Vedanta Society of Toronto

Vedanta Society of Toronto is a branch center of The Ramakrishna Order of India. The Society is under the spiritual leadership of the Ramakrishna Order of India. Vedanta societies are the Western branches of the Ramakrishna Order.

The Ramakrishna Order

The Ramakrishna Order, with headquarters in Kolkata, is one of the largest and most respected religious orders in India today. The Order was inspired by the great Bengali saint, Sri Ramakrishna. His foremost disciple, Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Order in 1897. The Ramakrishna Order was formed along two parallel lines: The Ramakrishna Math, which is primarily dedicated to spiritual development, and the Ramakrishna Mission, which is dedicated to social service. The motto of the Ramakrishna Order is: "Liberation for oneself and service to mankind."

Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna, was born in 1836 and passed away in 1886. His whole life was literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal appeal. Through his God-intoxicated life Sri Ramakrishna proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that God-realization is not the monopoly of any particular age, country, or people. The God-man of nineteenth-century India did not found any cult, nor did he show a new path to salvation. To Sri Ramakrishna all religions are the revelation of God in His diverse aspects to satisfy the manifold demands of human minds. They are not contradictory but complementary. Sri Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Thus he declared, "As many faiths, so many paths."