Author Archives: AF

Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana

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Pravrajika Shuddhatmaprana

Pravra­ji­ka-Shud­dhatmaprana Pravra­ji­ka Shud­dhatmaprana is an ordained nun of the Vedan­ta Soci­ety of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, and is cur­rent­ly post­ed at the Vivek­a­nanda Retreat in Ridge­ly, New York. For many years Shud­dhatmaprana has been active in the pub­li­ca­tion work of the Rama­kri­shna Order, edit­ing numer­ous books and arti­cles. She has also writ­ten many arti­cles and is the author of two books – The Divine World of the Alvars and Indi­an Saints and Mystics.

Swami Nishpapananda

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Swa­mi Nish­pa­panan­da (Nish-pap-SwamiNishpapanandaanan­da) is a monk of the Rama­kri­shna Order of India, and an assis­tant min­is­ter at the Vedan­ta Soci­ety of St Louis, where he has resided since 1974. He became inter­est­ed in Vedan­ta through col­lege course work, joined the Order in 1981 and received final monas­tic vows in India in 1995. A grad­u­ate of Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty, Swa­mi Nish­pa­panan­da man­ages the book and mul­ti-media pub­li­ca­tions of the Vedan­ta Soci­ety and is active in inter-faith work in the St Louis area.

Pravrajika Krishnaprana

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Pravrajika Krishnaprana  Met Swa­mi Prab­ha­vanan­da in San­ta Bar­bara in 1968, where she was vaca­tion­ing. Had just fin­ished a teach­ing job in Hawaii and was look­ing for a sun­nier cli­mate than Seat­tle, where she was raised. Shen then returned to the North­west and met Swa­mi Vividis­hanan­da and Swa­mi Ranganathananda.
Moved to San­ta Bar­bara in 1969, lived there and vol­un­teered at the cen­ter, learn­ing the phi­los­o­phy from Swa­mi Prab­ha­vanan­da and the nuns in residence.
Moved into the con­vent in 1972, was priv­i­leged to be able to serve Swa­mi Prab­ha­vanan­da until his passing.
Had Brah­macharya and San­nyas from Swa­mi Ash­e­sanan­da and have lived in the San­ta Bar­bara Con­vent my entire monas­tic life.

Swami Brahmarupananda

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Swami Brahmaruprananda
Min­is­ter, Vedan­ta Cen­ter of Greater Wash­ing­ton, DC

Swa­mi Brahma­rupa­nanda joined the Vivek­a­nanda Monastery and Retreat in Ganges, Mi., in 1984 and stud­ied under the guid­ance of Swa­mi Bhashyanan­da ji.

He took his monas­tic vows (Sanyasa deek­sha), in 1987.

He has lec­tured on Vedan­ta, Upan­ishads and Bha­gavad Gee­ta, and con­duct­ed spir­i­tu­al retreats in the Unit­ed States, Cana­da and Trinidad.

Swami­ji is with Vedan­ta Cen­ter of Greater Wash­ing­ton, DC where he speaks on var­i­ous spir­i­tu­al topics.
Also, he leads study groups on The Gospel of Sri Rama­kri­shna, the Bha­gawad Gee­ta and the teach­ings of Vivekananda. 

Brother Shankara

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Brother Shankara Broth­er Shankara is the cur­rent spir­i­tu­al direc­tor and Res­i­dent Min­is­ter of the Vedan­ta Cen­ter of Atlanta.
Swa­mi Prab­ha­vanan­da accept­ed Gary Kem­per as a dis­ci­ple in 1973 and gave him the name Shankara in 1975. Swa­mi Swa­hanan­da ini­ti­at­ed Br. Shankara in 1977. For the next 33 years Shankara con­tin­ued his life as a house­hold­er and served the Swa­mi and the Vedan­ta Soci­ety of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia in var­i­ous capac­i­ties, includ­ing Sec­re­tary of the Board of Trustees. He received Brah­macharya vows after his wife of 48 years died in Novem­ber 2009. In June 2010, Swa­mi Swa­hanan­da appoint­ed Br. Shankara as Res­i­dent Min­is­ter of the Vedan­ta Cen­ter of Atlanta. He began serv­ing here in August.Previously, under Swa­mi Swahananda’s direc­tion, Br. Shankara assist­ed in found­ing the Vedan­ta Cen­ter of Greater Wash­ing­ton, DC; Vivek­a­nanda Retreat Ridge­ly; and Rama­kri­shna Vedan­ta Ashra­mas in Phoenix AZ, Pitts­burgh PA, and Raleigh NC. He also helped estab­lish sev­er­al non-prof­it reli­gious orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Amer­i­can Ser­vice to India, and the Rama­kri­shna Foundation.

Pravrajika Brahmaprana

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Pravrajika Brahmaprana
Pravra­ji­ka  Brahmaprana has been a nun of the Vedan­ta Soci­ety of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia since Jan­u­ary 1973. In 2008 she was post­ed as the res­i­dent min­is­ter at the Rama­kri­shna Vedan­ta Soci­ety of North Texas.

Dur­ing Brahmaprana’s 40 years of monas­tic life, she has enjoyed speak­ing before students—from mid­dle school to post-grad­u­ate levels—on Hin­duism and its Vedan­ta phi­los­o­phy. Bap­tized and raised in the Epis­co­pal Church, she first learned about Vedan­ta in the late 1960s, through a Com­par­a­tive Reli­gions course at Occi­den­tal Col­lege in Los Ange­les. After vis­it­ing the Vedan­ta Tem­ple in Hol­ly­wood, she lat­er joined the Vedan­ta Con­vent in San­ta Bar­bara, where she spent most of her monas­tic life.

EDITED WORKS:

  • Vivek­a­nanda, Swa­mi. The Com­plete Works of Swa­mi Vivek­a­nanda, vol. 9. Cal­cut­ta: Advai­ta Ashra­ma, 1997. 609 p.
  •  Sankaracarya, Sri. Vivekacu­d­amani of Sri Sankaracarya. Trans­lat­ed by Swa­mi Turiyanan­da. Edit­ed by Pravra­ji­ka Brahmaprana. Madras: Sri Rama­kri­shna Math, 1991. 271 p.
  •  Atu­lanan­da, Swa­mi. With the Swamis in Amer­i­ca and India. Edit­ed by Pravra­ji­ka Brahmaprana. Cal­cut­ta: Advai­ta Ashra­ma, 1988. 347 p.
  •  Monas­ter­ies in South India. Com­piled and edit­ed by Swa­mi Swa­hanan­da. Hol­ly­wood: Vedan­ta Soci­ety of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, 1989.
  •  Prab­ha­vanan­da, Swa­mi. Bha­gavad-Gita com­men­tary (edit­ed work in process).