Swami Vivekananda Quotes
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
Swami Vivekananda, 1863–1902, Narendranath Dutta, Indian Hindu Spiritual Leader & Philosopher, Founder of Ramakrishna Mission, Pearls of Wisdom
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
At the time racism and discrimination in the United States was not only rampant but legal. But change in many substrata of America was detectable and many intellectuals--writers, artists, scientists, educators, theologians, entertainers, groups who would later be called “elites” began to make themselves heard on the subject. Falkner was one whose novels had always taken an anti racist view point and now were overtly calling for political and social change.
There are two ethnic groups in Fiji. The indigenous Fijians and immigrants from India and their descendants. The Indians originally came to trade and represent a globalized, mercantile culture whereas the indigenous tribes did not have the tradition of business. Over time, the minority Indians were economically more successful than the majority, which tended to resent the Indians. As the Indians were the political minority with no strong tradition of protection of minority rights, they became victims of discriminatory behavior in a nation where the traditional political structure of tribal chiefs and tribes dominated politics. Religion also separated the Hindu Indians from the Christian tribals. In the early 21st century, an Indian was elected prime minister, but this led to a revolt and coup by some traditional tribals. Finally the coup was put down but the society had been split apart and there was continuous argument over rights and whether the coups plotters should be punished.
This is a terrific statement of Americanism at any time, but it is particularly notable in 1888. At that time anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism were both heavy throughout the country. Jim Crowe and racism was rampant, Orientals were heavily discriminated against especially on the West Coast. Irish and Italians were not wanted in most of America except as manual laborers.
Adopted in 1776 as the motto for the seal of the United States
After Independence, the original credo of the Indonesian hero and leader was slowly ignored. The Muslim majority established Islam as the dominant religion and began to create laws that discriminated against Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews. The ethnic Chinese had been very successful in business and commerce and soon they were discriminated against and even physically attacked in Pogroms.
Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta (Bengali: [nɔrendronatʰ dɔto]), was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a major force in the contemporary Hindu reform movements in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India. Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his speech which began with the words "Sisters and brothers of America ...," in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
