Our Vedanta teachers serve the world dedicatedly and tirelessly, always keeping in line with Swami Chinmayananda’s Vision and Mission.
Swami Dheerananda (Resident Swami of CMWRC) is an ardent devotee and disciple of Swami Chinmayananda. He was placed as Vedanta Teacher in Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center (CMWRC) by Swami Chinmayananda in the year 1989. Swami Dheerananda is the last disciple directly initiated into Sannyasa by Swami Chinmayananda, receiving Sannyasa Diksha on May 23, 1993. Today, he oversees and guides the activities of CMWRC.
Anant Sarma’s association with Chinmaya Mission began when he attended Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda jnana yajna in 1981, in Houston, Texas. After moving to the Washington Metropolitan area in 1989, he has been active in Mission activities. He has served as a member of the CMWRC Executive committee and as its Treasurer in the Board of Trustees in the 90s. As a serious student of Vedanta, he attended the Dharma Sevak course in Krishnalaya with Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda in 1998. With Pujya Guruji’s blessings, Anantji served as the Vedanta Teacher at the Frederick chapter. His intense study of Vedanta continued at Sandeepany from 2005 to 2007 under Pujya Guruji who assigned him upon completion of the course to the Virginia chapter of CMWRC.
In Virginia, he was instrumental in merging the Dulles and Springfield chapter into Chinmaya Somnath. He served as the Project Director for the construction of the Center facility in Chantilly, VA which was inaugurated by Pujya Guruji in 2014. Pujya Guruji appointed him as the President of CMWRC in 2014. He served in that capacity until he moved out of the area. Since 2007 Anantji has been conducting Vedanta classes covering Bhagavad Gita, Prakarana Granthas, and Upanishads not only in Virginia but in other chapters also.
Anantji is a strong supporter of the Chinmaya International Foundation where he briefly served and launched its e-Vedanta course. He is now a regular contributor to its Svadhyaya Series.
Vilasini Balakrishnan spent her teen years questing for the meaning of life, and she found her answer in India during her Junior semester abroad as a comparative philosophy student. The greatest fortune of her life was meeting Swami Chinmayananda and beginning her Vedanta sadhana in 1975. She graduated from Tufts with a B.S in philosophy, and in 1978, she graduated from the Mission’s two-year Vedanta course at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai.
Vilasini and her parents organized Swami Chinmayananda’s first Jnana Yajna in Washington D.C. in 1978. For the next three years, Vilasini served Chinmaya Mission in Boston, Flint, Chicago, and Bay Area, where she taught Vedanta, Bala Vihar, and organized Study Groups. During Swami Chinmayananda’s summer tours in the US, Vilasini traveled with Swami Chinmayananda as his secretary. From 1981 to 1984, Vilasini had the great blessing to serve as Swami Chinmayananda’s secretary in India, attending all of his yajnas, videotaping his talks, and performing secretarial duties.
In 1984, Swami Chinmayananda assigned Vilasini as Editor of CMW’s Mananam series, and she revamped the design to its current form. In 1986, Vilasini and her husband Suresh moved back to Washington, DC, and started study groups in MD and VA. Both were founding trustees of CMWRC in 1989. Swami Chinmayananda placed Vilasini on CMW’s Board of Directors and later appointed her as CMW’s Executive Secretary.
In 1997 Vilasini became a licensed professional counselor and practiced family and marriage counseling with a Dharmic perspective. She also taught Vedanta and meditation classes. In 1999 Swami Dheerananda asked Vilasini to direct the Maryland Bala Vihar program and later to serve as CMWRC’s Regional Bala Vihar Director. For several years she has been offering weekend retreats in various centers for Devis, parents, and for married couples. Her Spiritual Parenting workshops are extremely popular.
In 2018, Vilasini and her husband Suresh retired and moved to the Jacksonville, FL, area and are conducting Chinmaya classes there while staying active with CMWRC by zoom. People say of Vilasini, “She is always smiling, just as Gurudev tells us to Keep Smiling.” She brings a natural wisdom and compassion to her classes and loves sharing with people the Science of Happiness that is Vedanta.
