CHICAGO, IL: Over fifty Swamis from around the world came to the Vivekananda Monastery at Ganges in Michigan on November 7 to render obeisance to their Founder-Swami on his 150th birth anniversary.
Coming from as far away as Germany, Switzerland, Moscow, Brazil, Argentina, South Asia, Japan, and Fiji, some of the monks were accompanied by foreign devotees, ill-at-ease with English, and likewise visiting Chicago or North America, for the first time. To receive them at the gate of this expansive retreat center and accompanying them in joyous procession to the main shrine were devotees from around the Midwest, Houstan and Canada.
The monastics, counting over a dozen nuns (pravrajikas), participated in two conclaves the next day morning. After the heads of the order had deliberated on internal administrative matters, they were joined by the rest to confer on mission strategy and planning, before leaving in the early afternoon to the Lemont temple.
Resounding conches and costumed stick-dancers (Dandiya) accompanied the procession to the entrance of the shrine, which the swamis entered alone to pay obeisance to the holy trinity of Shri Ramakrishna, Sharada Devi, and spiritual son Vivekananda, whom Chicago has long since claimed as its own.
Eager devotees communed with them before assembling for the hour-long evening offering of lamps (aarti) in the shrine room followed by spiritual songs. Dinner was preceded by fireworks, and many devotees stayed over in nearby hotels to be with them through the next day.
Swami Mahayogananda began by performing a puja followed by readings from scriptures and Suhitanandaji concluded the program by inaugurating the Shrine Trail. After the feast offered to felicitate their dedication to the spiritual life (sadhu bhandara), the monastics left for Chicago.
Ambalal Patel from Matteson, Illinois made all the banners decorating the premises. Paromita Bosu from Calgary and Betty Koshy from Michigan held the lamps for the reception while Paromita’s husband Anirban sang devotional songs. Seetha and Subbi Subrahmanyam from Houston have been frequenting the retreat center for the past forty years. With four other devotees, Shiva and Mums Moodley were from Durban: “We are visiting the US for the first time to accompany Swami Vimokshananda, President of the Ramakrishna Order in South Africa . He could not make it as he underwent bypass surgery.
“Six Japanese devotees accompanied Swami Medhasananda from Tokyo explained how deeply the Buddhist culture facilitated transmission of Vedantic teachings despite formidable language barriers. Devotees from Argentina and Chile listened intently as some of the happenings were translated into Spanish by a volunteer.
Suhitanandaji said that the five-day celebrations of this 150th birth anniversary was the most appropriate occasion to revive, rethink, and further spread Vivekananda’s legacy. Head of VVS Germany Swami Baneshananda lamented the ignorance of spiritual traditions among the Hindu Diaspora in Europe. Head of the Vedanta Center in Geneva, Switzerland, Swami Amarananda bore testimony to persisting prejudice towards alien religions despite the continuing efforts of the interfaith movement. Swami Nirmalatmananda from Portuguese-speaking Brazil works out of Sao Paulo where there is not a single English newspaper; he spoke of the difficulties of coordinating the often resource-poor VVS missions across South America.
Founded in 1847, Ganges village received its name from member of the Michigan legislature Dr Joseph Coates after the holy river in India, just as another township in southwest Michigan is named after Baroda in Gujarat. In 1967 VVS President Swami Bhashyananda purchased land and built the Vivekananda Monastery and Retreat. Swami Ishatmananda became VVS minister in charge of Chicago and Ganges in March 2013. Guests at Ganges have included ecumenical religious scholars Bede Griffiths, Houston Smith, and Joseph Campbell.
Interfaith monks and two women renunciates (sannyasini) from the adjacent Mothers Trust Ashram (MTA), the oldest convent in the direct monastic lineage of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Ma, also joined in today’s Ganges commemoration. In 1895 its then President Vandana Puri Devi came at the invitation of Bhashyananda.
In 1998, President of Sri Saradeshwarin Ashram in Kolkata Bandanda Ma inaugurated MTA with sacred Ganges water from India, amidst a five-day celebration by 300 devotees from around the world, and equated the site to holy Varanasi. MTA plans to create a retirement center around this complex for Hindu seniors awaiting liberation.
More than jumpstarting the ongoing fusion between the material progress of the West and the highest Indian realizations of non-duality, Swami Vivekananda, it seems, laid the groundwork 150 years ago for recreating the sacred (inner) geography of the subcontinent on American soil.
Asian Media USA
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