Like Rolling River Free …

Vandana M. Jani

Description

The book is about Swami Saradananda’s message of oneness and harmony of religions in America given in 19th century.
It is a result of author’s intense research.
Like Rolling River Free highlights three central characters: Swami Saradananda, Sara Bull, and Sarah Farmer, who played a critical role in the growth of American spirituality.
The author examines Swami Saradananda’s life in detail, weaving together strands from America’s religious and cultural history. In the process, she reveals the importance of two women: Sara Bull, the daughter of a senator and the wife of a famous musician who became one of Swami Vivekananda’s most significant supporters and trusted disciples; and Sarah Farmer, the creator of the Greenacre Conferences.
The book details the captivating family history of both Bull and Farmer, providing readers a detailed view of nineteenth-century America. But most striking is the book’s portrayal of Saradananda, who was Sri Ramakrishna’s one of the most influential disciple. His contributions to the Ramakrishna Order provided it with essential guidance and they continue to reverberate today.
Join the author as she explores how Saradananda spread a message of religious harmony as you learn about Vedanta, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy.

Sujets

• Religious
• Lettres et linguistique
• Ved?nta
• Biography
• Vedanta
• Autobiography
• Vivekananda

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 03 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665731614
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

“Swami Saradananda was among the five of Ramakrishna’s direct disciples who carried the universal message of Vedanta to the West. For two years (1896 and 1897) Saradananda assisted Swami Vivekananda in preaching Vedanta in the West. Vivekananda called him back to India to become the first secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission, a responsibility that he carried until he passed in 1927.
In The Story of Swami Saradananda in the West, Dr. Vandana Jani painstakingly documents the life and activities of Saradananda, a great disciple of Ramakrishna. This book, which is based on years of extensive research, is a detailed history of a forgotten chapter of the early Vedanta movement in the West. Readers will find here glimpses of a great soul, the influence of ancient Vedanta on the western intelligentsia, and the early history of a powerful religious movement that affects the world even today.”
Swami Chetanananda
Vedanta Society of St. Louis

“ Like Rolling River Free … is a magisterial work of dedicated historical research and spiritual insight. Weaving together diverse strands from the lives of two remarkable American women, Sara Bull and Sarah Farmer, Dr. Jani then merges their trajectory with Ramakrishna’s great disciple Swami Saradananda. The spiritual alchemy issuing from this interaction deeply influenced American spirituality, the effects of which can be seen even today.”
Pravrajika Vrajaprana
Vedanta Society of Southern California


“Vandana Jani tells the story of Swami Saradananda’s American sojourns in rich detail and with obvious affection for the seekers who attended his lectures and sought his guidance. Jani’s comprehensive account makes plain that Swami Saradananda, though less well known than Swami Vivekananda, was of similar consequence as an emissary for introducing Vedanta to the West.”
Leigh E. Schmidt
Washington University in St. Louis
Author of Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality

“Seldom there could one find books that dwell with high rigor and accuracy based on exhaustive research, as does the extraordinary book by Dr. Vandana Jani. She chronicles through her unique storytelling style, authentic scholarship, monumental and compelling evidence with about 300 photographs the activity of Swami Saradananda, the brother disciple of Swami Vivekananda in driving the Vedanta movement in the US for about year and a half.  
Swami Saradananda was aided by the strong support of Vivekananda’s two ardent followers, Sarah Farmer and Sara Chapman Bull. Dr. Jani has even highlighted the American ingenuity in Science in the context of the Vedanta movement in the US. This book is a treasure and a story, beautifully narrated of a grand divine plan that turned into reality.” 
Dr. Deba Saha
Pharmaceutical Regulatory Professional and Senior Indian History teacher at Vivekananda Vidyapith, Wayne, New Jersey


Swami Saradananda
(From The Arena 22, no. 4 [October 1899], photo art courtesy of Vijay Dave)
Like Rolling River Free …
THE STORY OF SWAMI SARADANANDA IN THE WEST
ALONG WITH LIVES OF SARA C. BULL & SARAH J. FARMER
VANDANA M. JANI
Foreword by Pravrajika Vrajaprana
Editor: Sangeeta Mehta
Photo artists: Neirah Bhargava and Vijay Dave


