Swami Ramanananda
I met the Swami back in 2012 on the day of my birthday at Sri Ramanashram.
He passed away on December 10th 2020.
Here is a biography taken from Sharanagati, January 2021 published by Sri Ramanasramam.
Born in Rangoon, Burma, in 1938, Swami Ramanananda was named Seshadri. He had one elder brother and two younger sisters. He came to India from Burma in 1942 during the War years as a refugee and did his schooling at the Besant Theosophical High School in Chennai. He excelled in athletics, painting, and, above all, music. In school, he was fortunate to have good teachers such as Rukmini Devi Arundale and the Carnatic maestro Tiger Varadachariar as well as classmates like M.D. Ramanathan. This helped him develop his singing skills, and he once had the chance to sing a song on All India Radio.
After his examinations, he joined the family in Calcutta, and served as a draftsman’s apprentice in a British company that specialized in constructing bridges for the Indian Railways. While still in his teens, he came across Arthur Osborne’s Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge which had a great effect on him. In the late 1950s, he met Ananda Mayi Ma at Ranchi who advised him to go to Ramanasramam. When he suffered an injury to his leg, he was forced to leave his job and came to Tiruvannamalai as she had
suggested. Here he met Hugo Maier who treated his condition with some success. After a lengthy stay, he made up his mind to settle permanently at Arunachala. His gentle nature made him the favourite of older devotees like Muruganar, Swami Viswanathan and K. Natesan. In the early 1970s he served Muruganar during his last years when his health deteriorated. He also helped in the construction of Bhagavan’s Samadhi mantapam and worked in the Ashram Dispensary preparing compounds. In 1973, he left the ashram to be more independent and stayed a year at Guhai Namasivya with Albert Frahm, a close friend who had been living there for some time. The following year, he and Hugo Maier moved out near Nirvritti Lingam onto four acres of land Seshadri’s father had purchased for him, and on which the present day Shantimalai is now established.
In 1983, Seshadri got the blessing of the Paramacharya Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram to take sannyas when the latter was traveling nearby. In a ceremony at Bhagavan’s Samadhi, Kunjuswami placed ochre robes on Bhagavan’s Samadhi overnight and on the following day, Seshadri simply clad himself in them. He stood before Bhagavan’s Samadhi and took the name Swami Ramanananda. After doing the traditional yatra to the mahakshetras of North India, he returned to Tiruvannamalai and stayed for some time at Skandasramam. Eventually Ramanananda built a hermitage named Ramana Padam on the hill-round road near the Varuna Lingam. This came about by the initiative of Moopanar Swami who organised a sannyasin to stay at each of the ashtalingams and their abutting temple land. He gave Swami Ramanananda the choice where he wanted to live since he had helped him renovate the eight lingams.
Ramanananda had agamic knowledge of samadhi construction and helped in conducting abhishikam and puja while interring the mortal remains of Muruganar, Ramaswami Pillai and others. In 1996, he became the principal organizer of the Adiannamalai Temple Maha Kumbhabhsiekam and with permission from the Ashram management, based his fundraising efforts out of Ramanasramam. His enthusiasm for the project got numerous devotees
involved and all participated in the event with relish. He also helped the ARS in its early days. His kuti, Ramana Padam was home to snakes, squirrels and monkeys, but like Bhagavan, Ramanananda was quite at home with his many animal friends. When not practising sadhana, he occupied himself with water- colour painting. His innocent child-like temperament, charitable disposition and great sense of humour allowed him to converse with people of all ages. He was approached by a diverse range of visitors who felt inspired by his understanding of Bhagavan’s teachings and never spoke ill of anyone. Following long months of poor health, on 10th December 2020 at the age of 82, Swami Ramanananda Saraswati attained the lotus feet of Arunachala. —
Swami Ramanananda
I met the Swami back in 2012 on the day of my birthday at Sri Ramanashram.
He passed away on December 10th 2020.
Here is a biography taken from Sharanagati, January 2021 published by Sri Ramanasramam.
Born in Rangoon, Burma, in 1938, Swami Ramanananda was named Seshadri. He had one elder brother and two younger sisters. He came to India from Burma in 1942 during the War years as a refugee and did his schooling at the Besant Theosophical High School in Chennai. He excelled in athletics, painting, and, above all, music. In school, he was fortunate to have good teachers such as Rukmini Devi Arundale and the Carnatic maestro Tiger Varadachariar as well as classmates like M.D. Ramanathan. This helped him develop his singing skills, and he once had the chance to sing a song on All India Radio.
After his examinations, he joined the family in Calcutta, and served as a draftsman’s apprentice in a British company that specialized in constructing bridges for the Indian Railways. While still in his teens, he came across Arthur Osborne’s Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge which had a great effect on him. In the late 1950s, he met Ananda Mayi Ma at Ranchi who advised him to go to Ramanasramam. When he suffered an injury to his leg, he was forced to leave his job and came to Tiruvannamalai as she had
suggested. Here he met Hugo Maier who treated his condition with some success. After a lengthy stay, he made up his mind to settle permanently at Arunachala. His gentle nature made him the favourite of older devotees like Muruganar, Swami Viswanathan and K. Natesan. In the early 1970s he served Muruganar during his last years when his health deteriorated. He also helped in the construction of Bhagavan’s Samadhi mantapam and worked in the Ashram Dispensary preparing compounds. In 1973, he left the ashram to be more independent and stayed a year at Guhai Namasivya with Albert Frahm, a close friend who had been living there for some time. The following year, he and Hugo Maier moved out near Nirvritti Lingam onto four acres of land Seshadri’s father had purchased for him, and on which the present day Shantimalai is now established.
In 1983, Seshadri got the blessing of the Paramacharya Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram to take sannyas when the latter was traveling nearby. In a ceremony at Bhagavan’s Samadhi, Kunjuswami placed ochre robes on Bhagavan’s Samadhi overnight and on the following day, Seshadri simply clad himself in them. He stood before Bhagavan’s Samadhi and took the name Swami Ramanananda. After doing the traditional yatra to the mahakshetras of North India, he returned to Tiruvannamalai and stayed for some time at Skandasramam. Eventually Ramanananda built a hermitage named Ramana Padam on the hill-round road near the Varuna Lingam. This came about by the initiative of Moopanar Swami who organised a sannyasin to stay at each of the ashtalingams and their abutting temple land. He gave Swami Ramanananda the choice where he wanted to live since he had helped him renovate the eight lingams.
Ramanananda had agamic knowledge of samadhi construction and helped in conducting abhishikam and puja while interring the mortal remains of Muruganar, Ramaswami Pillai and others. In 1996, he became the principal organizer of the Adiannamalai Temple Maha Kumbhabhsiekam and with permission from the Ashram management, based his fundraising efforts out of Ramanasramam. His enthusiasm for the project got numerous devotees
involved and all participated in the event with relish. He also helped the ARS in its early days. His kuti, Ramana Padam was home to snakes, squirrels and monkeys, but like Bhagavan, Ramanananda was quite at home with his many animal friends. When not practising sadhana, he occupied himself with water- colour painting. His innocent child-like temperament, charitable disposition and great sense of humour allowed him to converse with people of all ages. He was approached by a diverse range of visitors who felt inspired by his understanding of Bhagavan’s teachings and never spoke ill of anyone. Following long months of poor health, on 10th December 2020 at the age of 82, Swami Ramanananda Saraswati attained the lotus feet of Arunachala. —