Who was Swami Harshananda; Ramakrishna Ashram head seer passes away

Swami Harshananda, head of the Ramakrishna Ashram in Bengaluru, passed away on Tuesday after suffering cardiac arrest. The ashram authorities revealed the news of head seer's death, which happened at around 1 p.m. after he had lunch and went to his room.

Swami Harshananda, aged 91, had reportedly been suffering from age related issues, but never stopped his day-to-day activities of the ashram. For the last few months, the senior seer was on a wheelchair.

"Despite this, he moved around and took care of the affairs of the Ashram. After having lunch today, he went to his room, where he breathed his last at about 1 PM, an Ashram official told PTI.

Karnataka CM Yediyurappa expressed his condolences on the passing of the seer. "Swami Harshananda was a scholar who upheld the philosophies of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda. He was an orator par excellence," he said.

Who was Swami Harshananda?

Swami Harshananda graduated from the University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in mechanical engineering as a gold medallist. Instead of pursuing a conventional career in his field of interest, he chose to become a monk and led his life in the religious service thereafter.

Swami Harshananda was inspired by Swami Vivekananda's teachings. He joined the Ramakrishna Mission in 1954, where he was guided by Swami Virajananda, the sixth president of the Bengaluru branch of Ramakrishna Mission, PTI reported.

Swami Harshananda was initiated into the monastic order by Swami Vishuddhananda, the eighth president of the Ashram, in 1962. The Swami had worked in Benglauru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Belur Math in West Bengal (headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission) and Allahabad.

Swami was also the president of the Ramakrishna Math in Bengaluru since 1989. He was a multi-lingual and an expert in Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali and English, the ashram officials were quoted as saying.

Swami Harshananda also contributed to the Hindu literature in a big way. He authored several books in Kannada, Sanskrit and English, including "A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism."