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A Series of Eight Articles on the life of Swami Vivekananda Immediate Previous Articles: Samkhya and Vedanta True Discipleship More About Guru Life of Ramakrishna and Its Relevance Advaita Vedanta as the Quest for Knowledge Related to Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda: Short Biography At The Parliament of Religions: Chicago 1893 Swami Vivekananda and Madame Calve Nature of India's Contribution Related to Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna: A Brief life sketch The Game of Ladder The Illusion Glory of Sri Ramakrishna Distracting Noises Related to Hinduism What is Hiduism? Gita: An Introduction Path of Devotion in Gita Karma Yoga in the Gita Introduction to Katha Upanishad Introduction to Isha Upanishad Religious Social Movements Related to Vedanta NeoVedanta Practical Vedanta Maya Yoga: Part 1 | Yoga: Part 2 * MORE... |
Swami Vivekananda
 A rare soul -SWAMI VIVEKANANDA- was born in Calcutta (India) on 12th of January 1863. His father was a renowned pleader of his time and lived an aristocratic but pious life. His mother was an embodiment of wisdom and simplicity. She taught Narendra--later to be known as Swami Vivekananda--the true meaning of Hindu Religion. Based on the mythological stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata, she introduced Narendra to fearless character of Hanuman, to the divine nature of Sri Rama and Krishna, and values of truthfulness and simplicity. Narendra was very scientific in his attitude. He did not accept anything without proof of knowledge. During his college days (it was British India that time) once his professor told him to go to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar Temple if he wanted to know true meaning of trance or Samadhi. This opened up a new relationship of Teacher and Disciple unparalleled in the history of spirituality. This wise man of Dakshineswar with his simplicity and immense knowledge of Advaita Vedanta won over the mind and the heart of this young boy--Narendra--once for all. At the lotus feet of his Teacher Sri Ramakrishna, Narendra learnt and realized true spirit of Eternal Vedantic Religion--Sanatana Dharma, and gradually evolved into Swami Vivekananda. The realization that with spiritual practice one can transcend the limitations of body-mind complex--the ego-- and regain the memory of one's true divine nature made a great impact on the mind of Swami Vivekananda. He renounced the transient worldly pleasures based on the five senses and started to lead a life of a monk that later on paved the way for a new monasticism in modern India. For him now the mission of his life was to broadcast this message of Sri Ramakrishna to the East and the West--everywhere. Vivekananda The Scientist! To arrest the sectarian influence of onward march of 'scientific reason', to fight the onslaught of external technological progress which claimed material prosperity as the only goal for humanity, one required answers in the scientific language alone. Language of simplicity and faith was brushed aside as weakness and defeat. Religion was on defensive in the face of clattering advances of science. To combat this destructive march of quasi purposive science, Swami Vivekananda entered the world arena as a great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Chicago; 11th September 1893 at the Parliament of Religions, his call of, "Sisters and Brothers of America..." echoed the voice of universality and oneness of life. It shook the Western thought of reason and science at its very root. He extracted scientific truths from Upanishads and Vedanta and put breaks on the criticism of religion as non-scientific mumbling. The old philosophy of Vedanta was given new form suited to the modern scientific thinking. Swami Vivekananda experienced neo-vedantic culture and evolutionary vision in the wonderful life of Sri Ramakrishna, and he maintained that that was the essential pre-requisite for future survival of civilization. As a man of vision, however, Swami Vivekananda advocated the unity of physical and spiritual sciences. One is lame without the other. He truthfully elaborated the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna that were in 'seed form', so to say. New Dispensation: Worship of Man as God The Divinity is best manifest as human consciousness. Hence it is logical and rational to 'worship God in each human face' rather than try to find Him in icons and images, temples and buildings, scriptures and books. Swami Vivekananda was convinced that the blot of apartheid, caste and racial prejudice, exploitation based on privileges, and slave mentality would vanish from the face of the earth if the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna are put in practice. He was convinced about this most important teaching of his Master that all religions are but so many paths to reach the same perfection or goal. Naturally, religious fanaticism, persecution, and bigotry had no place in Swamiji's concept of religion. In the year 1897, after his triumphant return from the West he formed the New Monastic Order - Ramakrishna Math and Mission - with its Head Quarters at Belur, P. O. Howrah, Calcutta, India. The world to day is rich because of his tremendous contribution in the realm of true Spirituality which he has elevated to the category of Science. His return to India was a phenomenal event. From Colombo to Calcutta, everywhere he went, a rousing reception and welcome was accorded to this great sage. His famous replies to these welcome addresses are so nicely compiled in the famous book: "From Colombo to Almora". Moreover, whatever he spoke, preached, or taught is all available as "Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" in nine volumes. Also his wonderful biography by His Eastern and Western Disciples. All these books are published by and are available at Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Calcutta 700014 (India). Also at: Vedanta Press, 1946 Vedanta Place, Hollywood, California, 90068-3996, USA. * Read complete Series of Articles on The Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda. C S Shah Of Special Interest: Guided Meditation Altered States of Consciousness Neurophysiology of Meditation Extra Sensory Perceptions Holy Mother Ma Saradadevi Frequently Asked Questions A Few Poems Stories From Great Indian epics: Ramayana Mahabharata List of All Articles || Home Page |
At our temples and meditation centers around the world, weekly inspirational services offer an opportunity to meet with other truth-seekers to commune with God and share spiritual fellowship. These services include readings from Paramahansa Yogananda's writings, as well as periods of devotional chanting, silent meditation, and prayer. All of the temples and many of our meditation centers also offer Sunday School classes for children ages 3-12 presenting Paramahansa Yogananda's How-to-Live School spiritual principles for children. Monastics of the Self-Realization Order regularly give the services at our temples, and SRF lay members lead services at the meditation centers. Throughout the year, classes on the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda are also presented by monks and nuns of the Order during our lecture tours and retreat programs. (See Lecture Tours and Retreats.) In this site you will find the contact details of all the regional groups in germany.
