Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on August 28, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains what Tantra is within the Hindu tradition and corrects popular Western misunderstandings that reduce it to sensual practices. He describes Tantra not as a separate religion but as an integral stream within Hinduism, alongside the Vedic tradition. Drawing on traditional definitions, he explains that “tantra” refers to that which spreads or originates divine knowledge, and that many tantras are regarded as revealed texts on a par with the Vedas. He outlines different tantric schools and forms of worship—Shaiva, Shakta, Vaishnava, Saura, and Ganapatya—and emphasizes that the ultimate goal is realization of the Supreme Reality—variously referred to in different tantric schools as Brahman, Shiva, or Kula—not mere pursuit of power or experience.

Swami Bhaskarananda then discusses Tantra’s analysis of human nature into three basic dispositions—animal (pashu), heroic (vira), and divine (divya)—and the corresponding disciplines meant to transform lower tendencies into spiritual strength. He explains the seven codes of conduct (acharas) and carefully interprets the famous “five Ms” (wine, meat, fish, mudra, and mithuna) as symbolic of inner transformation rather than literal indulgence. True “wine,” for example, is the bliss of union with God; true “meat” and “fish” are the control and offering of the senses to the Divine. He also notes tantric practices such as using intense fear in cremation-ground disciplines to turn the mind inward, and concludes by showing how Tantra’s worship of the Divine Mother affirms that the same divinity lies hidden in every human being, waiting to be awakened.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on August 21, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda outlines the historical and spiritual setting of the Bhagavad Gita and explains why it is regarded as one of the world’s great scriptures. He begins with the ancient Aryan civilization, whose sages gradually discovered supersensuous truths about God, the soul, and the universe. These revelations were preserved in the Vedas and later systematized by Vyasa. The Bhagavad Gita, he explains, is revered as containing the essence of the Vedas and Upanishads in just over seven hundred verses, presented as the “song of God” spoken by Sri Krishna, regarded as a divine incarnation.

Swamiji describes the Gita’s dramatic context on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and its central teachings on the immortality of the soul, the limitations of ritual, and the paths of karma, bhakti, raja, and jnana yoga. He notes scholarly debates about the age of the text and whether it is an original part of the Mahabharata, highlighting linguistic and scriptural evidence that support its antiquity and integral place in the epic. Sri Krishna is presented not only as an incarnation but also as a reformer who redefines true renunciation and yoga as selfless, unattached action and God-centered living, accessible to householders as well as monks. Swamiji closes by encouraging careful study of the Gita as a direct doorway into the depth of the Hindu spiritual tradition.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on August 14, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda traces the position of women in Hinduism from the earliest Vedic period to the present. He begins by outlining how religion arose in human cultures as an attempt to answer questions about life, death, and moral order, and notes that when religious ideals are not lived, societies decline. Turning to early Aryan culture, he describes a “golden age” in which men and women shared religious and educational privileges: both underwent initiation, studied the Vedas, and participated together in Vedic rituals. The Swami highlights women seers, scholars, and even warriors mentioned in the Rig Veda and Upanishads, and stresses the special reverence given to motherhood, with scripture urging that one regard one’s mother as God.

He then explains how, over later centuries, social changes and decadence led to the restriction of women’s education, early marriage, and growing dependence, with some legal texts reflecting this decline even while still praising noble women. Foreign invasions further intensified protective attitudes and seclusion. Swami Bhaskarananda next describes modern reform movements in India—such as those of Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and especially Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Order—that worked to restore dignity, education, and opportunity to women. He recounts Sri Ramakrishna’s worship of God as the Divine Mother, his reverence for women, and the example of Sri Sarada Devi’s universal motherhood. The talk concludes by noting the wide range of roles Hindu women now occupy in contemporary India and by affirming Vedanta’s vision of harmony among religions for the welfare of all.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on August 7, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda reflects on Sri Sarada Devi as a divine incarnation who at the same time lived a fully human life as the universal mother. Drawing on Vedantic scripture, he explains the six classical marks of divinity—supreme power, virtue, glory, dignity, non-attachment, and supreme knowledge—and shows how they were expressed in her life. As the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna, she participated in a unique, wholly spiritual marriage, each seeing the other as the Divine Mother. She transmitted divine knowledge through mantra-initiation, quietly absorbing the sins of her disciples and accepting illness and hardship as the cost of their uplift. Swami Bhaskarananda recounts incidents that devotees understood as manifestations of her power, including visions, protection from danger, and inner transformation.

Alongside this divinity, he emphasizes her striking simplicity, practicality, and tenderness. Sri Sarada Devi extended her motherhood to all—good and wicked, human and subhuman—insisting that anyone who felt want was “poor” and deserving of help, regardless of social status. She refused to condemn even oppressors, saying they too were her children. Through sayings and anecdotes, the talk highlights her all-inclusive love, her refusal to see anyone as irredeemable, and her final blessing: that those who came to her, would come to her, and even those who would never come to her are all held in her grace. In this way, her divinity is revealed most clearly through her humanity.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on July 31, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains the traditional Hindu understanding of monastic life within the broader framework of the four stages of life: student, householder, forest-dweller, and renunciate. Drawing from the Vedas and Upanishads, he describes how genuine renunciation arises in rare souls whose attraction to God outweighs worldly desires, often due to spiritual progress in previous lives. Citing the Jabala Upanishad, he notes that whenever this spirit of renunciation awakens, a person is fit for sannyasa. He distinguishes wandering monks from those in organized monastic orders, traces the historical development of monasteries from the time of the Buddha and Shankaracharya’s Dashnami order to the modern Ramakrishna Order and Ramakrishna Mission, and comments on why monasticism is necessarily a path for the few.

