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Diego. Northern California covered San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, and Olema. Seattle and Portland along with the associated retreat monasteries covered the Northwest cluster. And, finally, the societies at Chicago, Ganges, St. Louis, and Kansas City were covered as part of the Midwestern cluster. We could not visit, however, San Diego, Kansas City and St. Petersburg, Florida, because of time constraint. In our intense desire to visit almost all Vedanta Societies across the mighty United States, we were on our toes, either ‘on the road’ or ‘up in the air’ crisscrossing four different time zones within the country itself! We spent three days each at the Santa Barbara Convent, the Hollywood Society, and the Ridgley Retreat House and we visited all the other Societies for a day or two. Impact of Swami Vivekananda and Vedantic Movement in the USA Swami Vivekananda had not only a message for the West but also a mission—a man-making mission. And hence, we could not resist studying the effects of Swamiji’s message on the localities served by the Vedanta Societies we visited. Vedanta Societies reachout to the local communities in diverse ways. They have been organizing the movement as a whole by celebrating festivals, consolidating the brotherhood/sisterhood and creating a loving family of devotees. They are growing and changing and have found a place in America’s new and diverse religious landscape. The ministers-in-charge of these Vedanta Societies are known within the academia for their contribution in propagating the Vedantic principles through publications, discourses in public functions, inter-faith meetings and Sunday services. They also disseminate the ideas in private gatherings T h e
Unique Shrine in the United States with the Holy Mother being worshipped in the middle. Vedanta Society, Berkeley, California
giving more personalized talks, guidance, interviews, etc. Many societies have started organizing camps for children, youth and parents. Thus, Vedanta Societies, under the spiritual leadership of the Ramakrishna Order are helping spiritual aspirants to practice practical Vedanta as preached by Swami Vivekananda. Worth mentioning here is the bookstores operated by them which have books on all aspects of Asian religions as well as Western religious tradition.2 The origin of Vedantic thoughts in the West can be traced to Max Muller, Paul Deussen and other German orientalists. 3 In the initial chapters of his book, ‘Life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel’, Romain Rolland describes how United States was getting ready for Swami Vivekananda and throws scholarly light on the contribution
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