Vedanta Center of Greater Austin

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Vedanta Center of Greater Austin

The Vedanta Center is a community for spiritual aspirants.

The Vedanta Center of Greater Austin (VCGA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to doing charity work, provides volunteer service to help homeless people and helps with learning / practicing Vedanta. Its mission is to provide a conducive environment for seekers of self fulfillment following Vedanta philosophy. Drawing inspiration from the practical and modern interpretation of Vedanta by Swami

Vivekananda, the Center considers service of humanity and active participation in addressing social issues such as healthcare, education and natural disaster relief to be integral parts of its mission. We provide opportunities for seekers to pursue spiritual growth through prayer, meditation, worship, service activities, study of spiritual and philosophical literature and gaining exposure to practical Vedanta from monks and nuns associated with the Ramakrishna movement as well as others.

01/30/2026

We are pleased to announce that Revered Swami Sarvapriyananda Ji Maharaj will be delivering a series of lectures at the Covenant United Methodist Church, from March 6 through March 8

Please contact us via email to complete your registration.
Here is our email address : [email protected]

For additional details, kindly refer to the flyer below.
We look forward to your attendance.

11/10/2025

Upcoming Event at the Vedanta Center of Greater Austin. Please come and join us for the retreat on November 15 and November 16.
Please find the details below :

02/09/2025

Sri Ramakrishna’s birth anniversary will be celebrated on Sunday, March 9th 2025, at the Vedanta center of greater Austin 🙏🏽🙏🏽

02/06/2025

It is not the work of a day, and the path is full of the most deadly thorns. But Parthasarathi is ready to be our Sarathi, we know that, and in His name and with eternal faith in Him, set fire to the mountains of misery that has been heaped upon India for ages- and it shall be burnt down. Come then, look it in the face, brethren, it is a grand task and we are so low. But we are the sons of Light and children of God. Glory unto the Lord, we will succeed. Hundreds will fall in the struggle, hundreds will be ready to take it up. I may die here unsuccessful, another will take up the task. You know the disease, you know the remedy, only have faith. Do not look up to the so called rich and great, do not care for the heartless intellectual writers, and their cold blooded newspaper articles .
Faith, sympathy - fiery faith and fiery sympathy!
Life is nothing, death is nothing , hunger nothing , cold nothing.
Glory unto the Lord - march on, the Lord is our General.
Do not look back to see who fails - forward - onward!

Letters of Swami Vivekananda
An excerpt from letter to Alasinga, 20th August, 1893 from Metcalf, Massachusetts.

04/07/2023

Jai Ramakrishna

(Teachings of Holy Mother)

Everyone should serve his mother. It is all the more incumbent upon you, because you have all come to me with the purpose of dedicating your life to the service of others. Always talk to her about God.
You will really fulfil the duty of a son if you can help her to gather the means for her ultimate journey. You have grown by sucking her milk. How much suffering she has undergone to raise you to manhood! Know that service to her is your highest duty.
But it is quite a different matter if she stands in the way of your spiritual life.
Beware! Don’t involve yourself in worldliness on the plea of serving your mother.

Some women devotees came to see Mother one evening. One of them had a showiness about her with her dress and ornaments, and she was a little restless.
Addressing them Mother said, Mark you, my dear, modesty is the greatest ornament of a woman. A flower best serves its purpose when it is offered to a deity; else it may as well wither on the plant. But it pains me greatly when the dandies take up flowers either in a bunch or singly, smell them with their nose a little, and say, ‘How sweet the smell!’
And, oh dear, the next moment they may throw these down on the floor or walk away crushing them under the shoes.

04/06/2023

Mother of All

The Story of Amzad

At Holy Mother's request, Amzad was given oil to rub on his body, allowed to bathe in the pond, given a new cloth, and fed with good food until his stomach was full. That afternoon as Amzad was returning home, chewing a betel roll, he seemed to be a completely different person. He carried in his bundle many gifts, including a bottle of ayurvedic oil from the Mother.

Later Holy Mother told the brahmachari: "Amzad was unable to sleep because he had taken some kind of strong drug that overheated his brain. I had kept a bottle of Narayan oil with me for a long time and I gave it to him. It will cool his brain if he uses it. That oil is very effective."

