Swami Tyagananda is a Hindu monk of the

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

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 ancient religion based on the Vedas. More specifically, they "comprise the American arm of the Indian Ramakrishna move ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Currently, he is also the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and

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

. He has presented papers at

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

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 The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Swami Tyagananda has served in the following monasteries: *

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

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 on the west bank of Hooghly River, Belur, West Bengal, India. The t ...

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 (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

1983-1997 *

since 1998 Swami Tyagananda was the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, 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, orga ...

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 what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

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

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, 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 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 Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

. The event begins with the garlanding of an image of

Madonna and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

. The Nativity story from the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

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 attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...

'' and a homily on

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

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

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

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

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 Pravrajika Vrajaprana. * ''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