Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari born 10 May 1949, (often referred to as simply Bodhi) is an author, motivational speaker, spiritual teacher and humanitarian. He lives in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India, where he founded and is the current mentor of Lokenath Divine Life Mission. He has authored several books and travels internationally, speaking on stress reduction,

mindfulness Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through exercises, of sustaining metacognitive awareness towards the contents of one's own mind and bodily sensations in the present moment. The term ''mindfulness'' derives from the Pali ...

and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

and

microcredit Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically do not have access to traditional banking services due to a lack of collateral (finance), collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credi ...

Early life and career

He received a Master of Commerce degree in 1972 at

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

and taught

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

at Andhra Vidyalaya College (affiliated to Osmania University). From 1972–1976 he was a lecturer of Commerce at Andhra Vidyalaya College, (affiliated to Osmania University) in Hyderabad, India.

Humanitarian work

He founded Lokenath Divine Life Mission (LDLM) in 1985 in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, India. Lokenath Divine Life Mission works in the field of education, health care and women's empowerment, utililizing

self-help programs. A former professor of economics, Brahmachari’s model aims at direct credit linkage between banks and SHGs, completely eliminating agencies that play the middleman, such as NGOs. LDLM’s role is to create SHGs through awareness, training and organisation and then enable their credit linkage with the banks. LDLM also performs resource linkage as well as addressing targeted areas of need and collaborating with other organizations on additional programs.

Motivational and spiritual teacher

In 2005, he founded the Stress Management Academy, and began conducting global seminars on breathing, relaxation, meditation, mindfulness and positive thinking for schools, corporations, hospitals, prisons and other venues under his Course of Mindfulness program.

Awards and major speaking engagements

He addressed the Parliament of World Religion in Chicago, (1993) and Barcelona (2004), was a keynote speaker at the Global Youth Conference held at the Capital Center, Washington, DC (1993), and was a special invitee to the United Nations World Millennium Summit of spiritual leaders in New York, (2000). He was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Spiritual Paradigm for Surmounting Global Management Crisis in Varanasi, India in 2012, 2013. He was keynote speaker at the Origin Group, Bahrain Annual Conference on The Power Within, 2014, and the Women’s Economic Forum (WEF), New Delhi, 2016, where he was awarded the Iconic Leaders in Peace and Change Award. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the S.T.A.R foundation at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2015 for his "invaluable and outstanding contribution to society". He was presented the Award by The Rt Hon, Lord Hunt of Wirral MBE

Books

* The Incredible Life of a Himalayan Yogi: The Times, Teachings and Life of Living Shiva Baba Lokenath, 2014 * Your Mind, Your Best Friend, 2003 * Cleaning the Mirror of Mind: Clutter Free Home, Clutter Free Mind, 2013 * Living with My Himalayan Master Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari-A Biography, 2020 * Quintessence of Sai Satcharitra: A Biography of the Incredible Sai Baba of Shirdi, 2023 * La vita con il mio Maestro dell’Himalaya : Biografia di Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari (Italian Edition), 2023 * Tu Mente, Tu Mejor Amistad: 30 Días para tu consciente mente amistosa (Spanish Edition), 2014 Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari is also a spotlight writer for ''OM Times e-zine''.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahmachari, Shuddhaanandaa 1949 births Bengali Hindus Bengali writers 20th-century Bengalis Activists from West Bengal Bengali philosophers Social workers from West Bengal Bengali activists Indian self-help writers Indian religious writers Indian spiritual writers 20th-century Indian scholars Indian human rights activists Indian activists Indian motivational speakers Indian health activists Living people Andhra University alumni