
Swami Bhuteshananda was born on 8 September 1901 at
Somsar (an interior village) in
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...
. His premonastic name was Vijay Chandra. His father was Purna Chandra Roy and his mother Charubala Devi. In his student life, he met Jnan Maharaj (a direct disciple of
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...
). Under influence of his and some other spiritual young boys, he started to go to
Belur Math
Belur Math () is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Bel ...
frequently and he met many of the
direct disciples of
Sri Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...
. He graduated from Government Sanskrit College (
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 ...
, then Calcutta) where he mastered
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
English and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. Due to his visits to the Math, one day he went to the Math to become
Monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
(Sannyasi), but as his studies was not completed, he was asked to come later. This made him leave his residence and he built a Shiva temple in
Baghbazar
Bagbazar (also spelt Baghbazar) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, the citadel o ...
(Calcutta) and lived there like a renunciate monk, practicing intense Tapasya. He was present during the funeral of Sri Sarada Devi, in December 1920.
In 1921
Saradananda
Saradananda (23 December 1865 – 19 August 1927), also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math ...
(direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna) initiated Vijay with
Mantradiksha at the Mother's house. He was bestowed with the vows of
Brahmacharya
''Brahmacharya'' (; Sanskrit: Devanagari: ब्रह्मचर्य) is the concept within Indian religions that literally means "conduct consistent with Brahman" or "on the path of Brahman". Brahmacharya, a discipline of controlling ...
by
Shivananda in 1923 on
Holy mother's birthday, and was named 'Priya Chaitanya'. He took
Sannyasa
''Sannyasa'' (), sometimes spelled ''sanyasa'', is the fourth stage within the Hinduism, Hindu system of four life stages known as ''ashrama (stage), ashramas'', the first three being ''brahmacharya'' (celibate student), ''Gṛhastha, grihast ...
from Swami Shivananda (another direct disciple of Sri Ramamkrishna).
Swami Gambhirananda
Swami Gambhirananda (1899–1988), born as Jatindranath Datta, was a Hindu sanyasi who servrd as the 11th President of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Biography
He was born at Sadhuhati in today's Bangladesh. He graduated from Scottish Church Col ...
was also
initiated
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...
into Brahmacharya in 1923 and into Sannyasa in 1928 by Swami Shivananda. After he became a monk, he went to
Uttarkashi
Uttarkashi is a town and the headquarters of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India.
Geography
Uttarkashi is located at . It has an average elevation of .
Demographics
India census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is t ...
(
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
) and lived in the Himalayas for 2–3 years like a traditional monk, wandering without any fixed residence, practicing
Tapasya
Tapas (Sanskrit: तपस्, romanized: tapas) is a variety of austere spiritual meditation practices in Indian religions. In Jainism, it means asceticism (austerities, body mortification); in Buddhism, it denotes spiritual practices includin ...
(Spiritual Austerities) and living by
Bhiksha
Bhiksha (, ''bhikṣā''; , ''bhikkhā'') is a term used in Indic religions, such as Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, to refer to the act of alms or asking. Commonly, it is also used to refer to food obtained by asking for alms.
Buddhism
In Budd ...
(Begging food). After return he went to
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...
Center (of
Ramakrishna Order
The Ramakrishna Order ( Bengali: রামকৃষ্ণ সংঘ) is the monastic lineage that was founded by Ramakrishna Paramhansa, when he gave the ochre cloth of renunciation to twelve of his close disciples, in January 1886 at the Cossip ...
) till 1932.
In 1936, he was appointed the president of the Ramakrishna Math,
Shillong
Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...
. In 1945, he was appointed as the president of
Rajkot
Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat
Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...
Math. There he translated Ramakrishna-Vivekananda-Vedanta literature into Gujarati, and served in the relief operations organized by the Order in the flooded areas of West Bengal in 1926, as the Camp-in-charge of the Burma Evacuee Relief in 1942 and many others. In 1965, Bhuteshanandaji was appointed as one of the Trustees and a Member of the Governing body of
Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a spiritual and philanthropic organisation headquartered in Belur Math, West Bengal. The mission is named after the Indian Hindu spiritual guru and mystic Ramakrishna. The mission was founde ...
. In 1975, Bhuteshanandaji became one of the vice-presidents of the Order and moved over to
Kankurgachi
Kankurgachi (Bengali language, Bengali: কাঁকুড়গাছি) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, North-East Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. With a cosmopolitan crowd and several commercial buildings and restaurant ...
Yogodyan, a suburb of
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 ...
. Following the death of
Gambhirananda
Swami Gambhirananda (1899–1988), born as Jatindranath Datta, was a Hindu sanyasi who servrd as the 11th President of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Biography
He was born at Sadhuhati in today's Bangladesh. He graduated from Scottish Church Col ...
(27 December 1988), the 11th president of the Order, in 1989 (24 January), he became the 12th president. From 1975 to 1998, he initiated many. he never wrote any books, but his explanation and classes on spiritual texts like the
Upanishads
The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...
,
Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (English:
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
''The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna'' is an English translation of the Bengali religious text ''Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita'' by Swami Nikhilananda. The text records conversations of Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees and visitors, recorde ...
),
Bhagavatam
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one o ...
, etc. have been recorded by others who were present there. Some books have been published from his lectures and class talks, of which ''Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita Prasanga'' (in six vols.), ''
Mundakopanishad,
Kathopanishad, Upanishad'' O ''Ajker Manush, Sharanagati'' (all in Bengali) and ''Thoughts on Spiritual Life'' (in English).
During twenty-three years as vice president and President of the Order he travelled to many countries including
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
, Japan, Australia, America, Canada, England, France,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
and
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
, and carried the ideals and ideas of
Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...
-
Mother
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
-
Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in th ...
to innumerable people. He had a special fascination for
Vedānta
''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox ( ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompasses the ideas that e ...
-
Advaita Vedānta.
He died on 10 August 1998.
On 18 December 2015, a new temple and monastery were inaugurated at
Somsar, his ancestral village in
Bankura
Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district.
Etymology
It comes from the old Austric word ráŕhá or ráŕho which means “land of red soil”.P.R. Sarkar Rarh - ...
district.
References
External links
at https://vedantastl.org/
{{Authority control
Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order
Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission
1901 births
1998 deaths
Activists from West Bengal