Week 37 · eastern

Swami Vivekananda

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda walked onto a stage at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago and opened with five words: "Sisters and brothers of America." The audience of seven thousand gave him a two-minute standing ovation before he said anything else. He was 30, wearing borrowed robes, and he proceeded to introduce the Western world to Hinduism as a universal philosophy of the divine in every being...not an exotic religion of strange gods.

“"Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached." He said that to audiences who were comfortable, well-fed, and spiritually asleep. He wasn't being harsh. He was being honest.”