Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (IAST: Svāmī Brahmānanda Sarasvatī) (21 December 1871[1] – 20 May 1953), also known as Guru Dev (meaning "divine teacher"), was the Shankaracharya of the Jyotir Math monastery in India.

The family guru, however, was so impressed with Rajaram's advanced state of wisdom and spiritual evolution that he gave up any attempt to change the boy's mind.

[4] Five years later, at the age of fourteen, in a village in Uttar Kashi, Rajaram found his chosen master and became a disciple of Svāmī Krsnānanda Sarasvatī.

[4][5][6] His disciple, Swami Karpatri, is reported to have been the person who brought the request for Brahmānanda to take the post[16] after a search for a proper candidate was initiated by Dharma Maha Mandal.

[5] As respected supporters of religious institutions, the rulers of the cities of Garhwal, Varanasi and Darbhanga also endorsed Brahmānanda, and their recognition helped overcome opposition from previous claimants to the title.

He also supervised the final construction of the Shrine of Purnagiri Devi about 100 yards in front of the new monastery, which "the Darbhanga ruler" had begun just prior to his death.

[4][19] Saraswati's leadership was instrumental in re-establishing the Jyotir Math as "an important centre of traditional advaita teaching in northern India".

[6] He spent most of his time as Śaṅkarācārya traveling around northern India giving lectures in an effort to re-establish the correct understanding of Shankara's teachings.

With such unique adoration of newer and fuller grandeur, transcending the glories of the expression of antiquity, was worshiped the holy name of Guru Deva, the living expression of Upanishadic Reality, the embodiment of the transcendent Divinity, [20] and Brahmānanda was visited by Rajendra Prasad, the President of India, and the philosopher Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, who succeeded Prasad as President of India.

[9] Within a decade of becoming Shankaracharya, he accumulated many thousands of disciples and reinforced the concept of the Jyotir Math monastery as an important centre for Advaita philosophy.

[9] In 1979, the Federal Courts in Malnak v. Yogi found that TM teachers made multiple offerings and obeisances to a "deified Guru Dev" during the puja ceremony they performed before giving mantras to their students.

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