1. Swami Gahanananda, the 14th President of the Ramakrishna Order, was born in the village of Paharpur in Sylhet District in October 1916.
11 Facts About Gahanananda
1. 2.
Gahanananda received initiation in 1939, brahmacharya in 1944 with the name 'Amrita-chaitanya' and Sannyasa from Swami Virajananda Maharaj, the then-President of the Order.
3.
Gahanananda was greatly influenced by the dedicated lives of some of the monks of Ramakrishna Order, especially Swami Prabhananda, who was his cousin in his pre-monastic life.
4.
Gahanananda had once met Swami Abhedananda, a direct disciple of Ramakrishna.
5.
Gahanananda served at the Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, from 1942 to 1952 and at Shillong centre from 1953 to 1958.
6.
Gahanananda worked to develop the services of Seva Pratishthan to cater to the medical needs of more and more people belonging to poor and low-income sections of the society and converted the original small maternity hospital into a 550-bed, modern, well-equipped hospital.
7.
Gahanananda was elected a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and member of the governing body of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1965.
8.
Gahanananda became the general secretary of the math and mission in 1989 and continued in that post for three years till 1992 when he became a vice-president of the order.
9.
Gahanananda visited at different times various places in the US, Canada, England, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, Australia, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius.
10.
Gahanananda was elected the president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in May 2005.
11.
Gahanananda died on Sunday, 4 November 2007 at 5.35 pm after a prolonged illness.