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=                         Swami_Abhedananda                          =
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                            Introduction
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Swami Abhedananda (2 October 1866 - 8 September 1939), born Kaliprasad
Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna
Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami
Vivekananda sent him to the West to head the Vedanta Society of New
York in 1897, and spread the message of Vedanta, a theme on which he
authored several books through his life, and subsequently founded the
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Darjeeling.


                      Early life and education
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He was born in north Calcutta on 2 October 1866 and was named
Kaliprasad Chandra. His father was Rasiklal Chandra and his mother was
Nayantara Devi. In 1884, at the age of 18, while studying for the
school final examination under the University of Calcutta, he went to
Dakshineswar and met Sri Ramakrishna. Thereafter, in April 1885, he
left home to be with him, during his final illness, first at
Shyampukur and then at Cossipur Garden-house near Calcutta.


                           Monastic life
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After his Master's death in 1886, he plunged into intense sadhana
(meditations), by shutting himself up in a room at the Baranagar
matha, this gave him the name "Kali Tapaswi" amongst his fellow
disciples. After the death of Ramakrishna, he formally became a
Sanyasi along with Vivekananda and others, and came to be known as
"Swami Abhedananda Puri".

For the next ten years, of his life as a monk, he travelled
extensively throughout India, depending entirely on alms. During this
time he met several famous sages like Pavhari Baba, Trailanga Swami
and Swami Bhaskaranand. He went to the sources of the Ganges and the
Yamuna, and meditated in the Himalayas. He was a forceful orator,
prolific writer, yogi and intellectual with devotional fervour.

In 1896, Vivekananda was in London, when he asked Abhedananda to join
him, and propagate the message of Vedanta in the West, which he did
with great success. He went to the US in 1897, when Vivekananda asked
him to take charge of the Vedanta Society in New York, here he
preached messages of Vedanta and teachings of his Guru for about 25
years, travelling far and wide to the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Japan and Hong Kong. Finally, he returned to India in 1921, after
attending the Pan-Pacific Education Conference at Honolulu.
Abhedananda was a strict vegetarian who lectured on the subject. In
1898, he gave a speech on "Why a Hindu is a Vegetarian" to the
Vegetarian Society of New York.
In 1922, he crossed the Himalayas on foot and reached Tibet, where he
studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan Buddhism. In Hemis Monastery,
he claimed to have discovered a manuscript on the lost years of Jesus,
which has been incorporated in the book 'Swami Abhedananda's Journey
into Kashmir & Tibet' published by the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math.
Years earlier, writer Nicolas Notovitch claimed to have found the same
manuscript in the same place; however, when philologist Max Müller
wrote to the monastery to ask for further details, the lama confirmed
that no Westerner had visited the monastery in the fifteen years
prior, and that no such manuscript existed. Müller concluded that the
story was a hoax; other historians agree.

He formed the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society in Kolkata in 1923, which is
now known as Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. In 1924, he established
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math in Darjeeling in Bengal Presidency (now West
Bengal). In 1927, he started publishing 'Visvavani', the monthly
magazine of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, which he edited from 1927
to 1938, and which is still published today. In 1936, he presided over
the Parliament of Religions at the Town Hall, Calcutta, as a part the
birth centenary celebrations of Ramakrishna.

He died on 8 September 1939 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. At the time
of his death, he was the last surviving direct disciple of
Ramakrishna.


