Swami Omkarananda (1956-2021)
Yuva Bharati|June 2021
A Protector, Scholar, And Teacher Of Dharma
Aravindan Neelakandan
Swami Omkarananda (1956-2021)

• That Swami Omkarananda attained samadhi now is a great loss for Tamil Hindu society and it does feel orphaned in this loss of the physical presence of the Swami.

Swami Omkarananda was born in 1956 in a village near Coimbatore to Vaidhyanatha Ganapadi and Alamelu Ammal. It was a family of traditional Vedic scholars and hence naturally poor. Goshteswara Sharma was the name given by his parents and he grew up mastering Vedic recitation and rituals. Even in his young age he had mastered Vedic recitation. His spiritual quest led him to Swami Vive kananda's works.He obtained his sanyasa deeksha – initiation into monkhood – from Swami Chidhbavananda.

Swami Chidhbavananda was not only a great spiritual master but also a dedicated worker for society.In the modern history of Tamil Nadu, he was verily an avataric Dharma warrior but with no pretensions of ritual sanctimoniousness.Swami Chidhbavananda had made a commentary on the Thiruvachagam based on Sri-Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Vedanta tradition. The initiation from this great Vedantic Maha-Acharya of Tamil Nadu, became an abiding blessing and guide for Swami Omkarananda. All these dimensions of Swami Chidhbavananda were taken forward significantly into our own times by Swami Omkarananda. He later learnt traditionalist Vedanta from Swami Paramarthananda of the Swami Dayananda Saraswathi Gurutradition.

This story is from the June 2021 edition of Yuva Bharati.

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This story is from the June 2021 edition of Yuva Bharati.

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