Swami Swahananda

Swami Swahananda (29 June 1921 – 19 October 2012)[1] was a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California from 1976 to 2012.

Swami Swahananda was born on 29 June 1921 in a village near Habiganj in British India, now in Bangladesh, the youngest of three boys.

His father, Nirmal Chandra Goswami, died in April 1921 at the age of 32, just two months before Swahananda was born.

[7] As a spiritual leader, Swahananda encouraged westerners to take leadership roles in the Vedanta movement.

After several tests and consultations with doctors, it was determined that his condition was irreversible, and life support was removed per his wishes.

His translations into English include the Chandogya Upanishad and Panchadasi of Vidyaranya from Sanskrit, and Go Forward: Letters of Swami Premeshananda and Mahapurush Maharaj as We Knew Him from Bengali.