The Spiritual Bee Foundation is a Charitable Trust (not-for-profit) located in Mumbai India, dedicated to spreading the teachings of Advaita Vedanta.

The knowledge of Advaita Vedanta (the spiritual philosophy underlying Hinduism), constitutes the spiritual heritage of India. Nowhere else in the world, is found such a profound, in-depth and immense body of spiritual truths.

Therefore it is the aim of the Spiritual Bee Foundation to:

1. First and foremost preserve this spiritual heritage of Advaita Vedanta in the hearts and minds of Indians, many of whom are losing touch with this knowledge, due to the distractions offered by materialism.
2. These teachings of Advaita Vedanta which are outlined in the Vedas, Upanishads, Vedanta Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Ramayana & Mahabharata, Puranas and other ancient scriptures; are expressed there in Sanskrit – a language, which very few Indians can understand. Therefore the 2nd aim of the Spiritual Bee Foundation is to simplify and explain these Vedanta teachings in everyday language, so that the common person can easily understand them.
3. Our 3rd objective is to bring the teachings of Advaita Vedanta out of the realm of theory and to make them practical and relevant to the present times, by providing the necessary contextual understanding so that people can easily apply these teachings in their daily actions, and thus uplift themselves ethically, morally and spiritually.
4. Because people have lost touch with the spiritual truths of Vedanta, they have reduced Hinduism to a mindless performing of rituals, in order to “please God and attain to various boons.” The real spiritual purpose behind these rituals has been forgotten. Therefore the 4th aim of the Spiritual Bee Foundation to reacquaint people with the spiritual meaning behind the rituals, so that they can arise out of superstition into the clarity of true knowledge, and progress towards the goal of God-realization.
5. The 5th objective of the Foundation is to advance the Universal Love & Brotherhood teachings of Advaita Vedanta such as “Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti – God is one whom the sages call by various names”; in order to counter the socio-political environment of hate and communalism and to promote goodwill, harmony and acceptance of all religions as varying but genuine paths to God.
6. Our 6th objective is to eradicate social injustices which have become entrenched in India society, such as the subjugation of women, practices of untouchability, caste injustices, religious bigotry, cruelty towards animals etc by advancing and contextualizing the noble Advaita Vedantic teachings such as “Sarvam khalvidam brahma – God is immanent in all creation”.
7. The 7th aim of the Spiritual Bee Foundation is to erase superstitions, dishonesty, corruption and other moral degeneracies that have crept into society, through the publicising of Vedanta teachings such as “Satyameva Jayate – Pursuit of Truth alone leads to God”.
8. And lastly our final aim is to offer the Vedantic teachings centered on self-control and inner self-refinement as tools to our youth, to help them overcome drug, pornography, alcohol and other addictions.

Advaita Vedanta, for those who are not familiar, is the spiritual philosophy of ‘Oneness of Consciousness’ which underlies Hinduism.

The term Vedanta in fact refers to the collection of truths about the nature of the Universe that the ancient Rishis (sages) discovered in their states of meditative super-consciousness. These truths about the nature of the Ultimate Reality are so profound that they resolve some of the deepest mysteries of life, which have confounded even modern science. They include answers to life’s greatest puzzles such as:

• – Does God exist? Do we have a soul? What is the proof?
• – What is the source of our consciousness? Does consciousness arise from matter, or does it exist independent of the body?
• – Is their life after death?
• – Is reincarnation possible? How can a person have memories of past lives when their old body perishes at death?
• – Is there justice in this Universe? How does the law of karma work?
• – Is there a purpose behind Evolution or is it purposeless?

These and many other profound questions of life have been beautifully answered by the Rishis of Vedanta. The greatest mysteries of the Universe, for which science is yet to find an answer, such as those regarding the origins of consciousness have already been answered by the ancient Rishis.

Scriptures of Vedanta

Their answers have been chronicled within many texts of Hinduism, the primary of which are the Vedas. The Upanishad portion of the Vedas in particular, are dedicated to recording these truths. Besides the Vedas, there are many other books, which also record the observations of the Rishis regarding the nature of reality. These include the Vedanta Sutras of Vyasa, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas and the Tantras.

The Truths of Vedanta Form the Basis for the Rituals of Hinduism

Furthermore, it is these profound Vedantic truths about the nature of Reality that form the basis of the various rituals, mantras, pujas, meditations, as well the 4 Yogas of Raja, Bhakti, Jnana and Karma that are prescribed within Hinduism.

