Renuka Press

Swami Swahananda (1921–2012), the head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California for thirty-six years, worked ceaselessly to spread Sri Ramakrishna’s message. He established seventeen centers and subcenters throughout the United States and has left the Ramakrishna movement in the West a rich legacy.

In this intimate, loving portrait, Dr. Malay Das presents Swami Swahananda as he knew him during the last seventeen years of the swami’s life. We witness the guru’s compassionate care for devotees and disciples, his ability to love with detachment, and his dignity and grace during his final illness.

What emerges in this book is not only a vivid account of a remarkable spiritual leader. It is also the enrichment of Dr. Das’s life that occurred as a result of knowing his guru. Over the course of their relationship, the swami became Dr. Das’s spiritual father, and Dr. Das became not only Swahanandaji’s disciple but also his physician, traveling with him and eventually helping to shepherd him through his final days. Beyond Dr. Das’s formal initiation in which he received his mantra, his relationship with Swami Swahananda was itself an initiation into a more God-centered life than he had known before.

This book will remind those who knew Swami Swahananda of the ways he touched and left an imprint on their lives. For those readers who did not have the opportunity to meet the swami in person, the book offers them a glimpse into the life and work of this great monk and spiritual teacher.