About the Vedanta Society of New York
Vedanta
Vedanta teaches that humanity’s real nature is divine, that the true object of human life is to unfold and manifest this divinity. Based on the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, Vedanta accepts all the religions of the world and reveres the great prophets, teachers and sons of God, because it recognizes the same divine inspiration in all.
Vedanta is a way of living and realizing. It gives full freedom to each individual to evolve morally and spiritually according to his or her own faith and conviction. It offers different spiritual paths according to the nature of each individual.
Modern Vedanta is exemplified in the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, a great prophet of nineteenth century India, and Swami Vivekananda, his foremost monastic disciple.
The Vedanta Society of New York
The Vedanta Society of New York was founded in 1894 by Swami Vivekananda, the first teacher of Vedanta to come to the West. He drew wide acclaim by his historic addresses at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. After that, a group of students gathered about the Swami, and the first Vedanta Society in the United States was started in New York City. At present there are fifteen such centers in the U.S. Each center is an official branch of the Ramakrishna Order, the monastic organization established by Swami Vivekananda in India.