Swami Aseshananda, direct disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, was the head of the Portland Vedanta Society in Oregon from 1955 until his passing at the age of 97 in 1996. A dynamo of spiritual energy who profoundly affected the lives of countless beings through constant worship, personal instruction, public outreach, and untiring attention to other facets of spiritual life, Swami exemplified the best of Sanatana Dharma teachings. Lecturing several times each week on the Message of Vedanta, his topics were varied yet he never failed to include the crucial teaching regarding the need of a guru. He often emphasized the four qualifications of a true teacher according to Shankaracharya: - To impart the teachings with no ulterior motive - To live a pure and stainless life - To know the essence of the scriptures - To be a knower of Brahman It was Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi that he pointed to as the epitome of such a teacher. To him They were the highest ideal; he lived in Them and They lived in him. Swami Aseshananda was born July 10, 1899, in Faridpur, India. In his adolescence he studied philosophy at St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College in Calcutta. He was blessed with initiation by Holy Mother in 1917 and subsequently joined the Ramakrishna Order in 1921, receiving initiation into Brahmacharya from Swami Brahmananda in 1922 and his final vows of Sannyasa from Swami Saradananda in 1923. Thus, many of the God-realized direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna were his teachers. He served as private secretary to Swami Saradananda, the General Secretary of the Order, from 1921 to 1927. Later, he worked at the Varanasi Advaita Ashrama and the Madras Students' Home in India. In 1947, the Swami was sent to the United States to serve as the Assistant Minister to Swami Nikhilananda at the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York (1947-49). Serving briefly at the Vedanta Society of Boston, he then was sent to the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Hollywood for the next 5-6 years where he served as Assistant Minister to Swami Prabhavananda, especially at the monastery at Trabuco. He came to Portland on February 5, 1955, as Minister-in-charge and served in that capacity until he passed on. It is significant to note that unlike any other swami sent to the U.S., Swami Aseshananda never once returned to his homeland. He was once heard to say that Holy Mother had sent him to the West, and thus he would stay. Western science has split the atom, releasing a great power for potential destruction, but Sri Ramakrishna, [by the power of his intense sadhana] has split the curtain of Maya, releasing a great power for realization. Power and Peace do not go together: If you seek power you get Rolls Royces; if you seek Peace you get God. Renunciation is not condemnation, but deification. - Swami Aseshananda
