That which exists is One; sages call It by various names

If we watch the growth and development of religions in different races, we shall always find this that each tribe at the beginning has a god of its own. In course of time, you will find that one of these tribes becomes superior to the rest, and lays claim to its own king as the king over all. Therefrom it naturally follows that it also wants to preserve its own god as the god of all the races.
In India also the same competing gods had been struggling with each other for supremacy, but the great good fortune of this country and of the world was that there came out in the midst of the din and confusion a voice which declared:एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति — "That which exists is One; sages call It by various names."

It is not that Shiva is superior to Vishnu, not that Vishnu is everything and Shiva is nothing, but it is the same God whom you can call either Shiva, or Vishnu, or by a hundred other names. The names are different, but it is the same one God. The whole history of India you may read in these few words. The whole history has been a repetition, with tremendous power, of that one central doctrine. It was repeated in the land till it had entered into the blood of the nation, till it began to tingle with every drop of blood that flowed in its veins, till it became one with the life, part and parcel of the material of which it was composed; and thus the land was transmuted into the most wonderful land of toleration, giving the right to welcome the various religions as well as all sects into the old mother-country.

This explains the most remarkable phenomenon that is only witnessed in India— all the various sects, apparently hopelessly contradictory, yet living in such harmony. You may be a dualist, and I may be a monist. You may believe that you are the eternal servant of God, and I may declare that I am one with God Himself; yet both of us are good Hindus. How is that possible? Read then एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति — "That which exists is One; sages call It by various names." This is the one grand truth that India has to teach to the world. Even the most educated people of other countries call Hinduism as idolatry. They never stop to think what a mass of superstition is there in their own heads. It is still so everywhere, this tremendous sectarianism, the low narrowness of the mind. The thing which a person has is the only thing worth having; the only life worth living is their own little life of dollar-worship or devil-worship; the only little possession worth having is their own property, and nothing else. That is the case over the whole world in spite of education and learning. We may hear of toleration in religion and all that, but very little of it is there yet in the world. Ninety-nine per cent do not even think of it. There is tremendous religious persecution yet in every country. It is in India that Hindus build temples for Mohammedans and Christians. It is here that Mohammedans or people of other religions will build a temple for Hindus. (The wooden table on which I have kept the idols of my Hindu Gods in my house was made by a muslim, named Shahid. He took special care to make this table when we told him the purpose for which the table was made.)

The one great lesson, therefore, that the world wants most, that the world has yet to learn from India, is the idea not only of toleration, but of sympathy. Well has it been said in the Mahimnah-stotra: "As the different rivers, taking their start from different mountains, running straight or crooked, at last come unto the ocean, so, O God (Shiva), the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead unto These." (highlighted is author’s change)

Though different people may take various roads, all are on the way. Some may run a little crooked, others may run straight, but at last they will all come unto the Lord, the One.

If I am a worshiper of Shiva, I must see Him not only in the Linga, but see Him everywhere, then and then alone is my Bhakti of Shiva complete.

You are a sage, you are a lover of Hari if you see Hari in everything and in everyone. If you are a real lover of Shiva, you must see Him in everything and in everyone.

You may call God by any name or imagine any form, but you must see that every worship is given unto the same God; that all knees bending towards the Mecca, or kneeling in a Christian church, or in a Buddhist temple are kneeling to the same God whether they know it or not, whether they are conscious of it or not; that in whatever name or form they are offered, all the flowers are laid at the feet of the same God; for God is the one Lord of all, the one Soul of all souls. God knows infinitely better what this world wants than you or I.

Do you have difficulty in understanding this? Consider this simple example: There is a lake containing water. Some call the water in the lake as ‘pani’, some call it ‘jal’ and others say ‘water’. Whatever way it is called, it is the same H2O. The same way, by whatever name we may refer to, God is One.

It is impossible that all difference can cease; it must exist; without variation life must cease. It is this clash, the differentiation of thought that makes for light, for motion, for everything. Differentiation, infinitely contradictory, must remain, but it is not necessary that we should hate each other therefore; it is not necessary therefore that we should fight each other. Therefore we have to learn this one central truth.

The lessons of mildness, gentleness, forbearance, toleration, sympathy, and brotherhood, everyone may learn, whether man, woman, or child, learned or unlearned, irrespective of race, caste, or creed.

"O God! They call You by various names; You are One."

PS: The above is the essence of the first public lecture delivered by Swami Vivekananda at Colombo on January 15, 1897.