History

Swamis Siddheswaranda and Ritajananda

In 1936 the Musée Guimet (with Professor Masson-Oursel, holder of the chair of Indian Philosophy) celebrated the hundredth birthday of Ramakrishna. In the same year, the Université de la Sorbonne (with Professor Fouché, Member of the Institute) paid homage to Swami Vivekananda, the disciple of Ramakrishna and founder of the Ramakrishna Mission.

The names Ramakrishna and Vivekananda had been known in France since Romain Rolland (winner of the 1915 Nobel prize for literature) had published biographies of each in 1929 and 1930, respectively.

Following these events, the “Friends of Indian Thought” petitioned the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission in Kolkata to send a member of the Order to reside in France, in order to teach the philosophy of the Vedanta.

Swami Siddheswarananda arrived in Paris the following year and began teaching immediately. His many lectures, both at the home of his hosts (Mr. And Mrs. Sayton), as well as at the Sorbonne and the universities of Toulouse and Montpellier, expanded the Centre’s connections, making it both necessary and possible to acquire after World War II (in 1948) a property to create an ashram.

 

 

Swamis Ritajananda  and Veetamohananda

In 1961 Swami Ritajananda succeeded Swami Siddheswarananda (who passed away in 1957).

Since the passing of Swami Ritajananda (in 1994), Swami Veetamohananda was, until his passing in November 2019, the monk responsible for the Vedanta Centre. Swami Veetamohananda participated in this capacity in the Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue.

As a representative of Hinduism in France, Swami Veetamohananda was often invited to deliver talks across mainland and overseas France (e.g. Antilles, La Réunion) as well as further abroad. He regularly visited Spain, Italy, Germany and England, as well as Belgium, Holland, Bulgaria, Guatemala, Brazil and the United States of America.

 

 

Swami Veetamohananda left his body on November 7, 2019. Swami Baneshananda, President of the German Centre, was immediately appointed by Belur Math as Acting President until 27 September 2021, when Swami Devapriyananda became the President of the Vedantic Centre until the appointment of Swami Atmarupananda in April 2022.

 

Swami Atmarupananda

Born in America, Swami Atmarupananda discovered the Vedanta tradition while studying as an exchange student in Sweden, and developed what has become a lifelong fascination and dedication. He joined the Chicago branch of the Ramakrishna Order of India as a monk in 1969, was initiated by the tenth President of the Ramakrishna Order, Swami Vireswarananda, and subsequently spent many years in India engaged in monastic, scholarly, and spiritual training.

 

He has been engaged in various pioneering works, including the founding of centers in San Diego, the Vivekananda Retreat at Ridgely Manor in upstate New York, and the Vedanta work in Puerto Rico. For many years he has traveled to various countries of the world to speak, to give retreats both in English and in Spanish, to engage in inter-spiritual dialog, and to participate in conferences dedicated to finding a new, spiritual foundation for economic and social development. In 2012 he was called to the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Order near Kolkata, India to work on a new edition of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda in ten volumes. At the end of 2017, after completing his editorial work, he was posted as the Resident Minister to the Vedanta Society of Greater Houston in the USA. Most recently, on 11 April 2022, he arrived at the Centre Vedantique Ramakrishna to become its President and Spiritual Director.