Chicago 1893

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Excerpts from the " Address at the Final Session " dated 27th September

1893 by Swami Vivekananda at the Parliaments of Religion Chicago 1893.

 

" Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not

going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that

this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and

destruction of others, to him I say, 'Brother, yours is an impossible

hope.' Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do

I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid. "

" The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a

Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of

the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his

own law of growth. "

" If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is

this : It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are

not the exclusive possession of any church in the world, and that every

system has produced men and women of exalted character. In the face of

this evidence, if anyone dreams of the exclusive survival of his own

religion and the destruction of others, I pity him from the bottom of my

heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will

soon be written, in spite of resistance: 'Help and not Fight',

'Assimilation and not Destruction', 'Harmony and Peace and not

Dissension'.

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