Swami Vivekananda' s Speeches , The World Parliament of Religions, Chicago

Swami Vivekananda' s Speeches
The World Parliament of Religions, Chicago


WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

 

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

 

INDIA Vision 2020

India Vision 2020 was initially a documanet prepared by TIFAC under the chairmanship of Dr.A.P.J.Abdul kalam and a team of 500 experts. Dr.Kalam further gave shape to this concept through his seminal work along with Dr.Y.S.Rajan – “ India 2020 : Vision for the new millennium “.

Dr.Kalam in one of his speeches elaborates the concept :

“Transforming the nation into a developed country, five areas in combination have been identified based on India's core competence, natural resources and talented manpower for integrated action to double the growth rate of GDP and realize the Vision of Developed India.

These are:

    * Agriculture and food processing -- with a target of doubling the present production of food and agricultural products by 2020. Agro food processing industry would lead to the prosperity of rural people, food security and speed up the economic growth;

    * Infrastructure with reliable and quality electric power including solar farming for all parts of the country, providing urban amenities in rural areas and interlinking of rivers;

    * Education and Healthcare: To provide social security and eradication of illiteracy and health for all;

    * Information and Communication Technology: This is one of our core competencies and wealth generator. ICT can be used for tele-education, tele-medicine and e-governance to promote education in remote areas, healthcare and also transparency in the administration; and

    * Critical technologies and strategic industries witnessed the growth in nuclear technology, space technology and defence technology

Anna Hazare

Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, (Marathi: किसान बापट बाबुराव हजारे), popularly known as Anna Hazare (born June 15, 1938), is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India, in 1992. On April 5, 2011, he has started a fast unto death to make a pressure on the union government to enact Lokpal Bill a law on Lokpal (ombudsman) that deals with corruption in public offices.   

Awards and honors
    * Padmashree award by government of India in the year 1990
    * Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award, by government of India on November 19, 1986 from the hands of Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.
    * Krishi Bhushana award by Maharashtra government in 1989.
    * Felicitation by Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation 15 January 1987
    * Felicitation by Pune Municipal Corporation.
    * On April 15, 2008, Kisan Baburao Hazare received the World Bank's 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service: "Hazare created a thriving model village in Ralegan Siddhi, in the impoverished Ahmednagar region of Maharashtra state, and championed the right to information and the fight against corruption."

Lokpal Bill movement

In 2011, Anna Hazare led a movement for passing a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal (ombudsman) bill in the Indian Parliament. As a part of this movement, N. Santosh Hegde, a former justice of the Supreme Court of India and Lokayukta of Karnataka, Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court along with the members of the India Against Corruption movement drafted an alternate bill, named as the Jan Lokpal Bill (People's Ombudsman Bill) with more stringent provisions and wider power to the Lokpal (Ombudsman).[3] Hazare has started a fast up to death from 5 April 2011 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, to press for the demand to form a joint committee of the representatives of the Government and the civil society to draft a new bill with more stronger penal actions and more independence to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Ombudsmen in the states), after his demand was rejected by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh 

The movement attracted attention very quickly through various media. It has been reported that thousands of people joined to support Mr. Hazare's effort. Almost 150 people are reported to join Mr. Hazare in his fast.[5] He said that he would not allow any politician to sit with him in this movement. Many social activists including Medha Patkar,Arvind Kejriwal and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi have lent their support to Hazare's hunger strike and anti-corruption campaign.

Anna Hazare started his "Fast until Death" at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, stating "I will fast until Jan Lokpal Bill is passed"
Activists - Swami Ramdeo Baba, Swami Agnivesh with him in support.
Day 2 Response - Sharad Pawar offered to quit GoM reviewing the Janlokpal bill.
The movement gathered quite a significant amount of support from India's youth visible through the local support and on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Amazing Facts about India and Indians!

  1. India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.  
2. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
3. India is the world's largest democracy.
   4. Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
   5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
   6. The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
   7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
   8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
   9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
  10. The art of Navigation was bornin the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
  11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
  12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
  13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
  14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
  15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
  16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
  17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
  18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
  19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
  20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
  21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
  22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
  23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
  24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
  25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.
Famous Quotes on India (by non-Indians)
    * Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
    * Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.
    * French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
    * Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Leaked Snowden docs show for first time that DNA test verified identity of Osama bin Laden’s body

Classified intelligence agencies budget reveals details of operation which until now Pentagon had reportedly tried to hide

A secret laboratory ran DNA tests on Osama bin Laden’s body after he was killed by a Navy Seals commando team, classified US defence documents leaked by Edward Snowden have revealed.

The Pentagon has previously denied that it had any record of such tests, and reportedly handed all its information on the bin Laden operation to the CIA where they were less likely to be made visible to the public.

