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Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati Biography, Early Life, Education, Career

Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati was born on 8^th May 1916 and was a Hindu spiritual leader and a teacher who inspired the formation of Chinmaya Mission, a worldwide nonprofit organization, to spread the knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, which epitomizes the philosophical teachings of the Vedas.

Chinmayananda is known for teaching Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and other Hindu scriptures. From 1951 onward, he spearheaded a global Hindu spiritual and cultural renaissance that popularised the religion’s esoteric scriptural texts, teaching them in English all over India Chinmayananda inspired the formation of Chinmaya Mission program in 1953. Founded by his disciples and led by him, it is a spiritual, educational, and charitable non profit organisation that encompasses more than 300 centers in India and internationally.

He authored 95 publications, including commentaries on Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. He was a visiting professor of Indian philosophy at several American and Asian universities and he conducted universities lectures tours in many countries.

Shor info about Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati

Born: 8 May 1916, Ernakulam

Died: 3 August 1993, Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego, California, United States

Full name: Balakrishna Menon

Education: St. Thomas College, Thrissur, MORE

Gurus: Sivananda Saraswati, Tapovan Maharaj

Swami Chinmayananda Early life and Education

Balakrishna Menon, who later became known as Swami Chinmayananda, was born in the city of Ernakulam in present-day Kerela, India, on 8^th May 1916, as the eldest son of a prominent judge, Vadakke Kuruppathu Kuttan Menon. His mother Parukutti Amma died while giving birth to her third child, and his father remarried. He completed his formal schooling in Sree Rama Varma High School, Kochi and Vivekodayam School, Thrissur. He completed his FA at the Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, and his BA at the St. Thomas College, Trichur. He went on to Lucknow University to earn postgraduate degrees in literature and law while completing courses in journalism.

In the summer of 1936, he visited the eminent sage, Sri Ramana Maharshi looked at him, he experienced a thrill of spiritual enlightenment which, at the time, he promptly rationalised away as being mere “hypnotism”.

Career in Journalism

Balan slowly recovered his health K. Rama Rao gave Balan his first job, as a journalist at The National Herald, a young newspaper that had been founded a few years back by Jawaharlal Nehru. He wrote many articles on the imperative of socialism in a society where the vast majority of people were poor. He wrote on subjects ranging from history and culture to social and political issues. Articles such as “In Praise of the Postman”, and “The Mochi –Symbol of Craftsmanship”, gained him a reputation as a controversial character. In 1947, he began a new series of articles for The Commonweal.

Vishva Hindu Parishad

In 1963, Swami Chinmayananda wrote an article the idea of calling for a World Hindu Council, inviting delegates from throughout the world to discuss the difficulties and needs concerning the “survival and development of Hindu culture”. Apte and Chinmayananda jointly organised such a conference at the Sandeepany ashram in August 1964, which resulted in the founding of the Vishva Hindu Parishad. Swami Chinmayananda was elected as President and Apte as general secretary of the new organisation.

Death

Swami Chinmayananda had chronic heart problems. He had his first heart attack in 1969, and his treatment was done in Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bangalore. On 26 July 1993, Chinmayananda suffered breathing problem in San Diego, California and on 29 July he had emergency heart bypass surgery at Sharp Memorial Hospital. His condition went to be critical and he died on 3^rd August 1993. On 7^th August 1993, thousands of people were at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi when his body returned India from where his body was sent to Sidhbari, Himachal Pradesh, where it was finally laid to rest.