Wednesday, May 25 2005 15:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj was elected 14th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Math and the Governing body of the Mission today (May 25, 2005).

Gahananandaji, one of the vice-presidents of the Math and Mission since April 14, 1992, succeeded Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj who died on April 25, 2005.

Born at Paharpur village in Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh) in October 1916, he joined the Ramakrishna order at its Bhubaneswar centre in January 1939, at the age of 22.

He received 'mantra diksha' from Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, the then President of the Order, in 1939 and 'sannyasa' from him in 1948, Mission sources said.

He also served at Advaita Ashrama in Kolkata from 1942 to 1952 and at Shillong centre from 1953 to 1958 and was the secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan in the city.