Swami Asitananda ji (Clair Maharaj of San Francisco centre)

Swami Asitananda ji (Clair Maharaj of San Francisco centre) passed away in Kaiser Hospital at San Rafael, near San Francisco, USA, on 4 March at 7.30 am local time.He was 88.

Initiated by Swami Ashokananda ji, he joined the Order in 1947 at San Francisco centre.  In 1950-51, he went to the newly purchased land in Sacramento, where he stayed until 1966, helping to transform that barren land into a flourishing Vedanta centre with well-equipped monastery, worship hall, library, extensive gardens and other facilities.  In 1966 he went to San Francisco centre’s Vedanta Retreat at Olema, where again he undertook many important tasks, such as the supervision of the construction of the women’s retreat house, and the design and supervision of the renovation of the men’s retreat house.  He had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwarananda ji in 1973.  The Swami was a good spiritual counselor and a poet too. He was an engineer by training.

Here is one of his poems : 

A Christmas Wish - 

Merry Christmas

      Ages ago on a deep winter night,

      marked by a star exceedingly bright.

      A virgin gave birth to one long sought,

      to lift humanity into spiritual light.

                                In the present time of humanities need,

                                a deep spiritual current is flowing.

                             
                                Come!

                                Let's go for a swim!

                                                             Happy New Year!





Here is one more from American Vedantist : http://americanvedantist.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Vol_7_No_1.pdf

Awake 

Lost in this worldly dream 
distractions all around. 
Struggling to survive 
just about to drown. 
Awake— 
it is not what it seems. 
This world is alive, 
consciousness everywhere. 
Lift the veil and see 
all are related to you and me! —

Swami Asitananda

May a spiritual aspirant eat meat? 

Max Langley wrote - (see : http://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology_list.indology.info/1997-February/006897.html )

Swami Asitananda of the Vedanta Society of Northern California in San Francisco once pointed out to me that one must put such questions in a proper perspective. The Sugata, Siddharta Gotama, marked the end of the Vedic period. It is clear from the Upanishads that recluses forwent meat.It was only in the struggle for religious, and eventually political, domination of the Indian subcontinent after the passing of the Buddha by his disciples and their successors that many reforms were compelled in line with the teaching of the Buddha and sangha. Among the reforms was the institution of vegetarianism outside of renunciate circles, Brahmans having previously eaten meat, probably beef also in some areas. I suspect that the beef-taboo in conjunction with cow veneration is not altogether primeval in India.

This cannot be the whole story. The early sangha ate _anything_ that fell into their begging-bowls - even the finger of a leper, it is said --, and at least one tradition has it that the illness that caused the death of the Tathagata was caused by His eating of contaminated pork.