Resident Minister
The Vedanta Society of New York has been the home of some of the most illustrious monks of the Ramakrishna Order, starting with Swami Vivekananda to the present-day Swami Sarvapriyananda.
Swami Sarvapriyananda
Swami Sarvapriyananda has been the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 2017. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1994 and received sannyasa in 2004. He served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training center at Belur Math, India. He also served in various capacities in different educational institutes of the Ramakrishna Mission in India and as the Assistant Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California.
During 2019-2020 he was a Nagral Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School.
Swami Sarvapriyananda is a well-known speaker on Vedanta and his talks are extremely popular globally via the internet. He has been a speaker on various prestigious forums such as TEDx, SAND, Google Talk etc. He has also been invited to speak at several universities across the world, including Harvard University. The swami has engaged in dialogue with many eminent thinkers such as Deepak Chopra, Rupert Spira, Rick Archer, David Chalmers and Sam Harris.
He has played a prominent role in organizing and participating in various interfaith panels and seminars, including speaking at the World Parliament of Religions in Toronto in 2018, and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Learn more in Conversations.
Some of Swami Sarvapriyananda’s popular talks have been compiled into e-books - “Who am I?”, “What is Vedanta?” and “Dissolve into Infinity” are currently available on Amazon Kindle.
Past Resident Ministers
Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902)
Swami Vivekananda was the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86). He came to America to attend the World Parliament of Religions, held on September 11th, 1893 in Chicago. He conquered the hearts of Americans with his first lecture addressing them as ‘Sisters and brothers of America’. His first speech held the audience spellbound with its inclusivity:
“I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.
I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings:
“As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
An extraordinarily learned and erudite scholar, a charismatic and superb orator and a spiritual giant, Swami Vivekananda became a world-famous religious teacher. After the World Parliament of Religions concluded, Swami Vivekananda lectured and taught Vedanta extensively in the Northeast USA. As a result, a group of American students asked him to start a center in New York to provide a stable forum for his speeches and enable publication of his lectures. The Vedanta Society of New York was established by Swami Vivekananda in 1894. Its first location was two rented rooms at 54 West 33rd Street in Manhattan. He stayed in America for about four years (1893 -1897) before going back to India.
Swami Saradananda (1865 – 1927)
When Swami Vivekananda’s work in the West started to make headway, he was in need of an assistant, and the choice finally fell upon Swami Saradananda. Whilst Swami Vivekananda was in London in 1896, he met Swami Saradananda who had arrived there on April 1st. Swami Saradananda delivered a few lectures in London, but he was soon sent to the Vedanta Society in New York.
Once in America he was invited to be one of the teachers at the Greenacres Conference of Comparative religions. At the close of the Conference, the Swami was invited to lecture at the Brooklyn Ethical Association, New York where he delivered his first lecture (in New York) on October 24th, 1896. His dignity of bearing, gentle courtesy, his readiness to meet questions of all kinds, and above all, the spiritual height from which he could talk, won him a large number of friends, admirers and devotees everywhere he went. Swami Saradananda settled down afterwards in New York to carry on the Vedanta movement in a regular and organized way.
Swami Abhedananda (1866 – 1939)
In response to an invitation from Swami Vivekananda, who was then preaching Vedanta in London, Swami Abhedananda traveled there in the latter part of 1896. In 1897 a new chapter was opened in his eventful life. At the request of American friends and with the approval of Swami Vivekananda, Swami Abhedananda crossed the Atlantic and landed in New York on August 9th, 1897 to take charge of the Vedanta Society.
He was almost penniless at this time. By dint of perseverance, self-confidence and unflinching devotion to the Master he was soon able to create a field for himself and overcome the enormous difficulties that surrounded him at the initial stage of his work. He was soon acclaimed as a great exponent of Hindu thought and culture and was invited to speak before various learned societies.
He began his real pioneering work for the Vedanta Society after a successful season of lectures from October 1897 to May 1898, traveling extensively all through the United States, Alaska and Mexico and delivering addresses on various phases of Vedanta philosophy in almost all the principal cities of America.
On October 29th, 1898, the Vedanta Society was formally registered and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.
After a long and successful period of work in America, Swami Abhedananda returned to India in 1921.
