{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Swami Tyagananda | image = | caption = | birth_date = 1956 | occupation = Head of the Vedanta Society, Boston. Chaplain at MIT, Harvard | alma_mater = University of Bombay }}
'''Swami Tyagananda''' is a Hindu monk of the Ramakrishna Order and became head of the Vedanta Society in Boston in 2002.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} He is the Hindu chaplain for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swami Tyagananda |url=https://studentlife.mit.edu/about-dsl/people/swami-tyagananda/ |website=MIT Division of Student Life}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Swami Tyagananda {{!}} Harvard Chaplains |url=https://chaplains.harvard.edu/people/swami-tyagananda |website=chaplains.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref> He has presented papers at academic conferences, and he gives lectures and classes at the Vedanta Society, MIT, Harvard, and other colleges in and around Boston.
==Biography== He joined the Ramakrishna Order as a monk in 1976, after graduating from the University of Bombay, India. Swami Tyagananda has served in the following monasteries: * Mumbai 1976-1980 * Belur Math 1980-1982 * Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi 1982-1983 * Chennai 1983-1997 * Boston since 1998
Swami Tyagananda was the editor of the English language journal Vedanta Kesari based in Chennai, India. For eleven years. He has translated and edited ten books, including ''Monasticism: Ideals and Traditions'' (1991), ''Values: The Key to a Meaningful Life'' (1996) and ''The Essence of the Gita'' (2000).
Swami Tyagananda also wrote the paper ''Kali’s Child Revisited or Didn’t Anyone Check the Documentation'', in which he examines a list of what he calls "serious errors" that he had found in Jeffery Kripal's book, Kali's Child.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ramaswamy | first = Krishnan |author2=Antonio de Nicolas | title = Invading the Sacred | publisher = Rupa & Co. | year = 2007 | chapter = Targeting Sri Ramakrishna | pages = 30 | url = http://invadingthesacred.com/ |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Copies of ''Kali's Child Revisited'' were distributed at the annual meeting of the AAR<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sharma | first = Arvind | title = Hindus and Scholars | journal = Religion in the News | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | publisher = trincoll.edu | date = Spring 2004 | url = http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol7No1/Hindus%20and%20Scholars.htm | accessdate = 2008-07-17 | archive-date = 11 May 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100511194249/http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol7No1/Hindus%20and%20Scholars.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> and published in journal ''Evam''.<ref> {{cite journal | last = Tyagananda | first = Swami |author2=Pravrajika Vrajaprana | title = Kali's Child Revisited or Didn't Anyone Check the Documentation | journal = Evam: Forum on Indian Representations | volume = 1 | issue = 1–2 | year = 2002 | url = http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_rv/s_rv_tyaga_kali1_frameset.htm }} </ref> <ref> {{cite web |title = EVAM - FORUM ON INDIAN REPRESENTATIONS ~ Issue 1 |url = http://www.swaveda.com/journal.php?jid=2&j=Evam |access-date = 2008-08-20 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060515010546/http://www.swaveda.com/journal.php?jid=2&j=Evam |archive-date = 2006-05-15 }} </ref> Other scholars, such as Lola Williamson from University of Wisconsin, Madison, expressed the view that Swami Tyagananda’s criticisms in ''Kali's Child Revisited'' "indeed go to the heart of things".<ref>See Journal : [http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/72/2/369 The Damage of Separation: Krishna's Loves and Kali's Child by Hawley J Am Acad Relig.2004; 72: 369-393]</ref> In 2010, Tyagananda co-authored the book ''Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited'' with Pravrajika Vrajaprana which further discusses these issues.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tyagananda|author2=Vrajaprana |others=Huston Smith (foreword)| title=Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited|date=26 February 2024 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3499-6|pages=410|url=http://www.interpretingramakrishna.com/}}</ref>
In a departure from earlier Hindu traditions, in compliance with the practice prevalent in almost all centers of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Swami Tyagananda also conducts a special service during Christmas Eve. The event begins with the garlanding of an image of Madonna and Child. The Nativity story from the King James Bible is then read out loud, followed by the ''Sermon on the Mount'' and a homily on Jesus' life.<ref>[https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Finding-a-link-between-Jesus-and-Krishna-2555733.php Finding a link between Jesus and Krishna], San Francisco Chronicle 24 December 2005</ref> The 139th MIT Commencement ceremony in 2005 began with Swami Tyagananda's invocation in Sanskrit and English.<ref>[http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/08mit.htm Swami Tyagananda leads MIT Commencement with invocations in Sanskrit and English], Rediff News</ref>
==Works== * ''Walking the Walk: A Manual of Karma Yoga'' Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2014. * ''Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited''. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2010. Co-authored with Pravrajika Vrajaprana. * ''The Essence of the Gita'' (translator). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000. * ''A Study of the Mundaka Upanishad'' (ed and compiler). Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 2000. * ''Healthy Mind, Healthy Body: New Thoughts on Health'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1997. * ''Values: The Key to a Meaningful Life'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1996. * ''Service: Its Ideal and Practice'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1993. * ''Religion Today'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1992. * ''Monasticism: Ideals and Traditions'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1991. * ''Saints and Mystics'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1990. * ''Holy Scriptures: A Symposium on the Great Scriptures of the World'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1989. * ''Facets of Vivekananda'' (ed). Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1987.
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.vedantasociety.net/index.asp Ramakrishna Vedanta Society] * [http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/comm-invocation.html Commencement invocation at MIT 2005] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080814150829/http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1426 Why Celibacy? Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Views] * [http://www.vedantasociety.net/lectures.asp Lectures at Vedanta Society, Boston] * [http://www.gemstone-av.com/KCR3b.pdf Kali's Child Revisited by Swami Tyagananda]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyagananda, Swami}} Category:Hindu monks Category:20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians Category:Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:Harvard University staff