Swami Sarvapriyananda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Education | MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar |
| Occupation | Sannyasi at Ramakrishna Order |
| Philosophy | Advaita Vedanta |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Swami Bhuteshananda |
Swami Sarvapriyananda (Pre-Monastic name Biswarup Palit) is a Hindu monk (sannyasi) belonging to the Ramakrishna Order. He is the current resident Swami and head of the Vedanta Society of New York, a position he has been serving since January 2017. [1] [2]
Swami Sarvapriyananda was born in Kolkata and grew up in Bhubhaneshwar in the Indian state of Odisha to a pious Bengali family. From childhood onwards, he was inclined towards spirituality and was inspired by the lives of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. His family was also devoutly religious. His parents and grandparents were initiated devotees in the Ramakrishna Order tradition. [3] He has stated that his first goal in life was to become a pilot and the second was to find God, with the second goal later becoming his only goal. [3] [4] Sarvapriyananda joined the Ramakrishna Order in 1994 and took his monastic vows as sanyasa diksha was bestowed upon him by Swami Ranganathananda in 2004. [1] His family, at first, objected to his decision to become a monk but later accepted his decision. After passing school, he completed his Business Management degree from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.[ citation needed ]
Swami Sarvapriyananda served as assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California in 2015. [1] He was later appointed head of the Vedanta Society of New York, a position he has been serving since 6 January 2017. [1] Swami Tathagatananda was his predecessor. [5] [ non-primary source needed ] He was in the first group of Hindu swamis to participate as a Nagral Fellow for the year 2019–20 at Harvard Divinity School. [6] [1] [4]
Before being posted to the Hollywood Temple, he served as an acharya or teacher at Monastic probationer training center, Belur Math. He also served the Ramakrishna Order by becoming the vice principal of Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School and becoming Principal of Ramakrishna Mission Shikshanamandira (teacher-training college), Belur Math. [7] [ non-primary source needed ]
Sarvapriyananda frequently speaks at symposia and events focused on Advaita Vedanta teachings, [8] [9] [10] and has participated in discussions with other non-dualists. [11] He is a very strong proponent and scholar of the Indian Upanishad school of thought and the philosophy or Darshan, particularly of Self and Consciousness contained in them. He has delivered many lectures on the same topic. In episode five of Dispatches from The Well [12] hosted at Big Think media portal, he reflects on contributions of Vedanta to the conversation on the Hard problem of consciousness. Fortune India mentions Sarvapriyananda as "one of the best known lecturers of the Vedanta in the world today". [13] Speaking with Time on the occasion of the International Day of Yoga in 2018, Sarvapriyananda stated that "doing (yoga) the right way can change the way you live, work and love" while criticising the "vulgarisation and distortion of yoga today". [14]
Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and the father of modern Indian nationalism who is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious, spiritual and philanthropic organisation headquartered in Belur Math, West Bengal. The mission is named after the Indian Hindu spiritual guru and mystic Ramakrishna. The mission was founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897. The organisation mainly propagates the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta–Advaita Vedanta and four yogic ideals – Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, and Raja yoga. The mission bases its work on the principles of Karma Yoga, the principle of selfless work done with a dedication to God.
Swami Gambhirananda (1899–1988), born as Jatindranath Datta, was a Hindu sanyasi associated with Ramakrishna Mission. He was born at Sadhuhati in today's Bangladesh. He graduated from Scottish Church College, Calcutta (Kolkata).
Swami Ranganathananda was a Hindu swami of the Ramakrishna Math order. He served as the 13th president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.
Swami Bhuteshananda was born on 8 September 1901 at Somsar in Bengal Presidency. His premonastic name was Vijay Chandra. His father was Purna Chandra Roy and his mother Charubala Devi. In his student life, he met Jnan Maharaj. Under influence of his and some other spiritual young boys, he started to go to Belur Math frequently and he met many of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He graduated from Government Sanskrit College where he mastered Bengali, English and Sanskrit. Due to his visits to the Math, one day he went to the Math to become Monk (Sannyasi), but as his studies was not completed, he was asked to come later. This made him leave his residence and he built a Shiva temple in Baghbazar (Calcutta) and lived there like a renunciate monk, practicing intense Tapasya. He was present during the funeral of Sri Sarada Devi, in December 1920.
Shuddhananda who was the fifth president of the Ramakrishna Order, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1897. He became a trustee of Ramakrishna Math and a member of the governing body of Ramakrishna Mission in May 1903. He also took up the editorship of the Bengali magazine called Udbodhan for sometime. He was appointed as the secretary of the math and the mission in 1927 and as the vice president in 1937. In 1938, he became the president of the order. His tenure was short, as he died in 1938. He is renowned in the literary circles to have translated most of Vivekananda's original works from English to Bengali.
Swami Virajananda, born Kalikrishna Bose, was an initiated disciple of Sarada Devi and the sixth president of the Ramakrishna Order. Born as the son of Trailokyanath Bose and Nishadkalidevi, Virajananda was the first person to join the Ramakrishna Order after the direct disciples of Ramakrishna. In 1897, he was initiated into sannyasa by Vivekananda. From 1899 onward he served in Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati and became its president in 1906. He is recognised as a monastic disciple of Vivekananda.
Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Belur Math was established in January 1897, by Swami Vivekananda who was the disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Vivekananda returned back to India from Colombo with a small group of disciples and started work on the two one at Belur, and the others at Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas called the Advaita Ashrama. The temple is the heart of the Ramakrishna movement. It is notable for its architecture that fuses Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, and Christian art and motifs as a symbol of unity of all religions. In 2003, Belur Math railway station was also inaugurated which is dedicated to Belur Math Temple.
Ramakrishna Math is the administrative legal organization of the Ramakrishna Order, considered part of the Hindu reform movements. It was set up by sanyasin disciples of Ramakrishna Paramhansa headed by Swami Vivekananda at Baranagar Math in Baranagar, a place near Calcutta, in 1886. India. The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and its twin organisation, Ramakrishna Mission is at Belur Math.
Vedanta Societies refer to organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta, the culmination of Vedas. More specifically, they "comprise the American arm of the Indian Ramakrishna movement", and refer to branches of the Ramakrishna Order located outside India.
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, is a branch of the Ramakrishna Math, founded on 19 March 1899 at the behest of Vivekananda, by his disciples James Henry Sevier, and Charlotte Sevier. Today it publishes the original writings of Vivekananda. As an ashram dedicated to the study and practice of Advaita Vedanta, no images or idols are worshipped there, not even of Ramakrishna; and no images were kept in the premises according to the Ashram ideals set by Vivekananda.
Swami Tyagananda is a Hindu monk of the Ramakrishna Order and presently the head of the Vedanta Society in Boston. Currently, he is also the Hindu chaplain at MIT and Harvard. He has presented papers at academic conferences, and he gives lectures and classes at the Vedanta Society, MIT, Harvard, and other colleges in and around Boston.
Swarupananda was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the first president of the Advaita Ashrama, set up by Vivekananda in 1899 at Mayavati, near Champawat. The ashram is a branch of the religious monastic order, Ramakrishna Math, also set up by Vivekananda on the teachings of his guru Ramakrishna.
Nirmalananda, born as Tulasi Charan Dutta in Calcutta, was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century mystic and Hindu saint from India, and took Sanyasa from Vivekananda along with Brahmananda and others. He was initiated by Sri Ramakrishna, on which fact a few latter-day antagonists tried to cast doubt in the Bangalore Court, but into which question the Court refused to get into. Nirmalananda played a key role in establishing Ramakrishna Math and Mission chiefly in South India, in Kerala and Bangalore and Tamil Nadu and also in the USA, Burma and Bangladesh.
Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk from India. His teachings and philosophy are a reinterpretation and synthesis of various strands of Hindu thought, most notably classical yoga and (Advaita) Vedanta, with western esotericism and Universalism. He blended religion with nationalism, and applied this reinterpretation to various aspect's of education, faith, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India. His influence extended also to the west, and he was instrumental in introducing Yoga to the west.
Josephine MacLeod was an American friend and devotee of Swami Vivekananda. She had a strong attachment to India and was an active participant in the Ramakrishna Vivekananda movement. She was given the nicknames "Tantine" and "Jo Jo" by Vivekananda. She considered Swami Vivekananda to be her friend and helped him with his finances. MacLeod was not a sanyasin, unlike many others such as Sister Nivedita or Sister Christine. She was instrumental in spreading Vivekananda's message on Vedanta in the West. She made many contributions to the initial and the later phases of the development of the order of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. She was a contributor to many causes espoused by Sister Nivedita, the most famous disciple of Vivekananda, including that of contributing financially towards the development of the Indian National Movement especially in Bengal and elsewhere in India.
Khandana Bhava–Bandhana, Sri Ramakrishna Aratrikam, or Sri Ramakrishna Arati, is a Bengali song composed by Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda. The song, dedicated to the 19th-century saint Ramakrishna, was composed in 1898. Khandana Bhava-Bandhana is a prayer song based on Raga Mishra Kalyani, Tala Ferta used in Indian classical music.
Kalyanananda (1874–1937) was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda, who had set up the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama at Kankhal, near Haridwar. As a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, he took up service to the humanity as the most important philosophy in his life and practiced it for the benefit of the local population and the pilgrims. He spent thirty six-years in Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Kankhal to serve the poor and afflicted. He was one of the pioneers to set up a hospital in a remote location for the poor, needy and the itinerant monks who did not have access to healthcare.
Achalananda, popularly known as Kedar Baba, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service, in Varanasi. He initially worked as a policeman, but was then influenced by the ideology of Vivekananda.
Sri Sarada Math is named after Sri Sarada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna, and founded on 2 December 1954. Built by a group of eight sadhavis, as per the instructions given by Swami Vivekananda, it serves as a monastic order for women. Headquartered at Dakshineshwar, Kolkata, the organisation has branch centres all over India, in Sri Lanka and Australia. The nuns of this order use the title "Pravrajika" before their ordained name, and are usually addressed as "Mataji" meaning 'revered mother'.
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