India, with its “vision of oneness” is the only country that can “awaken the world”.
This was the vision of Swami Vivekananda, who studied both eastern and western philosophies and had a deep understanding of them, said Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari) all-India vice-president Kumari Nivedita Bhide.
A dedicate life-worker (Jeevanvrati), she is known to all as Nivedita Didi.
Addressing students of Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala as part of a programme organised to celebrate Swami Vivekananda’s 150 birth anniversary, she said that Swami Vivekananda had the Vision of Oneness after his travel to different countries.
According to the vision, everything was interconnected, inter-dependent, and inter-related. Science too had accepted this. India was the only country where God was not limited by form or space. The vision of oneness was a celebration of diversity, where ‘part’ should contribute to the harmony of the whole, she said quoting Swami Vivekananda.
She said it was because of this vision of oneness Swami Vivekananda did not feel any anger or hatred for people in the United States, even though they ill treated him because of his dress.
“Indian dharma is based not on personality, but on principles,” Ms. Nivedita said. Every person in the audience stood up and kept clapping until the organisers requested them, after Swami Vivekananda began his speech with “Sisters and brothers of America.”
When asked why they spontaneously stood up and clapped, many said they felt the words had touched their hearts. Many even felt a form of current pass through them when he uttered these five worlds, she revealed.
Birth anniversary celebration committee secretary N. Vinaya Kumar and Mahila Kalasala principal T. Vijayalakshmi were on the dais.
