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Address at the Parliament of Religions
Opening response to welcome; at the words "Sisters and Brothers of America", the audience had risen to its feet in ovation.
Sisters and Brothers of America,
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm
and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of
the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of
the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of millions and
millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring
to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from
far-off nations may well claim the honour of bearing to different lands
the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has
taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not
only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am
proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the
refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to
tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the
Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the
very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman
tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is
still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will
quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have
repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by
millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their
sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O
Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies,
various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever
held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the
wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me,
through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through
paths which in the end lead to me" Sectarianism, bigotry, and its
horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful
earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and
often with human blood, destroyed civilisation and sent whole nations to
despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would
be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I
fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this
convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions
with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between
persons wending their way to the same goal.