In the West

Vivekananda was received well at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he delivered a series of lectures. He also earned wild applause for beginning his address with the famous words, "Sisters and brothers of America." A newspaper account described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament." Vivekananda's arrival in the USA has been identified by many to mark the beginning of western interest in Hinduism not as merely an exotic eastern oddity, but as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West.

 

Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing the topics (1894-6). He taught hundreds of students privately in free classes held in his own room beginning in New York in 1895. Later, he started Vedantic centers in New York City and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.

 

Sankalp Unit

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There is no escape to the misery... It is born out of the wants, the failure, the lust and a lot of things... It's born out of the attachment... The misery chases man every where he goes... even his death... We keep coming back to this earth and face the same old misery.... There is no escape to it... The only way to get ride of it is SALVATION... NIRVANA... MOKSHA.... And spirituality is a path to it... Here is something said by Swami Vivekananda- " If a man's wants can be removed for an hour, it's helping indeed; if his wants are removed for a year, it will be more help to him; but if his wants can be removed for ever, it is surely the greatest help that can be given to him. Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy our miseries forever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a time. It is only with the knowledge of the spirit that the faculty of want is annihilated forever; so helping man spiritually is the highest help that can be given him." He was born for that... and probably he went there to give what he was to give....