Swami Vivekanand Speech @ Chicago

"Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

Here you may listen to him in his voice on you tube: Swami vivekanand chicago speech in his voice.

Today however, what he envisaged to take place soon in the wake of developing and modernizing world is not only far from achieved but also largely unimaginable. We today live in a world full of fanatics and fanaticism. However, we need to take hope from his hopes that soon such a time might come which may rescue the world from these goons!

Today is however a time when his teachings remain highly effective and relevant. We must go back to his teachings...in the hope that they might salvage us!

15 rules by Swami Vivekanand

1.Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It's Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world - that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4. It's The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, and the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin - to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

Some of

Meri Taqdeer Ko Badal Dain Gain, Mere Pukhta Iradey
Meri Kismat Nahi Muhtaj, Mere Hathon Ki Lakiron Ki....

koun kehta hai Aasma me Suraag nahi ho Sakta,
Ek patthar to tabiyat se Uchhalo yaaro.....

In baarisho se dosti achchi nahi 'Faraz'
Kachcha tera makaan hai kuch to khayaal kar

Sath chalne ko chale thay dost dushman sab Faraz,
Meri manzil tak ka saathi sirf mera saaya tha..!!

Is tarah mere gunaho'n ko vo dho deti hai,
"Maa" bahut Gusse mein hoti hai to ro deti hai..


मैं लव्ज़ ढूँढ कर थक गया फ़राज़
वो फूल दे कर बात का इज़हार कर गये

गिरते हैं शहसवार ही मैदान-ए-जंग में
वो तिफ़्ल क्या गिरेगा जो घुटनों के बल चले

कुछ देर से सही, मगर समझ लेता हूँ सब दांव पेच उसके
वो बाज़ी जीत लेता है मेरे चालाक होने तक

मुझे आपने किरदार पर इतना तो यकीं है,
की कोई मुझे छोड़ सकता है पर भुला नहीं सकता..


तुम मेरे बारे में कोई राय न कायम करना
मेरा वक़्त बदलेगा तुम्हारी राय बदल जायेगी


ख्वाब में डूबे हैं हम...ख्वाब में रहने भी दो..
ये हम भी जानते हैं...
ख्वाब हैं...टूटेंगे जरूर...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.....

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are younot to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

by Marianne Williamson
Book: A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech