The Way of Peace and Blessedness

by Swami Paramananda

Overview

“LIKE ‘The Path of Devotion’ by the same author, the present volume is made up in chief measure of extracts from letters; hence the living, personal note that sounds through its pages. According to Vedanta, religion is always an individual problem and the truest method of transmitting it the individual method. It must be a direct call from the wise and loving heart of the Teacher to the questioning heart of the disciple, the immediate quickening of the letter by the spirit. The great Vedic Scriptures are nothing more: a mighty Seer of Truth sitting in the shaded seclusion of an Himalayan forest, passing on to some eager, inquiring student the fruits of his realization. And wherever this note is heard, whether in the eternal word of a Scripture or in the admonitions of a simple letter, it cannot fail to stir to new life the spiritual consciousness.

“The Way of Peace and Blessedness must ever be the way of consecrated service to a lofty Ideal, through unwavering trust, purity of heart and steadfast devotion. To follow it, one must rouse the soul from its slumber of ignorance or indifference and make it feel the reality of God and the spiritual life; one must learn how to worship Truth and gain the Divine vision, how to love and work unselfishly and prayerfully. These are the lessons taught in these pages, lessons too potent and precious to be kept for one only; so they have been gathered up into this little book, which is now sent forth with its holy message in the earnest hope that through it many may find peace and blessing.”—DEVAMATA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789124408
Publisher:	Borodino Books
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	43
File size:	892 KB

About the Author

Swami Paramananda (1884-1940) was a swami and one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living.

He was born on February 5, 1884 as Suresh Chandra Guhathakurta, the youngest son of a prestigious Guhathakurta family, in the village of Banaripara in the Barisal District (now part of Banaripara Upazila, Bangladesh). He began reading devotional texts at age 16, and on his 17th birthday joined a group of older men from the village in a journey to Belur Math to visit the monastery and temple founded by Ramakrishna’s disciples. There he met his teacher, Vivekananda, the foremost disciple of Ramakrishna and the first swami to teach in America.

He was initiated a month before his 18th birthday, becoming a monk (sannyasin) of the Ramakrishna Order and the youngest disciple of Vivekananda. He trained under the mentorship of Ramakrishnananda, also a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, and founder of the Madras Math, a thousand miles south of Calcutta.

In 1906, at age 22, Paramananda was sent to America to assist at the previously established New York Vedanta Society, where he lived and taught until 1909. That year he established the Vedanta Centre of Boston and founded the “Message of the East,” the first Vedanta periodical published in the U.S., offering articles, poetry and commentary on all religions in its monthly (and later quarterly) magazine. He authored translations of the Bhagavad Gita and The Upanishads, as well as four volumes of mystical poetry: “The Vigil”, “Rhythm of Life”, “Soul’s Secret Door” and “My Creed.”

Paramananda founded four centres still thriving today, two in the United States and two in Calcutta, India. He lectured throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia for thirty-four years, up until his death in Cohasset, Massachusetts on June 21, 1940, aged 56.