MY TYRST WITH THE RAMAKRISHNA MATH, NYC'S SWAMI ADISWARANDA
After I moved to New York's Manhattan in 1991 - to a small studio in the West Village (please refer to my graphic novel THE CONTRACTOR & THE ENGINEER for a semi-autobiography) - I sought "spiritual refuge at the Ramakrishna Math in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
There I was introduced to The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna through a monk Swami Adiswarananda - who I later found out was the "guru" of American writer JD Salinger.
https://mondaymedia.org/AmericanVedantist/SalingerVedanta.pdf
This was quite an honor! Swamiji (perhaps in visions) would beckon me to the flock as Narender. One of the members was a householder who felt so sorry for me he wished me to wed his daughter (I got the idea why he presented a few grand check in front of me to Swamiji):
Woman & Gold: the source of sorrow - desire.
What an interesting period in my life. For as Swamiji predicted - my first marriage to an Indian doctor was the source of immense emotional pain. I am not sure if it was the woman (it was part of a business deal between my dad and her uncle) - or my sincere desire to renounce the world to become a monk in the order - but it tore me in half.