Sadananda is a Material Scientist and has published extensively in Science. Now retired, he still consults as a scientist on a need basis. He currently lives six months in Chennai and six months in Virginia. Sada met Swami Chinmayananda in 1978 at his Yajna at the American University. Swami Chinmayananda asked Sada to start study groups in the DC area. Slowly Chinmaya study groups and Bala Vihars grew with Swami Chinmayananda’s Jnana yagnas and camps.
After the first camp at Mount Vernon in 1988, Swami Chinmayananda asked the devotees to start a Washington Regional Center. With the support of many, the center started and expanded. Swami Chinmayananda also asked Sada to form SEVA, Inc, a philanthropic organization, and he served as the Secretary and Treasurer, with Mr. Richard Mullens as the President. Now Seva, Inc. is replaced by CORD. When CMWRC wanted another Brahmachari for Virginia, Swami Chinmayananda asked Sada to start teaching there. That is when his real learning of Vedanta started.
Sada became very active with online discussions on Advaita Vedanta in www.advaitaforum.com. Those discussions have been collected and are published by Indic Academy in book form. Following is the list of books he has written that are available on Amazon. The Indic academy also has uploaded many of his talks on YouTube under Acharya Sadaji.
- Introduction to Vedanta – This book is written by a scientist who asks very fundamental questions about life and its very purpose. It introduces the philosophy of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, in a way to appeal to a rational intellect.
- Journey Beyond: A Non-Dual Approach. Three volumes. – The journey beyond space and time limitations is the central theme of the discussions in this text. The analysis is presented in the form of discussions.
- Transcending Science – This book deals with the limitations of the objective sciences. It also discusses how to prepare the mind so that it can see the truth.
- Self and the Supreme – The evolution of the Self to become one with the Supreme forms the essence of this book.
Vijay Kumar has been a member of Chinmaya Mission Washington DC since 1987. Vijay met Swami Chinmayananda in 1973 in Mumbai. In 1982 he moved to Dubai and started attending Geeta study groups there and became a key sevak in organizing Gurudev’s yajna in Dubai in 1986.
In 1987 Vijay migrated to US and since then he has been teaching Vedanta in MD and VA. He is passionate about Chinmaya Study Groups. He has started more than 24 study groups in Washington DC area.Vijay Kumar is an excellent orator of Vedanta. He is also a member of Washington Interfaith Association and has given lectures in several Colleges, Temples and Churches. He is one of the founding members of CMWRC. Vijayji served as a Trustee in the CMWRC Board of Directors and also served as Joint secretary in the Executive committee. . He was a Vedanta Teacher for Frederick Center, MD for several years.
By profession, he is an Electronic Engineer, and worked for the Department of Defense. . Later he took a volunteer assignment to Kabul, Afghanistan. There he spent one year as an Advisor to General Hyder and worked as a Network Design engineer for both Afghan Army and Afghan Police .
While in Afghanistan, Vijay was selected to be the Religious Lay Leader for Hindu Services, for the US and NATO Forces, known as Distinguished Faith Group Leader (DFGL). Vijay conducted Gita study groups for U.S. Armed forces, foreign Military, and Afghan civilians in Kabul. Approximately 10-15 people attended this Study Group. Details of this class were published in Mananam—Gurudev’s Centenary Series publication named “Scripture A Mirror.” The article appeared under the heading “Gita in War Zone.”
In August 2014, Swami Dheerananda requested Vijay Kumar to teach Gita in Chinmaya Somnath in Virginia. He taught there for 3 years. 1n 2017 he joined the two-year Vedanta course in Sandeepany, Mumbai. In 2019 he completed the course and returned to Washington DC area and as per Swamiji’s instruction, he started teaching in Chinmaya Somnath. Since then Vijay ji has been the Vedanta Teacher of Chinmaya Somnath.
Arvind Bhagwat joined the Chinmaya Family after his wedding to Medha and they have been actively serving CMWRC since they moved to Maryland in 1988. They made it a priority to attend Pujya Gurudev’s camps from 1989-1993 and have continued their spiritual development with Swami Tejomayananada and other spiritual masters.
