https://youtube/watch?v=pakuUdvdJPc The Advaita Ashram has its origins in 1896, when Swami Vivekananda was travelling through the Alps recuperating, and expressed the desire to have a similar place in India for retreat and study of Vedas. Earlier, in 1895, Captain James Henry Sevier, who had served the British Indian Army for five years, and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Sevier, met Swami Vivekananda in England. Later in 1896, for nearly nine months, they travelled with him through Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. It was at the Alps that Swami Vivekananda, while travelling with the couple, expressed his desire to have a similar retreat for the monks in the Himalayas. Swami Swarupananda became the first head of the ashrama upon its opening on 19 March 1899, and he held the position until his death in 1906. Upon its foundation, Swami Vivekananda sent the following letter, in March 1899, entailing the prospectus of the Advaita Ashrama: ...To give this ONE TRUTH a freer and fuller scope in elevating the lives of individuals and leavening the mass of mankind, we start this Advaita Ashrama on the Himalayan heights, the land of its first expiration. Here it is hoped to keep Advaita free from all superstitions and weakening contaminations. Here will be taught and practised nothing but the Doctrine of Unity, pure and simple; and though in entire sympathy with all other systems, this Ashrama is dedicated to Advaita and Advaita alone.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 04:55:35 +0000