The University of Spiritual Research is a 501c3 non-profit organization based in Napa, California. It was founded in 2004, inspired by the guidance of Swami Sri Atmananda.
At present, University of Spiritual Research (USR) offers online courses on the major religions and spiritual traditions of the world. The principal objective of USR is to promote universal peace and harmony by disseminating the wisdom and unity of all religions. USR’s purpose is to “enable man to integrate with the aspiration of mankind, to help man to transcend religion and be a part of a new, emerging spiritual culture,” says Swami Sri Atmananda.
Toward that goal, USR’s principal activity is providing spiritual education. Its initial work is to establish faculties and develop coursework for the world’s primary religions, including but not limited to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam, to demonstrate their unity and amplify their eternal wisdom.
USR was also created to help people learn to go beyond life’s details and worries, and to expand their awareness of their divinity, thereby promoting peace and harmony on an individual level and in society overall. In the words of Swami Sri Atmananda:
Religion has given a meaning to human civilization; religion has given a shape to human imagination; religion has shown a goal to human aspiration. These are the three most important contributing factors of religion to man’s evolution on earth. It is religion only that gave the vision to man to live for the highest ideal. It is religion only that gave concrete support to shape this vision, how to manifest the highest ideal, how to live for the highest truths. Finally, it is religion that has kindled the aspiration of man to manifest something beyond religion.
Without spending the whole life on mastering one religion, USR will create facilities and infrastructure so that any aspiring individual can get the essence of all religions in a short time. That is the grounding. Only when man is able to have the essence of all religion, man will be able to see the unifying force of religion, the unity in diversity.
That is why the name of our university is Spiritual Research. It is not the university of religious studies. Any work USR will do will not promote any religion. It is simply integrating the essence of religion, so that, standing on the foundation of religion, man can transcend religion. This is the vision with which USR is created.