Parliament of the World’s Religions
The first Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in 1893 in Chicago. The organisers had a hidden agenda, which the invited speakers from non-Christian faiths were not aware of. They wanted to prove that Christianity was the only true religion. They had assumed that if all religious leaders were given the opportunity to speak publicly it would become obvious that Christianity is far superior to the rest. But things did not go as planned.
Swami Vivekananda, who had gone there without any invitation, was one of the last to speak. As he began with his now famous greeting, “Sisters and Brothers of America”, the whole assembly stood up and there was a thunderous applause for several minutes. The Parliament seemed to have been convened for this supreme moment as Swamiji “stole the show, convincing everyone that Hinduism was as valid a way to worship and experience the divine as any other. The state of the world’s religions was changed forever and the interfaith era had its symbolic beginning”, noted Paul Knitter, Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New York and Matthew Weiner, Program Director at the Interfaith Center of New York.
Swamiji did not belong to any sect. He spoke of the timeless Vedic religion which is the mother of all religions. It was only a short speech but its universality appealed to the audience. Whereas every one of the other delegates had spoken for his own ideal or his own sect, the Swamiji had spoken about God, who, as the ultimate goal of all faiths, is their inmost essence.
The next day’s newspapers were full of the Indian monk who had taken the Parliament by storm and that marked Swami Vivekananda’s entry into the world stage. This also signalled the beginning of western interest in Hinduism as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West and it led to the emergence of the study of comparative religions at universities.
A century later, in 1993, another Parliament of Religions was called and it was decided that from then on it would be held every five years. The latest was in Melbourne earlier last month, from December 3 to 9, 2009. The 2009 Parliament of World's Religions, was the largest and most diverse multi-faith gathering of religious and spiritual communities in the world and had representation from nine major religions of the world - Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Islam and Baha'i.
A special feature of the Melbourne Parliament was an assembly of a number of the most outstanding Hindu spiritual leaders on December, 8. The convocation of saints began with Vedic chanting, prayers, meditation and music. These opening observances were followed by a number of eminent speakers on universal themes, such as spiritual values and peace, as well as current issues like humanitarian work, education, and the environment.
Sri Sri Ravishankar, the Founder of the Art of Living, was among the speakers at the opening session. In his address, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: “The purpose of religion is to bring enlightenment to the individual, happiness to society and move from limited individual identity to universality and eventually communion with the Divine.”
''There is no threat to any tradition, to any culture, if we are all uplifted in human values, in communion with the One, which is in the heart of each and every one of us,'' Sri Sri added.
Dr. Karan Singh is another distinguished guest from India who was in Melbourne. Then, of course, there was the Dalai Lama, who went back to Australia after his weekend visit to Auckland, to deliver the closing address.
The Dalai Lama challenged those who had attended the Parliament to work to ensure that the gathering had not simply been a social occasion. He urged them to draw closer together to make love and compassion real and to implement the dreams and possibilities that had been discussed there. He spoke of the need for a strong secularism- not a secularism that denied the importance of religion, but one which respected the practitioners of all religions. Beliefs might differ but the core practices of love and compassion were common in all traditions, he said.
H. H. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of the international quarterly journal Hinduism Today based at the Hindu Monastery in Kauai, an island in Hawaii, also attended the Parliament. His predecessor, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, who established the Kauai Centre, was a Co-President of the 1993 Centenary Parliament of the World’s Religions.
The Ramakrishna Mission which Swami Vivekananda established after his return from America was well represented at this latest Parliament. H. H. Swami Amarananda, President of the Centre Védantique in Geneva, was there. He has been a long-time participant in multireligious programmes. Most of the Swamijis from the Vedanta Centre in Sydney were also there.
Outgoing Chair of the Parliament Rev. Dr. William Lesher introduced his successor. The new Chairman of the Parliament is Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid of Chicago, a radio producer and former Chairperson of the Council of Islamic Organisations of Greater Chicago.
