Bridging the East and West

The founding of the Sri Sarada Mahila Samiti in Northern California goes back to the lineage of 19th-century Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna and his wife and spiritual counterpart Sri Sarada Devi, and their teachings, which were brought to America by Swami Vivekananda and his fellow monks and spread by westerners like Sister Nivedita.  

The origins of our story begin with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the nineteenth-century great saint and mystic of India. His teachings were carried on by his wife and spiritual counterpart Sri Sarada Devi, and his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda who spread these ancient teachings of the East to the West. 

Following the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda established the first two American Vedanta Societies in New York and San Francisco. He declared, "I have a message for the West as Buddha had a message for the East." The ideals of Vedanta continue to influence our culture, traditions, and spiritual practice. 

In 1895, Swami Vivekananda went to London where he met Margaret Noble, a daughter of Ireland and an educator. During one of his parlor meetings, Swamiji thundered, "What the world wants today is twenty men and women who can dare to stand in the street yonder, and say that they possess nothing but God.... If this is true, what else could matter; if it is not true, what do our lives matter?" Miss Noble believed that she was one of those twenty. Attracted by the new ideal, she came forward to dedicate her life. Swamiji initiated her as “Nivedita.” Nivedita set the model for the education and support of girls in India by establishing a school for girls. Holy Mother blessed the school and treated Nivedita as her own daughter. 

Finally, in 1954, the Sri Sarada Math, an organization of women monastics, was established in accordance with Swami Vivekananda’s vision of a totally independent Math for women. “With the Holy Mother as the centre of inspiration, a Math is to be established on the eastern bank of the Ganga.”  

In 1997, Pravrajika Amalaprana, the then General Secretary of the Sarada Math, visited the U. S. With her influence and encouragement, a dozen American women devotees initiated the Sri Sarada Mahila Samiti of Northern California that same year. The Samiti aims to embody the ancient teachings of the East while grounding them in the West, offering educational seminars and retreats to foster spiritual growth and understanding. Their other mission is to financially support the education of girls and young women through the schools and educational programs of Sri Sarada Math and the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission throughout India.