Swami Sarvapriyananda
Swami Sarvapriyananda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Biswarup Mitra 10 February 1971 |
| Education | MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar |
| Occupation | Sannyasi at Ramakrishna Order |
| Website | www |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Philosophy | Advaita Vedanta |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Swami Bhuteshananda |
Swami Sarvapriyananda (born Biswarup Mitra) is a Hindu monk (sannyasi) of the Ramakrishna Order.
Since January 2017 he has been the resident swami and minister in charge of the Vedanta Society of New York.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit]Sarvapriyananda was born Biswarup Mitra[3] in Kolkata and grew up in Bhubhaneshwar, Odisha. He has said that he was drawn to Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda from childhood. His parents and grandparents were initiated devotees in the Ramakrishna Order tradition, and his father was an IAS officer.[4] He completed postgraduate studies in business management at the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, graduating with its 1994 batch.[5]
He has stated that his first goal in life was to become a pilot, and the second was to find God, with the second goal later becoming his only goal.[4][6]
Sarvapriyananda received mantra initiation into the Ramakrishna Order from Swami Bhuteshananda[6] in 1994. He received sannyasa diksha from Swami Ranganathananda in 2004.[1]
Monastic life
[edit]Swami Sarvapriyananda served as an acharya or teacher at Belur Math, the monastic training center, as vice principal of Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, and as principal of the Ramakrishna Mission Shikshanamandira (teacher-training college), Belur Math.[7][non-primary source needed]
In 2015, Swami Sarvapriyananda served as assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California.[1]
He was later appointed head of the Vedanta Society of New York, a position he has been serving since 6 January 2017.[1] He succeeded Swami Tathagatananda in the role.[8][non-primary source needed]
He was a Nagral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School from 2019 to 2020 and part of the first group of Hindu monastics in the fellowship.[9][1][6]
Teachings
[edit]Swami Sarvapriyananda is a proponent and scholar of the Indian Upanishad school of thought and the philosophy or Darshan, particularly of Self and Consciousness contained in them. His public engagements include symposia and events focused on Advaita Vedanta teachings.[10][11][12] In an episode of Dispatches from The Well, a podcast by Big Think, he reflects on contributions of Vedanta to the conversation on the Hard problem of consciousness.[13] Fortune India mentions Sarvapriyananda as "one of the best known lecturers of the Vedanta in the world today".[14] [15]
Speaking with Time on the occasion of the International Day of Yoga in 2018, Sarvapriyananda stated that "doing (yoga) the right way can change the way you live, work and love" while criticising the "vulgarisation and distortion of yoga today".[16]
In 2026, Swami Sarvapriyananda was among the theologians and spiritual leaders invited by Anthropic to its San Francisco headquarters to discuss AI ethics and morality.[17][18][19]
Bibliography
[edit]- Dissolve into Infinity, Juggernaut. 2021.
- What is Vedanta?, Juggernaut. 2021.
- Who Am I?, Juggernaut. 2021.
- Reflections on Dakshinamurti Stotram, Vedanta Society of New York, 2025.
- Mahavakya : The Essence of Vedanta, Vedanta Society of New York, 2025.
- Fullness & Emptiness : Vedanta and Buddhism, Vedanta Society of New York, 2025.
- Conversations on Vedanta in Practice, Vedanta Society of New York, 2025.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Resident Swami - Vedanta Society of New York - Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission". www.vedantany.org. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ Vedanta Society of New York Vedanta Society of New York
- ↑ "Swami Sarvapriyananda". Closer To Truth. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Harvard Hindu Monk Swami Sarvapriyananda on Upanishads, Their Central Message and the Bhagvat gita". indianewengland.com. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ Chitrala, Chandra Shekhar (6 December 2020). "Life After MBA: A Look At Non-Traditional Career Choices". OdishaBytes. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Hindu monastics expand their views at Harvard Divinity School". Harvard Gazette. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ↑ "Swami Sarvapriyananda - Academia.edu". independent.academia.edu. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ↑ "Resident Swami - Vedanta Society of New York - Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission". www.vedantany.org. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ↑ https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/11/hindu-monastics-expand-their-views-at-harvard-divinity-school/ Harvard Gazette
- ↑ "Bhagavad Gita and Management". Seton Hall University. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ↑ "St. Louis celebrates Swami Vivekananda's 125th anniversary of Chicago addresses | India Post News Paper". 30 May 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ↑ bdnews24.com, Uday Sankar Das from London. "Vivekananda Festival held in London to promote peace and tolerance". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Consciousness: Not just a problem for philosophers". Big Think. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ "Detached ownership: Management lessons from the Ramakrishna Mission". www.fortuneindia.com. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ↑ "The Vedas: Everything There Is Deepak Chopra + Swami Sarvapriyananda | Rubin Museum of Art". rubinmuseum.org. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ↑ "International Yoga Day 2018: Top Yoga Teachers Give Advice". Time. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ↑ "San Francisco dinner and 'morality push': Why Anthropic invited a Hindu monk to discuss AI". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ "Anthropic invited Hindu monk to teach Claude right from wrong; company turns to Vedanta to explore consciousness and whether AI can ever have a sense of self". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ "Anthropic flew Swami Sarvapriyananda to US for private Claude training meeting, Vedanta monk's video goes viral". India Today. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
External links
[edit]- Vedanta Society of New York : YouTube channel
