From 1932 until his death in December 1969 at the age of 76 he was in charge of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco (founded by Vivekananda in 1900).

He spent his childhood days in Durgapur, a village seven or eight miles west of the town of Habibganj in the Sylhet district of Assam (now part of Bangladesh).

After graduating, he joined the Beanibazar High School in the town of Panchakhanda in the district of Sylhet, as an assistant headmaster.

He served as an editor of the Prabuddha Bharata, English monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order, from 1926 to December 1930, during which time he refuted some of Mahatma Gandhi's political and economic views.

We are afraid the Indian National Congress has been guilty of the identical error in its policy and activities during the past few years.

From 1926 though 1930, he was in correspondence with Romain Rolland, the French historian, novelist and mystic who was writing the biographies of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

[4][7] Ashokananda rendered great service to the cause of the Vedanta movement in the West by his clear and thorough expositions of Vedantic teachings through lectures and classes for nearly four decades.

Beyond their human quirks and ego-bound foibles, she says, he beheld the pure Spirit, and his role as a teacher was to polish the mirror of each disciple's perception to reflect this inner light.

"Swami Ashokananda's words emanated from the depths of his direct, illumined perception of the highest truths of Vedanta, and ignited in his listeners the longing for realization on their own."

– Sister Gargi[8] "Swami Ashokananda was a dynamic speaker, one of the best, and he attracted a steady stream of congregants to the Vedanta Society of Northern California."

– Sister Gargi "We are all thrashing about in a dark and hurtful world, and all the while we can light our own indistinguishable lamp of strength and wisdom by which we can see our way.