Anyone from the UK

[Tom]

Kind of what the subject says..... Is anyone here based in the UK?
Been looking for Vedanta stuff in the UK and it all seems very thin on the ground. I see James is giving a talk for a couple of days here in April which I will definitely go to. Seems to be lots of neo talks in London but not much on the topic of traditional Vedanta.

[Mira]

Hi Tom,
Welcome to the forum!

I am not from the UK. Although, I believe that Stan (our moderator) is. How about the Arsha Vidya UK? Depending on where you are in the UK, there seem to be a lot of free lectures. See link below for a list of upcoming seminars (in the London area).
http://www.arshavidya.org.uk/discourses.php

If you have the time, we'd love to hear more about you (and your quest for traditional Vedanta ). Mira

[Tom]

Hi Mira!
Thanks for the reply. I have posted a few times before but intermittently. I guess I am not that social hahaha
But I plod on in the background

I stumbled upon ShiningWorld around 3 years ago and started reading through the one year course then bought Essence of Enlightnement (same thing actually I think). Up to that point I had been stabbing in the dark listening to various modern teachers on YouTube etc and not really getting anywhere. When I first started reading it I was amazed. I was like ohh wow yeah I’m awareness of course I’m complete and I was just blissed out for several weeks. Then it passed!!!!!! But overall the teachings have massively changed my life for the better since then.

I did have a look at Arsha Vidya. I will probably go along at some point (although its a fair distance). The thing I have found is that the way the teachings are put across on ShiningWorld are more in tune to the western mind. I find them easier to digest. If that makes sense!

[Mira]

Thanks for your post, Tom. I agree that SW has a unique and wonderful way of unfolding the teachings.

Are you familiar with Dennis Waite's site:
http://www.advaita.org.uk/

He's a westerner that teaches traditional Vedanta and I believe he is from the UK.

Another thought might be to check out the Vedanta Society in the UK.
http://www.vedantauk.com/Default.aspx
These are led by monks from the Ramakrishna order. The head monk in the US Vedanta Society of NY is Swami Sarvpriyananda--who is a brilliant and delightful speaker on all topics related to advaita vedanta. But not sure about the monks based in the UK.

Like you, I would also love to hear Vedanta talks in person and meet other Vedantins in the flesh. I even thought of going to NYC to meet with Swami Sarvpriyananda. But it has not happened yet.

Then I inquired a bit and asked myself why is it that I want so much to meet a teacher in person (when I understand the teachings and have no doubts left). Turns out that I would really like to have a teacher give me a personal mantra which I can then use for discrimination, focus etc. to aid assimilation. It's hard to take a mantra one obtains from the internet seriously .

Anyway, hope you have better luck! Keep us posted.

[Tom]

Hi Mira! Thanks for the detailed reply.
I have actually read some of Dennis’s books. Found his explanations to be pretty good actually.

Funny story about the 2nd link you posted. I actually used to walk past the Vedanta UK Centre on my way to school each day when I was a kid! Always thought it was a cult at the time!
I had briefly looked at their website but I couldn’t work out much about what the Ramakrishna order is. Do you know much about it?

[Mira]

Hi Tom,
Funny story indeed about your childhood interaction with the Vedanta Society!
I do know a little about Ramakrishna and the Vedanta Society. Ramakrishna was an Indian mystic/sage more than a century ago. He achieved self-realization mainly through the path of bhakti (devotion). However, he was also very well versed in jnana yoga and advaita vedanta (through his teacher Totapuri).

His chief disciple was Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda realized the value of Vedanta and was responsible for bringing Vedanta teachings to the US and the western world. He started the Ramakrishna order of monks who teach in Vedanta centers throughout India and the world. Like with all teachers, some are better than others and different teachers can have different slants to their teachings. But they are definitely not a cult
Mira

[TomArjuna]

Hi, I am also called Tom and live in Kent.
I will be attending Jame's talk in Reigate with my partner Shizuka.
We are both from a Buddhist background but have been studying Vedanta with James for some time now.