BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, February 21, 2025 (RNS): The first that the vast majority of turn-of-the-20th-century Americans heard of Swami Vivekananda was the speech the 30-year-old Hindu delegate gave at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893 in Chicago. Vivekananda captivated his audience, addressing them as his “sisters and brothers,” and spoke about Hinduism’s teachings of the “oneness of existence” — heralding a spiritual revolution in the West. It wouldn’t be the last Americans heard of the Indian monk and disciple of the guru Ramakrishna. Seven years later, Vivekananda would return, traveling exclusively on the West Coast to deliver lectures to thousands of Californians. His evangelism would come to an end with his untimely death at 39, in 1902. But his stamp is still felt in the state where, he explained in his writings, “he gave his best.” “He is our brand,” said Swami Prasannatmananda, swami-in-charge of the Vedanta Society of Berkeley. “His name is enough.”

On Saturday (Feb. 22), the Vedanta Society of Berkeley, in partnership with the Indian consulate in San Francisco, will kick off a yearlong celebration of Vivekananda’s impact 125 years after his visit. The inaugural event, a discussion among various faith leaders, will be held at the historic First Unitarian Church of Oakland, where Vivekananda delivered eight lectures during his visit in 1900. Inside the church a plaque on the pulpit from which he spoke and a chair where he sat mark his visit there on Feb. 25, 1900. He appeared at the invitation of the Rev. Benjamin Fay Mills, the church’s spiritual head at the time, who had heard Vivekananda at the 1893 parliament. All eight lectures were given to packed audiences of more than 2,000, with 500 more listeners lined up outside the door. “My understanding is that at that time, our church was the only venue in Northern California that would have allowed him to speak,” said the Rev. Laurel Liefert, Mills’ successor at First Unitarian today. “1900 is a long time ago, so that’s amazing. That is just so powerful and very in keeping with who we want to be in the community.”

More at source.
https://religionnews.com/2025/02/21/125-years-after-his-visit-the-bay-area-remembers-swami-vivekananda/

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