Sister Gargi

Burke continued writing even in her 90s and continued staying at Vedanta Society of Northern California in San Francisco. She died on January 20, 2004 after suffering from cancer, at the convent of the Vendanta Society in San Francisco.

In the 2004 book Shafts of Light: Selected Teachings of Swami Ashokananda for Spiritual Practice, Gargi presented Swami Ashokananda ideals and selected teachings. The 2003 book A Disciple’s Journal: In the Company of Swami Ashokananda had autobiographical components.

In 2003 her book A Heart Poured Out: A Story of Swami Ashokananda was published. In this book, she discussed the life of Swami Ashokananda. She explained the reason of writing a book on Ashokananda in this book’s preface—

Swami Trigunatita: His Life and Work was published from Vedanta Society of Northern California in 1997. In this book, she discussed the life and works of Ramakrishna Order monk Swami Trigunatitananda. In the book Vedantic Tales, published from Advaita Ashram in 2000 she narrated tales of Vedanta and ancient India. Gargi’s 2003 book A Disciple’s Journal: In the Company of Swami Ashokananda tells of her personal experiences during her spiritual instruction from Swami Ashokananda, from 1950 until his death in 1969.

In 1974 in India, Burke took her vows of Brahmacharya from the Ramakrishna Mission. At that time, she was given the monastic name “Gargi” (this name was inspired by Vedic scholar Gargi). In 1983, Burke was awarded the first Vivekananda Award by the Ramakrishna Mission for her research works on Swami Vivekananda. Later she took her final vows of Sannyasa, and was given the name Pravrajika Prajnaprana.

Swami Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries, a series of biographical books, were Gargi’s most prominent work. This series of book were first published in two volumes in 1957. In 1983-87, these series was republished in six volumes. Swami Vivekananda spent a number of years teaching and lecturing in the West (specially in America and England). Gargi researched for many years and then published her findings in these works.

In 1948, she was introduced to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement by Swami Ashokananda. In 1957, Advaita Ashrama published her biography of Swami Vivekananda, Swami Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries in two volumes, well known in the Vedanta circles, and the book was later published in six volumes in 1983—87. She also wrote articles in Vedanta journals.

Sister Gargi (Bengali: [sister ɡaːrɡiː] (listen); June 23, 1912 – January 20, 2004), born Marie Louise Burke, was a writer and an eminent researcher on Swami Vivekananda, and a leading literary figure of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement. Gargi was introduced to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement in 1948 by Swami Ashokananda. She is known for her six-volume work, Swami Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries. Her New Discoveries are considered as indispensable for Swami Vivekananda research.

Marie Louise Burke was born in 1912 in the United States.

Gargi wrote multiple books on the life of Swami Ashokananda (1893—1969), a monk of the Ramakrishna Order who spent his life expanding the Ramakrishna—Vivekananda movement in northern California. Ashokananda was Gargi’s teacher, who initiated her into the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement in 1948.