Swami Paramananda (Ramakrishna Mission)
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| Swami Paramananda | |
| Born | 5 February 1884 Banaripara, East Bengal, India, now Bangladesh |
|---|---|
| Died | 21 June 1940 (aged 56) Cohasset, Massachusetts |
Swami Paramananda (1884-1940) was one of the early Indian teachers who came to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Birth and early life
Swami Paramananda was born on February 5, 1884 as Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta, the youngest son of a prestigious family, in the village of Banaripara. The village is in the district of Barisal, which was then part of East Bengal in British India and is now part of Bangladesh. His father, Ananda Mohan Guha-Thakurta, was well known as a progressive, a champion for women's education, a legacy he was to pass along to his sons. His mother, Brahmamoyee Basu, bore eight children before dying of cancer in her early forties, when Suresh was nine years old. Suresh was known for his affectionate nature and cheerfulness. When Suresh was sixteen, his father began to lose his eyesight. As a result, Suresh read devotional texts aloud and one that was particularly compelling was a collection of "Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna," a revered saint who had passed away fourteen years prior.
[edit] Joining the Ramakrishna Order
On his seventeenth birthday, Suresh joined a group of older men from the village in a journey to Belur to visit the monastery and temple founded by Ramakrishna's disciples. There he met his teacher, Swami Vivekananda, who was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and the first swami to teach in America. Paramananda was initiated a month before his eighteenth birthday, becoming a monk (sannyasin) of the Ramakrishna Order and the youngest disciple of Swami Vivekananda. The President of the Ramakrishna Math, Swami Brahmananda, would call Suresh "Basanta Kokhil" [spring-bird], or simply "Basanta" [spring] and that became his new nick name. He trained under the mentorship of Swami Ramakrishnananda, also a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and founder of the Madras Math, a thousand miles south of Calcutta.
[edit] In the West
Swami Paramananda was sent to America in 1906 at the age of twenty-two to assist at the previously established New York Vedanta Society. He lived and taught there until 1909, when Paramananda established the Vedanta Centre of Boston. He lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia for thirty-four years, until his passing in 1940. He founded four centers still thriving today, two in the United States and two in Calcutta, India. The American ashramas are in Cohasset, Massachusetts and La Crescenta, California. Like his teacher, Swami Vivekananda, Paramananda believed in equality between men and women. He established disciplined communities of nuns under the supervision of Sister Devamata (1867-1942) his American first disciple, whom he ordained to teach Vedanta from the platform in 1910. Throughout the entire history of the community, women were accorded positions of leadership in all areas of the work. The first Indian woman to join the community was Gayatri Devi (1906-1995), who was brought by Paramananda in 1926 to be trained as one of his assistants. Srimata Gayatri Devi became the spiritual leader of the centers upon Swami Paramananda's death in 1940 and the first Indian woman to be ordained a teacher in America.
[edit] Works
Swami Paramananda founded the "Message of the East" in 1909, the first Vedanta periodical published in the United States which continued for 51 years, offering articles, poetry and commentary on all religions in its monthly, and later quarterly, magazine. He authored translations of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita and The Upanishads as well as four volumes of mystical poetry, “The Vigil”, “Rhythm of Life”, “Soul’s Secret Door” and “My Creed” and many other books and publications.
[edit] Books on and by Swami Paramananda
- A Bridge of Dreams - the Story of Paramananda a Modern Mystic and His Ideal of All-Conquering Love by Sara Ann Levinsky ISBN 0-89281-063-7
- Bhagavad Gita, Srimad (trans. Sw. Paramananda) translated by Swami Paramananda ISBN 0-911564-32-2
- Book of Daily Thoughts and Prayers by Swami Paramananda ISBN 0-911564-32-2
- Christ and Oriental Ideals by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Concentration and Meditation By Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Emerson and Vedanta by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Faith is Power by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers (first published as Faith as a Constructive Force)
- Healing Meditations by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Vedanta in Practice by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- My Creed By Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Right Resolutions by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Rhythm of Life by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Self-Mastery by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre
- Silence as Yoga by Swami Paramananda ISBN 8-171201-81-4
- Soul's Secret Door by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Spiritual Healing by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- Sri Ramakrishna and His Disciples by Sister Devamata La Crescenta, CA: Ananda-Ashram, 1928
- Swami Paramananda and His Work by Sister Devamata, Ananda Ashrama
- The Guru and the Disciple by Sister Daya, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- The Path of Devotion by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
- The Way of Peace and Blessedness by Swami Paramananda ISBN 0-766144-60-7
- Vedanta in Practice by Swami Paramananda, Vedanta Centre Publishers
