The Other 9/11: How Swami Vivekananda Changed The World

This September, while most Americans remember 9/11 as a day of mourning, many will commemorate the “Other 9/11” in 1893 when the world came together to celebrate the diversity and unity of all faiths for the first time. The First World’s Parliament of Religions opened its doors in Chicago and saw an unknown monk from India, Swami Vivekananda, emerge as the conference’s star. His seminal speech and subsequent teachings helped found the Global Interfaith Movement.

A unique documentary film, “America’s First Guru,” now showing on Public Television and streaming at PBS.org, makes a significant contribution to understanding this moment and the need for religious pluralism and harmony. Presented by WTTW Chicago and directed by Raja Choudhury, the film narrates the extraordinary journey of Vivekananda to America in 1893, his seminal speech on 9/11, and the spiritual and cultural revolution he brought about in just six short years.

For religious and faith communities, 9/11 marks the day on which all religions of the world tried to come together for the first time to overcome their differences and provides a framework for a meaningful dialogue on tolerance, understanding, pluralism, and universal acceptance.

America’s First Guru tells the compelling story of how Yoga and the highest universalist ideals of Hinduism first entered the popular American conversation in 1893 with the arrival of Swami Vivekananda at the First World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago. His teachings were rooted in the deep Indian philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta, and he opened the door for American women, creatives, and people from diverse backgrounds to discover their inherent divinity. He changed the way the West saw themselves and the way Americans saw India forever. In six short years, he became America’s First Guru.

To stream America’s First Guru, visit PBS.org. To watch it on TV, contact your local Public Television Station. For a deeper understanding of the film, the filmmakers, public showings, broadcast schedules, and the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta, and Yoga, we invite you to explore America’s First Guru Website at https://americasfirstguru.com.

Raja Choudhury is a National Film Award (India) winning filmmaker (The Quantum Indians 2014), the director of America's First Guru on PBS (US Television), an acclaimed Speaker (TED and TEDx,) and a Radical Spiritual Teacher and Historian.