Kolkata: Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math President, Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj passed away at a city hospital on Sunday after a prolonged illness.
The 98-year-old monk had been undergoing treatment for old age related ailment since February, 2015. A statement released by the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math said, “Despite the best medical attention, his condition deteriorated over the last few days and he passed away around 5.30PM today at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan hospital.”
The cremation will take place at Belur Math on Monday at about 9.30 pm and the gates of Belur Math will remain open on Sunday night and throughout Monday till the last rites are completed, it stated.
Atmasthanandaji, born in May, 1919, at Sabajpur, near Dhaka now in Bangladesh, had received “mantra diksha” from Swami Vijnananandaji Maharaj (a monastic disciple of Ramakrishna) in 1938 and joined the Ramakrishna Order at Belur Math in January 1941 when he was only 22 years old.
In 1945, Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, the sixth President of the Order, gave him Brahmacharya vows, and in 1949, Sannyasa vows and the name Swami Atmasthananda. After serving the Order at Belur Math and the branches at Deoghar (Vidyapith) and Mayavati (Advaita Ashrama), Atmasthanandaji got the opportunity to serve Swami Virajanandaji Maharaj, the then President of the Order, for a long time. He spent several years in his holy company in the solitude of Shyamla Tal in the Himalayas. In 1952, he was posted to Ranchi TB Sanatorium branch as an Assistant Secretary. In 1958, he was sent to Rangoon (Yangon) in Burma (now Myanmar) Sevashrama as its secretary. When military rulers took over Rangoon Sevashrama, he returned to India in 1965 and was posted to Rajkot branch as its head in 1966.
He was elected a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and Member of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1973. In 1975, he was appointed an Assistant General Secretary of the twin organizations. Under his stewardship as Relief Secretary, the Math and Mission conducted massive relief and rehabilitation operations in various parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. He became the General Secretary of the Math and Mission in 1992 and continued to be in that post for five years till 1997 when he became a Vice-President of the Order.
He was elected President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in December 2007.
Meanwhile, as soon as the news of his death spread in Shillong, several devotees with tearful eyes gathered at the Laitumkhrah Ashrama premises. In memory of the Maharaj, the Ramakrishna Mission Shillong will organise a condolence meeting and ‘Bhandara’ on June 30 at its Laitumkhrah Ashrama premises.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who paid a visit to the ailing Maharaj earlier in the afternoon, described his passing away as “an irreparable loss to mankind”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had met the ailing Swami on April 17 last year, condoled the seer’s death, terming it as a “personal loss”. As a young boy, Modi had visited the Belur Math to join the Order, but his request was turned down and he was told that his calling was elsewhere. Later, he got spiritual guidance from Swami Atmasthananda in Rajkot, Gujarat and considered him as his ‘guru’. (PTI)
