Swami Sankhyananda (Belur Math Obituary - Links

 Swami Sankhyananda (Obituary)

We are sorry to announce the passing away of Swami Sankhyanandaji (Bidhu Maharaj) at Belur
Math on 5 March, the holy birthday of Swami Yoganandaji Maharaj, at 2.50 pm owing to a massive
heart attack. He was 88 and had been suffering from diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems for
some years. Initiated by Swami Shankaranandaji Maharaj, he joined the Order in 1951 at
Kamarpukur centre and received sannyasa diksha from his guru in 1961. He served at Belur Math
and at Kamarpukur, Saradapitha, Baghbazar, Malda, Contai, Jayrambati, Kankurgachhi and Antpur
centres. He also participated in the flood relief operations in Hooghly and Medinipur districts in
1978. He had been living a retired life at Belur Math for the last five years. The swami was adept at
various types of puja.

Swami Putananda - Monks of Ramakrishna Mission - Links to Official Obituary from Belur Math

 Swami Putananda

Obituary

We record with sorrow the passing away of Swami Putananda ji (Kalipada Maharaj), head of Balaram Mandir centre, at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, on 9 April at 5.35 pm.  He was 92 and had been suffering from liver cancer for the last few months.  Initiated by Swami Virajananda ji Maharaj, he joined the Order in 1947 at Deoghar Vidyapith and received sannyasa diksha from Swami Shankarananda ji Maharaj in 1957.  He served at Deoghar and Purulia centres as an assistant and Balaram Mandir centre as the head.  Affectionate and kindhearted by nature, the swami was meticulous in his routine even at an advanced age.  His gentle manners had endeared him to one and all.

See:
https://belurmath.org/?s=putananda#!

Narainpur's Own Satish Maharaj - My Homage

It is a little more than two years since this Satish Maharaj passed away. He joined Ramakrishna Mission at Raipur in 1988. Within a year or two he was transferred to Ramakrishna Mission in Narainpur in Bastar  which had been started just a few years back. He soon became its backbone in the form of its school headmaster and stood firm in that post for 23 years. He loved his work, his karma kshetra and his pupils and they too loved him back. He continued to love Narainpur even while he was in Bhopal as could be gathered from his advise to a would be sannyasin from Bhopal to visit Narainpur instead of traditional Sannyasi kshetras like Uttarkashi, etc. after his Sannyasa ordination. I had been only once to Narainpur and I found it a heaven on earth. I found its inhabitants the most innocent of people on earth and this work is one of the most definitive of Ramakrishna Mission's Services and this brother was its anchor in its critical beginning time.

I had seen him in good health only once and it was nice meeting him. It was a sorry sight to see him paralyzed from neck downwards while it seemed that his eyes were active and in good co-ordination with his brain. 

Does God exist? What is his play and why play at all? He or She has a lot to answer when we are scheduled to meet.

Beware God! Be prepared for my questions! However you may postpone our meeting one day we do have a date!

The following is from Belur Math's official obituary :

Swami Sarvahitanandaji (Satish Maharaj), former head of Bhopal centre, passed away at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, on 22 February at 4.50 pm at an early age of 53. While in Bhopal, he had a cerebral hemorrhage on 20 May 2013 and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital in an unconscious state. After a few days, he was shifted to a better hospital in Indore. On 13 June 2013 he was brought to Kolkata from Indore by an air ambulance and admitted to Seva Pratishthan. Despite best available medical care, his life could not be saved. An initiated disciple of Swami Gambhiranandaji, he joined the Order at Raipur centre in 1988 and had Sannyasa from Swami Bhuteshanandaji in 1998. Besides his joining centre, he served at Narainpur centre as school headmaster for 23 years and Bhopal ashrama as its head for one year. The Swami was cheerful, enthusiastic and unassuming by nature. In his untimely demise, the Order has lost a promising young monastic member.

Swami Samagrananda - the monk who exuded Peace

I am glad I could meet Swami Samagrananda last Sunday.

It was the only time I could detect in his face, a very slight trace of the pains he must have been going through.

I have not interacted much with my Guru Swami Vireswarananda ji. It hurts sometimes as it would hurt a boy who loses his father in his infancy. I had good compensation when I had the holy company of Swami Bhuteshananda ji, but still it sometimes rankled that it was not personal or personally intimate companionship. To a good extent, my close interactions with Swami Vipapmananda ji assuaged me a lot and to some extent my companionship with Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Ranganathananda too helped. These greats passed away and then it so happened that I started having frequent interactions with Swami Samagrananda ji in the recent past.

