During 1999, the Vedanta Society of New York continued its work of spiritual ministration under the leadership of Swami Tathagatananda.

Sunday services were conducted at 11 A.M., and classes were given on Tuesdays and Fridays at 8 P.M. The Sunday services addressed varied aspects of spiritual life, while the Tuesday classes were mostly on The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the Friday classes were mostly on the Bhagavad-Gita. Group devotional singing, open to the public, was held on Saturday and Sunday evenings at 6:00.

The birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda, and Durga Puja (the autumn worship of the Divine Mother) were observed by both public and private celebrations. The private celebrations consisted of morning meditation, worship and music in the chapel, beginning at 8:00, followed by a buffet breakfast upstairs. The public Sunday celebrations featured a talk by the Swami in honor of the occasion, music by the choir and congregation, and lunch, prepared by devotees, served to the congregation. Special Sunday services also honored the birthdays of Buddha and Krishna, Christmas and Easter. Christmas Eve was celebrated as usual by the swami's talk on the Sermon on the Mount and carol singing by the congregation; in addition, we enjoyed solo singing and playing by Patrick Alexander, twelve-year old son of two of our members.

Before the Center closed for summer vacation, the Swami invited the members to the usual end-of-the-season supper on Friday, June 19. A mostly Indian meal, prepared by devotees, was served in the chapel, preceded by singing of two of the vesper chants. After supper Robert Gupta, eleven-year old son of two of our members and an accomplished violinist, gave a violin recital, accompanied by John Schlenck.

On July 4th the Center celebrated its thirty-eighth annual Swami Vivekananda Festival at Moss Hill Farms, the country home of one of our members. After our usual pitch-in buffet lunch, the choir offered a program of songs and readings from Swami Vivekananda on the theme of the truth of all religions. The program began with a prayer by Swami Tathagatananda and included the singing of the vesper chants by the choir and congregation. The concluding prayer was given by Swami Atmarupananda, resident minister at the Vivekananda Retreat, Ridgely, who was our guest for the occasion.

The Center was host to four visiting Swamis during 1999. On Friday, March 5, Swami Dayatmananda, head of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre in Bourne End, England, paid a brief visit to our Center and gave a talk on "Vedanta in Europe". Swami Pareshananda, head of the Ramakrishna Ashrama in Buenos Aires, Argentina and two devotees from that Center stayed with us from September 7 to 14, prior to our Center's reopening after vacation. On Friday, October 15th, Swami Atmarupananda, of the Ridgely Retreat, conducted the worship at our private celebration of Durga Puja. Swami Bhaskarananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Western Washington in Seattle, was guest lecturer at our Sunday service on December 5. He spoke on "The Power of the Holy Name."

Two other speakers gave guest lectures during the year. On Sunday, September 19, after the opening lecture of the season by Swami Tathagatananda, Dr. M. K. Pal, formerly director of the Saha Nuclear Institute in Calcutta, gave a talk on "Unification out of Diversity." On Sunday, December 19, Dr. Stuart Grayson, recently retired Science of Mind minister, spoke on "How Vedanta Has Helped My Ministry." Dr. Grayson was associated with our Center for several years in the early 1950's.

Swami Tathagatananda had a number of outside speaking engagements during the year. Continuing a service begun the previous year, he gave a monthly Saturday class at Ved Mandir in Milltown, New Jersey. On Sunday, July 11, the Swami was guest lecturer at the Vedanta Center of Greater Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland. His subject was 'On Human Happiness." During a visit to Nova Scotia, Canada, Swami Tathagatananda gave two talks at the Hindu Temple in Halifax: on August 1 and on August 7. On September 23, he gave a talk on Hinduism at Tibet House on East 31st Street in New York City, and on November 3 he spoke, also on Hinduism, at Trinity High School in upper west side Manhattan.

On Thursday, June 3, a group of 36 sixth-grade students, from the school of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City, visited our Center with two teachers for a one-hour discussion of Hinduism with Swami Tathagatananda in our chapel. Their visit was the last part of an all-day pilgrimage to different places of worship.

We record with sorrow the passing away of Ruth Carver during 1999 at the age of 102. She had been a member of our Center since 1962. A long-time resident of Rochester, New York, she used to visit our Center occasionally. We always appreciated her lively, sincere devotion to the Center and to Vedanta. In later years she lived at Medford Leas, New Jersey, a retirement community. While there, she used to meet weekly with a few other Vedantists for meditation and spiritual reading.

The membership count for 1999 was 96 voting members and 49 associate members.

Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these books from The Vedanta Society of New York.

Other books on Vedanta can be purchased from any Vedanta Center.

Please check out our Lecture and Class Schedules.