Amzad soon recovered his health. Whenever he was informed that something needed be done in the Mother's house, he came immediately and performed the task faithfully. Once the Mother lost her appetite due to a prolonged illness, and the doctor suggested that she eat pineapples. That fruit was not in season in Jayrambati. However, word was sent to Amzad, who searched in different villages until he found some pineapples for the Mother.

- Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play 🌺🌺

03/22/2023

Once a monk was leaving the Order and he came to receive the Mother's blessings. It was heartbreaking for the Mother to see a monk leave. Both she and the monk wept. After a while, the Mother wiped her tears with a corner of her sari and asked the monk to wash his face. She affectionately told him: "My son, don't forget me. I know you won't, but still I say so."

The monk said, "Mother, will you forget me?"

Holy Mother replied: "Can a mother forget her son? Know for certain, I will always be with you. Don't be afraid." When the monk left Udobodhan House, the Mother watched him through her window till he was no longer visible.

Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play
Mother of the Ramakrishna Order

03/11/2023

Swami Yogananda led a severely austere life in Vrindaban, Sometimes he would not eat at all. Sometimes he would eat a piece of bread or two and spend the whole day in contemplation of God, without any care for his body. ... Service of Holy Mother was Swami Yogananda's primary goal. When Mother was staying at Nilambar Babu's garden house in Belur, Swami Yogananda used to carry heavy sacks of grocery items on his own shoulders for her. Mother saw him from the terrace one day and said: “Yogin breaks his back to carry these. I do not have the heart to eat all that.”

Swami Saradananda (Stories of Vedanta Monks, p. 304)*

03/10/2023

SELF-EFFORT AND DIVINE GRACE

When a disciple complained about making no spiritual progress, the Mother said to him -

“Suppose you are asleep in Calcutta and someone is removing you with your couch to Banaras. Will you at that time know that you are on your way to Banaras? When you wake up you will be surprised to see where you have come.
One has to sit by the riverside and call on Him. He will ferry across at the proper time.”

Disciple: If everything occurs at the proper time, then where is the place for His grace?

Mother: Even so, don’t you have to throw your line and wait for the fish when you go angling?

Disciple: If God is our own, why then should one sit and wait?

Mother: That is true. It may happen even out of season. God-realization can be had at any time by the grace of God, but there is a difference between it and what comes in the fullness of time.

Can the mango which ripens out of season be as sweet as the one which ripens in the month of Jyeshta, that is, the proper season? Men are trying to get fruits out of season. But these are not as sweet as those found in the proper season.

This is also true of the efforts that lead to God-realization. Perhaps you practise some Japa and austerities in this life; in the next life you may intensify the spiritual mood and in the following life you advance further.

Holy Mother Sarada Devi 🌺🌺

03/09/2023

Holy Mother as Guru -

Whenever monk had a problem, he would rush to Holy Mother for help.

After Premananda passed away, Shivananda was made manager of Belur Math.

The younger Nagen (Brahmachari Aksharchaitanya) did something foolish. The other monks told him that Swami Shivananda would throw him out of the monastery.
Scared, he left the monastery without informing anyone and walked barefoot to Jayrambati without even a spare cloth. When he reached there with dirty clothes and a haggard look, no one recognized him as a brahmachari of Belur Math. Seeing how exhausted he was, the Mother gave him a fresh cloth, asked him to bathe, and fed him.

After listening to his story, she dictated a letter to Shivananda: "My dear son Tarak, what offence has the younger Nagen committed? Being afraid that you will turn him out of the monastery, he has come to me all the way on foot. My son, can a mother take heed of her child's offence? Please don't take any action against him."

She kept Nagen with her till the reply came. Shivananda responded: "Mother, we are relieved knowing that Nagen went to you. We have been searching for him. Kindly send him back here. There is a shortage of workers to perform the worship here. I will not take any action against him." After receiving the letter, the Mother gave the brahmachari permission to return.

Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play

Mother of the Ramakrishna order - Chapter 24

11/27/2022

This glorious soul we must believe in. Out of that will come power.
Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be.
This teaches us not to think ourselves as weak, but as strong, omnipotent, omniscient. No matter that I have not expressed it yet, it is in me.
All knowledge is in me, all power, all purity, and all freedom. Why cannot I express this knowledge?
Because I do not believe in it. Let me believe in it, and it must and will come out.

Swami Vivekananda

07/15/2022

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

- Swami Vivekananda

Address

13508 Broadmeade Avenue
Austin, TX
78729

Opening Hours

10am - 12pm

Website

https://www.vedantaaustin.org/

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