​Swami Sarvapriyananda, will be giving a Vedanta course at the festival, comprising 6 sessions of study with guided mediation and Q&A. The text will be Dṛk Driśya Vivēka (seer and the seen). This famous text has been, for many, the gateway to Self-Realisation for over a thousand years. Such an opportunity, offered in person by a teacher of such eminence, is indeed rare and should not be missed.

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Swami Sarvapriyananda is an ordained monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India as administered by the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur, India. The latter are worldwide, non-political, non-sectarian spiritual organizations which have been engaged in various forms of humanitarian, social service activities for more than a century. Their ideology consists of the eternal principles of Vedanta as lived and experienced by Sri Ramakrishna and expounded by Swami Vivekananda. This ideology has three characteristics: it is modern in the sense that the ancient principles of Vedanta have been expressed in the modern idiom; it is universal, in that it is meant for the whole humanity; it is practical in the sense that its principles can be applied in day-to-day life to solve the problems of life.

Swami Sarvapriyananda is the resident Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Vedanta Society of New York, since January 2017. Before that, he was an Assistant Minister at the Vedanta Society of Southern California (VSSC). Swami joined the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1994 and received Sannyas (or monastic vows) in 2004. Before being posted to the VSSC’s Hollywood Temple, Swami served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training center at Belur Math. He has served the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in various capacities including being the Vice Principal of the Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, Principal of the Shikshana Mandira Teacher Education College at Belur Math, and the first Registrar of the Vivekananda University at Belur Math. Swami holds degrees in
Economics (Utkal University) and Education (Calcutta University); and, he also has an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB). During the 2019-20 academic year, Swami was a Nagral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.

Swami Sarvapriyananda is eminently known around the world for his spiritual discourses - all of which are extremely popular sources of spiritual education on YouTube.
A small sample of his most important discourses is provided here:
(a) “Spiritualizing the whole life” – given as a TEDx talk at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
published on March 12, 2014; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qA9x0JyUis

(b) “Three Great Powers within us” – given at the Guibord Center, Los Angeles, USA on March 18,
2017: https://vimeo.com/215370154

(c) “The Light Within” – given at the San Diego Vedanta Center, April 2, 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXts6Te1BU

(d) “The language of paradox in Advaita” – given at the Vedanta Society of Southern California, May 15,
2016; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiP5OAvkNFc

(e) Lecture series on Aparokshanubhuti, published on the YouTube channel of the Vedanta Society of
New York: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZOKv_xnTzyLD9RJmbBUV9Q

(f) Lecture series on Mandukya Karika: https://soundcloud.com/vedantany/sets/mandukya-karika

(g) Interview conducted by Buddha at the Gas Pump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUpmltSJPoc, published on March 13, 2018;

(h) Dialogue on the Vedas with Deepak Chopra (held at the Rubin Museum in New Yor, July 6, 2018):
https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/the-vedas-everything-there-is

(i) Dialogue on non-dual consciousness with Rupert Spira, held on October 31, 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhYKqblybXs

(j) Google Talk on: Consciousness and the Ultimate Reality, published on Nov. 11, 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3cuMEBYm_g

In addition to single-event talks and interviews, Swami Sarvapriyananda has conducted numerous multi- day spiritual retreats. His lecture tours have spanned across the length and breadth of both India and the USA; in addition, he has been on invited talk tours in Canada, United Kingdom, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and the Bahamas.