By IANS
Kolkata : Swami Atmasthananda was Monday unanimously elected the new president of the Ramakrishna Mission by its board of trustees.
Swami Atmasthananda, 88, succeeds Swami Gahanananda who passed away Nov 14. He is the 15th president of the organisation.
Born in 1919 at Sabajpur, near Dhaka, Atmasthananda received mantra diksha or spiritual initiation from Swami Vijnanananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, in 1938 and joined the Ramakrishna Mission at the Belur Math Jan 3, 1941.
He took the brahmacharya or celibacy vow in 1945 and sanyas in 1949.
After serving the organisation at the Belur Math, Deoghar Vidyapith and Mayavati Advaita Ashrama, Atmasthananda got the opportunity to serve Swami Virajananda, the then president of the Mission, for a long time.
He was sent to Rangoon (now Yangon) Sevashrama as its secretary in 1958. He soon developed the Sevashrama hospital into one of the best hospitals in Burma (now Myanmar). When military rulers took over the Rangoon Sevashrama, he returned to India in 1965.
Atmasthananda 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 secretary. He was also appointed secretary of the relief operations of the organisation.
Under his stewardship, the Mission conducted massive relief and rehabilitation operations in various parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. He became the general secretary of the Mission in 1992 and served in that position till 1997 when he became its vice-president.
As vice-president, Atmasthananda travelled extensively in various parts of the country and visited many branches of the Mission and some unaffiliated centres.
In all those places, he spread the message of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and Vedanta and also gave mantra diksha to many.