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History
Founding of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Incorporated: The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, was founded in the United States of America in 1959 by Swami Premananda. The purpose of the Foundation is to disseminate and represent the philosophy, ideal, life, service and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi as well as the cultural heritage of India. The Foundation is a legally independent, nonprofit cultural and educational organization. It is the life mission of Gandhi which is the heart of the Gandhi Center. If the atmosphere and the purpose of the Center are revealed as such, it is only because of the genuine self-dedication of those who have given it life. Swami Premananda, Srimati Kamala and His Excellency, Ambassador T.N. Kaul dedicated the Gandhi Memorial Center on January 30, 1976. Dedicating the Center to Mahatma Gandhi, Ambassador Kaul said that Mahatma Gandhi belonged not only to India but to the whole world. America could also claim him as its own because of his universality. Swami Premananda stated that Mahatma Gandhi was India’s greatest contribution to the 20th century. The Gandhi Memorial Center houses headquarters for the Foundation, a library and special meeting rooms for lectures and films depicting the life and activities of Mahatma Gandhi and the cultural heritage of India.
Founder and Directors (Past and Present)
Carrie Trybulec Director, Gandhi Memorial Center Carrie Trybulec has devoted herself to working with the ideals and life message of Mahatma Gandhi through service to the Gandhi Memorial Center since 1998. In January 2006 she became the full-time Director of the Gandhi Memorial Center. Prior to her work in the role of Director at the Gandhi Memorial Center she worked for six years at The American University, Washington, DC, coordinating the graduate studies program in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. Carrie received all of her college education from The American University, Washington, DC. She received her B.A. in International Studies, M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and M.A. in Teaching. Carrie is also a student of Indian Classical Music. She currently studies the music of the surbahar under the guidance of Shubha Sankaran in Washington, DC.
Srimati Kamala Founding Director, Gandhi Memorial Center Srimati Kamala is an American, born in 1945, whose life for the past thirty years has been exclusively dedicated to the interpretation of the spiritual heritage of India, and the life message of Mahatma Gandhi in her country. She studied at the University of Rouen, France, Saint Lawrence University, New York (B.A.) and the University of Maryland, where she completed a Master’s Degree with Honors in Special Education. She settled in Washington in 1968 to become identified with the ideals of the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism and the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, both founded by Swami Premananda of India who came to America in 1928. The Church follows the spiritual tradition of Swami Shankarachariya’s Advaita Vedanta with a totally nonsectarian philosophy. She is the ordained Minister of the Church as well as President of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation. In recognition of her outstanding contributions in representing India’s spiritual heritage, she received an award as “Ambassador of Indian Philosophy and the Ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in the USA” from the Association of Indians in America (Washington, 1980). At the Second Convention of Asian Indians in North America (Chicago 1982), Kamalaji was given a special “Friend of India” award and citation for “fostering the cultural and spiritual heritage of India in North America.” Her visits to India in 1979, 1983, and 1986 were sponsored by the charitable Lotus Trust of Bombay and the India Government (Indian Council for Cultural Relations). Srimati Kamala was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for promoting Gandhian values outside India from the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Bombay on November 5, 1995. Srimati Kamala has authored six books: Mahatma Gandhi: An American Profile, “Yours faithfully, M.K. Gandhi”, Reflections on Still Waters, I Am an Absolute Monist, The Mystic Cross, and Frontiers of the Spirit. For information about the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism: www.self-revelationchurch.org
Swami Premananda Founder, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Inc. Swami Premananda (1903-1995), was a native of India. He received his academic education and religious training in his native land, graduating from the University of Calcutta where he majored in philosophy, oriental languages and comparative religion. He was a disciple of Swami Yogananda Paramhansa. Swamiji came to the United States in 1928 and established the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism in Washington, D.C. During his almost 70 years of religious service in Washington he conducted weekly radio broadcasts and classes in philosophy and yoga, lecturing at universities, before Lions and Rotary Clubs and civic and educational groups, and in Christian Churches of practically all denominations. In constant demand as a speaker, he also traveled extensively throughout this country, lecturing in various principal cities, including Boston, Lansing, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and others. He was a 33° Mason, Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, Shriner of the Almas Temple, Wise Master of the Evangelist Chapter of Knights Rose Croix (1948-1949) and a proficient ritualist in higher Masonic degrees, a Knight Templar, member of the Royal Order of Scotland, and Chaplain of Benjamin B. French Lodge No. 15, of Washington, D.C. He is the only Swami ever to receive such distinction from any Masonic body. Swami founded the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, in Washington, D.C. (1959), and inaugurated its Center (1976) which is dedicated to emulating the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and the spiritual heritage of India which nourished him. Swami translated 15 Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and Dhammapada scriptures and was the author of many other books on Vedic philosophy. |
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