This time the relationship was in a different gear as I was slowly becoming a senior monk of the Order and he was sliding into the group of great Veterans. I was always into the habit of proffering advice, very often insistently and pro-actively, to all folks, sought or unsought but in Swami Samagrananda I met a dead end. He had the kindest of all faces I had ever seen and most courteous in manners and speech and it was very difficult to whip up from within me any willful assertiveness. I wanted to put up a good part of the blame  for his inability to lie down in his bed and his spending his last few months sitting  in a somewhat reclining chair  on his perceived physical laziness and I could do it only in a round-about way, saying that his living in good health for as long as possible will do a lot of good to the Sangha and he from his part should do whatever it takes. He just replied in his supremely pleasant way that it all depends on Thakur.

His pleasant face and manners was his radiant hallmark. It was always possible to pick holes in his decisions. It was easy to label him as somewhat lazy. Nevertheless, his pleasantness and peacefulness prevailed over everything. Unto the very last, he exuded peace, almost physically, so to say. One clearly understood what it is to meet a sadhu. Some could whip up others into action. Some could make depressed people cheerful again. Swami Samagrananda filled people with a sure and silent peace. Devotees in Sri Lanka, where he lived for thirteen years, would remark about his Buddha like calm face.

Haripad Ramakrishna Math lays claim to being the first Kshetra of Sri Ramakrishna in Kerala and rightfully so. But Tiruvalla too can lay a claim to be the first centre because it was in Tiruvalla, in a land provided by Swami Samagrananda’s father that the foundation stone to Tiruvalla Centre was laid by Swami Nirmalananda a month before foundation to Haripad centre was laid. That was in 1912 long before Samagranananda ji was born in 1930.

There is an incident that happened sometime in 1929-30. There was a little festival in Tiruvalla connected with Ramakrishna Math and a certain number of people had taken Prasad. Swami Nirmalananda asked the devotees how many fortunate people had Prasad that day and they mentioned a number. Swami Nirmalananda asked if they had counted correctly and they replied, yes, they had. Then Tulasi Maharaj said they had missed out one person. When they asked who was that fortunate soul, Nirmalananda ji replied that it was the foetus inside such and such lady. That was the mother of future Swami Samagrananda and she was in the family way.

There is another incident involving the young boy who was to become Swami Samagrananda later. It was a few years later and the boy was about five years or older. Swami Nirmalananda was having his dinner and the boy kept looking at his plate. The Swami too looked at him kindly. Then, suddenly the boy made a dash, picked up a piece of Pappad from the Swami’s plate, and ran away. His mother ran after him and scolded him. Tulasi Maharaj told the mother not to scold her boy and said that her boy would be a Sannyasin and made a gesture of blessing to the boy. Swami Samagrananda himself confirmed the truth of the story to me about two years back and insisted on the fact that he had not stolen the pappad but that the boy and the Swami both had an unspoken understanding that it is ok for the boy to have this Prasad.

I would still prefer to state that he did steal God’s grace that day. That was perhaps the only mischief  he ever did in his life. Soon he met Swami Vimalananda and was attracted into monastic life and served out abundantly that forever-refreshing Peace and Grace which he stole from Swami Nirmalananda’s Akshaya Thali.

Swami Sarvatmananda Ji - ( Lalji Maharaj ) - My little homage

From the write-up below we find that the Swami's last act was to conduct his Sarira Ratha on its routine daily round of temples in the early morning and then to lay it down quietly and neatly on the bare floor of earth inside his allotted room to be dutifully collected for its due dismantlement into its constituent elements.

It must have been this meticulousness, quietude and reliability that had marked him out for the tough and thankless job of being the 'bado babu' of 'Mission Office' during the times of Swami Vireswarananda ji and Gambhirananda ji. He was still occupying the same chair when I joined the Mission in 1980. I too experienced a little of his quiet charm and silent efficiency on my numerous visits to Belur Math in the years 1980-82. Then he went abroad (Boston, Providence,  San Diego and Netherlands) and I saw him but rarely. I have heard of him being fondly spoken of by his contemporaries.

A diligent Dutchman indeed in every good sense of  the term.

My pranams to this gentle soul.

He leaves behind scores of disciples. Holding on to Guru's counsels and acting on them with steadfastness is the best form of paying tributes to one's Guru. Holding on to to his/her name and form come next in importance. May all disciples gain this wisdom is my prayer.

