Swami Yogeshananda (1923-2021) was a monk of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Welcome to all who visit this webpage. It has been created to house the audio versions of books written and read by the the author of these works. He was 92 years old when he assented to read his books for these audio recordings. Many readers have found them to be filled with wisdom. Swami addresses topics which many have struggled to make sense of when one’s time comes to consider such subtle ideas. My sincere hope is that you ,dear listener, will enjoy the experience and gain from hearing these recordings.
Waking Up is an attempt to answer some of the most profound questions that mankind has ever posed. The text is inspired by Vedanta teachings, a spiritual philosophy born of the Upanishads and the Vedas of ancient India. With it many have been able to harmonize the basic tenets of all the world’s religions. If you have ever posed questions that your own faith seems never to have fully addressed, these recordings may hold answers.
Vedanta does not seek converts, nor does it wish anyone to abandon their religion. Rather, it seeks to deepen and broaden the faith that already exists within every truth seeker, and to expand our capacity for compassion and love. The present Vedanta movement was founded by Swami Vivekananda, chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, a student and devotee of the world’s major religions. His legacy to mankind has been the founding of the Ramakrishna Mission with its many centers of Vedanta located throughout the world.
Vedanta Media is happy to present Waking Up, read by its author, Swami Yogeshananda
An inspiring account of a western monk and his life’s travels; the ‘stops’ he makes along the way and the wisdom he gathered. Includes many of the Swami’s teachings to different audiences in the United States.
Introduction & Chapter 1 Hinduism – England
Chapter 2 Experience – Chicago and Ganges, MI
Chapter 3 The Goal of all Experience – Chicago
Chapter 4 Why we are what we are – Chicago and Beyond
Sri Ramakrishna lived much of his life seeing God everywhere, experiencing the Divine Reality as an overwhelming reality. Much of it he was unable describe, try as he did. But when he could, his disciples were breathless as he described his experiences, while his face was beaming with indescribable joy.
A collection of the super-sensuous experiences of Sri Ramakrishna, mostly gathered from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and Ramakrishna: The Great Master.
Preface and Foreword The Visions of Sri Ramakrishna
Introduction
1) To the End of Formal Worship
2) From Dakshineshwar to Kamarpukur and Back
3) Sadhana under the Brahmani
4) Forms, the Formless, and Forms Again
5) From the Pilgrimage to the Vision of Christ
6) The Coming of Disciples- in Vision and in Flesh
Six Lighted Windows is a moving and inspirational remembrance of six of the most dedicated teachers and spiritual guides of the Ramakrishna Order who were called to serve in the West.
Following in the wake of Swami Vivekananda in his mission to America and the West, these remarkable men left their native India to help found monasteries and religious communities in cities as diverse as New York, London, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and even Hollywood. They are Swamis Yatiswarananda, Prabhavananda, Ashokananda, Nikhilananda, Madhavananda, and Ghanananda.
In every instance, their devotion to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna helped to spread the truth of Vedanta in the Western world.
Having had the rare privilege of serving all these master religious teachers during the course of his own spiritual evolution. Swami Yogeshananda was ideally situated to experience firsthand both the warmth and the profundity of their human presence. His memoirs are an inspiring gift to all followers of Vedanta and a vital document in the history of Vedanta in the West.
Vedanta Media is happy to present the full book read by its author:
The author’s memories of four additional swamis who were alive when Six Lighted Windows was published, but are now deceased.
Here are stories of
Swami Lokeshwarananda (Ramakrishna Institute of Culture)
Swami Aseshananda (Vedanta Society of Portland)
Swami Shantaswarupananda (Vedanta Society of Northern California)
Swami Shraddhananda (Vedanta Society of Sacramento)
These were all marvelous swamis who had a tangible spiritual presence. This book enables you to meet these very different yet spiritually inspiring people.
Vedanta Media is happy to present Four More Lighted Windows, read by its author: Swami Yogeshananda.
“This book unfolded in the following way: in my capacity as an assistant minister of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of London, England in 1973, my work often consisted of visits to colleges and to both public and government schools. They would request someone to come to speak on the subject of “Hinduism,”—always Hinduism, not Vedanta. An item of the school curriculum, Religious Studies, was compulsory and had been for many years: it consisted of Bible, dogmas and church history. But at the time we are speaking of the Empire had ended and the Commonwealth was forming, with its policy of open immigration to former members of the Empire. The schools now had to teach many children who were not Christians.
Religious Studies teachers fortunately realized that they could not force their curriculum on children of other faiths, and were agitated over their lack of training in non-Christian religions. The demand for information was pressing. The government engaged Hilton Educational Publications to create a set of small books as primers for middle school children (American junior high school age). The company asked a bona fide representative of the faith–Buddhism, Islam and so on, to produce a simple introductory book for both teachers and students.
A request came to us at the London Vedanta center to produce (within 30 days !) an illustrated booklet on Hinduism, for which we would of course be paid. Swami Bhavyananda asked me to write the text, find a suitable illustrator, and make it quick! The final result: a set of five or six books by faith representatives: “The Way of the Jew,” “The Way of the Christian” etc.
That is how “The Way of the Hindu,” was born and the rather remarkable fact is that it is still being printed and used in British schools today.”
-Swami Yogeshananda
1. Introduction
2. The Way begins at dawn
3. Purification
4. Yoga, purification of mind
5. The Yogas of Love, Work, Wisdom, Purification of Mind