But former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has now gone to the press with secret budget files, held by the Defence Intelligence Agency, which show that forensic tests took place and “provided a conclusive match” on the terrorist leader’s identity.

The so-called “black budget” information was passed on to The Washington Post, and as well as revealing the DNA tests eight hours after bin Laden died, they show that the NSA was able to track calls made by al-Qa’ida operatives, and that reconnaissance missions took more than 387 images of the Abbottabad compound in advance of the raid.

Despite their extensive surveillance operation, US intelligence officials told the president that they could only estimate the chances of bin Laden being present at the compound as between 40 and 60 per cent.

The findings come after previous attempts to gain access to operation details, including the DNA analysis reports, had been blocked by the Defence Department.

The Associated Press said they had submitted Freedom of Information requests asking for these data the day after bin Laden’s death was announced, but almost a year later in March 2012 they were told the Pentagon could not locate any of the files.

In July AP reported that the US’s top special operations commander, Adm. William McRaven, had ordered military files about the raid purged from Defence Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they more easily could be shielded from ever being made public.

And reports said the CIA has not responded to requests for similar records.

The latest release from Edward Snowden comes at the end of the month in which he began life in a secret location somewhere in Russia. The 30-year-old fugitive has been granted a year’s asylum in the eastern European country, leading to a cooling of the relationship between presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.

Aamir Khan's letter to Anna Hazare

As support pours in from all quarters for veteran activist and Gandhian Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death campaign against corruption, Bollywood too has joined the chorus.

Actor Aamir Khan has written a letter to Mr Hazare and pledged his support to the cause.

Earlier in the day, Mr Hazare, in a five-point letter to the Prime Minister, explained why he is continuing with the hunger fast that the government has asked him to re-consider. Mr Hazare began his hunger strike on Tuesday, and says he will not eat or drink till the government proves its commitment to fighting corruption with a powerful new law - the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill).

"I have just sent a letter to the Prime Minister. I request the Prime Minister that the Lokpal bill is the right of the public, it's not a favour to them. You are sevaks, the people are the maaliks," the 72-year-old said.

Here's the letter by Aamir Khan:

10 things to know about Anna Hazare and Jan Lok Pal Bill

1. Who is Anna Hazare? -  An ex-army man. Fought 1965 Indo-Pak War

2. What's so special about him? - He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahamad Nagar district, Maharashtra

3. So what? - This village is a self-sustained model village. Energy is produced in the village itself from solar power, biofuel and wind mills. In 1975, it used to be a poverty clad village. Now it is one of the richest village in India. It has become a model for self-sustained, eco-friendly & harmonic village.

4. Ok,...? - This guy, Anna Hazare was awarded Padma Bhushan and is a known figure for his social activities.

5. Really, what is he fighting for? - He is supporting a cause, the amendment of a law to curb corruption in India.

6. How that can be possible? - He is advocating for a Bil, The Jan Lokpal Bill (The Citizen Ombudsman Bill), that will form an autonomous authority who will make politicians (ministers), beurocrats (IAS/IPS) accountable for their deeds.

8. It's an entirely new thing right..? - In 1972, the bill was proposed by then Law minister Mr. Shanti Bhushan. Since then it has been neglected by the politicians and some are trying to change the bill to suit thier theft (corruption).

7. Oh.. He is going on a hunger strike for that whole thing of passing a Bill ! How can that be possible in such a short span of time? - The first thing he is asking for is: the government should come forward and announce that the bill is going to be passed.

Next, they make a joint committee to DRAFT the JAN LOKPAL BILL. 50% government participation and 50% public participation. Because you cant trust the government entirely for making such a bill which does not suit them.

8. Fine, What will happen when this bill is passed?- A LokPal will be appointed at the center. He will have an autonomous charge, say like the Election Commission of India. In each and every state, Lokayukta will be appointed. The job is to bring all alleged party to trial in case of corruptions within 1 year. Within 2 years, the guilty will be punished. Not like, Bofors scam or Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, that has been going for last 25 years without any result.

9. Is he alone? Who else is there in the fight with Anna Hazare? - Baba Ramdev, Ex. IPS Kiran Bedi, Social Activist Swami Agnivesh, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and many more. Prominent personalities like Aamir Khan is supporting his cause.

10. Ok, got it. What can I do? - At least we can spread the message.

How? - Putting status message, links, video, changing profile pics.

At least we can support Anna Hazare and the cause for uprooting corruption from India.

At least we can hope that his Hunger Strike does not go in vain.

At least we can pray for his good health.

Why the movement ? - The movement started due to the resentment because of the serious differences between the draft Lokpal Bill 2010 prepared by the government and the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the members of this movement which has received significant public support.