Revered Maharaj, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, delivered this address as the Chairman of the Seminar on Inter-faith Harmony for a Global Civilisation held on 24 June 2018 at Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot. This was a Pre-Parliament Event recognized by the committee of the Parliament of World’s Religions as a prelude to the Parliament of Religions to be held at Toronto from 1 to 7 November 2018.
My dear Swami Nikhileshwarananda, respected delegates from various countries, and brothers and sisters,
We all remember today the great World Parliament of Religions at Chicago in September 1893, which was a part of the Columbian Exposition. America was celebrating 400 years of its nationhood. When the idea of holding a Parliament of Religions was mooted to be a part of the Columbian Exposition, there was quite a powerful opposition to the idea. Baptists refused to participate in it. Russian Orthodox Church did not send any official representative. Arch Bishop of Canterbury contended that, ‘Christian Religion is the One Religion’ and hence it could not be a member of the Parliament without granting equality to other member religions. Hong Kong Clergyman called the Parliament of Religions a ‘treason against Christ’. Yet by the will of the Almighty, the Parliament of Religions was held successfully from 11th to 27th September 1893 in Chicago and we all know from history that the most remarkable message that the religious teachers of the world received was that of ‘The Harmony of World Religions’, propounded and subsequently preached successfully throughout America and Europe by the great Swami Vivekananda.
Though the Swami’s message seemed lost during the subsequent decades, it has now again surfaced to attract the attention of serious thinkers who seek lasting peace and prosperity in the world.
The present Conference is one such attempt to spread the invaluable message of the harmony of religions also called interfaith harmony. I welcome this attempt with great joy and wish it all success in awakening humanity to the divine call for recognizing unity in diversity in religion which is otherwise called harmony of religions.
Esta historia es de la edición September 2018 de The Vedanta Kesari.
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Esta historia es de la edición September 2018 de The Vedanta Kesari.
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