Swami Atmasthananda passes away, PM tweets – ‘it’s a personal loss’

Kolkata: Swami Atmasthananda Maharaj, 99, president of the Belur-headquartered Ramkrishna Math and Mission died of age-related ailments in Kolkata’s Ramkrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan on Sunday evening. Born on May 10, 1919 at Sabajpur, near Dhaka in the then undivided Bengal, the Swami received spiritual initiation in 1938 from Swami Vijnananda, a disciple of Ramkrishna. He joined the Ramkrishna Order at Belur at the age of 22. As President of Ramakrishna Mission set up by Swami Vivekananda, Swami Atmasthananda ji worked tirelessly & spread its influence globally.The monk had been in the hospital since February 2015 due to health issues. He had been on ventilation since Saturday night after a sharp decline in his condition.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi tweeted: The demise of Swami Atmasthananda ji is a personal loss for me. I lived with him during a very important period of my life.Swami Atmasthananda ji was blessed with immense knowledge & wisdom. Generations will remember his exemplary personality.Whenever I would visit Kolkata, I would always make it a point to seek the blessings of Swami Atmasthananda ji.As President of Ramakrishna Mission set up by Swami Vivekananda, Swami Atmasthananda ji worked tirelessly & spread its influence globally.

Sudesh Verma’s book Modi the game changer mentions early phase of Narendra Modi’s life: Young Narendra Modi had met then chief of RK Mission at Rajkot, Swami Atmasthananda. Narendra spent some time there and requested that he be taken into the ashram as a disciple but the swami politely refused. He had seen something in Narendra that asked him to persuade the young boy not to become a monk. He had told Narendra that he was meant to do something spectacular in worldly life. A dejected Modi left for the Himalayas. The Swami advised him to keep a beard, something that stayed with him ever since then.