STORIES OF VEDANTA MONKS

Thank you Sw. Chetanandaji! 09/19/2022
By A long-time US devotee
This is the most recent addition to my Sw. Chetanananda collection. At least for the non-Bengalis in the West, he has been amazing and consistent source of the history of the great RK tradition; that too in a most readable fashion. This book is no exception. In fact, it has the advantage of having a lot of his personal experiences in the content. Plus this book describes the RK holy men in a more contemporary setting, and that is an interesting vantage point as well. One also gets a sense for how the large Belur organization functions to manage this spiritual enterprise.

This is a two volume set of the reminiscences of the second generation monks of the Ramakrishna Order.

The monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna constitute the first generation of disciples of Sri Ramakrishna; their disciples in turn constitute the second generation.

Volume I is primarily Swami Chetananda's account of his personal experiences with these monks,with their biographical details.

The second volume draws primarily from the preserved diaries of Swami Shraddhanananda, Swami Dhireshananda, and Swami Mumukshananda. All in all, these books may be regarded as required reading. They are that good!