david steinman lives o'hinduism

i was able to interview a senior member of the Vedanta Society of New York. I learned from her that Sri Ramakrisna, whose teachings they follow, was a man who had frequent contact with god, and that he could change people by looking at them, and that even though he was married, he lived a celibate life. the heart of his teachings was that all forms of religion are merely ways one chooses to worship the ulitimate reality, and that they are all equally correct. his main student was Swami Vivekananda, who first set up the Vedanta Society of New York because he saw people suffering. when i asked if the Ramakrishna order of India was the same entity as The Vedanta Society of New York, the answer was yes, they are the same. the biggest question i had was, in light of Ramakrisna’s teachings, does this organization consider itself “Hindu” or something else. i was given and explanation of what Vedanta means. It means the end of the Vedas. as such, Vedanta is more connected with the Vedas, and are the end in a sense that they are the final word on these matters. in a way i can see how vedic notions of Brahman can be associated with Ramakrishna’s monism, but as i learned all this directly from the order itself, there may or may not be some bias coming from the source. i’m not going to judge…

The Vedanta Society of New York celebrated Shankara’a Birthday on May 8th. the purpose of the celebration writes itself from there. In many ways it was similar to my previous visit. the main difference was that there was a choir singing in the front row. this event was clearly put together by the congregation themselves. the head minister gave a sermon describing Shankara’s teachings, explaining why he is relevant. i had a hard time talking to people, but the event seemed very casual, loose, and not very flashy. if i had to guess, this event would be much more elaborate, not just in india, but in another sect anywhere in the usa. like i said it was nearly the same as the services from my previous visit; both were on a sunday, and there are different forms of practice at different times of the week. the service consisted of more music this time around, and less, but not by much, of the chief minister’s sermon.

on my first visit to the Vedanta Society of New York (my previous choice for this project is no longer open) i sat in the third and last row of the bleachers on the left. the other side had more rows, and as people walked in only one or two sat anywhere near me. an old man was playing the piano right in front of me. at the front of the podium was a heavily decorated frame with a photograph that i later learned was of Sri Ramakrishna. to the right and left are photographs of Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, respectively. members of the congregation would come in, approach the picture of Swami Ramakrisna, kneel and bow with their foreheads on the floor, and sit down in the bleachers. Only one person preceded to bow before the other two photos. when the minister came in to present a sermon, he sat on chair in the left hand corner of the stage and spoke trough a microphone. His sermon entailed most of the service aside from a short verse in english, and lasted from 11 am to about 1 pm. on sundays he gives these speaches, while daily morning prayer is at 6 am weekday evening prayer is at 6:30 pm and on the weekends 6 pm. on tuesdays and fridays there are lectures and meditation. on tuesdays these lectures are on the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and on fridays they are on the Bhagavad-Gita. the Vedanta Society of New York is the first vedanta Society in the west Swami Vivekananda founded it in 1894, and the minister giving the sermon i went to see is Reverand Swami Tathagananda, a Senior Monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India. members participate in meditation devotional singing, informal reading, discussion classes and receive recommendations from the swami in charge. i was rather nervous while i was there, worried that i would unwittingly offend someone. as such, didn’t get to talk to anyone, though at the end, when i asked what holidays were coming up, i was shown where the pamphlets and general information was kept.

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david steinman