It was in 1910, at the age of 17, that he met and became a disciple of the revered Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. In the hermitage of this great master of Yoga he spent the better part of the next ten years, receiving Sri Yukteswar's strict but loving spiritual discipline. After he graduated from Calcutta University in 1915, he took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order, at which time he received the name Yogananda (signifying bliss, ananda, through divine union, yoga). His ardent desire to consecrate his life to the love and service of God thus found fulfillment.
Yogananda began his life's work with the founding, in 1917, of a "how-to-live" school for boys, where modern educational methods were combined with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. Visiting the school a few years later, Mahatma Gandhi wrote: "This institution has deeply impressed my mind."
In 1920, Yogananda was invited to serve as India's delegate to an international congress of religious leaders convening in Boston. His address to the congress, on "The Science of Religion," was enthusiastically received. That same year he founded Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on India's ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation.
For the next several years, he lectured and taught on the East coast and in 1924 embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. The following year, he established in Los Angeles an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, which became the spiritual and administrative heart of his growing work.
Over the next decade, Yogananda traveled and lectured widely, speaking to capacity audiences in many of the largest auditoriums in the country -- from New York's Carnegie Hall to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Los Angeles Times reported: "The Philharmonic Auditorium presents the extraordinary spectacle of thousands....being turned away an hour before the advertised opening of a lecture with the 3000-seat hall filled to its utmost capacity."
Yogananda emphasized the underlying unity of the world's great religions, and taught universally applicable methods for attaining direct personal experience of God. To serious students of his teachings he introduced the soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India, which had been lost in the Dark Ages and revived in modern times by his lineage of enlightened masters.
Among those who became his students were many prominent figures in science, business, and the arts, including horticulturist Luther Burbank, operatic soprano Amelita Galli-Curci, George Eastman (inventor of the Kodak camera), poet Edwin Markham, and symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski. In 1927, he was officially received at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge, who had become interested in the newspaper reports of his activities.
In 1935, Yogananda began an 18-month tour of Europe and India. During his yearlong sojourn in his native land, he spoke in cities throughout the subcontinent and enjoyed meetings with Mahatma Gandhi (who requested initiation in Kriya Yoga), Nobel-prize-winning physicist Sir C. V. Raman, and some of India's renowned spiritual figures, including Sri Ramana Maharshi and Anandamoyi Ma. It was during this year also that his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, bestowed on him India's highest spiritual title, paramahansa. Literally supreme swan (a symbol of spiritual discrimination), the title signifies one who manifests the supreme state of unbroken communion with God.
During the 1930s, Paramahansa Yogananda began to withdraw somewhat from his nationwide public lecturing so as to devote himself to the writings that would carry his message to future generations, and to building an enduring foundation for the spiritual and humanitarian work of Self-Realization Fellowship (known in India as Yogoda Satsanga Society).
Under his direction, the personal guidance and instruction that he had given to students of his classes was arranged into a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study.
Yogananda's life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, was published in 1946 and expanded by him in subsequent editions. A perennial best seller, the book has been in continuous publication since it first appeared and has been translated into 18 languages. It is widely regarded as a modern spiritual classic.
On March 7, 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda entered mahasamadhi, a God-illumined master's conscious exit from the body at the time of physical death. His passing was marked by an extraordinary phenomenon. A notarized statement signed by the Director of Forest Lawn Memorial-Park testified: "No physical disintegration was visible in his body even twenty days after death....This state of perfect preservation of a body is, so far as we know from mortuary annals, an unparalleled one....Yogananda's body was apparently in a phenomenal state of immutability."
On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda's passing, his far-reaching contributions to the spiritual upliftment of humanity were given formal recognition by the Government of India. A special commemorative stamp was issued in his honor, together with a tribute that read, in part:
"The ideal of love for God and service to humanity found full expression in the life of Paramahansa Yogananda....Though the major part of his life was spent outside India, still he takes his place among our great saints. His work continues to grow and shine ever more brightly, drawing people everywhere on the path of the pilgrimage of the Spirit."
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