Vivekananda's Clarion Call For Acceptance
I was standing at the very spot from where Vivekananda gave his historic address to the World Parliament Religions in 1893. Inside the Art ature of Chicago, the security guard ures me it's the very spot, and gives my five minutes of solitude. I under how Vivekananda would pond to the intolerance today, given t the central theme of his address e was on universal acceptance. Vivekananda had gone on to exhort audience in his later lectures, to ire to the greater virtue of acceptanof all religions rather than be content h the virtue of merely tolerating ers. "Why should I tolerate,"he uld ask passionately of his audience, legation means that I think you are ong and I am just allowing you to live what gives anyone the right to decide o is allowed to exist and who is not?" Applying the vedantic notion of the cosmic Brahmn from which everything emerges and into which all dissolve, without any distinction, Vivekananda called upon each person to accept the other. That is understanding the principle of life-that each is either as divine or as flawed as the other. Vivekananda's notion of God as the infinite Self inspires us all to tap into our dormant selves, wherein lies the infinite capacity to become good and compassionate. He believed that the rejection of the other stems from our own fears and insecurities, and his clarion call was for all to awaken from this hypnotic, weak state. His watchword of the acceptance of the other led him to envision a "conjunction of a vedantic brain with an Islamic body" as a roadmap towards greater understanding and empathy between traditions in the Indian context. Aldous Huxley would later posit this notion of the spiritual Self as the "highest common factor" of all theologies in hisown philosophy of Perennialism. Drawing on passages from various religious traditions, Huxley, himself deeply influenced by Vivekananda's teachings, argues for a closer look at the inner dimension of all faiths, rather than the institutional, external dimension. This inner core,he states, is a call to our transcendent Self, the trigger to spiritual evolution in allreligious faiths. the speaking or Vivekananda’s ownguru, This view of amystical Self at the root of all religions stems from the experiential life Ramakrishna, who immersed tree himself in the practices of all faiths quite literally in his life, to finally arrive at this view that all faiths lead us to Self-realisation. Vivekananda's pluralistic vision was grounded in the fact that the common core of allfaithswas not merely an intellectual assertion, but an experiential realisation his guru. The monk's call to rise above dogmand 'isms' was a call to understand spiritual core which would bond each one of us. Huston Smith would later cit the "forgotten truths of mankind”. The assertive acceptance of all wisdotraditions by Vivekananda triggered interfaith dialogues in the modern age, besides revitalising ancient upanishadic truths. If Vivekananda were alive today, I wonder if he would weep at the animosity and hatred being perpetuated amongst various peoples. I turn away from the Art Institute with the lingering thought that Vivekananda clarion call for the acceptance of all religions that September day in 1893 resonates even more today than ever before.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Pranav Khullar views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Pranav Khullar and Speaking Tree,Times of India
Vivekananda's Clarion Call For Acceptance
I was standing at the very spot from where Vivekananda gave his historic address to the World Parliament Religions in 1893. Inside the Art ature of Chicago, the security guard ures me it's the very spot, and gives my five minutes of solitude. I under how Vivekananda would pond to the intolerance today, given t the central theme of his address e was on universal acceptance. Vivekananda had gone on to exhort audience in his later lectures, to ire to the greater virtue of acceptanof all religions rather than be content h the virtue of merely tolerating ers. "Why should I tolerate,"he uld ask passionately of his audience, legation means that I think you are ong and I am just allowing you to live what gives anyone the right to decide o is allowed to exist and who is not?" Applying the vedantic notion of the cosmic Brahmn from which everything emerges and into which all dissolve, without any distinction, Vivekananda called upon each person to accept the other. That is understanding the principle of life-that each is either as divine or as flawed as the other. Vivekananda's notion of God as the infinite Self inspires us all to tap into our dormant selves, wherein lies the infinite capacity to become good and compassionate. He believed that the rejection of the other stems from our own fears and insecurities, and his clarion call was for all to awaken from this hypnotic, weak state. His watchword of the acceptance of the other led him to envision a "conjunction of a vedantic brain with an Islamic body" as a roadmap towards greater understanding and empathy between traditions in the Indian context. Aldous Huxley would later posit this notion of the spiritual Self as the "highest common factor" of all theologies in hisown philosophy of Perennialism. Drawing on passages from various religious traditions, Huxley, himself deeply influenced by Vivekananda's teachings, argues for a closer look at the inner dimension of all faiths, rather than the institutional, external dimension. This inner core,he states, is a call to our transcendent Self, the trigger to spiritual evolution in allreligious faiths. the speaking or Vivekananda’s ownguru, This view of amystical Self at the root of all religions stems from the experiential life Ramakrishna, who immersed tree himself in the practices of all faiths quite literally in his life, to finally arrive at this view that all faiths lead us to Self-realisation. Vivekananda's pluralistic vision was grounded in the fact that the common core of allfaithswas not merely an intellectual assertion, but an experiential realisation his guru. The monk's call to rise above dogmand 'isms' was a call to understand spiritual core which would bond each one of us. Huston Smith would later cit the "forgotten truths of mankind”. The assertive acceptance of all wisdotraditions by Vivekananda triggered interfaith dialogues in the modern age, besides revitalising ancient upanishadic truths. If Vivekananda were alive today, I wonder if he would weep at the animosity and hatred being perpetuated amongst various peoples. I turn away from the Art Institute with the lingering thought that Vivekananda clarion call for the acceptance of all religions that September day in 1893 resonates even more today than ever before.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Pranav Khullar views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Pranav Khullar and Speaking Tree,Times of India