However, it is an unfortunate fact that in the long passage of history many of these Vedantic truths have been forgotten by the vast majority of people. As a result Hinduism today has been reduced to mindlessly performing a set of rituals, in order to “please God and attain to various boons”. The real spiritual meaning and the Vedantic philosophy hidden behind these rituals has unfortunately gotten erased from the public’s consciousness.

Therefore it is the aim of the Spiritual Bee Foundation to reacquaint people with the divine truths of Advaita Vedanta so that they can arise out of superstition into the clarity of true knowledge, and thus uplift themselves morally and spiritually towards the goal of God-consciousness. It is only through a moral and spiritual upliftment of people that many social, economic and political problems of today can find a lasting solution.

In order to explain the complex concepts of Advaita Vedanta in a simple and easy to understand manner, the Spiritual Bee Foundation relies upon the teachings of the following set of God-realized sages:

• Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya and Ma Bhagawati Devi Sharma – Founders of the All World Gayatri Pariwar
• Sri Ramakrishna and Sarada Ma, as well as their direct disciples Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Abhedananda etc – Founders of the Ramakrishna Mission
• Sri Aurobindo and Mother Mirra – Founders of the Aurobindo Ashram
• Swami Sivananda – Founder of the Divine Life Society
• Paramahansa Yogananda – Founder of the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and Self-Realization Fellowship
• Maharishi Ramana

The in-depth commentary of the above listed sages is very much needed if we wish to obtain clarity and a deep insight into the principles of Advaita Vedanta. This is because, although the knowledge of Advaita Vedanta has been outlined in the Upanishads and in other Vedantic texts, it has been presented there in an extremely concise form, making it extremely difficult for a beginner to comprehend.

For this reason the commentary of a God-realized sage, who has witnessed the same spiritual truths as the Rishis of the Upanishads – the explanations of such an adept sage are very much needed to deepen one’s understanding. Therefore the Spiritual Bee Foundation refers to the writings of the above listed sages.

Need to Study the Writings of the Above Listed Sages in Combination

Another fact is that Vedanta being a massive field, the writings of all the above sages have to be viewed in combination. This is because, no sage has written down all the details regarding a particular Vedantic topic (say the law of karma), but has instead shed light only on certain aspects of it. Even though they possessed the full in depth knowledge, still due to practical considerations they offered only a limited portion of that information, which they felt would be relevant to the disciples of their time.

And so it is by combining all the information written up about the various Vedantic concepts (e.g. the law of Karma) by these sages, that we can derive a sufficiently deep picture. So this is what the Spiritual Bee Foundation does. It combines the knowledge offered on various Vedantic topics by these sages and presents it in one place. In this way the viewer/reader can understand the concepts clearly.

Now the above list of God-realized sages is by no means complete. There are other God-realized sages as well. However the above set of sages form a minimum set combining whose teachings, the various aspects of Vedanta and of Hinduism can be understood in sufficient enough detail. Hence the Foundation focuses on these sages.

If you wish to lend your Karma to spreading the Advaita Vedanta teachings of great Rishis, then there are a few ways you can assist:

1. Disseminate – Strive your utmost to disseminate the Advaita Vedanta teachings of these sages amongst your friends and family. Feel free to forward any Spiritual Bee content to them.
2. Encourage Others to Join – Request your friends and family to join the daily spiritual quote broadcast on WhatsApp/Telegram. This will acquaint them with the spiritual truths of Advaita Vedanta.
3. Volunteer – If you have good proof-reading skills (check spelling mistakes etc.), if you are a Website Developer, a Social Media Marketing professional, a Journalist, or a Hindi/English translator and would like to freely volunteer your services please do drop Pulkit an email at: contact@spiritualbee.com
4. Support – Your generous donations support the operating expenses of the Spiritual Bee. Technological costs are going up and hosting a website as well as producing great content require a lot of funds. So if you wish to support this work, consider making a Donation.

The Spiritual Bee is founded and authored by Ms. Pulkit Mathur. Pulkit has an M.Sc. degree in Physics from IIT Mumbai, and a dual M.S. in Applied Mathematics and Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. She received a full scholarship to pursue her US education. After working as an investment banker and a hedge fund professional on Wall Street (in New York) for some years, she returned back to India to found the Spiritual Bee. Pulkit presently resides in Mumbai.