Swami Turiyananda (1863 – 1922)
In 1899, when Swami Vivekananda started for America for the second time, he persuaded Swami Turiyananda to accompany him. Swami Turiyananda being a man of meditation was averse to the life of public preaching. Therefore, Swami Vivekananda found it hard, in the beginning, to persuade him to go to America. When all arguments failed, Swami Vivekananda put his arms round his brother monk’s neck and wept like a child as he uttered these words: “Dear Haribhai, can’t you see I have been laying down my life, inch by inch, in fulfilling this mission of the Master, till I am on the verge of death. Can you merely look on and not come to my help by relieving me of a part of my great burden?”
Swami Turiyananda could not resist Swami Vivekenanda’s plea and all his hesitation gave way to the love he bore for his leader. They reached New York via England towards the end of August 1899.
Swami Turiyananda worked at first at the Vedanta Society of New York, and then he took up additional work in Montclair - a county town in New Jersey, about an hour’s journey from New York. Both in New York and Montclair the Swami made himself beloved of all. Intensely meditative, gentle, quiet, unconcerned about the things of the world, Swami Turiyananda was a fire of spirituality. His very presence was a superb inspiration.
In 1900, Swami Vivekananda sent Swami Turiyananda to California to open a center in the San Antonio Valley. A tract of land measuring 100 acres and gifted by a student of Swami Vivekananda, it was lovingly and painstakingly converted into the present-day Shanti Ashrama.
Swami Bodhananda (1871 – 1950)
Swami Bodhananda was one of the fortunate few who took initiation from Holy Mother and got sannyasa from Swami Vivekananda in 1898. He was a graduate of Calcutta University. During his stay with Swami Vivekananda at Varanasi (India), Swami Vivekananda told him, ‘Do not imitate anyone. What I suggest is, completely devote your life to the ideal and work in your natural way. If you do this sincerely, you are bound to succeed’.
Prior to coming to the United States, Swami Bodhananda was in charge of the Bangalore Math. He left Bombay on April 15th, 1906 and reached New York before June of 1906. He started giving classes at the Vedanta Society of New York throughout the summer of that same year whilst Swami Abhedananda visited India that year.
Swami Bodhananda went to Pittsburgh in January of 1907 to take charge of the Vedanta Society there for several years. He returned to the VSNY (then at 135 West 80th Street) in 1910 and became the Head of the Center in 1912. Under his ministry, the Vedanta Society of New York acquired its present home at 34 West 71st Street, in 1921. Swami Bodhananda remained at the Vedanta Society of New York until the end of his life. He passed away on May 19th,1950 at the age of 79.
Swami Pavitrananda (1896 – 1977)
Swami Pavitrananda, a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, was the Sixth Resident Swami and Minister of Vedanta Society of New York. He arrived in New York in February 1951, to assume charge of the Society after the passing of Swami Bodhananda. Swami Pavitrananda served as the spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York for twenty-six years until his passing in 1977. He was a member of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission.
The Swami entered the Ramakrishna Order at the age of 26, after receiving his master’s degree in English literature at Calcutta University. He was blessed to receive initiation from Swami Brahmananda and had his sannyasa from Swami Shivananda. After taking sannyasa, he spent more than 20 years in the Advaita Ashrama in the Himalayas; as its head for 11 years and concurrently as editor of Prabuddha Bharata journal for four years.
Swami Pavitrananda continued the traditions of the past fifty years since Vedanta had first come to America. There was a regular schedule of Sunday public lectures, Tuesday night general classes with question-and-answer periods, and other evenings of library sessions, the latter primarily for the members. The Swami was a great scholar and wrote several books on Vedanta. Among his books are "Common Sense about Yoga" and "Modern Man in Search of Religion".
Swami Tathagatananda (1923 – 2016)
Swami Tathagatananda arrived at the Vedanta Society of New York as an Assistant Minister in February 1977. After the passing away of Swami Pavitrananda in November 1977, he was made Minister of the VSNY.
Swami Tathagatananda was blessed to receive initiation from Swami Virajananda and had his sannyasa from Swami Madhavananda. He served the Saradapitha, Deoghar Vidyapith and Chennai Students’ Home as an assistant. He was made head of the Baranagore Mission Ashrama in April, 1975. The Swami authored numerous scholarly books and also contributed many articles to the journals published by Ramakrishna Order. He served the VSNY for nearly four decades.
Swami Tathagtananda passed away on June 25th, 2016.