Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Vedanta Societies

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Vedanta Societies
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Vedanta Societies, first and most influential Hindu organization in the West, founded by Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), a disciple of Indian mystic Ramakrishna (1836-86). Vivekananda attended an international religious conference in Chicago (1893), and later established the Vedanta Society of New York (1894), an organization devoted to service and mysticism. Vivekananda returned to India and founded the Ramakrishna Order (1897) to administer the network of Vedanta societies and humanitarian and religious activities. There are 20 centers in the United States.

Bibliography

See J. Damrell, Seeking Spiritual Meaning (1977); C. Isherwood, My Guru and His Disciple (1988); C. T. Jackson, The Ramakrishna Movement in the United States (1994).

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Vedanta Societies
Top
Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia

American Vedanta Societies stem from the visit to the United States by Swami Vivekananda in 1893, when he lectured on Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago. The Swami founded the Vedanta Society of New York in 1896, followed by the Vedanta Society of San Francisco in 1900.

Swami Vivekananda became the foremost interpreter of Yoga and Hinduism in Western countries, basing his teachings on the inspiration of his master Sri Ramakrishna.

Vedanta comprises the supreme wisdom of the Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of India, together with the Upanishads, which derived from them. This wisdom is manifest as a revelatory experience after following spiritual disciplines (such as the various forms of yoga) in conjunction with scripture study under the guidance of a qualified guru or teacher.

There are now some sixteen Vedanta Centres in the United States which form branches of the Ramakrishna Order of India. Addresses: Vedanta Society of Northern California, 2323 Vallejo St., San Francisco, CA 94123; Vedanta Society of Southern California, 1946 Vedanta Pl., Hollywood, CA 90068. There are also Vedanta Centre/Ananda Ashrama communities providing spiritual retreats in both Massachusetts and Southern California. Addresses: Vedanta Centre, 130 Beechwood St., Cohasset, MA 02025; Ananda Ashrama, 5301 Pennsylvania Ave., CA 91214.

Wikipedia: Vedanta Society
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Swami Vivekananda, the founder
Swami Abhedananda (1866-1939), called from India by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 to run the Society.

Vedanta Society, and its variant Vedanta Centre, are terms covering organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta.

The first Vedanta Society was founded by Swami Vivekananda in New York in November 1894.[1], who later on asked Swami Abhedananda to lead the organization in 1897 [2]. Many of the existing Vedanta Societies are affiliated, either formally or informally, with the Ramakrishna Order, the monastic order, which lead to the formation of Ramakrishna Mission.

Prior to its inception, Swami Vivekananda had given his famous "Brothers and Sisters of America!", public lecture at Parliament of Religions, Chicago in September 1893; after its success he spent following two years lecturing in various parts of eastern and central United States, appearing chiefly in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York. In June 1895, for two months he conducted private lectures to a dozen of his disciples at the Thousand Island Park.

The branches of the Ramakrishna Order located outside India are generally known as Vedanta Societies, and are under the spiritual guidance of the Ramakrishna Order.[3] The work of the Vedanta Societies in the west has primarily been devoted to spiritual and pastoral activities, though many of them do some form of social service. Many of the Western Vedanta societies have resident monks, and several centers have resident nuns.[3]

Contents

List of Vedanta Societies and Centers

Africa

South Africa

Zambia

  • Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Lusaka

Australia

New South Wales

  • Ramakrishna Sarada Vedanta Society of New South Wales, Sydney ·
  • Vedanta Centre of Sydney · external link

Queensland

  • Ramakrishna Vedanta Center of Queensland, Brisbane · external link

Asia

Japan

Europe

France

Germany

Italy

The Netherlands

Russia

Switzerland

United Kingdom

North America

Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

  • Vivekananda Vedanta Society of British Columbia, Vancouver ·

Ontario

USA

Arizona

California

Colorado

  • Northern Colorado Vedanta Society, Fort Collins · external link

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Iowa

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

  • Vedanta Monastery and Retreat, Ganges ·

Missouri

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

Rhode Island

Texas

Washington

  • Vedanta Society of Western Washington, Seattle · external link

South America

Brazil

Argentina

References

  1. ^ The Life of Swami Vivekananda, Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2000, Vol 1 p 514.
  2. ^ Swami Abhedananda - Biography Ramakrishna Vedanta Math.
  3. ^ a b Vrajaprana, Pravrajika (1994). "Editor's note on Introduction". Living Wisdom: Vedanta in the West. pp. p.36. 
Stub icon This Hinduism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vedanta Society".  Read more