Swami Atmasthananda

Who is Swami Atmasthananda?

Swami Atmasthananda is the fifteenth president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He was born in 1919 at Sabajpur, near Dhaka. He received mantra diksha from Swami Vijnanananda in 1938 and joined the Ramakrishna Order at Belur Math on 3 January 1941 at the age of 22 years. In 1945, Swami Virajananda, the then President of the Order, gave him Brahmacharya vows, and in 1949 Sannyasa vows and the name Atmasthananda.

After serving the Order at Belur Math and the branches at Deoghar Vidyapith and Mayavati Advaita Ashrama, he got the opportunity to serve Swami Virajananda, the then President of the Order, for a long time. He spent several years in his holy company in the solitude of Shyamla Tal in the Himalayas. In 1952, he was posted to Ranchi TB Sanatorium branch as an Assistant Secretary. He worked hard to expand its services in many ways. He was sent to Rangoon Sevashrama as its Secretary in 1958. He developed the Sevashrama hospital and it soon became the best hospital of Burma at that time. When military rulers took over Rangoon Sevashrama, he returned to India in 1965. He was posted to Rajkot branch as its head in 1966. The beautiful temple of Sri Ramakrishna at Rajkot Ashrama was built on his initiative.