Swami Vivekananda speaks to DU

[garybeck]

I came across this in a tiny book called "Thus Spake Swami Vivekananda" and the words just jumped out at me.

Let me repeat to you that this faith is one of the most potent factors of humanity... First, have faith in yourselves. Do not look up to the rich and great men who have money. The poor did all the great and gigantic works of the world. Be steady, and above all be pure and sincere to the backbone.

Who is Swami Vivekananda?

Swami Vivekananda( स्वामी विवेकानंद )(Bengali: স্বামী বিবেকানন্দ Shami Bibekanondo) (January 12, 1863 - July 4, 1902)

While he is widely credited with having uplifted his own nation, simultaneously he introduced Yoga and Vedanta to America and England with his popular lectures and private discourses on Vedanta philosophy. Vivekananda was the first known Hindu Swami to come to the West, where he introduced Eastern thought at the World's Parliament of Religions, in connection with the World's Fair in Chicago, in 1893. It was there that he was catapulted to fame by his by wide audiences in Chicago and then later elsewhere in America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivekananda

[Kolesar]

1. And darn it, people *like* me!

:)

[flamingyouth]

2. I have several books about him and about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

That's a great quote. :thumbsup:

[garybeck]

3. yeah I like him because his message is practical and relevant

some of the others are more extreme, and their message is more appropriate to India. I think Vivekananda has something to say to US, and U.S.

[Skidmore]

4. There's that durned "backbone" word again.

[garybeck]

5. unfortunately i must say some dems are lacking n/t

[Karenina]

6. "Truth is ONE

the sages call it variously."

[Swamp Rat]

8. Truth Is All

:hi: :hug:

[Karenina]

15. ich hab' Dich LIEB!!!

:loveya: Aber Du weiss das schon. ;-)

[WiseButAngrySara]

9. Yes! That is why all 'great' religions have truth at their core...

and all recognize the equality of humanity in the eyes of God the infinite consciousness.

[garybeck]

11. here's one for you...

(the cover of my book)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970112564

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. OMG! I'm putting this on my Amazon list. I have been

interested in the 'scientific' aspects of religion (that it is empirically verifiable, but non-sensory, so not an 'experiential' truth, which is based on the senses, is not and never will be 'provable' by the materialistic scientific method of proof, but Truth is proven to the individual) and the lack of contradiction in the belief of God (or knowledge of God) and science.

This has been a personal 'hobby' of mine for years, and was stimulated by my love for both science and political philosophy. The later love spurred me to study all religions, and the similarities between religions of all ages should in itself provide a rational argument for the 'proof' of religious arguments. How many of us in the scientific field reproduce experiments to prove theories? We don't. We, like the religious people take them on faith.

I can't wait to peruse your book! (And I love the cover BTW!)

[Karenina]

13. Roundabout 19

I realized all the texts I was reading were telling me the SAME THING. :silly:

[garybeck]

18. I was 25....

I decided to take a class in the community college about comparitive religion. I got into all kinds of discussions with my teacher. he liked to focus on the differences, I liked to focus on the similarities. in the end he acknowledged my stand on most of what I was saying. I had to write an essay for the final exam, it was supposed to be 4 pages long. I couldn't stop writing and researching for the life of me. I turned it in 2 weeks after the course ended and he still gave me an A+. Then I still couldn't stop my research and writing and I ended up writing this book:

http://www.theharmonyinstitute.org/book/index.html

I decided I didn't want to deal with trying to sell it to a publisher so I just did it myself. The books arrived on my doorstep on 9/1/01 and 10 days later the towers came down. For a while I made the rounds on all the radio talk shows and sold a bunch of copies. Some people thought I was being opportunistic, writing a book like that right after 9/11 but in reality I had been writing it for almost 10 years prior, and it was done before 9/11. my experience is, most people today are still not ready or willing to hear that the other religions are similar to theirs. They still want theirs to be the only true one. Many others throw the baby out with the bathwater, and say all religion is bad. I argue, the religious *institutions* are pretty bad on the whole, but religion itself is not bad. I think people's minds are slowly changing. I think in order to have real peace in the world, more people are going to have to realize that their religion is not the only true one.

peace
gary

[Swamp Rat]

20. That teacher deserves a raise.

:D Or at least a signed copy of your book. :applause:

[garybeck]

22. Thanks, I tried to contact him, but

it was about 8 years later that I actually finished the book and by then he wasn't at the school anymore, and when I wrote to the administration asking for his contact info, I never heard back from them. But I am holding a copy for him, should I ever figure out where he is. :)

[Karenina]

21. I saw the post of the cover

some time back on another thread. Don't remember if I remarked on how it made me feel then. It reminded me of the wall painting at the Vedanta Center on the Upper West Side, but the circular nature and inclusion of "secular" symbols really did it for me! Please check your PM.