                               Works
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* 'Gospel of Ramakrishna', by Swami Abhedananda. Published by The
Vedanta Society, 1907.
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Gospel-of-Sri-Ramakrishna-edited-by-Swami-Abhedananda.pdf
Online version]
* 'Vedanta Philosophy; Three Lectures on Spiritual Unfoldment: Three
Lectures on Spiritual Unfoldment', by Swami Abhedananda. Published by
The Vedanta Society, 1901.
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Vedanta_abhedananda.pdf Online
version]
* [https://archive.org/details/vedntaphilosop00abh/page/n1 'Why a
Hindu is a Vegetarian'], by Swami Abhedananda. Published by The
Vedanta Society, 1900.
* 'How to be a Yogi', by Swami Abhedananda. Forgotten Books, 1902. .
[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/hby/index.htm Online Version]
* 'The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna', by Ramakrishna, Abhedananda.
Published by The Vedanta society, 1903.
* [https://archive.org/details/indiaherpeople00abheuoft/page/n6 'India
and Her People'], by Swami Abhedananda. Published by Satish Chandra
Mukherjee, 1906.
* 'Ideal of Education', by Swami Abhedananda. Published by Ramakrishna
Vedanta Math, 1945.
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Ideal%20of%20education.pdf Online
version]
* 'An Introduction of Philosophy of Panchadasi', by Swami Abhedananda.
Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1948.
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Introduction%20to%20the%20philosophy%20of%20panchadasi.pdf
Online version]
* 'Abhedananda in India in 1906', by Abhedananda. Published by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1968.
* 'Vedanta Philosophy: Five Lectures on Reincarnation', by Swami
Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 1907. .
[http://manybooks.net/titles/abhedanaetext058rinc10.html Online
version]
* 'Reincarnation', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 2003. .
* 'The Great Saviours of the World', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1957.
* 'True Psychology', by Swami Abhedananda, Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta
Math, 1965.
* 'Yoga Psychology', by Swami Abhedananda, Prajnanananda. Pub. by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1967.
* 'Complete Works of Swami Abhedananda', by Abhedananda. Pub. by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1970.
* 'Doctrine of Karma: A Study in Philosophy and Practice of Work', by
Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Vedanta Pr, 1975. .
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Doctrine%20of%20Karma%20-%20Swami%20Abhedanandac.pdf
Online version]
* 'Spiritual Teachings of Swami Abhedananda', by Swami Abhedananda.
Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1962.
* 'Life Beyond Death: A Critical Study of Spiritualism', by Swami
Abhedananda. Pub. by Vedanta Pr, 1986. .
* 'Science of Psychic Phenomena', by Swami Abhayananda, Swami
Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1987. .
* 'Hymn offerings to Sri Ramakrsna & the Holy Mother', by Swami
Abhedananda, Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Ramakrishna Math. Pub. by Sri
Ramakrsna Math, 1988.
* 'Journey into Kashmir and Tibet', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by
Vedanta Pr, 1988. .
* 'Path of Realization', by Swami Abhedananda. Ramakrishna Vedanta
Math, 1994.
* 'The Mystery of Death: A Study in the Philosophy and Religion of the
Katha Upanishad', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta
Math, 1996.
* 'Vedanta Philosophy: Self-Knowledge Atma-Jnana', by Swami
Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 1998. .
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Self-Knowledge.pdf Online version]
* 'Ramakrishna Kathamrita and Ramakrishna: Memoirs of Ramakrishna', by
Swami Abhedananda. Vedanta Pr. 1988. .
* 'Yogi Thoughts on Reincarnation', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger
Publishing, LLC, 2005. .
* 'Prana and the Self', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing,
LLC, 2005. .
* 'The Complete Book of Vedanta Philosophy', by Swami Abhedananda.
Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. .
* 'The Woman's Place In Hindu Religion', by Swami Abhedananda.
Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. .
* 'Philosophy of Work: Three Lectures', by Swami Abhedananda.
Kessinger Publishing, 2006. .
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Philosophy_of_work_Abhedananda.pdf
Online version]
* 'Divine Heritage of Man: Vedanta philosophy', by Swami Abhedananda.
Kessinger Publishing, 2006. .
[https://archive.org/download/vedantaphilos00abheuoft/vedantaphilos00abheuoft.pdf
PDF version]
* 'Attitude of Vedanta Towards Religion', by Swami Abhedananda. READ
BOOKS, 2007. .
[http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/attitudeofvedanta.pdf Online
version]
* 'Amar Jivan-katha' (Autobiography) (in Bengali), by Swami
Abhedananda.


                          Further reading
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* 'An Apostle of Monism: An Authentic Account of the Activities of
Swami Abhedananda in America', by Mary Le Page. Published by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1947.
* 'Swami Abhedananda, the Patriot-saint', by Ashutosh Ghosh. Published
by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1967.
* 'Swami Abhedananda centenary celebration, 1966-67: souvenir,
containing the most valuable and authentic records of the glorious
life of Swami Abhedananda', by Swami Abhedānanda. Published by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1966.
* 'Swami Abhedananda: A Spiritual Biography', by Moni Bagchee.
Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1968.
* 'The Bases of Indian Culture: Commemoration Volume of Swami
Abhedananda', by Amiya Kumer Mazumder, Prajnanananda. Published by
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1971.
* 'The Philosophical Ideas of Swami Abhedananda: A Critical Study; a
Guide to the Complete Works of Swami Abhedananda', by Prajnanananda.
Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1971.
* [http://www.hinduism.co.za/jesus.htm Five articles by Swami
Abhedananda]


                           External links
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*
*
*
*
[http://www.vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/BrotherDisciples/How_to_be_a_Yogi.pdf
'How To Be A Yogi'] by Swâmi Abhedânanda
*


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