percentage in India maybe falling at a rate slower than one percentage a decade,the percentage of Christians in Denmark and Norway alone is falling faster than one percentage a year.Also as Sathya manavan asserts that everyone should read the Bible, a great Christian figure Martin Luther did( at a time when most Christians didn’t as the Bible wasn’t widely available in vernacular).He also read the particular line, ” Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” And guess the conclusion he came to? He suggested that,women branded as witches should indeed be put to death and furthermore he would burn them himself if he could catch them.Should not a just righteous God forgive this misguided soul?After all, he sincerely believed he was acting as per the wishes of God according to a book which he assumed contained the inerrant word of god? Moreover a Hindu majority India was conquered and ruled by foreign powers for half a millennia just as Catholic Spain was.While the Spanish reconquista brought with it a spate of violence, India had a non violent freedom struggle led by a devout Hindu, Gandhi, who not only followed Hinduism through life but also discouraged conversions to Christianity, and so the Christian God should roast him in Hell.Moreover, if Christianity could indeed liberate people from poverty and suffering, why was Middle Age Europe languishing in illiteracy at a time when scarce a peasant in Muslim Spain could not read and write? The treatment of Jews in Muslim ruled Sapin too was far better than any under Christian Europe up until the nineteenth century.At the time of Christ’s birth the scientific temperament was taking birth in Europe with the Greek philosophers and scientists. Hippocrates had in fact forbidden magic and prayer in medicine.However, we see how Jesus cured leprosy by casting a deaf and dumb spirit out of a boy’s body and science took another millennia and a half to reappear. Even, when it did it was due to the fall of Constantinople which led to the rediscovery of ancient Greek knowledge, the medieval Muslim scientists who refined the process of observation and experiment and who were in turn greatly indebted to the Indian scientists,and Thomas Aquinas who attempted to reconcile faith with Aristotelian reason, it was the Aristotle part rather than the faith part which aided science.Moreover, in all studies of the link between intelligence and faith, the higher the intelligence of a person, the lower his or her religious belief.Most high I.Q. scientists for instance are also atheists and agnostics.Linus Pauling for instance was an atheist as an adult and still led a long happy and useful life.Tim Berners lee left his belief shortly after being confirmed as he realised “how important it was to believe in all sorts of unbelievable things.” Would God condemn all these people for losing faith in Him due to their intelligence when he gave them greater intelligence in the first place? And for your information, yes Swami Vivekananda had read the Bible, as have millions of people of other faiths and not all, not even most have accepted the faith.Yet many have led exemplary lives without it. Warren Buffet for instance did read the bible yet it failed to revert him to Christianity.Yet, he donated billions to charity.Would an all powerful all knowing God deny him salvation for his disbelief and if yes, why should everyone worship such a selfish Christian God? Yes, some early scientists like Newton did believe in God but he believed in alchemy too.The Medieval arab scientists sure believed in God but they also believed that the crusades were a punishment for deviating from the Koran( not your Bible). Unless you can prove your Jesus is the ultimate authority and they their Allah your guess is as good as mine.
Shreya Datta from India said,
January 15, 2008 @ 1:34 am
Regarding Sathya Manavan’s statement Indian girls want to wear bikinis and mini skirts since when has Hinduism imposed a dress code on its womenfolk through its scriptures? Unlike Islam and Judaism, it does not mandate women cover their hair or figures. Hindu women, like most women over the world dress according to the requirements of covering their chest and genitals, and then according to the requirements of comfort, weather conditions, materials available and the desire to beautify themselves.Bikini or swimsuit is appropriate in the beach.Indeed in the 5000 year history of hinduism starting from the Indus Valley( which had proto shiva and Mother Goddess images)where women did not even cover ther chest, to the Vedic period where clothes were draped as Indians lacked tailoring skills, through the Medieval or modern periods, Hindu women have been dressing very diversely.Most scholars are of the opinion that the purdah came into India with the coming of and under the influence of Islam and it is only present in tiny pockets of the country today and fast disappearing.Indeed the Indian sari and lehnga choli often reveal the navel, whereas it was prohibited to wear navel bearing clothes in Hollywood films until the 1930! Also far from abandoning Hinduism modern youth of India is often very interested in their faith and actively practise.Sorry, but India does not have a great boom in Christianity unlike Korea or in agnostism and atheism unli