The first Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in 1893 in Chicago. The organisers had a hidden agenda, which the invited speakers from non-Christian faiths were not aware of. They wanted to prove that Christianity was the only true religion. They had assumed that if all religious leaders...
The first Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in 1893 in Chicago. The organisers had a hidden agenda, which the invited speakers from non-Christian faiths were not aware of. They wanted to prove that Christianity was the only true religion. They had assumed that if all religious leaders were given the opportunity to speak publicly it would become obvious that Christianity is far superior to the rest. But things did not go as planned.
Swami Vivekananda, who had gone there without any invitation, was one of the last to speak. As he began with his now famous greeting, “Sisters and Brothers of America”, the whole assembly stood up and there was a thunderous applause for several minutes. The Parliament seemed to have been convened for this supreme moment as Swamiji “stole the show, convincing everyone that Hinduism was as valid a way to worship and experience the divine as any other. The state of the world’s religions was changed forever and the interfaith era had its symbolic beginning”, noted Paul Knitter, Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New York and Matthew Weiner, Program Director at the Interfaith Center of New York.
Swamiji did not belong to any sect. He spoke of the timeless Vedic religion which is the mother of all religions. It was only a short speech but its universality appealed to the audience. Whereas every one of the other delegates had spoken for his own ideal or his own sect, the Swamiji had spoken about God, who, as the ultimate goal of all faiths, is their inmost essence.
The next day’s newspapers were full of the Indian monk who had taken the Parliament by storm and that marked Swami Vivekananda’s entry into the world stage. This also signalled the beginning of western interest in Hinduism as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West and it led to the emergence of the study of comparative religions at universities.
A century later, in 1993, another Parliament of Religions was called and it was decided that from then on it would be held every five years. The latest was in Melbourne earlier last month, from December 3 to 9, 2009. The 2009 Parliament of World's Religions, was the largest and most diverse multi-faith gathering of religious and spiritual communities in the world and had representation from nine major religions of the world - Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Islam and Baha'i.
A special feature of the Melbourne Parliament was an assembly of a number of the most outstanding Hindu spiritual leaders on December, 8. The convocation of saints began with Vedic chanting, prayers, meditation and music. These opening observances were followed by a number of eminent speakers on universal themes, such as spiritual values and peace, as well as current issues like humanitarian work, education, and the environment.
Sri Sri Ravishankar, the Founder of the Art of Living, was among the speakers at the opening session. In his address, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: “The purpose of religion is to bring enlightenment to the individual, happiness to society and move from limited individual identity to universality and eventually communion with the Divine.”
''There is no threat to any tradition, to any culture, if we are all uplifted in human values, in communion with the One, which is in the heart of each and every one of us,'' Sri Sri added.
Dr. Karan Singh is another distinguished guest from India who was in Melbourne. Then, of course, there was the Dalai Lama, who went back to Australia after his weekend visit to Auckland, to deliver the closing address.
The Dalai Lama challenged those who had attended the Parliament to work to ensure that the gathering had not simply been a social occasion. He urged them to draw closer together to make love and compassion real and to implement the dreams and possibilities that had been discussed there. He spoke of the need for a strong secularism- not a secularism that denied the importance of religion, but one which respected the practitioners of all religions. Beliefs might differ but the core practices of love and compassion were common in all traditions, he said.
H. H. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of the international quarterly journal Hinduism Today based at the Hindu Monastery in Kauai, an island in Hawaii, also attended the Parliament. His predecessor, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, who established the Kauai Centre, was a Co-President of the 1993 Centenary Parliament of the World’s Religions.
The Ramakrishna Mission which Swami Vivekananda established after his return from America was well represented at this latest Parliament. H. H. Swami Amarananda, President of the Centre Védantique in Geneva, was there. He has been a long-time participant in multireligious programmes. Most of the Swamijis from the Vedanta Centre in Sydney were also there.
Outgoing Chair of the Parliament Rev. Dr. William Lesher introduced his successor. The new Chairman of the Parliament is Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid of Chicago, a radio producer and former Chairperson of the Council of Islamic Organisations of Greater Chicago.
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