https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Swami_AbhedanandaSwami Abhedananda - Revision history2026-11-15T23:13:54ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swami_Abhedananda&diff=104175&oldid=prev>Riquix: /* Monastic life */2021-07-03T08:15:57Z<p><span class="autocomment">Monastic life</span></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian Hindu mystic (1866-1939)}}<br />
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{{Infobox Hindu leader<br />
|name= Swami Abhedananda<br />
|image=Swami_Abhedananda_portrait_2.jpg<br />
|caption= <br />
| religion = [[Hinduism]]<br />
|birth_date= {{Birth date|df=yes|1866|10|2}}<br />
|birth_place= [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]], [[British India]]<br />
|birth_name= [[Kaliprasad Chandra]]<br />
|death_date= {{death date and age|df=yes|1939|9|8|1866|10|2}}<br />
|death_place= [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]], [[British India]]<br />
|guru= [[Ramakrishna Paramahamsa]]<br />
|philosophy=[[Advaita Vedanta]] <br />
|honors=<br />
|footnotes=<br />
}}<br />
[[File:Vivekananda Baranagar 1887.jpg|thumb|250px|Group photo taken on 30 January 1887 In [[Baranagar Math]], Kolkata.<br/>'''Standing''': (l–r) [[Swami Shivananda]], [[Swami Ramakrishnananda]], [[Swami Vivekananda]], Randhuni, Debendranath Majumdar, [[Mahendranath Gupta]] (Shri M), [[Swami Trigunatitananda]], H.Mustafi<br/> '''Sitting''': (l–r) [[Swami Niranjanananda (Niranjan Maharaj)|Swami Niranjanananda]], [[Swami Saradananda]], Hutko Gopal, Swami Abhedananda]]<br />
'''Swami Abhedananda''' (2 October 1866 – 8 September 1939), born '''Kaliprasad Chandra''', was a [[Disciples of Ramakrishna|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]].<br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
[[File:Swami Abhedananda (1866-1939).jpg|thumb|left|180px|Swami Abhedananda, in his youth.]]<br />
He was born in north [[Calcutta]] on 2 October 1866 and was named Kaliprasad Chandra.<ref name=belu>[http://www.belurmath.org/abhedananda.htm Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514231654/http://www.belurmath.org/abhedananda.htm |date=14 May 2011}} ''[[Belur Math]]'' Official website.</ref> 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.<br />
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==Monastic life==<br />
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.<ref name=belu/> After the death of Ramakrishna, he formally became a Sanyasi along with Vivekananda and others, and came to be known as "Swami Abhedananda Puri".{{cn|date=July 2016}}<br />
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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.{{cn|date=July 2016}}<br />
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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 USA 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]]<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9801E3DF1139E433A25752C2A9659C94699ED7CF Swami Abhedananda of India Discusses the Subject at Mott Memorial Hall.] ''[[New York Times]]'', 21 March 1898, "He said that the belief in sin and sinners was a hindrance to realizing the unity of the individual soul with God"</ref> 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]].<ref name=rm/><br />
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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]],<ref name=bangla/> 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 philogist [[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.<ref name="SJJ">Simon J. Joseph, "Jesus in India?" ''[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]]'' Volume 80, Issue 1 pp. 161-199: "Max Müller suggested that either the Hemis monks had deceived Notovitch or that Notovitch himself was the author of these passages"</ref><ref name="FMM">[[Friedrich M. Mueller]], ''Last Essays'', 1901. (republished 1973). {{ISBN|0404114393}}. Page 181: "it is pleasanter to believe that Buddhist monks can at times be wags, than that M. Notovitch is a rogue."</ref><ref name=Bradley>Bradley Malkovsky, "Some Recent Developments in Hindu Understandings of Jesus" in the ''[[Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies]]'' (2010) Vol. 23, Article 5.:"Müller then wrote to the chief lama st Hemis and received the reply that no Westerner had visited there in the past fifteen years nor was the monastery in possession of any documents having to do with the story Notovitch had made public in his famous book" ... "[[J. Archibald Douglas]] took it upon himself to make the journey to the Hemis monistry to conduct a personal interview with the same head monk. What Douglas learned there concurred with what Mueller had learned: Notovitch had never been there."</ref><ref name=McG>McGetchin, Douglas T., ''Indology, Indomania, and Orientalism'', Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 2009, {{ISBN|083864208X}}. p.&nbsp;133: "Faced with this cross-examination, Notovich allegedly confessed to fabricating his evidence."</ref><br />
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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,<ref name=bangla>{{cite book |last=Bhowmik |first=Dulal |year=2012 |chapter=Abhedananda, Swami |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Abhedananda,_Swami |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name=belu/><br />
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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.<ref name=rm>[http://www.sriramakrishna.org/x-apostle-swami-abhedananda.asp?Page=S602 Swami Abhedananda Biography]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no}} ''The [[Ramakrishna Mission]] Institute of Culture''</ref><br />
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==Works==<br />
[[File:Alambazar Math 1896.jpg|thumb|180px|Alambazar Math, 1896 (farewell to Swami Abhedananda leaving for the US)(from left) standing: [[Swami Adbhutananda]], Yogananda, Abhedananda, Trigunatitananda, Turiyananda, Nirmalananda, and Niranjanananda; sitting: Swamis Subodhananda, [[Swami Brahmananda|Brahmananda]] (on chair), and [[Swami Akhandananda|Akhandananda]]]]<br />
{{Refbegin|3}} <br />
* ''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]<br />
* ''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]<br />
* [https://archive.org/details/vedntaphilosop00abh/page/n1 ''Why a Hindu is a Vegetarian''], by Swami Abhedananda. Published by The Vedanta Society, 1900.<br />
* ''How to be a Yogi'', by Swami Abhedananda. Forgotten Books, 1902. {{ISBN|1-60506-647-8}}. [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/hby/index.htm Online Version]<br />
