Neema Majmudar

However, after going to the US and observing the society there, many questions started arising in my mind. I started thinking that, it is true that people in USA have a lot more money and physical comforts. However, they don’t seem to have the happiness and contentment that I expected them to have. Neither could I say that people in India have peace and contentment. Then, the questions started arising in my mind, what is the meaning of life? What brings the contentment and fulfilment that one searches for incessantly, directly and indirectly?

I was just searching for an answer to this question when I met Swami Dayananda Saraswati in October of 1986. He was a great scholar of Vedanta and Sanskrit and changed my life forever.

When I first met him, I was impressed by his command over Sanskrit, his logic, his clear expression. However, being the product of a contemporary education, I also had doubts about the validity of what was being said. That is why, when I first met him personally, I asked him, “Swamiji how do I know that what Vedanta is saying is the truth?” I was impressed by his response! He didn’t try to convince me that what he is saying is right. Instead, he just smiled and said very softly, “You will know it”!

While studying Vedanta, I started understanding that the sense of limitation that I was feeling is in fact a fundamental human problem. Gradually, I came to appreciate that Upanishads are a means of knowledge to know the reality of I to be limitless, which otherwise cannot be arrived at. What gave me confidence in Upanishads is when Swamiji stated that in order for Upanishads to be a valid means of knowledge, they cannot be contradicted by any other means of knowledge, including logic. I recognized that until I find some reason or logic that contradicts Upanishads, I have to listen to what it says, as freedom from limitation is desired by me and everyone else.

What was striking throughout my learning was the importance that Swamiji gave to Vedanta, the tradition of teaching which started from Lord Shiva in the form of Dakshinamurti to Vyasa, to Sankara. Swamiji saw himself as only a link in the lineage of this teaching.

The importance of this knowledge and tradition grew so much in my life that I decided to leave my job with the United Nations as an economist. I decided to study with Swamiji for 3 and half years. During this course, we covered several Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Brahma Sutra and Panini system of grammar. During the 3 years, it was a great learning also to see how Swamiji was living what he was teaching. His compassion, care, and interest in every student validated every one of us, let us grow according to our own capacity, and helped us discover the truth.

Twenty-four years have passed since I completed my course. I have only one prayer now. I pray, “Let me also become a link and help others the way I was helped by this great tradition”.

Profile

Neema started her career as a professional at the United Nations in New York, Bangkok, and the Fiji Islands for 17 years. She went on to teach traditional Advaita Vedanta (non-duality), following the unbroken lineage from Adi Shankaracharya to Swami Dayananda Saraswati. She has experienced what it is like to live a spiritual life, and also be fully engaged with work, family, and community. This gives her an ability to relate the eternal wisdom of Vedanta to the dilemmas of the modern age. She has been conducting classes, seminars, and retreats for over 20 years, across Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Italy, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

Neema lives in Mumbai, and has a loyal and varied student following across continents. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, her classes moved online, and through the course of the pandemic, her student body has morphed into a community. Her classes, taught with dedication, clarity, and much affection, connect people from all over the world.

Mission

• Impart the vision of Indian philosophy to enable people to make a profound and fundamental shift in their life.
• Draw from both Eastern Wisdom as well as Western Psychology and Neurosciences to give individuals a comprehensive world view.
• Share practices, tools and frameworks to help people become more objective, dynamic and compassionate.
• Integrate learnings that help people in both their personal and professional life.

Education

• PhD of Indian Philosophy and Sanskrit (equivalent), Arsha Vidya Institute of Vedanta & Sanskrit, Coimbatore, India, 1995-98
• Masters in Economic Development Columbia SIPA (School of International and Public Affairs), Columbia University, New York, NY, 1992-94