Swami Tyagananda is a Hindu Monk of the

Ramakrishna Order The Ramakrishna Order ( Bengali: রামকৃষ্ণ সংঘ) is the monastic lineage that was founded by Ramakrishna Paramhansa, when he gave the ochre cloth of renunciation to twelve of his close disciples, in January 1886 at the Cossip ...

and presently the head of the

Vedanta Society Vedanta Societies refer to organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta, the culmination of Vedas. More specifically, they "comprise the American arm of the Indian Ramakrishna movement" and refe ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Currently, he is also the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. He has presented papers at

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

conferences, and he gives lectures and classes at the Vedanta Society,

, and other colleges in and around

Biography

He joined the

as a monk in 1976, after graduating from the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Swami Tyagananda has served in the following monasteries: *

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

1976-1980 *

Belur Math Belur Math () is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Bel ...

1980-1982 *

Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi is the Delhi branch of Ramakrishna Mission, a spiritual organisation established by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. The Delhi branch was established at Ramakrishna Ashram Marg on 4 May 1927. History The Delhi mission ha ...

1982-1983 *

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

1983-1997 *

since 1998 Swami Tyagananda was the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of the English language

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

Vedanta Kesari ''The Vedanta Kesari'' (The Lion of Vedanta), formerly known as ''Brahmavadin,'' is an English-language monthly magazine covering spiritual and cultural issues. Published by the Ramakrishna Math in Chennai, India, it has been in circulation si ...

based in

. For eleven years. He has translated and edited ten books, including ''Monasticism: Ideals and Traditions'' (1991), ''Values: The Key to a Meaningful Life'' (1996) and ''The Essence of the Gita'' (2000). Swami Tyagananda also wrote the paper ''Kali’s Child Revisited or Didn’t Anyone Check the Documentation'', in which he examines a list of what he calls "serious errors" that he had found in Jeffery Kripal's book,

Kali's Child ''Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna'' is a book on the Indian mystic Ramakrishna by Hindu studies scholar Jeffrey J. Kripal, published in 1995 by the University of Chicago press.Jeffrey J. Kripal ...

. Copies of ''Kali's Child Revisited'' were distributed at the annual meeting of the

AAR The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

and published in journal ''Evam''. Other scholars, such as Lola Williamson from

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

, expressed the view that Swami Tyagananda’s criticisms in ''Kali's Child Revisited'' "indeed go to the heart of things". In 2010, Tyagananda co-authored the book '' Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited'' with

Pravrajika Vrajaprana Pravrajika Vrajaprana (born 1952) is a sannyasini or pravrajika (female swami) at the Vedanta Society of Southern California, affiliated with the Ramakrishna Order. She resides at Sarada Convent in Santa Barbara, California and a writer on Veda ...

which further discusses these issues. In a departure from earlier Hindu traditions, in compliance with the practice prevalent in almost all centers of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Swami Tyagananda also conducts a special service during

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

. The event begins with the garlanding of an image of

Madonna and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

. The Nativity story from the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

is then read out loud, followed by the ''

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings spoken by Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is th ...

'' and a homily on

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

' life. The 139th MIT Commencement ceremony in 2005 began with Swami Tyagananda's invocation in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and English.Swami Tyagananda leads MIT Commencement with invocations in Sanskrit and English
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Works

* ''Walking the Walk: A Manual of Karma Yoga'' Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2014. * ''Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited''. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2010. Co-authored with

. * ''The Essence of the Gita'' (translator). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000. * ''A Study of the Mundaka Upanishad'' (ed and compiler). Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 2000. * ''Healthy Mind, Healthy Body: New Thoughts on Health'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1997. * ''Values: The Key to a Meaningful Life'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1996. * ''Service: Its Ideal and Practice'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1993. * ''Religion Today'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1992. * ''Monasticism: Ideals and Traditions'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1991. * ''Saints and Mystics'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1990. * ''Holy Scriptures: A Symposium on the Great Scriptures of the World'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1989. * ''Facets of Vivekananda'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1987.

Footnotes

External links

Ramakrishna Vedanta Society

Why Celibacy? Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Views

Lectures at Vedanta Society, Boston

Kali's Child Revisited by Swami Tyagananda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyagananda, Swami Hindu monks 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission 1956 births Living people Harvard University staff