ABOUT US


 "May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus,
the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians,
the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehova of the Jews,
and the Father in Heaven of the Christians,
give strength to you to carry out your noble ideal."
                                                                      -Swami Vivekananda

The Vedanta Gesellschaft is a non-profit institution and has been conducting its spiritual activities in Germany for more than ten years based on the philosophy of Vedanta as exemplified in the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda.

In January 2009 the society has bought a house at Pestalozzistrasse 2, 63165 Mühlheim am Main with a view to extending its services to people who find it difficult to reach the existing ashrama in Bindweide. From May 2009 the town centre has started functioning and since then it has been conducting weekly retreats in the new house.

The Ashrama in Bindweide is situated in a peaceful countryside. It is approachable by road in about one and a half hours from Frankfurt and Cologne. The nearest railway station 'Betzdorf (Sieg)' is about 9 kilometres on the Siegen-Cologne railway line. It has accommodation for guests who want to spend some quiet time in spiritual ambience.

The Vedanta-Gesellschaft (a registered charitable Society) has the following broad Aims and Objectives:

The history of the Ramakrishna-Vedanta movement in Germany goes back to the days of Swami Vivekananda when he visited professor Paul Deussen of Kiel in Germany in 1896. There were many prominent German scholars in the past, like Schopenheur, Max Mueller, Paul Deussen, and others whose contribution to Vedanta is immense. In recent times, Kurt Friedrichs made a lasting impact on Vedanta movement. He has written or translated many books on Ramakrishna-Vedanta literature also. In the year 1933 an official centre was started with Swami Yatishwarananda as the head of the centre at Wiesbaden. But due to some unavoidable reason it was closed down in 1938. However, the work of Vedanta Centre of Wiesbaden was revived from 1959 with Kurt Friedrichs, a disciple of Swami Yatiswarananda, as its president. Since then this society has been publishing books on Vedanta and bringing out a quarterly journal called ‘Vedanta’. Later on some enthusiastic devotees and students of Vedanta formed a Society more than a decade ago and bought a spacious three-storied house at the present location. At the request of the Society the Ramakrishna Math headquarters at Belur Math, India, has affiliated its spiritual activities in November 2004.

From November 2004 the Society is being headed by Swami Baneshananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He is stationed at the Vedanta Centre at Pestalozzistraße 2, 63165 Mühlheim (Main). More information about Swami Baneshananda and the assistant Swami Bhaswatananda is available here.

Membership is open to all subject to the provisions of the Statute. The yearly membership fee is € 70. The members get free a quarterly publication of "Vedanta" sent by post.

DONATE: If you would like to participate in our noble and selfless work for the good of humanity you can send your donation to us mentioning the purpose to our account No. 406262, in favour of Vedanta Gesellschaft, with Volksbank Gebhardshain, BLZ: 573 614 76.

The photos to the right are, serially from top: Swami Vivekananda—the great inspirer, our retreat house in Bindweide, library in Bindweide, our small cottage in winter and in summer, the shrine in Mühlheim, and the house in Mühlheim.

Activities


If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others; rather see your own fault.
Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child.
The whole world is your own [family]. -Sarada Devi
 

For the present, the ashrama has taken up the following activities:

  1. Classes on Vedanta
  2. Seminars and retreats on week-ends
  3. Lectures in the towns/cities in Germany and outside
  4. Personal counselling
  5. Accommodation for guests
  6. Morning and evening meditation and prayer in the shrine, etc.

Please click here to download

  1. Daily Routine
  2. Programme for 2010.html
  3. Programme for 2010 (pdf version): Download

The photos are, serially from top: a retreat in Bindweide, speaker Swami Dayatmananda of London in a retreat in Bindweide, worship in the shrine in Bindweide, a retreat in Mühlheim.




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