Swami Bhaskarananda then outlines the inner disciplines expected of novices and fully ordained monks. Novices are to rise before dawn, pray and meditate, practice truthfulness, self-control, moderation, and selfless work, avoid gossip and craving for wealth, and uphold lifelong celibacy while seeing all women as mothers. Sannyasis undertake an even deeper renunciation, giving up attachment to caste, family, property, social standing, and even identification with the body, meditating instead on themselves as pure, stainless divine light. Through anecdotes of wandering monks, senior swamis, and former monastics who later regretted leaving, he illustrates the ideals and challenges of the life of renunciation, while stressing that monks must always honor householders and that both monastic and householder paths can lead to the realization of inherent divinity.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on July 24, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains the meaning and purpose of spiritual initiation (mantra diksha) in the Vedantic tradition. A mantra is described as a sacred, mystic word or name of God that carries divine power; initiation is the vow to repeat this mantra for the realization of God. The guru functions as a conduit, like a faucet connected to a distant reservoir, through whom the grace of God flows to the disciple via the mantra, gradually purifying the mind so it becomes fit to know the Self. Swami Bhaskarananda outlines the qualifications of a true guru—scriptural knowledge, blameless conduct, and freedom from selfish motive—and emphasizes that the mantra should be received from such a teacher rather than merely taken from a book.

He then turns to the qualities of a disciple: genuine yearning for God, reverential faith (shraddha), humility, and adherence to truthfulness, non-deceit, self-control, simplicity, and pure food. Through traditional stories—such as Satyakama’s obedience to his teacher, saints who unhesitatingly obeyed seemingly impossible commands, and the life of Ramdas Kathiya Baba—he illustrates how this faith opens the way to knowledge. The talk also addresses how great teachers compassionately accept disciples despite their imperfections and even share part of their karmic burden, citing Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda. Swami Bhaskarananda explains siddha mantras as “open sesame” to spiritual liberation and presents Sri Ramakrishna as the guiding world-teacher behind the Ramakrishna Order. He concludes with the assurance that sincere initiated devotees will be guided and protected by their chosen deity, especially at the time of death.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on July 17, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains the traditional Hindu understanding of the guru. He begins with the Sanskrit roots of the word guru—gu (darkness) and ru (one who removes)—and notes another interpretation in which the guru is the divine reality that dispels cosmic illusion. Using the analogy of a hypnotist creating an illusory apple tree, he illustrates how the world is experienced as real only while we are under the spell of maya. The swami then outlines four kinds of teachers mentioned in the scriptures: the secular shiksha guru, the scriptural vidya guru, the initiating diksha guru, and the jagadguru or world-teacher, usually a divine incarnation such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Chaitanya, or Sri Ramakrishna. The jagadguru is compared to a distant reservoir, while qualified diksha gurus function as pure “faucets” through which divine grace flows.

Drawing on stories from the Ramakrishna tradition, Swami Bhaskarananda shows how a true guru is a transparent instrument of God, not conscious of spiritual status and free from ego. He quotes Sri Ramakrishna’s teaching that God alone is the real guru and that spiritual success comes from faith in and obedience to the guru’s instructions, like following a thread through a dark room. The lecture also briefly surveys guru–disciple traditions in other religions and describes the relationship as one of deep mutual trust. Swami Bhaskarananda concludes by noting the responsibility of both guru and disciple and introduces his next talk on spiritual initiation and its utility.

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on July 10, 2011.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explains the spiritual path for householders by first expanding the very meaning of “householder.” In Vedantic terms, one who lives in a house is a householder, but so is anyone with body-consciousness, since the body itself is the “house” in which the soul dwells. Only when God-consciousness fully replaces body-consciousness does one truly cease to be a householder. The swami describes divinity as the core of every being, using images such as waves and ocean, or the mind as a mirror reflecting the one indivisible divinity. Differences between people arise from the purity or impurity of the mind, not from the presence or absence of divinity. Both householders and monastics can manifest this inherent divinity; their paths differ mainly in the degree of sense enjoyment—restrained for householders, renounced for monks and nuns.

Swami Bhaskarananda then turns to dharma and unselfishness as the heart of spiritual practice. The soul’s true dharma is divinity itself, which becomes visible as selfishness is gradually thinned out and expanded—from concern for oneself, to family, community, nation, and ultimately all humanity. For householders, this expansion is learned concretely in family life through willing, loving self-sacrifice. Marriage is presented as a spiritual partnership in which each spouse seeks the good and happiness of the other, rather than using the other for personal gratification. Practicing truthfulness, non-injury, contentment, purity, forgiveness, and restraint, householders can purify the mind, discover awareness of inherent divinity, and progress toward the same spiritual fulfillment attained on the monastic path.