Srimat Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj
Swami Smarananandaji was born in village Andami in the district of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, on 25 December 1929. He came in contact with Mumbai centre when he was 20 years old. Inspired by the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, he joined the order at Mumbai centre in 1952 at the age of 22.
Swami Shankaranandaji Maharaj gave him mantra diksha in the same year. He also received from his guru brahmacharya vows in 1956 and sannyasa vows in 1960. From Mumbai centre, he was transferred in 1958 to the Kolkata branch of Advaita Ashrama. He served at both Mayavati and Kolkata centres of the Advaita Ashrama for 18 long years. For a few years he was the Assistant Editor of Prabuddha Bharata. He also enthusiastically worked to improve the standard of publications of the Advaita Ashrama.
He was posted to Saradapitha centre as its Secretary in 1976. During his long tenure of more than 15 years there, educational and rural welfare work of Saradapitha saw tremendous development. When West Bengal was struck with devastating floods in 1978, he took up extensive relief operations along with his monastic assistants. From Saradapitha he was posted to Chennai Math as its Head in December 1991. He was appointed a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and Member of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1983.
In April 1995, he joined the Headquarters as an Assistant Secretary, and after two years, he took charge as the General Secretary of the twin organizations. As the General Secretary, he steered the worldwide Ramakrishna Movement for ten long years until May 2007 when he was elected a Vice-President of the Order. He became the President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in July 2017. He travelled extensively in India and different parts of the world, visiting many branches of the Math and Mission and also unaffiliated centres, spreading the message of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and Vedanta among a vast number of people. He also gave mantra diksha to thousands of spiritual seekers. Revered Maharaj was a voracious reader and a deep thinker. He contributed a number of articles to various journals of the Ramakrishna Order. Collecting his articles and talks, a few books have been brought out: Smriti-Smaran-Anudhyan and Chintan-Manan-Anushilan in Bengali, and Musings of a Monk in English. Swami Smarananandaji was loved and respected by all for his wisdom, simplicity, unassuming nature, sense of humour and spiritual fervour. His mahasamadhi has left a huge void that is difficult to fill.