Vedanta Society of New York--Acknowledgments etc.

- Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works, Vol. 2, p. 84

Acknowledgments, Language, etc.

Acknowledgments
Language
Spelling
Freedom of Expression

The Vedanta Society of New York gratefully acknowledges the use of brief quotations, excerpts, articles, and photos from the publications of Ramakrishna Order branches around the world, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

This Web site wouldn't exist without using such material---especially from the following publications:

UNITED STATES

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Swami Nikhilananda
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center
17 East 94th Street
NEW YORK, NY 10128, USA

Works of Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood, and Frederick Manchester
Vedanta Press
Vedanta Society of Southern California
1946 Vedanta Place
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90068-3996, USA

Works of Swami Satprakashananda and Swami Chetanananda
Vedanta Society of St. Louis
205 South Skinker Boulevard
St. LOUIS, MO 63105, USA

INDIA

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vols. 1 - 9 and many other publications
Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati
CHAMPAWAT, UTTARANCHAL, INDIA

The Gospel of the Holy Mother and other publications
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore
CHENNAI 600 004, INDIA

The Bulletins and other publications
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Gol Park
CALCUTTA 700 029, INDIA

Works of Swami Ranganathananda, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Kulapati Munshi Marg
MUMBAI 400 007, INDIA

Works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Pondicherry 605 001, INDIA

Language

A comment on the gender specific language that you may find on this site.

It must be mentioned at the outset that Vedanta's, Brahman, Atman, the Absolute, the Self, or the Supreme Spirit is without attributes and without any name, form, or sex. However, the Supreme Spirit--popularly known as God--is frequently addressed as "He" and sometimes also as "She".

Swami Tathagatananda explains:

The Supreme Spirit may be worshipped in different forms--as Father, Mother, Friend, Guru, Beloved, and Child. In India, the concept of the Motherhood of God has been in vogue from the Rig-Vedic period; the Hindu mind has been conditioned by this attitude and hence it is a very important feature of the culture. It also had wide prevalence in Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece and lustre of ancient civilizations. . .The Father element is predominant in many cults. But if God can be a grave 'He', why not also a sweet 'She'? (See Sri Ramakrishna and the Worship of Divine Mother on this Web site)

Nonetheless, you will frequently come across quotations on this Web site, such as: "The nearer you approach to God the more you feel His love." (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 277)

There can be two explanations for the usage of such language:

First, sometimes a translation from one language to another, for example, from Bengali to English, inadvertently introduces a gender specific connotation. The sentence above is a perfect example which in the Bengali version of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Kathamrita, Vol. 1, p. 100) does not convey at all the idea of God being a "he".

Secondly, most of the books and articles which this Web site quotes from were written almost one hundred years ago when the usage of "he or she", "s/he", "person", and so forth, was not in style.

Spelling

This site uses American spelling. However, use of British spelling, for example, "colour", "neighbour", can also be found in quotations and excerpts from articles and books written by Swamis of the Ramakrishna Order.

Freedom of Expression

The Vedanta Society of New York is not necessarily in agreement with the views of authors/contributors to whom freedom of expression is given.