* ''The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna'', by Ramakrishna, Abhedananda. Published by The Vedanta society, 1903.<br />
* [https://archive.org/details/indiaherpeople00abheuoft/page/n6 ''India and Her People''], by Swami Abhedananda. Published by Satish Chandra Mukherjee, 1906.<br />
* ''Ideal of Education'', by Swami Abhedananda. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1945. [http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Ideal%20of%20education.pdf Online version]<br />
* ''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]<br />
* ''Abhedananda in India in 1906'', by Abhedananda. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1968.<br />
* ''Vedanta Philosophy: Five Lectures on Reincarnation'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 1907. {{ISBN|1-56459-886-1}}. [http://manybooks.net/titles/abhedanaetext058rinc10.html Online version]<br />
* ''Reincarnation'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7661-2992-6}}.<br />
* ''The Great Saviours of the World'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1957.<br />
* ''True Psychology'', by Swami Abhedananda, Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1965.<br />
* ''Yoga Psychology'', by Swami Abhedananda, Prajnanananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1967.<br />
* ''Complete Works of Swami Abhedananda'', by Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1970.<br />
* ''Doctrine of Karma: A Study in Philosophy and Practice of Work'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Vedanta Pr, 1975. {{ISBN|0-87481-608-4}}. [http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Doctrine%20of%20Karma%20-%20Swami%20Abhedanandac.pdf Online version]<br />
* ''Spiritual Teachings of Swami Abhedananda'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1962.<br />
* ''Life Beyond Death: A Critical Study of Spiritualism'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Vedanta Pr, 1986. {{ISBN|0-87481-616-5}}.<br />
* ''Science of Psychic Phenomena'', by [[Swami Abhayananda]], Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1987. {{ISBN|0-87581-642-8}}.<br />
* ''Hymn offerings to Sri Ramakrsna & the Holy Mother'', by Swami Abhedananda, Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Ramakrishna Math. Pub. by Sri Ramakrsna Math, 1988.<br />
* ''Journey into Kashmir and Tibet'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Vedanta Pr, 1988. {{ISBN|0-87481-643-2}}.<br />
* ''Path of Realization'', by Swami Abhedananda. Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1994.<br />
* ''The Mystery of Death: A Study in the Philosophy and Religion of the Katha Upanishad'', by Swami Abhedananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1996.<br />
* ''Vedanta Philosophy: Self-Knowledge Atma-Jnana'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 1998. {{ISBN|0-7661-0126-6}}. [http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Self-Knowledge.pdf Online version]<br />
* ''Ramakrishna Kathamrita and Ramakrishna: Memoirs of Ramakrishna'', by Swami Abhedananda. Vedanta Pr. 1988. {{ISBN|0-87481-654-8}}.<br />
* ''Yogi Thoughts on Reincarnation'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4254-5307-4}}.<br />
* ''Prana and the Self'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4253-3350-8}}.<br />
* ''The Complete Book of Vedanta Philosophy'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4254-5313-9}}.<br />
* ''The Woman's Place In Hindu Religion'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005. {{ISBN|1-4253-3570-5}}.<br />
* ''Philosophy of Work: Three Lectures'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4254-9129-4}}. [http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/Philosophy_of_work_Abhedananda.pdf Online version]<br />
* ''Divine Heritage of Man: Vedanta philosophy'', by Swami Abhedananda. Kessinger Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4286-1256-4}}. [https://archive.org/download/vedantaphilos00abheuoft/vedantaphilos00abheuoft.pdf PDF version]<br />
* ''Attitude of Vedanta Towards Religion'', by Swami Abhedananda. READ BOOKS, 2007. {{ISBN|1-4067-5330-0}}. [http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/attitudeofvedanta.pdf Online version]<br />
* ''Amar Jivan-katha'' (Autobiography) (in Bengali), by Swami Abhedananda.<br />
{{Refend}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
{{Refbegin|2}} <br />
* ''An Apostle of Monism: An Authentic Account of the Activities of Swami Abhedananda in America'', by [[Mary lePage|Mary Le Page]]. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1947.<br />
* ''Swami Abhedananda, the Patriot-saint'', by Ashutosh Ghosh. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1967.<br />
* ''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.<br />
* ''Swami Abhedananda: A Spiritual Biography'', by Moni Bagchee. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1968.<br />
* ''The Bases of Indian Culture: Commemoration Volume of Swami Abhedananda'', by Amiya Kumer Mazumder, Prajnanananda. Published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 1971.<br />
* ''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.<br />
* [http://www.hinduism.co.za/jesus.htm Five articles by Swami Abhedananda]<br />
{{Refend}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist|2}} <br />
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== External links ==<br />
{{commons category|Swami Abhedananda}}<br />
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Abhedananda,+Swami | name=Swami Abhedananda}}<br />
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Swami Abhedananda}}<br />
* {{Librivox author |id=8266}}<br />
* [http://www.vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/BrotherDisciples/How_to_be_a_Yogi.pdf ''How To Be A Yogi''] by Swâmi Abhedânanda<br />
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=<br />
**[[s:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 9/Letters - Fifth Series/CLXX Abhedananda|Letter (of 19 May 1900?) from Vivekananda to Abhedananda]]<br />
**[[s:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 9/Letters - Fifth Series/CLXXVIII Abhedananda|Letter of 24 July 1900, from Vivekananda to Abhedananda]]<br />
**{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Abhedananda, Swami |short=x |noicon=x}}<br />
}}<br />
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{{Ramakrishna}}<br />
{{Bengal Renaissance}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abhedananda, Swami}}<br />
[[Category:1866 births]]<br />
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