About Vedanta Archive
True religion is not talk, or doctrines, or theories. It is the relation between soul and God. We must realize God, feel God, see God, talk to God. That is religion.
What is Vedanta?
Vedanta means the essence of the Vedas (veda+anta). Although popularly identified with the basic scripture of the Hindus, Vedas are really neither “books” nor essentially “Hindu.” By Vedas is meant the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by enlightened beings throughout time and across all cultures. Vedanta stands for spiritual wisdom that transcends borders defined by religion, race and nationality. It is possible to perceive Vedanta as a spiritual tradition that simultaneously respects and transcends all religions.
The important
insights of Vedanta
include the following:
- Each soul is potentially divine and the goal of life is to manifest the divinity within. Truth is One, Sages call It by various names. Tat Twam Asi - That Thou Art
- Stripped of all theological trappings, every spiritual tradition seeks to transcend human limitations to touch the Reality beyond. Everything else in religion is secondary.
- There is only one ultimate Reality, which manifests in various forms, with various attributes, and even as formless, and is known by various names. The Reality beyond is not different from the Reality within.
- Every spiritual tradition has the inherent power to take its practitioners to the supreme consummation of human life. All spiritual paths lead to the same goal.
Vedanta Archives
About Archives
Vedanta Archives contains a treasure-trove of pictures, documents and sound & video recordings not found anywhere else in the world. We have historic materials that date back to the late 19th Century, beginning with Swami Vivekananda‘s appearance at the Parliament of Religions in 1893 and his stay in California at the turn of the Century, to the contributions of such luminaries as Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard and Christopher Isherwood—as well as recordings of almost all of the Ramakrishna Order monks who came to teach in the West during the 20th Century, including many disciples of Direct Disciples of Ramakrishna.
As the rosy dawn comes before the rising sun, so does a heart intensely longing and yearning for God herald the glorious vision of the Divine.
Promoting a Message of Harmony
First introduced to America through the writings of American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, Vedanta has had considerable influence upon American philosophical and literary thought. Based on the ancient sacred texts of India including the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, Vedanta affirms the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of religions. This philosophy has particular poignancy in our current time of discord between faith traditions—Vedanta has the potential to help establish better understanding and more peaceful relations. Vedanta Societies are established as non-profit organizations to promote harmony between Eastern and Western thought, and recognition of the truth in all the great religions of the world. Vedanta Societies are under the spiritual guidance of the Ramakrishna Order of India.
Humble Beginnings
The formal organization of the Archives began in 1997 when we were given an amazing gift—the legacy of a lifetime of effort by a humble monk named Swami Krishnananda (George Fitts). George Fitts joined the Vedanta Society of Southern California in the early 1940's and quickly became known for his daily routine of photographing and recording life around him.
When Swami Krishnananda died in 1997, his brother monks and volunteer devotees began sorting through his possessions. They discovered hundreds of stacked trunks and boxes containing audio tapes, wire recordings, acetate record albums, photographs, slides, film, videos, transcriptions and a vast collection of notes. Of particular value are the audio recordings that capture the society’s oral history—recordings of Vedanta monastic and lay members giving first-hand accounts of their experiences establishing Vedanta centers in the United States as well as reminiscences of the founders of the Ramakrishna Order.
In addition to Swami Krishnananda's materials, the collection includes letters, newspapers and photos dating back to 1893, when Swami Vivekananda began his work in the West at the Chicago World's Fair, Parliament of Religions. Swami Krishnananda left a dedicated fund to help establish a permanent repository for his collection. The Vedanta Society of Southern California contributed a house in which the materials could be arranged, catalogued and preserved. With this website, those materials are now available for public viewing.
Preserving the Past—Inspiring the Future
We are working to make this remarkable collection known to the American public, scholars and spiritual aspirants worldwide. Highly regarded in academic circles, the Vedanta Societies are frequently contacted by researchers who wish to access materials from Vedanta Archives. We are cataloguing our materials in searchable databases to better respond to these requests, but the work is time-consuming and we rely on a volunteer staff to complete the task.
Our Archives website offers searchable catalogues of free viewing of photographs, as well as audio and video streaming of the Vedanta Society's lectures and classes. A priority is to preserve our historic materials based on modern archival standards. Photographs must be removed from acidic photo albums, cleaned and transferred to archival folders. Manuscripts are transferred to buffered archival sleeves. Slides are scanned and tapes are digitized to facilitate public use without damage to source materials. The painting by Tadatmananda of the monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna © 1977 Vedanta Society of Southern California. All rights to the archival materials contained in this archive have been licensed on a non-exclusive basis and all rights are reserved by the respective copyright owners identified within each Center. The copyrighted material contained in or accessible from this website is intended for use for non-commercial purposes such as teaching, scholarship, education, research and comment. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If your copyrighted material appears on this web site and you disagree that it constitutes “fair use,” please contact us. No consent to uses that are not a fair use are given and no license is given for any commercial use. The user agrees to obtain all necessary clearances for any commercial or other use.