Hari Om Ramakrishna!

from https://www.facebook.com/sandiegovedantamonastery/photos/a.436970133072642.1073741830.426179787485010/617890528313934

It is with great sadness that we report the passing away of Swami Sarvatmanandaji, who was the resident swami for the San Diego Vedanta Monastery from 1997 - 2000.

Swami Sarvatmananda was born on Kalpatura Day, January 1, 1937. Befitting his auspicious birth anniversary, he joined the Ramakrishna Order at the Cossipore center in 1964, after completing his education at Calcutta University. He served at the Ramakrishna Mission center in Shillong from 1965 to 1968, when he went to Belur Math for two years in Training Centre, The new Swami remained at Belur Math, serving in the Mission’s Headquarters Office until Fall of 1985.

The Swami arrived in America in October 1985 as assistant minister to Swami Sarvagathananda, serving the Vedanta Societies of Boston and Providence. In April 1997, Swami Sarvatmananda was posted to Hollywood as an Assistant to Swami Swahananda and was made the resident Swami of the San Diego Monastery in October of that year.

Swami Sarvatmananda brought the qualities of simplicity, self-reliance, devotion, and motherly love with him to San Diego, qualities he quietly passed on to any who had the opportunity to observe this monk’s life up close. Whether washing dishes after his meal or fixing a tarp over a leaking shed, he undertook whatever task Mother placed before him with care and equanimity. Puja and arati were transformed into simple expressions of pure love for Thakur and Mother as he encouraged devotees who wanted to learn ritual to, yes, observe certain practices; yet as affirmed by Krishna and Sri Ramakrishna, he taught that the one essential element is love. Creatures were observed responding to Swami Sarvatmananda’s gentle nature. Despite an imaginably harrowing experience of being kept in a black, yard-sized trashbag while their pond was being refurbished, these same fish would swim into his hands whenever he reached into the pond. And upon overhearing that a devotee who had limited mobility had not seen the “monk turtle” that had found refuge in the garden, the swami disappeared. When next seen, he was holding the gerua-striped tortoise for the devotee to see.

When news came that Swami Sarvatmananda was being transferred to The Netherlands he was taught simple Dutch phrases by a San Diego devotee who, being from Holland himself, felt the Swami’s desire to greet the devotees in their native language would be appreciated. He served as the Head of the Netherlands center from May 2000 until he retired and returned to Belur Math in 2014. He entered Mahasamadhi on the morning of October 12, 2015, soon after being seen making morning pranans at the temples. His remains were found on floor of his room after his having left the body earlier.

October 15

from : http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/category/news-of-the-month/2015-news-of-the-month/11-november-2015/

We are sorry to announce the sudden demise of Swami Sarvatmananda (Lalji) on 12 October at about 6 am at Belur Math, owing to a heart attack. He was 79. Initiated by Swami Madhavanandaji Maharaj, he joined the Order at Cossipore Math in 1964 and had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwaranandaji Maharaj in 1974. Besides his joining centre, he served at the Headquarters and Shillong, Boston, Providence and Hollywood centres as an assistant till April 2000 and thereafter Netherlands centre as head for 14 years. He had been living a retired life at Belur Math since September 2014. Simple, amiable and austere by nature, the Swami endeared himself to all who came in contact with him.

 Posted in 11 November 2015, 2015, News Category  Tags: 2015, November 2015, Obituary  Comments Off

Swami Damodarananda - the unlikely Swimmer

He had it up in his sleeves and he had it well hidden. He fooled them all, cctv included. 

Was it the right thing to do have done? Well, the debate goes on ..and on and on .. 

.. a year and a fortnight have passed since he puled the wool over many eyes. If he had been around now, we may safely guess that  he would be lying bed-ridden somewhere, doing a slow steady slog and deteriorating at too slow a pace for his liking. 

It would be a Shewag attempting to play like Dravid. There had been instances when Dravid played like Shewag but I cannot recollect anything like the other way round. So in hindsight, it seems okay that Damodarananda ji did what he finally did. 

I was told that his body was found somewhere off the Jagannath Ghat; not near Swamiji's Ghat as some would have it, nor on the other side of the Ganga as Swami Atmarupananda ji reported,but he did swim that pre-dawn. He had it on his terms and accomplished his purpose and swimmingly so; swimming for a creditable distance, considering his age, though it might not have been about the half-way mark of Ganges as it was initially thought by some. 

