Swami Aseshananda Memories of Holy Mother and the Direct Disciples May 8, 1984

Swami Aseshananda was the last living monastic disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, Holy Mother. He came to the US in the 1940s, originally as the assistant to Swami Prabhavananda in Southern California and later took over as the head of the Portland Vedanta Society, where he remained until he gave up the body. In the 5 decades Swami spent in the US, he never went back to India. When asked why, he said, "Holy Mother sent me here to do Her work, why would I go back?" This lecture was given at the St. Louis Vedanta Society in 1981. Lecturing several times each week on the Message of Vedanta, his topics were varied yet he never failed to include the crucial teaching regarding the need of a guru. He often emphasized the four qualifications of a true teacher according to Shankaracharya: • To impart the teachings with no ulterior motive • To live a pure and stainless life • To know the essence of the scriptures • To be a knower of Brahman It was Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi that he pointed to as the epitome of such a teacher. To him They were the highest ideal; he lived in Them and They lived in him. Swami Aseshananda was born July 10, 1899, in Faridpur, India. In his adolescence he studied philosophy at St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College in Calcutta. He was blessed with initiation by Holy Mother in 1917 and subsequently joined the Ramakrishna Order in 1921, receiving initiation into Brahmacharya from Swami Brahmananda in 1922 and his final vows of Sannyasa from Swami Saradananda in 1923. Thus, many of the God-realized direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna were his teachers. He served as private secretary to Swami Saradananda, the General Secretary of the Order, from 1921 to 1927. Later, he worked at the Varanasi Advaita Ashrama and the Madras Students' Home in India. For more videos of Swamis of the Ramakrishna Order, please visit www.VedantaVideo.com