[GeorgeGist]

24. How pretentious...

to imply that God needs religion to be known.

[WiseButAngrySara]

25. How pretentious of you to mistranslate what I said. I implied

no such thing.

[garybeck]

14. yep. here are some similar quotes to what you just said:

“I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Muslim and a
Jew.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

“There are as many ways to God as souls; as many as
the breaths of Adam’s sons.”
-Mohammed

“God made the truth with many doors.”
-Kahil Gibran

“I feel that this world has to drop the idea that one
religion is true and the others are not true.”
-Kathleen Raine, Poet

“Who worship other gods with heart of faith, They too
adore but Me behind those forms, unknowing of the
one direct way.”
-The Bhagavad-Gita

“Scripture itself testifies that God does not take into
account our petty categories of race or religion or
denomination when He has a message for mankind.
Each of us, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu,
atheist, Jew, Native American, Feminist, can be a
vehicle for the word of God.”
-Rabbi Steve Fornstein

“Muslim, Christian, or Jew, all turn their eyes to the
Eternal One.”
-Sufi writing


“May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura
Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the
Buddhists, Adonai of the Jews, and the Father in
Heaven of the Christians, give strength to you ...”
-Swami Vivekananda (Hindu sage)

“Anyone can choose to be righteous. Of their own
accord, Jew or Gentile, can choose to be righteous and
give themselves to God in love. Therefore, the Holy
One loves them.”
-Midrash (Jewish holy book)

“Truth is one; sages call it by various names. So many
faiths are but different paths leading to the one reality,
God.”
-Sri Ramakrishna

“In effect, the basic teachings of Christ, Buddha, and
the Vedas are the same.”
-Richard Bock

“(this) teaching appears in the Zend Avesta of
Zoroaster ... It contains the fundamental concepts of
(Hinduism), the Vedas and the Upanishads; and the
Yoga systems of India sprang from the same source.
Buddha later gave forth essentially the same basic
ideas and his sacred Bodhi tree is correlated with the
Essene Tree of Life. In Tibet the teaching once more
found expression in the Tibetan Wheel of Life.”
-Edmond Bordeaux Szekely, historian


“All must abandon prejudices and must even go to
each other’s churches and mosques, for in all of these
worshipping places, the Name of God is mentioned.
Since all gather to worship God, what difference is
there? They hold aloof from each other merely because
of unfounded prejudices and dogmas. In America, I
went to Jewish Synagogues, which are similar to
Christian Churches, and I saw them worshipping God
everywhere.”
-Abdu’l-Baha, disciple of Baha’u’llah,
founder of the Bahai faith


“Veda, Avesta, Bible, Al-Quran, Temple, Pagoda,
Church, and Kaba-Stone, all these and more my heart
doth close embrace, since my Religion now is Love
alone.”
-Sufi writing

[Bluerthanblue]

16. WORD !

[Karenina]

17. So my question is:

WHAT IS NOT TO GET??? ;-)

[garybeck]

19. well

the answer is, YOU got it.

the problem is, that so many other people don't get it.

it's pretty simple though. It all boils down to a few simple teachings that basically all the religions share. you have to be open minded though, to even consider it. And many people are set in their ways.

I think it's chaning, slowly.....

[Annces]

7. And believing in yourself

does not mean you have the breadth of insight to believe in others. So many "great" and successful people are selfish and insulated.

[garybeck]

12. I think, he's not so much referring to "you" as a person, but as the mass

people who can collectively make changes in the world. I guess some people are reading this as a Stuart Smalley kind of thing, but that's not how I see it. he's talking to the masses, saying, don't let the rich and powerful people stand in the way of banding together to make the world a better place. that's why the words jumped out at me and that's why I thought of DU when I read them.

peaceout

[WiseButAngrySara]

10. I have read some of his writings on the internet. An enlightened soul. ...n/t