Copyright © 2023 Vandana M. Jani, Ph.D.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3162-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3160-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3161-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919057
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 02/06/2023
CONTENTS
Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1:THE PREPARATORY STAGE
Chapter 1 Glittering Lights of Fireflies
Chapter 2 The Spirit of the Seven Mountains
Chapter 3 Abode of God
Chapter 4 Unfoldment at Eden House
Chapter 5 King’s Daughters
Chapter 6 The Greenacre Vision Dawns
Chapter 7 The Greenacre Vision Manifested
Chapter 8 His Master
Chapter 9 All Men Are Our Kindred; the World Is Our Home
Chapter 10 Clarion Call
Part 2:SOJOURN OF SWAMI SARADANANDA IN THE WEST
Chapter 11 Sarat
Chapter 12 London Days
Chapter 13 Arrival in New York
Chapter 14 Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Greenacre, Maine
Chapter 15 Greenacre Conferences of 1896 Continues
Chapter 16 Behind the Scenes
Chapter 17 In the Lap of White Mountains
Chapter 18 Home Congress and World’s Food Fair
Chapter 19 Brooklyn, New York
Chapter 20 Cambridge Conferences 1896 and Lectures in Boston and Vicinity
Chapter 21 The Psychomath Club: Waltham, Massachusetts
Chapter 22 509 Fifth Avenue: New York, New York
Chapter 23 Dark Clouds and No Rain
Chapter 24 The Vedanta Work Continues
Chapter 25 Exploring Cambridge and Vicinity
Chapter 26 Profile House: New Hampshire
Chapter 27 Greenacre 1897 — I
Chapter 28 Greenacre 1897 — II
Chapter 29 New York, New York, and Montclair, New Jersey
Chapter 30 Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia
Chapter 31 Worcester, Cambridge, Waltham, Boston, and Vicinity
Chapter 32 Like Rolling River Free: Montclair, Chicago, New York, India
 
Epilogue
Appendix A:Announcements, Lectures, and Discourses of Swami Saradananda
Appendix B:Swami Saradananda in the West – Timeline
About the Author

At the feet of
Holy Mother
Sri Sarada Devi
It is about your beloved Sarat, Dear Mother.

“Holy Footprints”
(Design courtesy of Radha Dhar)
 
ILLUSTRATIONS
Cover Page


Cover Page Art: Neirah Bhargava
Photos of Teak Carvings: Courtesy of Jeffrey Dodge Rogers
Photo of Sarah J. Farmer Inn: Courtesy of Glenn Scott Egli Photography, Rochester, New York, 14610, (Copyright ©2020 Glenn Scott Egli. All rights reserved).

Dedication
“Holy Footprints,” Design courtesy of Radha Dhar



Swami Saradananda (From The Arena 22, no. 4 [October 1899], photo art Vijay Dave)

Swami Saradananda (Courtesy of Vedanta Society of Northern California)


Introduction


Living room with fireplace inside a rustic cabin (photo courtesy of Dipak Mehta)


Chapter 1


Sara Chapman Bull (Courtesy of Vedanta Society of Northern California)

Amelia Thorp’s Madison house, Wisconsin (Courtesy of Mytheli Sreenivas)

Amelia Thorp’s Madison house yard, Wisconsin (Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society)

A postcard, Chenango Valley, Norwich, NY, early 1900s (Personal postcard collection)

Oxford Memorial Library (Courtesy of Mahendra Jani)

The Thorp Residence, Oxford, NY (Courtesy of Mahendra Jani)

Eau Claire, WI (Courtesy of L. E. Phillips Memorial Library, Eau Claire, WI)

Amelia Thorp (Courtesy of Helen Goransson, from the Ralph S. Bartlett Photo Collection)

Abbie Shapleigh (Courtesy of Helen Goransson, from the Ralph S. Bartlett Photo Collection)

Ole Bull performing (Courtesy of Helen Goransson, from the Ralph S. Bartlett Photo Collection)


Chapter 2


Painting of Henry W. Longfellow, 1875 (from the Library of Congress)

https://www.loc.gov/https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654064 )

Celia Thaxter, (Courtesy of History of Cambridge, MA)

Alexander McKenzie (from Alexander McKenzie, The Divine Source in the Life of the World [1898], 8)


Chapter 3