Swami Parijnanashram III (Devanagari: परिजनाश्रम, Pa.ri.jñā.nā.śram) (June 15, 1947 – August 29, 1991) was the tenth guru of the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin community.

He aimed at making the Chitrapur village a self-sustaining viable township with an agricultural, industrial and commercial life of its own with an underlying spiritual base.

Swami Parijñānāshram felt restrained by the lack of acceptance from certain sections of society and which finally resulted in His abdication of the post of the Head of Chitrapur Math (Mathādhipati) in 1979.

[3] After this, He travelled all across India and even went abroad (The first guru of the community to do so), before He settled down in a matha constructed under his regime, at Karla.

This allowed Him to extend His welfare programs to the down-trodden people irrespective of community, caste, creed or status.

He did His primary schooling till the age of 6 at Shirali, under the watchful eyes of the incumbent Head of the community Swami Ānandāshram.

Claims include she having dreams like the Vision of a 7 hooded serpent, the impulse to offer her offspring to Lord Bhavānishankar during the aarti and so on.

He was ordained as the successor to Swami Ānandāshram in a grand ceremony of initiation as a disciple at Shivaji Park, Mumbai on March 1, 1959.

[4] He studied under His guru for a long period of 7 years until Swami Ānandāshram attained Mahā-samādhi on September 16, 1966.

This long period of tutelage under His guru allowed Parijñānāshram to attain a great command over the Sanskrit scriptures.

He was responsible for the restarting of the Rathōtsav ("Car Festival") in 1973 which had been suspended for 35 years due to financial insecurity.

Ānandāshraya provided these "orphaned" elders a place to stay and enjoy the last days of their lives with love, dignity and self-respect.

See their webpage here Swamiji personally supervised in the construction of an ashram by name Jñānānand in the town of Kārla in Maharashtra.

He noticed two fishermen trying to battle the cyclonic conditions in the Arabian Sea but they failed after their boat capsized and they drowned.

Swamiji also studied and obtained a first grade amateur radio license within a period of 3 months of applying for it, a task that is difficult by normal standards.

The large scale industrial, commercial and technical development did not go well with certain orthodox sections of the society, especially certain people within the Chitrapur Math.

[11][12] Tired of all the opposition and accusations he had to face, Swamiji graciously relinquished the title of Mathādhipati or Head of the matha and community by 1981.

So as an act of grace, He did the ultimate sacrifice (Tyāga) of relinquishing the title of head of the community and the matha by 1981.

On December 24, 1989, the Mahasabha (grand gathering/meeting) of the Sāraswats took place at Mumbai where Swamiji made His position regarding becoming the mathādhipati very clear to the community.

It is only when we as Mathadhipati initiate a Shishya that the present Guruparampara founded by Adi Parijnanashram Swamiji will continue.

Further RESOLVED that as per tradition, custom and usage, Chitrapur Saraswat community has accepted only that Shishya who has been initiated by our own Guru and in view of this tradition, it is our resolve that no other Shishya who is initiated by any other Sanyasi will be acceptable to the community.Despite these decisions, the Kshamāyāchana (Letter of forgiveness) by members of the Karla Math (People who were strong supporters of Swamiji) to the present head of the Chitrapur Math, Swami Sadyojāt Shankarāshram in 2005, led to the mending of relations between the two sections of the community.

(See Mending of relationships) After abdication, Swamiji settled down at the Jnānānand, an ashram He had constructed in the town of Karla in Maharashtra.

On August 27, 1991, Swamiji, suddenly left for Bangalore to be at the Chitrapur Math there, the place where His Guru Swami Ānandāshram had died.