Monday, April 25 2005 18:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: The first recipient of the Indira Gandhi award for National Integration, Swami Ranganathananda regarded as India's spiritual ambassador, combined a formidable intellect, deep spiritual insight and a kindness that touched the high and the mighty as also the poorest of the poor.

Born on December 15, 1908 in a middle-class Hindu family in the sylvan village of Trikkur, Kerala, the Swami who declined the Padma Bhushan several times, was known as Sankaran in his pre-monastic life.

He was exposed to Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature while in school. This inspired him towards a life devoted to selfless service and meditation. Accordingly, after completing high school at Ollur, near Trichur, he joined the Ramakrishna order at its Mysore centre in July, 1926.

En route to Mysore, he met the second president of Rama Krishna Math and Mission Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, and received his blessings at the hill station of Ootacamund.

After joining the order, he spent the next 12 years - nine in Mysore and three in the Bangalore centres - under the training and care of Swami Siddheswarananda who later founded the Centre Vedantique Ramakrishna at Gretz, France.

In 1929, Sankaran was initiated into 'brahmacharya' by Swami Shivananda at the order's headquarters at Belur Math and became a full-fledged probationer under the new name of Yatichaitanya. In January 1933, Swami Shivananda initiated him into 'sanyasa' and conferred on him the name of Ranganathananda.

Ranganathananda's life in Mysore

Ranganathananda's life in Mysore, marked by meditation, study and monastery services, provided him the firm foundation for all his subsequent work in the holy order.

During the last year of his stay in Mysore, he was warden of the ashram's hostel for school and college students.

In Bangalore, he was closely associated with hundreds of students and teachers of the city and conducted moral and religious classes for prisoners, including 'satyagrahis,' of the Bangalore Central Jail.

In Rangoon and Karachi

This was followed by three years in Rangoon (now Yangon) as secretary and librarian of Ramakrishna Mission Society, during which he undertook extensive lecture tours in Burma (now Myanmar). He was then sent to Karachi, as president of its Ramakrishna Math and Mission centres.

At Rangoon and Karachi, he not only continued his close association with students and teachers as their friend and guide, but also exercised his influence over vast sections of the general public.

His weekly study classes on the Upanishads and the Gita, as also the occasional lectures and discourses on spiritual, philosophical, cultural and educational themes, drew audiences belonging to diverse faiths and nationalities, both at Rangoon and Karachi.

In Karachi, apart from various philanthropic activities, he also raised large public donations and despatched over 1,250 tonne of rice by special steamer to Kolkata for the victims of the Bengal famine of 1943.

"My old Pathan watchman and two Sindhi Muslim youths working as cook and housekeeper wept when I took final leave of them, in 1948, to take charge of our Delhi centre. It is a great experience to give love to, and received love from, men, women and children of all communities and races,'' the Swami was to say later.

Extensive lecture tours

Between 1949 and 1962, Ranganathananda was the secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission's New Delhi centre. Here he built up a spacious public library and auditorium, a large textbook library for university students and a temple dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna.

In Delhi, he organised dedicated workers for hospital social services and leprosy relief. His Sunday morning discourses at the Delhi University and in the evening in the Mission premises attracted large audiences and became outstanding features of the cultural and intellectual life of the Capital.

During those years in Delhi, as also in Kolkata and Hyderabad, the Swami undertook extensive lecture tours within India, addressing universities, colleges, schools, cultural institutions and administrative training academies and groups.

At the request of the Union Ministry of Education, he went on extensive lecture tours covering Japanese universities and South-East Asian countries in 1958 and several times thereafter. Between April and August 1961, he toured 17 European countries, including Czechoslovakia, Poland, USSR and Spain.

The first recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, he declined the Padma Bhushan which he was offered several times.