Swami Chinmayananda, Hinduism, and diaspora configurations: identifying the effects of a modern advaita-vedāntin on the Hindu diaspora in North America
There has been surprisingly little academic work done on the influential 20th Century philosopher of advaita-vedānta and globally recognized Hindu guru, Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), considering that he is acknowledged as a credible author among the Hindu community, being honored with the "H...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| WorldCat: | WorldCat |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2018
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| In: |
Nidān
Year: 2018, Volume: 3, Issue: 1, Pages: 31-49 |
| Further subjects: | B
Modernity
B Diaspora B Science B Chinmayananda B Hinduism B Advaita B Vedanta |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | There has been surprisingly little academic work done on the influential 20th Century philosopher of advaita-vedānta and globally recognized Hindu guru, Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), considering that he is acknowledged as a credible author among the Hindu community, being honored with the "Hindu Renaissance Award" for the year of 1992 by Hinduism Today magazine, being chosen to represent Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1993 (the 100th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic talks at the same conference), and even being hailed by some as the "second Vivekananda". In this paper, I identify in a preliminary way the effects of Chinmayananda’s teachings about Hinduism on the Hindu diaspora in North America, the home of the western headquarters of his international spiritual organization, Chinmaya Mission. Here, I trace the genealogy of Chinmayananda’s ideas back through modernizers of Advaita philosophy such as Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) to the chief systematizer of advaita-vedānta, Śaṅkara (788-820 CE), in order to bring to light some of the observable impacts of Chinmayananda’s teachings and actions on certain elements of the Hindu diaspora, while locating Chinmayananda and his work within the ongoing dialogue regarding Hinduism. It will be seen that although Chinmayananda shares some features with other international Hindu teachers of his times, he does not fit into the stereotypical image of a "modern guru" as described by David Smith and Lola Williamson. This difference will mark the start of a new wave of contemporary gurus, whose lineages share Chinmayananda as one of the central nodes. I conclude that Swami Chinmayananda’s voice must not be lost within the dialogue about Hinduism, for his work has helped to shape the discussion about Hinduism as it stands today. |
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| ISSN: | 2414-8636 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nidān
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.58125/nidan.2018.1 |