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A few weeks ago when I was asked for a lecture topic, I thought for a while and came up with “Religion of Love.” It seemed like a good title at the time; it had a nice ring to it, but I had no definite idea what I was going to talk about. I chose this title mainly because of the way we Vedantins are sometimes perceived by non-Vedantins.

In the spiritual view of life the purpose of our existence is to realise our spiritual nature, to realise God. The scriptures, saints, mystics, and wise men of all religions support this. They have prescribed four major methods, called yogas, for achieving this realisation.

What is the function of light? To reveal objects covered by darkness, and to illumine areas that are hidden. When we bring light into a dark room, we at once see everything in the room.

Swami Vivekananda had prophesied that as a result of the advent of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother, India would see “many an exalted woman, more exalted than Gargi and Maitreyi of the Vedic times.” Perhaps Swamiji had Yogin Ma and Golap Ma in mind when he made this prediction.

Native American spirituality is as vast a subject as the North American continent itself, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the frozen expanses of the Arctic to the steamy jungles of southern Mexico. At this point we will only be able to gain a few impressions of the breadth and depth of the ideas and beliefs by which the First Peoples of this continent lived. We have available a staggering wealth of material on their myths, traditions, and practices, written by Native American holy men and women themselves and also by sympathetic religious scholars.

The following are study notes for the Ashtavakra Samhita, a Vedantic scripture. These are the notes that the late Revered Swami Shraddhananda wrote in the margin of his copy of the text. The notes were written in English, Bengali, and Sanskrit in his handwriting over years of study.

Chicago has a special place in the hearts of devotees and students of Swami Vivekananda because it was in Chicago that the seeds of the Vedanta movement in the West were first planted. Ganges has a special place in their hearts as well, for the delightful coincidence of having a Vedanta retreat in a place with a name that spontaneously draws the veneration and love of all Hindus.

Once when I was eight years old, Thakur (Sri Ramakrishna) came to our house for a meal. I was playing around, being naughty, and my mother told the servant to catch me. Thakur asked my name. Mother told him: “Hubi.” (“one who speaks late,” meaning a child who took long in learning to speak.) Thakur wanted to change the name. It was the custom then to give a girl the name of a flower, but he named me Bhavatarini, after the Divine Mother at Dakshineswar.

Christopher Columbus came to America in the year 1492—and his arrival here was considered the discovery of a new world. Not everyone apparently agreed with that. A Native American chief of the Onondaga Iroquois is reported to have said: “You cannot discover an inhabited land. Otherwise I could cross the Atlantic and ‘discover’ England.”

I am so pained to learn that there is a great famine in this place. Only God knows what his will is, but you on your part should try to help the people to your utmost capacity. There shouldn’t be any slackening of your efforts.