American Vedantist pays tribute to Br. Nitya Chaitanya
http://americanvedantist.org/2010/news-reports/nitya-chaitanya-passes-away-in-hollywood-at-age-80/
Nitya 1930-2010
Brahmachari Nitya Chaitanya
Early Life
Brahmachari Nitya Chaitanya, known affectionately as “Nitya” by his friends, passed away on Nov
21st 2010 at 3:00 PM PST. Born James Edward Smith to Major and Mrs. Robert Smith in Washing-
ton D.C. on Jan 31st, 1930, he graduated from Battle Creek High School in Michigan. He worked as a forest ranger and a bank executive before joining.
Spiritual Path
When he was 19 he moved to New York where he came into contact with the Quakers and began
meditating or “sitting.” After a year in New York, he continued with a prayer group in Colorado,
which was about 50% Quaker. It was while he was with this Colorado group that he first came
across books on spiritual life and met Mary Enholm, who had lived at Trabuco College when Gerald
Heard was there. This led to an interest in the writings of Gerald Heard and Vedanta. He moved to
San Francisco in the 50_s. He attended the Vedanta Society of Northern California at the San Francisco temple and periodically would come to Los Angeles to attend services here.
Life in Vedanta
He joined the Ramakrishna Order at the Vedanta Society of Southern California in Jan 1965 and initiated by Swami Prabhavananda. He took Brahmacharya vows on Aug 14, 1971. He spent most of his monastic years at the Hollywood center doing work in Vedanta Press and Vedanta Bookshop along with the usual monastic routines. He regularly lectured on Sundays for
many years and continued as a back-up speaker for several more. Until very recently, he was the substitute presider for the Gospel classes on Wednesday evenings.
