Vedanta and Ramakrishna

About the Book Vedanta is philosophy and it is also a religion. Sri Ramakrishna was the prophet of the last century who experienced the truths embedded in the Vedanta. The Vedanta philosophy, which is a repository of all spiritual ideas, emphasizes several key ideas. Its grandest idea, its central point, is the oneness of life. Everything that we see around us, including ourselves, is reducible to one substance. The Vedantic philosophers called this substance. The Vedantic philosophers called this substance Brahman. As a corollary came the idea that the real nature of man is the atman, the undying, immortal, spiritual Self. And as a further coronallary of the idea of oneness came the idea of the oneness of Godhead and the harmony of all religions. The ultimate objective of man’s life has been said by Vedanta to be freedom.

About the Author SWAMI SWAHANANDA, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, is the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California.

After joining the Order in 1947, he served in the Madras Math and. later, as editor of the Order's scholarly publication, the Vedanta Kesari. He came to the United States in 1968 as the Assistant Minister of the San Francisco Vedanta Society and was later appointed head of the Vedanta Society of Berkeley, California.

In December of 1976 he was transferred to Hollywood, the headquarters of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. where he remains the minister today.

Swami Swahananda is the author of many books and articles on religious life and spirituality including: Meditation and Other Spiritual Disciplines; Hindu Zymology and Other Essays, and Service and Spirituality.

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