Vedanta Center of Greater Washington, DC

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

LABOR DAY RETREAT - 2026
SUNDAY- September 6

10:00–10:15 a.m.
Introduction to retreat, opening prayer, opening remarks
10:15–11:00 a.m.
Guided Meditation
11:00 a.m.–12 noon
Session 1 · Swami Paritushtananda: Foundations of Spiritual Life
12:00–1:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Devotional songs
3:00–4:00 p.m.
Session 2 · Swami Paritushtananda: “What Will Go with Us”
4:00–4:30 p.m.
Tea/coffee break
4:30–5:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Swami Atmajnanananda and Swami Bhaswatananda
6:30–7:30 p.m.
Arati and meditation
7:30–9:00 p.m.
Sitar Concert: Partha Bose on Sitar, Indranil Mallick on Tabla
9:00 p.m.
Dinner

MONDAY September 7
5:00–7:00 a.m.
Silent meditation in Shrine
7:30–8:15 a.m.
Morning Worship in Shrine
8:30–9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:30–10:30 a.m.
Session 4 · Swami Paritushtananda: “Remember Me and Fight”
10:30–11:00 a.m.
Tea/coffee break
11:00–12:00 a.m.
Panel Discussion: Swami Paritushtananda and Dr. Jeffrey Long
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30–2:30 p.m.
Conclusion: Question and Answer
2:30 p.m.
Vote of thanks, group photo

09/05/2026

SITAR CONCERT-September
PARTHO BOSE - SITAR
INDRANIL MALLIK - TABLA
September 6th 7:30-9:00pm

09/05/2026

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Read by Sw. Atmajnanananda ji
September 4th 2026
https://www.youtube.com/live/U2kDT3hHfmw?is=Ia3R50C28HL3uVLv
Listening to Maharaj feels like he was physically present there with Thakur and his holy entourage ……
Jai Maa🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

09/04/2026

JAI SRI KRISHNA - कृष्णं वन्दे जगत्गुरुं!
Divine Greetings on Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the Birth Anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
On the auspicious day of
Shri Krishna Janmashtami:
Wish you and your family love, light, happiness, laughter, wealth and good health. Prayers for a better safer world 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

08/28/2026

Today we honor the birth ceremony of Swami Niranjanananda.

SWAMI NIRANJANANANDA
1862-1904
Pre-monastic name :
Nityaniranjan Ghosh
Date of Birth : Some day in 1862
Place of Birth : Rajarhat-Vishnupur, W.B.

Born in a middle class family, Niranjan came under the influence of a group of occultists when he was a teenager, and it was in their company that he first visited Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. The Master took Niranjan aside, and cautioned him about the dangers of occult practices. Niranjan followed the Master’s advice and began to practise meditation under the direction of Sri Ramakrishna.
During the Master’s last illness Niranjan served the Master with unflinching devotion. After the Master’s passing, when the new monastic brotherhood was formed at Baranagar, Niranjan joined it and after sannyasa assumed the name Niranjanananda. After staying at the Math for three years, he went on pilgrimage to different places in India, and also visited Sri Lanka.
Swami Niranjanananda was very much devoted to Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. Towards the end of his life he went to Hardwar for tapasya. There he had a severe attack of dysentery and passed away on 9 May 1904.
Sri Ramakrishna regarded Niranjan as an ishvarakoti, an ever-perfect soul endowed with special divine attributes.
Salutations to Swami Niranjanananda

08/22/2026

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Read by Sw. Atmajnanananda ji
August 8th 2026
https://www.youtube.com/live/V9s2QCHDB3k?is=C-eR71TuZV2V8-kP
Listening to Maharaj feels like he was physically present there with Thakur and his holy entourage …… Jai Maa🙏🏻

08/11/2026

Swami Sarvadevananda ji departed for Hollywood CA early this morning, leaving behind a grateful and blessed group of devotees at VCGW who deeply cherished his visit and sacred presence. Jai Maa 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

08/10/2026

SWAMI RAMAKRISHNANANDA
Today we honor the birth ceremony of Swami Ramakrishnananda - 1863-1911

Pre-monastic name :
Shashi Bhushan Chakravarty
Date of Birth : 13 July 1863
Place of Birth : Ichapur in Hooghly district, West Bengal.

Shashi’s father Ishwara Chandra Chakravarty was an expert in ritualistic worship, and Shashi imbibed from him love for ritualistic worship. After passing out of the village school, he went to Kolkata and lived with his cousin Sharat (later, Swami Saradananda) for higher education. A brilliant student, he chose mathematics for the B.A. course which, however, he could not complete owing to the terminal illness of Sri Ramakrishna at Cossipore.
While studying in college Shashi and Sharat joined the Brahmo Samaj, and heard about Sri Ramakrishna from Keshab Chandra Sen himself. In October 1883 they visited Dakshineswar and were deeply attracted to Sri Ramakrishna. The Master used to say that Shashi and Sharat had been the followers of Jesus Christ in their previous birth.
Shashi distinguished himself most by the self-sacrificing spirit and devotion with which he served Sri Ramakrishna during his last illness at Shyampukur and Cossipore. After the Master’s passing he joined the Baranagar Math and underwent sannyasa ordination, assuming the name Ramakrishnananda. He took charge of the worship of the Atmaramer kauta, the urn containing the relics of Sri Ramakrishna in the Math’s shrine. He felt the living presence of the Master, and so his worship was not a mere ritual but loving service to a living God. It was Swami Ramakrishnananda who formulated and introduced the system of daily ritualistic worship to Sri Ramakrishna that is followed in the Ramakrishna Movement.
He seldom went out on pilgrimage, and devoted himself to daily worship at the Math. But when Swami Vivekananda, after his return from the West, asked him to go to Chennai and open a branch centre of Ramakrishna Math there, he obeyed without any hesitation. The saga of sacrifice and hardship that he underwent in preaching the message of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda for 14 years under unfavourable conditions has been recorded in letters of gold in the annals of the Ramakrishna Movement. In the South he travelled extensively. The starting of centres in Trivandrum, Mysore, Bangalore and Mumbai owed much to his pioneering efforts.
Incessant work, however, told upon his health, and he contracted tuberculosis. He breathed his last in a state of ecstasy on 21 August 1911.

08/09/2026

Sunday Lecture
Lecture on Vedanta
Swami Sarvadevananda
https://www.youtube.com/live/v7M9OUenLSQ?is=moJb1Hkj3G7rFix6