The Essence of Indian Culture

Swami Ranganathananda (1908 – 2005), the 13th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, was hailed as one of the greatest exponents of Vedanta in the 20th century, especially in the lines of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Taking to monastic life at a very young age, the Swami was initiated into Sannyasa in 1933 by Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.

The Swami’s tenure as the head of Ramakrishna Math and Mission centres like New Delhi, RKM Institute of Culture, Kolkata, and Hyderabad marked the development of those centres to new heights especially for the dissemination of spiritual knowledge. His lectures were very popular among the intelligentsia, and auditoriums would be packed with the city’s elite during his brilliant and profound discourses on Vedanta.

Between 1956 and 1972 he went on several world tours as an ambassador of religion and Indian culture, travelling to over fifty countries in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, including the then Communist states of USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia. During these government sponsored tours, he lectured regularly, tirelessly and brilliantly. Universities, colleges, schools, cultural institutions, clubs and small groups of interested people, all received something solid from him.

From 1973 to 1986, the Swami undertook annual tours to the US, Europe and Australia spreading the message of Vedanta and Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. At the Government’s urging, the Swami gave yearly talks to trainees at the National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, and the National Defence College, Delhi. Generations of administrators and bright minds destined to lead the country heard his wonderful expositions on Indian values and how they could be implemented in administrative fields.

The Swami was a constant traveller and an unrelenting karma-yogi of the highest order who never thought twice about foregoing food and sleep to help people selflessly. In appreciation of his noble contribution as an integrator of humanity, he was honoured in 1985 with the first Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.