Gahanananda

Gahanananda
Swami Gahanananda
Personal
Born
Nareshranjan Roychowdhury

(1916-10-00)October 1916
Died4 November 2007(2007-11-04) (aged 91)
ReligionHinduism
Organization
PhilosophyVedanta
Religious career
GuruSwami Virajananda
PredecessorSwami Ranganathananda
SuccessorSwami Atmasthananda
Quotation

“Today my life is full with joy.”

Swami Gahanananda (October 1916 – 4 November 2007), the 14th President of the Ramakrishna Order, was born in the village of Paharpur in Sylhet District (now in Bangladesh) in October 1916. Known as Naresh Ranjan Roy Choudhury in his pre-monastic days, he joined the Ramakrishna Order at its centre in Bhubaneswar in January 1939 at the age of 22. He received initiation (mantra diksha) in 1939, brahmacharya in 1944 with the name 'Amrita-chaitanya' and Sannyasa from Swami Virajananda Maharaj, the then-President of the Order. He was greatly influenced by the dedicated lives of some of the monks of Ramakrishna Order, especially Swami Prabhananda (Ketaki Maharaj), who was his cousin in his pre-monastic life. He had also once met Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. He served at the Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, from 1942 to 1952 and at Shillong centre from 1953 to 1958.