Staff Writer – Archi
People of Indian origin in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago will join the rest of the world in paying homage to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th birth anniversary in January with a series of cultural and educational programmes involving people of all faiths, religion, caste and creed.
Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra said the anniversary celebrations will be held from January 10 to January 15 at several locations in Trinidad and Tobago.
Representatives from Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, including Swami Ishtananda from Florida, will deliver speeches on Swami Vivekananda. A health camp will also be organised for the common people at Lambeau in Tobago.
In the month of May in 1893, Vivekananda left the shores of India for the US to attend the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. He visited several cities in Japan such as Nagasaki, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo and some places in China and Canada en route to the United States. He arrived at Chicago in July 1893. However, to his disappointment he learnt that no one without credentials from a bona fide organisation would be accepted as a delegate.
He somehow managed to force his way into and obtained permission to deliver a speech.
Rising above the cramping creeds and dwarfing dogmas of the world, the great disciple of saint Ramkrishna Paramahansha, Vivekananda immediately won over the hearts of everybody with his introductory words “Sisters and brothers of America”
To these words he got a standing ovation from a crowd of seven thousand, which lasted for two minutes. When silence was restored he began his address.
Swami Vivekananda. Mynzah.com
Vivekananda’s presence and speech kept everybody spellbound that day as the Indian monk spoke of harmony and universalism. His message came like a breath of fresh air to suffocated people and made him an instant celebrity.
Indian High Commissioner Mishra said: “The event will be inaugurated with the opening of an exhibition of books, photographs and posters of Swami at the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) auditorium in collaboration with the Vedanta Society.”
A film on Vivekananda will be screened at the City Hall, San Fernando, and will continue to be shown throughout the year, based on requests from various socio-cultural organisations, Mishra said.
Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863, in an affluent family in Kolkata. His father was Vishwanath Datta, a successful attorney, and his mother was Bhuvaneshwari Devi.
Born as Narendra Nath Datta, Vivekananda excelled in music, gymnastics and studies. By the time he graduated from Calcutta University, he acquired a vast knowledge of Western philosophy and history. Born with a yogic temperament, he used to practise meditation.
Around 44 per cent of the 1.3 million population of Trinidad and Tobago originally came from India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar between 1845 and 1917. Around 148,000 Indians came to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations in the Caribbean at the time. They still thus carry a great binding with India. This celebration will thus be a great occasion for them too this year.
