Who was Swami Atmasthananda, the guru who guided Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political journey?

Swami Atmasthananda wrote in the letter he sent, “As Prime Minister of India, I am very much looking forward to your coming to Belur Math. Finding out that you have a resounding majority makes me delighted. You have been given the chance by Sri Ramakrishna to help Indians of all castes, creeds, and religions.

PM Modi paid him a visit to the ashram a few months later.

“The death of Swami Atmasthananda ji is a personal loss for me,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted following the passing of Swami Atmasthananda in 2017. I shared a home with him during a crucial time in my life.

Know all about Swami Atmasthananda and his life

Swami Atmasthananda was born in Sabajpur, close to Dhaka, on the sacred Buddha Purnima in May 1919. Prior to entering monastic life, he was known as Satyakrishna. He became acquainted with Swami Gadadharananda, the ashrama’s leader and a follower of Swami Shivananda, when he began going to the Ramakrishna Ashrama in Dinajpur while still a college student. After being drawn to the teachings and lives of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna, he began performing puja and arati in the temple at the ashram with the help of his guru.

Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, the sixth President of the Ramakrishna Order, bestowed upon him the name Swami Atmasthananda, Brahmacharya vows, and Sannyasa vows after he entered the Order at Belur Math in 1941 at the age of just 22.

Swami Atmasthananda joined the Ramakrishna Mission’s governing body and was appointed a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math in 1973. He was named Assistant Secretary of the twin organizations in 1975, two years later.

He served for five years as the General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission in 1992 before being elected Vice-President of the Order in 1997. The 15th President of the Order, Swami Atmasthananda, was chosen to lead the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission after the death of the previous President, Swami Gahanananda, on December 3, 2007.