Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol 1

RESPONSE TO WELCOME

At the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago
11th September, 1893

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.