Swami Prakashananda (Sushil Maharaj)
| Prakashananda | |
|---|---|
Prakshananda, a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda
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| Religion | Hinduism |
| Philosophy | Vedanta |
| Personal | |
| Born | Sushil Chandra Chakravarty 8 July 1874 Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Died | 13 February 1927 (aged 52) |
| Guru | Vivekananda |
| Honors | President of the Vedanta Society of Northern California from 1915 to 1927 |
Prakashananda(1874-1927) was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and a swami monk of the Ramakrishna Order who played a major role in propagating and promoting the Vedanta philosophy and Vivekananda's message in India and America. He worked closely with Trigunatitananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna for Vedanta Society of San Francisco, later renamed as Vedanta Society of Southern California, and later became its president.
Prakashananda's pre monastic name was Sushil Chandra Chakravarty. His father was Ashutosh Chakravarty and the family resided in Serpentine Lane in Calcutta. Sushil Chandra was born on July 8, 1874. His brother Sudhir, who was rechristened as Shuddhananda, had also become a monk with Ramakrishna Order and was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda as well. Sushil and Sudhir during their college life had made friends with Kalikrishna, Khagen, Haripada and Govinda, a group of young men who were spiritually inclined. This group came in direct contact with Mahendranath Gupta (known as M), a direct householder disciple of Ramakrishna, and the author of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, in the course of their study in Ripon College where M was a lecturer. M had inspired them to visit Baranagar Math, where the monastic disciples of Ramakrishna had gathered for pursuing spiritual practices. Sushil was interested in both Western and Eastern philosophy and he developed intimacy with several direct disciples of Ramakrishna, including Ramakrishnananda and Yogananda. In 1891 he went to Jayrambati, the native place of Sarada Devi and was initiated by her. He was also associated with Gopal Chandra Ghosh, or Hutko Gopal, a direct householder disciple of Ramakrishna who would inspire him with anecdotes from the saint's life. He was also greatly inspired by the ideals of Vivekananda, who was then in America, preaching Vedanta. Sushil left home in 1896 under directive and guidance from Sarada Devi and joined the Alambazar Math. He also spent sometime in Vrindavan to practice austerities, in the company of Premananda.
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