SRIMAT SWAMI GAUTAMANANDAJI MAHARAJ
Vice-President of Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission
President of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai
The
Swami had the good fortune of coming into contact at Bangalore with the Late
Revered Swami Yatiswarananda, the then Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order
in 1951 and was initiated by him in 1955. Swami Yatiswarananda directed him to
join the Ramakrishna Mission at Delhi.
Thus he got his early training (1956-60) under the Late Revered Swami
Ranganathananda, the 13th President of the Ramakrishna Order. He was
ordained into Sannyas in 1966 by the Late Revered Swami Vireswarananda the 10th
president of the Ramakrishna Order. He has worked among the tribals in
Meghalaya, in Arunachal Pradesh and in Madhya Pradesh (Bastar Dist.) for about
20 years and has tried to bring the tribals into the main stream of National
life through value based yet modern education.
He has also worked in the Mission's Bombay, Calcutta, Raipur and
Narainpur centres. He had been the General
and Executive Member of the Central Board of Secondary Education and of the
National Council for Educational Research and Training, New Delhi, the two
national bodies of Government of India.
He is a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math & Mission since 1990 and
from 1991 he was in-charge of the Saradapitha, Belur Math, which is a vast
complex of several Educational Colleges and Technical Institutions. He took charge as President (Adhyaksha) of
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, in April 1995.
The
Swami has contributed his humble efforts for the establishment of a permanent
Exhibition of Swami Vivekananda's life and message and Indian culture at the
very house (Ice House) at Chennai where Swami Vivekananda stayed in 1897. He has also dedicated his efforts in the
establishment of a magnificent temple, the 2nd biggest of its kind anywhere, of
Sri Ramakrishna, at Chennai, which has become a landmark in that Metropolis.
The
Swami is known for his sociable, humorous, soft but firm nature. He is a linguist with proficiency in English,
Sanskrit, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Bengali.
He speaks and writes on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Philosophy and Indian
culture. He is also a singer, mostly of Bhajans
both in Hindustani and Carnatic styles.
The
Swami has travelled widely, outside India also, to preach Vedanta; visiting
U.S.A., Europe, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa.
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