Brahmachari Eric completed Chinmaya Mission’s two-year, residential Vedanta course in Mumbai in September 2007, under the tutelage of Pujya Guruji, the Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide.

Now posted at CMW’s Headquarters, “Krishnalaya,” in Piercy, California, he looks forward to serving the Mission in different capacities, and feels blessed to be posted in the ashram where Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda spent so much time.

Before joining the Vedanta course, Brahmachari Eric was an active member and sevak of CM Boston, from the time of the inauguration of its “Chinmaya Maruti” ashram in 2003. He also served at CM Princeton’s “Chinmaya Vrindavan” ashram and CM Philadelphia’s “Kedar” ashram.

Brahmachari Eric holds a B.A. degree in Philosophy, and his professional experience is in software technical writing, as well as editing books and articles for various publications. He enjoys the avocations of reading and fine woodworking.

As a young man, Brahmachari Eric began reading Hindu philosophy and for many years lived in the seclusion of the Maine woods, where he would read and reflect on Vedantic writings for long periods of time. At that time, though what he read had the unmistakable ring of truth to it, he felt he could not distinctly connect the underpinning concepts of Vedanta and the subtle import of scriptural texts.

The weekend discourses in New York by Swami Shantananda (CM Princeton), on Shri Ramana Maharshi’s “Upadesha Sara,” marked Brahmachari Eric’s introduction to Chinmaya Mission. That Winter of 1993, having attended Swamiji’s satsanga where many of his questions were answered, denoted a milestone in his spiritual journey. A few years later, the seeds were sown for joining the two-year Vedanta course in Mumbai.

With a sense of awe, gratitude, and love, Brahmachari Eric says he is indeed blessed and fortunate to have completed the Vedanta course under the tutelage of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda, for “Guruji is permeated with the knowledge and living spirit of Vedanta.”