Swami Paramananda

Paramananda (1884-1940) was a swami and one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living. On his seventeenth birthday, Suresh joined a group of older men from the village in a journey to Belur Math to visit the monastery and temple founded by Ramakrishna's disciples. There he met his teacher, Vivekananda, who was the foremost disciple of Ramakrishna and the...See more

Paramananda (1884-1940) was a swami and one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living. On his seventeenth birthday, Suresh joined a group of older men from the village in a journey to Belur Math to visit the monastery and temple founded by Ramakrishna's disciples. There he met his teacher, Vivekananda, who was the foremost disciple of Ramakrishna and the first swami to teach in America.Paramananda was initiated a month before his eighteenth birthday, becoming a monk (sannyasin) of the Ramakrishna Order and the youngest disciple of Vivekananda. The President of the Ramakrishna Math, Brahmananda, would call Suresh "Basanta Kokhil" [spring-bird], or simply "Basanta" [spring] and that became his new nickname. He trained under the mentorship of Ramakrishnananda, also a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, and founder of the Madras Math, a thousand miles south of Calcutta.Paramananda was sent to London in 1906 at the age of twenty-two to assist at the previously established New York Vedanta Society. He lived and taught there until 1909, when Paramananda established the Vedanta Centre of Boston. He lectured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia for thirty-four years, until his death in 1940. He founded four nonsectarian ashramas where residents are primarily women, two in the United States and two in Calcutta, India, with one centre still thriving today. Like his teacher Vivekananda, Paramananda believed in equality between men and women. Paramananda also founded schools and orphanages for women and children in need. See less