Under the guidance of Swami Dheerananda and Vilasini Balakrishnan, Medha and Arvind have been actively involved in various activities of CMWRC. Medha and Arvind took early retirement from their active scientific careers in 2017 and embarked on the next phase in their life by moving to Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai, and get formal systematic Vedanta training in the 2-year long residential course. They returned to continue to serve Gurudev at CMWRC.
Medha Bhagwat was introduced to Chinmaya Mission by her parents who are devotees of Swami Chinmayananda since the 1970s. Arvind Bhagwat joined the Chinmaya Family after his wedding to Medha and they have been actively serving CMWRC since they moved to Maryland in 1988. They made it a priority to attend Swami Chinmayananda’s camps from 1989-1993 and have continued their spiritual development with Swami Tejomayananada and other spiritual masters.
Under the guidance of Swami Dheerananda and Vilasini Balakrishnan, Medha and Arvind have been actively involved in various activities of CMWRC. Medha and Arvind took early retirement from their active scientific careers in 2017 and embarked on the next phase in their life by moving to Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai, and get formal systematic Vedanta training in the 2-year long residential course. They returned to us this year to continue to serve Gurudev at CMWRC.
Medha Bhagwat is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Chinmaya Blossoms Pre-School program. She has recently started the Shishu Vihar program.
B K Sathyanarayana has been serving the Mission for more than 20 years and is one of the founding members of the Frederick chapter. He completed his Vedanta study under Swami Bodhatmananda and is returning to serve CMWRC with his wife Sukanya. Sathyanarayana is a retired scientist from NCI/NIH Bethesda and lives in Frederick, MD.
Sukanya Sathyanarayana, Under the guidance of Swami Dheerananda has been instrumental in developing Frederick Chapter for more than 20 years teaching Balavihar and stotram class.
Sukanya completed the 17th Vedanta course at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya Mumbai under the guidance of Swami Bodhatmananda. She is back to serve the Frederick chapter of the CMWRC with her husband B K Sathyanarayana.
Like many families, Suresh Ramakrishnan’s introduction to Chinmaya Mission occurred in 2008, when his son was set to attend Bala Vihar. In that same year, he found inspiration in the third chapter of the Bhagavad-Geeta during a lecture by Vijay Kumarji and subsequently took an active role in the Chinmaya Mission.
Throughout the years, Suresh Ramakrishnan has served in various capacities, including as a Bala Vihar teacher, Geeta Chanting coordinator, and director of the Chinmaya Somnath Chapter.
In 2021, Suresh Ramakrishnan enrolled in the inaugural one-year residential Vedanta Sadhaka Course offered by Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) at Adi Sankara Nilayam, Kerala. The course provided him with a comprehensive understanding of Advaita Vedanta, and he completed it under the guidance of Swami Swaroopananda, Swami Advayananda, and Swami Sharadananda.
Shashi Duraiswami has been a member of Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center (CMWRC) since 1999. Shashi met Swami Chinmayananda in April 1983 during Gurudev’s visit to Chinmaya Mission, Rewa, MP, India. Though it was a brief encounter, Gurudev’s tall figure and the roaring voice with which He blessed her still echoes and guides her spiritual journey. After moving to the United States after marriage, she enrolled both her children in CMWRC’s Bala Vihar program. Shashi, a C-level executive with a background in software engineering, has been a Maryland resident for more than three decades.
A diligent seeker who is passionate about the study of Vedanta and meditation, Shashi has attended several in-person discourses and online classes. Shashi has been actively involved in various activities of the CMWRC and has also served as a Bala Vihar teacher for several years. In 2021, Shashi joined the first one-year residential Vedanta Sadhaka Course offered by Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) at Adi Sankara Nilayam, Kerala, to gain an in-depth knowledge of Advaita Vedanta. She completed this postgraduate course under the guidance of Swami Swaroopananda, Swami Advayananda, and Swami Sharadananda. Shashi returned in 2022 to continue to serve at CMWRC.