SPIRITUAL UNITY — Man's Greatest Need

That is to say when all human beings in this world are virtually blood brothers, they must, as this concept necessarily demands, live as brothers in spirit, too. Any other way of living is a deviation from reality. Here is an incident which illustrates this point. In 1893, Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago to participate in the Parliament of Religions. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica puts it, his was a ‘sensational appearance.’ (15/623) On that occasion all the speakers at the conference followed the common practice of addressing the audience as 'Ladies and Gentlemen.' But when Swami Vivekananda took the stage, he addressed his listeners as 'Sisters and brothers of America.' No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the hall resounded with a long burst of applause. Of all the delegates at the conference, Swamiji received the greatest ovation. Men and women have been created from the same substance. Their being physically one, of necessity, demands their spiritual oneness. The reason for this was that the form of address, 'Ladies and Gentlemen' produces a sense of alienation and strangeness, whereas the phrase 'Sisters and Brothers' introduces a note of closeness and familiarity. By using this phrase, Swami Vivekananda touched a chord in the hearts of people of different creeds and colours. Their natural feeling of unity was awakened, and then what ensued fulfilled the best of expectations. All of a sudden, the gaps between them were bridged. They all began to feel themselves what they really were, and for that moment, physical divisions disappeared and were replaced by a rare spiritual unity. o Realism A man on the highest pedestal of realism is one who can think dispassionately and take decisions objectively, rising above his own self.