ABOUT Dr. Shelley Brown

Dr. Shelley Brown began her study of Vedanta philosophy at the age of sixteen with Swami Nikhilananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York City and the famed translator of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. With his encouragement, she left the world of classical ballet to attend Barnard College, where she majored in English literature while completing her premedical courses.

Dr. Brown received her medical degree in 1963, and opened her clinical practice as a consultant Hematologist and Oncologist after seven years of postdoctoral training. She became a senior attending physician and the Director of the Blood Bank at Lenox Hill Hospital, with a teaching professorship at the New York University School of Medicine. She published widely, lectured internationally, and was asked to speak on philosophical as well as medical subjects during her annual visits to India after 1984.

The author’s study of Vedanta philosophy came full circle in 1987 when she became engaged in a spiritual dialogue with Swami Nitya-swarup-ananda that went on unabated until the day he died. Their friendship galvanized her contemplative life, led to her early retirement, and inspired her to write Centred in Truth, her two-volume chronicle of the Swami’s life and work.

Dr. Brown is also the editor and publisher of A Heart Poured Out by Sister Gargi (Marie Louise Burke), and A Disciple’s Journal, Sister Gargi’s forthcoming book.