Stanford Event

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Excerpted FROM: daily.stanford.edu

 

STANFORD EVENT

 

Saturday’s event featured music, dancing and lectures to promote awareness about Swami Vivekananda’s life. The speakers, including Swami Vedananda from the Vedanta Society of San Francisco, focused mainly on the concepts of detachment and unity within faith. Religions represented include the Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism.

 

“Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of The Religion, which is Oneness, so that each may choose the path that suits him best.” These words, thundered by Swami Vivekananda at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, paralleled the atmosphere of a multi-faith event at Stanford on Saturday celebrating his life. Swami Vivekananda is universally regarded as a patriot saint of modern India.“By bringing out the similarities and celebrating the differences, we are doing our duty toward bringing people of different faiths together, and thus, being true to our own faith,” says management science and engineering graduate student Somik Raha, who is also the co-president of the Hindu Students Council (HSC), one of the event’s sponsors. “In a world that is increasingly intolerant, we believe that positive action is better than negative criticism, and this is our small effort in this direction.”Stanford alumnus and active member of the Stanford Baha’i Association James Threatt examined the idea of oneness within his faith and his own spiritual journey.“Everyone has within them the word of God,” Threatt says. “I became aware that we truly are one family. I realized that I can love every human being because I can recognize this higher trait in him or her.”Along these lines, Swami Vivekananda strove to promote peace and unity between India and the West, serving as a spiritual ambassador between the societies.