SWAMI CHIDANANDA
SWAMI CHIDANANDA MY SPIRITUAL MASTER EARLY LIFE: HE BORN IN BANGALORE KARNATAKA AS NAME GAVE LAXMAN OF IDENTICAL TWINS (RAM AND LAXMAN) 9THOCTOBEER 1932 VIJAYA DASHMI DAY. AT 1954 AS A COLLEGE STUDENT, HE MET SWAMI YATISWARANANDA PRESIDENT OF RAMAKRISHNA MISSION AT BANGALORE ASHRAM. IN THE FIRST VISIT, SWAMI YATISWARNADANA TOLD HIM TO JOIN THE ORDER. HE GOT B.S.C. ON ENGINEERING. AFTER COMPLETING HIS UNIVERSITY EDUCATION, AT 1956 HE JOINED IN THE ORDER IN BANGALORE. HE WAS INITIATED BY YATISHWARANANDAJI WHEN HE WAS 24. HIS IDENTICAL TWINS RAM JOINED IN 1957. HE HAD PRIVILEGE OF RECEIVING DIRECT GUIDANCE FROM HIS GURU. SWAMI YATISHWARANANDA WAS EXTREMELY FOND OF BOTH THE BROTHERS AND WOULD WITH GREAT PRIDE AND JOY INTRODUCE THEM TO ALL. HIS CHILDLIKE SIMPLICITY, PURITY AND GUILELESSNESS WERE DEEPLY APPRECIATED BY SWAMI YATISHWARANANDA. HE WAS TRAINED IN VEDIC CHANTING AND WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN INSTITUTING TRADITION OF TEACHING ’VEDIC CHANTING’ IN THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER. HE TOOK BRAHMACHARYA FROM SWAMI VISHUDHANYA 1966 NAME GIVEN GADADHAR CHAITNAYA. AS A MONK, HE TOOK SANNYASA AT THE BELUR MATH FROM SWAMI VIRESHVARANANDA IN 1966.
PRESIDENT OF BANGALORE CENTER: SWAMI CHIDANANDA BECAME PRESIDENT OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA ASHRAM AT BANGALORE IN NOVEMBER 1983. IN 1983, SOME OF HIS MOST NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS IN THIS CAPACITY INCLUDES: HE INITIATED AND ESTABLISHED PALI-MANGAL PROJECT IN VILLAGES WHERE NO WATER, ELECTRICITY, ROADS. HE OVERSAW SEVERAL SCHEMES SUCH AS THE INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR THE ALL-AROUND DEVELOPMENT OF FOURTEEN IMPOVERISHED VILLAGES, PROVIDING DRINKINGWATER FACILITIES, SCHOOL FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE VILLAGERS, MOBILE DISPENSARY AND SIMILAR FACILITIES. HE ADOPTED 14 IMPOVERISHED VILLAGES FOR DEVELOPMENT, A FAR - REACHING, VISIONARY PROJECT INVOLVING, CONSTRUCTION OF HOMES FOR VILLAGERS. HE ALSO INTRODUCES OF MODERN AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES TO INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION. ESTABLISHED VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR VILLAGERS, HE FOUNDED SCHOOL FOR 350 VILLAGE CHILDREN, HE ESTABLISHED MOBILE DISPENSARY TO PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE FOR VILLAGES, INSTITUTING MOBILE DISPENSARY TO BRING REGULAR MODERN MEDICAL CARE TO 70 VILLAGERS AND HE CONSTRUCTED HOMES FOR THE VILLAGERS. HE TRANSLITERATED YAAJUR -VEDA AND RIG-VEDA INTO KANNADA AND PUBLISHED TWO BOOKS (SASWAR VEDA
MANTRA). HE STARTED VIVEKANANDA YUVAK SANGHA. HE CONDUCTED YOUTH CONVENTIONS ATTENDED BY OVER 25,000 STUDENTS. IN 1986, HE ORGANIZED DROUGHT RELIEF AND REHABILITATION FOR OVER 4000 CATTLE. IN MAY 1989, HE WAS NAME D ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION INSTITUTE OF CULTURE, GOL PARK CALCUTTA.
