Swami Tejomayananda Saraswati (born 30 June 1950), also known as Pujya Guruji and born Sudhakar Kaitwade, is an Indian spiritual leader. He was head of

Chinmaya Mission The Chinmaya Mission () is a Hindu religious and spiritual organization that disseminates Vedanta, the science of the self as described in the Vedas, particularly the Upanishads, and other Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita. Followers ...

from 1994 to 2017, until he was succeeded by Swami Swaroopananda in 2017.

Initiation and disciplehood

In 1970, Sudhakar Kaitwade was a physics student at

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

, when he was about to complete his master's degree in physics. After attending couple of talks of

Swami Chinmayananda Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati (IAST: Svāmī Cinmayānanda Sarasvatī), also known as Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati (born Balakrishna Menon; 8 May 1916 – 3 August 1993), was a Hindu spiritual leader and a teacher. In 1953, he foun ...

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

, Sudhakar Kaitwade was inspired to join Chinmaya Mission's residential Vedanta course at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai. Upon completing the course in 1975, he was initiated as Brahmachari Vivek Chaitanya and also studied under Swami

Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya) Swami Dayananda Saraswati (15 August 1930 – 23 September 2015) was a renunciate monk of the Hindu Saraswati order of sannyasa. He was also known as Pujya Swamiji and was a traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta. He was the founder of the ...

who was conducting the long-term resident course. On 21 October 1983, Swami Chinmayananda initiated him into

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 ...

, bestowing upon him the name Swami Tejomayananda.

Missionary work

As the Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, Swami Tejomayananda – known in the Mission as Pujya Guruji – has been involved in several projects, including the

Chinmaya International Residential School Chinmaya International Residential School (abbreviated CIRS) is a private school located in Siruvani, Coimbatore, India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependenc ...

in Coimbatore, the Chinmaya Centre of World Understanding in New Delhi, the Chinmaya International Foundation near Cochin, the Chinmaya Heritage Centre in Chennai, the expansion of the Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bangalore and the Chinmaya Vibhooti Vision Centre near Pune. He has travelled internationally extensively. Throughout his travels, he conducts jnana yajnas (3-7 day Vedanta lecture series) in different cities and various countries every week.

Roles

Swami Tejomayananda has served several roles in Chinmaya Mission, including * Acharya of the Sandeepany Sadhanalaya ashram in

Mumbai, India Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

(1983–1989) * Acharya of Chinmaya Mission's center at

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, USA (1989–1993) * Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide (1993–2017)

Awards

* Swami Tejomayananda was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2016.

Works

Swami Tejomayananda has published more than 100 books on Vedanta. He is also a prolific composer and poet, amidst his fluency in four languages - English, Hindi, Marathi, and Sanskrit. His poetry describing Vedantic concepts are also renowned.

References

External links

Swami Tejomayananda's Itinerary

Chinmaya International Foundation Trustees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tejomayananda 1950 births Living people Indian Hindu monks Vedanta Advaitin philosophers 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians Marathi people Indian spiritual writers Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in other fields Indian public speakers Indian Hindu spiritual teachers Indian religious writers Hindu writers People from Bhopal