His spirited pottering about all over the Belur Math grounds, good natured greetings and conversations, his scores of day-to-day sweet mannerisms, will stand out in memory for a long time.

Hari Om Ramakrishna

From http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/tag/obituary/

Swami Damodaranandaji (Shrinivas Maharaj), aged 95, breathed his last on the morning of 13 July. Till the previous evening he was quite happy and followed his daily routine cheerfully. On the 13th, he was missing from his room in the morning. After a search his dead body was found floating on the Ganges near Swamiji’s Ghat at about 9.45 am. An initiated disciple of Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, he joined the Order at Bangalore Math in 1940 and had Sannyasa from his Guru in 1950. Besides his joining centre, he served at Lahore and Rangoon Society centres (formerly our branch centres), Delhi (for a short period), Vrindaban and Singapore centres. Thereafter, he was sent to Fiji centre in 1976 as an assistant. In 1985 he was appointed head of that centre and served there till 1999. Subsequently, he was engaged in preaching Vedanta in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, etc for about 8 years (2000-2001 and 2004-2011). He had been living a retired life at Ulsoor and Belur Math for the last three years. Meticulous in his monastic routine, he endeared himself to all by his cheerful and sweet nature.

Swami Purushananda - Swami Dhruveshananda - Swami Sevananda - Swami Atmakamananda - Swami Shantarupananda - Swami Paratmananda

Swami Purushananda ji (Dulal Maharaj) passed away on 24 August, 2014. 

Initiated by Swami Shankaranandaji, he joined the Order in 1952 at Deoghar centre and had Sannyasa from Swami Vishuddhanandaji in 1962.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Puri Mission, Manasadwip, Purulia, Lucknow, Balaram Mandir, Tamluk, Kankurgachhi and Barasat Math in various capacities. He also served Swami Nirvananandaji for about two years.  He had been living a retired life mainly at Kankurgachhi, Barasat and Belur Math for several years. 

Swami Dhruveshwarananda ji (Ganesh Maharaj) passed away on 27 May 2014. He was 71.

Initiated by Swami Madhavananda ji, he joined the Order in 1963 at Varanasi Home of Service and had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwarananda ji in 1973.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Ranchi Morabadi, Malda, Asansol, Patna and Deoghar centres.  He also participated in drought relief work in Hazaribagh district from January to March 1969.  He had been living a retired life at Belur Math since December 2012.  

Swami Sevananda ji (Shivaprasadan Maharaj) expired on 28 May 2015. He was 77.  Initiated by Swami Madhavanandaji, he joined the Order in 1963 at Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, and had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwaranandaji in 1973.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Belur Math dispensary and Ranchi Morabadi, Trivandrum, Kanpur, Quilandy and Kochi centres in various capacities. He had been living a retired life mainly at Thrissur and Ulsoor centres since April 2006.

Swami Atmakamananda ji (Haralal Maharaj) passed away on 21 July at 4.30 pm at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata.  He was 86. Before the end came, he suddenly uttered “Om” thrice and breathed his last. Initiated by Swami Yatishwaranandaji, he joined the Order in 1959 at Rangoon Sevashrama  and had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwarananda ji Maharaj in 1967.  He was a sevak of Swami Vireshwaranandaji during the latter’s entire tenure of Presidentship.  He had been living a retired life at Belur Math for several years.  The Swami was affectionate and jovial by nature.

                                                               

                                                                   

Swami Shantarupananda ji (Viswanath Maharaj), of Portland Centre, USA, passed away at a hospital in Santa Rosa, California, on 10 June at 7.25 pm local time  He was 70 years old. 

Initiated by Swami Madhavananda ji, he joined the Order in 1965 at Saradapitha, where he served as hostel warden of Vidyamandira (Arts & Science College).  He had Sannyasa from Swami Vireshwarananda ji in 1974.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Advaita Ashrama (Kolkata), Baghbazar, Barasat, Narottam Nagar, Cherrapunji, Aalo, and finally Portland centre in various capcities.

Swami Paratmananda ji (Gangadhar Maharaj) expired on 13 June at 10.15 pm. He was 67 years old.  Initiated by Swami Vireshwarananda ji, he joined the Order in 1969 at Mysore Ashrama, and had Sannyasa from his Guru in 1979.  Besides his joining centre, he served at Visakhapatnam, Jammu and Srinagar centres in various capacities. Since August 2014 he had been staying mainly at Bangalore Math for his medical treatment.  Affectionate and calm and quiet by nature, the Swami was known for doing his work meticulously.