A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

HINDUISM AS A RELIGION.*SWAMl sTHANKS FOR THE RECEPTION.JTfills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in responseto the warm and cordial welcome which you havegiven us, I thank you in the name of the mostancient order of monks in the world ;I thank you in thename of the mother of religions ;and 1 thank you in thename of the millions and millions of Hindu people of allclasses and sects.My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who have told you that these men from far-off nationsmay well claim the honor of bearing to the different landsthe idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religionwhich has taught the world both tolerance and universalacceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration,but we accept all religions as true. I belong to a religioninto whose sacred language, the Sanskrit, the word exclusion is untranslatable.I am proud to belong to a nationwhich has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of allreligions and all nations of the earth. We have gathered^ in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, a remnant which came to Southern India and took refuge with usin the very year in which their holy temple was shatteredI belong to the religion whichto pieces by Roman tyranny.has sheltered and is still fosteringthe remnant of thegrand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren,* Lecture before the Parliament of Religions held at Chicagoin 1893.