PRESIDENT AT CHICAGO CENTER: IN MAY 1991 HE CAME TO CHICAGO CENTER. IN AUGUST 1993, SWAMI CHIDANANDA WAS APPOINTED AS MINSTER-INCHARGE AND PRESIDENT OF THE VIVEKANANDA VEDANTA SOCIETY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND THE VIVEKANANDA VEDANTA MONASTERY IN GANGES, MICHIGAN. SWAMI CHIDANANDA IS A TALENTED ARTIST, MUSICIAN AND TRAINED IN ‘VEDIC CHANTING’. HE PLAYS HARMONIUM AND HAS A MELODIOUS VOICE. HE TAUGHT HIS STUDENTS VEDANTA, DEVOTIONAL VOCAL MUSIC, CHANTING OF THE VEDAS FROM RIG-VEDA AND YAJUR-VEDA AND BHAGAVAD GITA. HIS DAILY WORSHIPS OF RAMAKRISHNA WHICH INSPIRATION TO ALL. HIS ART OF MIMICRY AND SENSE OF HUMOR SPREAD LAUGHTER AND GREAT JOY. HIS DIVERSE TALENTS ARE NATURAL AND SPONTANEOUS. AS A SPIRITUAL MASTER; HIS MERE PRESENCE GIVES YOU, AS IT WERE, A SUPERSENSE WHICH ENABLES YOU TO RECOGNIZE THE GREATNESS WHICH IS IN HIM. OUR MINDS WERE LIFTED UP AND CAUGHT GLIMPSES OF HIS INNER NATURE; HE HAD THE POWER TO UPLIFT A MAN WITHOUT HIS EVEN KNOWING IT; AND WHEN THAT PERSON LEFT HIS PRESENCE HE WAS BATHED IN LOVE AND PURITY. YOU FELT YOU WERE IN ANOTHER WORLD WHERE THERE WAS NOT WORRY OR GRIEF, AND WHERE MAN WAS NOT MAN BUT DIVINE. YOU WERE FILLED WITH A PECULIAR JOY WHICH COULD NEITHER EXPLAIN NOR UNDERSTAND, HE GIVE HIS
DISCIPLE FULL FREEDOM. HE RULES FROM THE HEART AND NOT FROM THE HEAD. HIS AIM TO BE DISPELS DELUSION, TO CLEAR THE VISION. WHENEVER HE LOOKS AT YOU, YOU FELT THAT HE WAS PROBING THE DEPTH OF YOUR WEAKNESS, BUT YOU DO NOT MIND THIS BEING KNOWN THROUGH AND THROUGH BECAUSE THOSE EYES WERE FULL OF LOVE AND COMPASSION. A MAN OF SPIRITUAL WISDOM TEACHES TRUTHS, NOT THEORETICALLY BUT OUT OF HIS OWN EXPERIENCE. THE EXPRESSION OF THESE TRUTHS IN WORDS CANNOT POSSIBLY CORRESPOND TO THE VASTNESS OF HIS INNER KNOWLEDGE, WHICH IS HARD TO DESCRIBE IN WORDS BECAUSE IT IS TRANSCENDENTAL. HE IS A PHENOMENON IN THE INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL WORLD WHO PERSONALITY EMBODIED A PLETHORA OF VALUES - A SHARP INTELLECT YET TENDER HEART, HIGH THINKING YET SIMPLE LIVING, LEARNED YET HUMBLE, DEVOTIONAL IN TEMPERAMENT YET RATIONAL IN APPROACH, STRICT WITH HIMSELF GENEROUS WITH OTHERS, AN ERUDITE SCHOLAR YET A PRACTICAL ADMINISTRATOR. IN SHORT, HIS LIFE IS A CONFLUENCE OF SEVERAL NOBLE VALUES WORTHY OF EMULATION. HE HAS STERLING DEVOTION TO SRI RAMAKRISHNA. HE CLEARLY FELT THAT HE WAS THE INSTRUMENT FOR THE FLOW OF ‘POWER’ THAT HAD ORIGINATED FROM SRI RAMAKRISHNA. WITH EXTRAORDINARY SRI RAMAKRISHNA’S GRACE BALANCED DEEP MEDITATIVE LIFE WITH EQUALLY DEEP CONCERN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICAGO ASHRAM. THROUGH HIS VISION HE FOLLOWED IT BY BUILD A THE UNIVERSAL TEMPLE OF CHICAGO. SWAMI HAS RECORDED NUMEROUS CASSETTES/CD INCLUDING DEVOTIONAL SONGS, CHANTING VEDAS AND BHAGAVAD GITA, A SERIES OF LECTURE FOR PRACTICAL LIVING, SPIRITUAL LIFE, GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, BHAGAVAD GITA AND UPANISHAD.
MAJOR PUBLIC FUNCTIONS AT CHICAGO:
IN 1993 MONK'S CONFERENCE ATTENDED BY ALL THE SWAMIS IN USA AND CANADA, THOUSANDS OF DEVOTEES ATTENDED THESE PROGRAM SWAMI GAHANANDA WAS CHIEF GUEST. SEPTEMBER 11, 1995: A BRONZE PLAQUE WAS INSTALLED COMMEMORATING SWAMIJI'S HISTORIC ADDRESS (AT THE PARLIAMENT) AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (SITE OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS IN 1893.) NOVEMBER 11, 1995: THE PORTION OF MICHIGAN AVENUE DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE ART INSTITUTE WAS RENAMED "HONORARY SWAMI VIVEKANANDA WAY." JULY 12, 1998: A 10' 2" BRONZE STATUE OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (THE LARGEST PUBLIC STATUE IN AMERICA) WAS INSTALLED AT THE HINDU TEMPLE OF GREATER CHICAGO, LEMONT, ILLINOIS.
JUNE 2001: VEDANTA IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM: MONK'S CONFERENCE. JUNE 2005: PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS: VEDANTA FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: MONK'S CONFERENCE. THESE BOTH CONFERENCES ARE ATTENDED BY ALL THE MONKS OF THE RAMAKRISHNA ORDER IN THE WEST. OVER THOUSANDS OF DEVOTEES ATTEND THESE PROGRAMS AND BENEFITTED BY THEM. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA, IN HIS LETTER WRITTEN ON 6TH MAY 1895 TO ALASINGA PARIMAL, CHENNAI, EXPRESSED HIS VISION OF A “TEMPLE UNIVERSAL” IN THE WEST. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA VISUALIZED A "TEMPLE UNIVERSAL IN THE WEST". TO FULFILL SWAMIJI'S VISION, IN 2003, SWAMI CHIDANANDA PURCHASED 15 ACRES OF LAND IN HOMER GLEN, A SUBURB OF CHICAGO TO BUILD NEW SRI RAMAKRISHNA UNIVERSAL TEMPLE. AT THE TEMPLE PROPERTY, IN OCTOBER 2005, PERFORMED BHOOMI PUJA CEREMONY, AND IN APRIL 2006, PERFORMED GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY. IN JUNE 2008, INAUGURATED NEW TEMPLE. TEMPLE MOVED FROM HYDE PARK TO HOMER GLEN ON 21ST SEPTEMBER 2008. IN SEPTEMBER 2009 ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AND CHIEF GUEST WAS SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA.