Brahmavadin

The Vedanta Kesari  

Abbreviated title (ISO 4)	VK
Discipline	spiritual, religious, cultural
Language	English
Edited by	Ramakrishna Order
Publication details
Publisher	Ramakrishna Math, Chennai (India)
Publication history	September 1895 to present
Frequency	Monthly
Indexing
ISSN	0042-2983
Links
Journal homepage

Vedanta Kesari (The lion of Vedanta) (formerly Brahmavadin) is an English language monthly magazine covering spiritual and cultural issues, published by the Ramakrishna Math in Chennai, India, since 1895.

Under the inspiration of Swami Vivekananda, a group of his disciples in Madras, which included G. Venkataranga Rao, M.C. Nanjunda Rao and Alasinga Perumal, started on 14 September 1895 a monthly journal bearing the title Brahmavadin. It continued to be brought out regularly for 14 years, until Alasinga’s demise in 1909. From 1909 to 1914, the publication of Brahmavadin became quite irregular. The last issue was brought out in 1914 (March–April). Soon after, the Brahmavadin’s legacy was continued by a new journal, Vedanta Kesari, started by Sri Ramakrishna Math Chennai, and has been in circulation ever since.

Vedanta Kesari is one of India’s oldest English language religious magazines, having been published for 86 years as of 2014. It has a monthly circulation of nearly 10,000 copies, of which 4000 go to public and institutional libraries across India. The magazine has subscribers in 40 countries.

Vedanta Kesari contains articles on Indian spiritual traditions and scriptures, focusing on the philosophy of Vedanta as expounded by Swami Vivekananda, the disciple of Ramakrishna, a nineteenth century Indian mystic. There are articles based on the teachings of Ramakrishna, as well as a section on book reviews of books on similar topics. The stated aim of the magazine is to promote a spiritual and matured outlook towards life. It advocates renunciation of selfish desires, along with the service to others in a spirit of worship-fulness.

Most articles published in the Vedanta Kesari are originally written for the magazine, though a few transcriptions of the lectures and speeches are also published.

Many scholars have contributed to Vedanta Kesari over time. Its contributors include John Woodroffe, Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, C. Rajagopalachari, T.L. Vaswani, K.M. Munshi, Karan Singh, Dalai Lama and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Many monks of the Ramakrishna Order also contribute to the magazine.