The Vedanta Society of Hawaii has been in existence since the 1950s. Its goal is to disseminate the ethics, psychology and the universal spiritual philosophy of Vedanta through the practice and culture of reason, love, meditation and work. The inspiration for this goal are the teachings of the extraordinary spiritual saint of nineteenth century India—Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna's principal disciple, Swami Vivekananda, came to the USA in 1893 and was the first to teach Vedanta in the West. Swami Vivekananda also founded the Ramakrishna Order of monks around 1895. The Vedanta Society of Hawaii is associated with the Vedanta Society of Western Washington located in Seattle. Sri Ramakrishna (left) and Swami Vivekananda are pictured here.
....................
Click here for a short article on Vedanta from the Seattle Vedanta Society website.
The Society functions under the guidance of a senior swami of the Ramakrishna Order of Monks headquartered in India. The present spiritual guide is Swami Bhaskarananda who is the president of the Vedanta Society of Western Washington in Seattle, Washington. He joined the Ramakrishna Order in 1958. During the past 36 years of his stay in America he has frequently given talks on Hinduism in churches, synagogues, schools, colleges and universities all over America. He has also lectured on invitation, in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, France, the Netherlands, England, Iceland, Japan and several other Asian countries. He is actively involved in the interfaith movement in America and is a past President of the Interfaith Council of Washington. The Swami is the author of seven books including The Essentials of Hinduism; Meditation, Mind and Patanjali’s Yoga and Life in Indian Monasteries. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal Global Vedanta. In addition to his duties in Seattle, Swami Bhaskarananda also serves as the spiritual head of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of British Columbia, Canada as well as the Vedanta Society of Hawaii.
Our principal program is a series of talks on Vedanta and other spiritual topics given by Swami Bhaskarananda on four consecutive Sundays, usually in the month of May. These talks have taken place at the Honolulu YWCA, 1040 Richards St. at 11:00 AM. The 2010 series was well received (see picture below). Click here to listen to one of these talks.
***********************
SPECIAL NOTICE:
(Updated Monday, November 7, 2011)
A SERIES OF TALKS BY
SWAMI BHASKARANANDA
FOR NOVEMBER, 2011, HAS BEEN
**SCHEDULED**
THESE TALKS WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE RICHARDS STREET YWCA (ADDRESS ABOVE) AS FOLLOWS:
NOVEMBER 6: LEARNING TO BE HAPPY
NOVEMBER 13: HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR
NOVEMBER 20: MEDITATION AND ITS BENEFITS
NOVEMBER 27: JUDGING YOUR OWN SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
The address for our monthly gatherings has changed:
467 N. Judd Street off Liliha (rented room in the United Church of Christ)
Free parking is available.
We will meet on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM.
NEXT MEETING: SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2012, AT 11:00 AM
PROGRAM
We will view a video of a lecture by Swami Bhaskarananda entitled
TO BE ANNOUNCED
followed by discussion.
ALL ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND THIS FREE PROGRAM
***********************
Please return to this website periodically for announcements concerning the 2011 series of talks by Swami Bhaskarananda and other information.
.jpg)
Swami Bhaskarananda lecturing at the
YWCA, Honolulu, May 30, 2010