Swami Yatiswarananda, a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, visited regularly Geneva in the thirties. He established an ashrama in Engadin near the Austrian border. But he left Europe before the World War II.
Almost twenty years later, at the request of Professor Baumann, the then Director of the Institute of Anatomy in Geneva, Swami Nityabodhananda arrived in Geneva to give talks on Vedanta. Lodged in an apartment in the first floor of 20 Avenue Peschier, the Swami began his work. Under his inspiration, the Vedanta enthusiasts in Geneva created, in the second half of 1962, the Association for the Study of Vedanta in Europe (abridged name in French AEVE). Mr. M. J. Treina, an ex-Minister of Geneva, was the first President of AEVE; Dr Baumann was the second President.
On 25th May, 1969, the AEVE metamorphosed into an association called Centre Vedantique and Swami Nityabodhananda became its President. This centre is affiliated to the Order of Ramakrishna of which the central Ashrama is at Belur near Calcutta in India.
The Centre Vedantique constructed its own house at Corsier (9 chemin des Gravannes) and got shifted there on 25th November, 1972. In March 1988, Swami Nityabodhananda, on health ground, left Switzerland to live in India. Swami Amarananda, till that time Assistant Director of the Vedanta Centre in France, was designated by the central Ashrama to assume the succession. Towards the end of January 1989, the new Swami came to work in Geneva. In May 1999, the Centre Vedantique sold its property at Corsier and acquired a villa at 63 Avenue d’Aire.
