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Showing posts from October 6, 2008

#197, Originality of Swami Vivekananda's speeches in circulation

I find a number of sound files on the internet which are said to be the recordings of the speeches of Swami Vivekananda in the Parliament of Religions, Chicago. In post No. 196, I pointed out that the Organisers/Publishers of Columbian Fair were not fair to Swami Vivekananda or Hinduism. They did not bother to mention Vivekananda's name among the persons who had spoken at the Parliament. Instead they made an indirect reference to him quoting a remark which they felt offensive to Christianity. It is, therefore, very much unlikely that the Organisers of Columbian Fair would have arranged for a phonograph recording of Swami Vivekananda's speeches 'live'. I believe that Swamiji spoke ex tempore mostly, and rarely read pre-written papers, exception being the Paper on Hinduism read by him on the 19th Sept. 1893. I also believe that he might have re-prepared his speeches and phonographed them with the help of the Lecture Bureau in U.S.A. with whom he had a contract of lec