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Vivekananda "stole the show" at the 1893 World
Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Illinois, where he
earned wild applause for beginning his address with the
famous words, "Sisters and brothers of America."
Vivekananda's arrival in the USA has been identified by
many to mark the beginning of western interest in
Hinduism not as merely an exotic eastern oddity, but as
a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might
actually have something important to teach the West.
Within a few years of the Parliament, he had started
Vedantic centres in New York City, New York and London,
lectured at major universities and generally kindled
western interest in Hinduism. His success was not
without controversy, much of it from Christian
missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After
four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats
in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.
Swami Vivekananda, moved by the spirit of America's
Declaration of Independence, on July 4, 1898, wrote a
poem titled,To the Fourth of July.
Move on, O Lord, in the resistless path!
Till the high noon overspreads the world,
Till every land reflects thy light,
Till men and women with uplifted head
behold their shackles broken, and
know in springtime joy, their life renewed.
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