Swami Ranganathananda
| Ranganathananda | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Philosophy | Vedanta |
| Personal | |
| Born | Shankaran Kutty 15 December 1908 Trichur, Kerala, British India |
| Died | 25 April 2005 (aged 96) Belur Math |
| Guru | Shivananda |
Swami Ranganathananda (December 15, 1908 – April 25, 2005), born Shankaran Kutty, was a Hindu monk of the Ramakrishna Math order. He served as the 13th president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.
Ranganathananda was born in December 15, 1908 in a village called Trikkur near Trichur, in Kerala. As teenager, he was attracted by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna and joined the Mysore centre of Ramakrishna Order as a Brahmachari in 1926. He served the Mysore Centre for 9 years and was under Swami Siddheswarananda and another 3 years under him in the Bangalore centre. He was initiated as a Sannyasi (monk) in 1933, on the 70th anniversary of Vivekananda's birth by Shivananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. Between 1939 and 1942, he served as the secretary and librarian at the Rangoon branch of Ramakrishna Mission.
He then served as the president of the Karachi centre of Math from 1942 to 1948 until the partition of India, after which the mission found it difficult to continue its activities at Karachi. At Karachi, L.K. Advani came in contact with him and listened to his discourses on the Bhagavad Gita. Advani said that Ranganathananda was a "great influence" during his formative years. According to Advani, at Karachi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah had once listened to Ranganathananda's lecture on Islam and Prophet Mohammed and remarked, "Now I know how a true Muslim should be."
From 1949 to 1962, he served as a secretary at the Delhi centre. Then from 1962 to 1967, he served as the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, director of School of Humanistic & Cultural studies, editor of mission's monthly. The swami became president of the Hyderabad branch in 1973, where he developed the Vivekananda Vani School of Languages, a temple, and a library. He was elected to the post of vice-president of Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1988. In 1998 he was elected as the president of the mission.
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