Swami Brahmasthananda Maharaj, former President, Ramkrishna Math, Nagpur, passed away of heart attack on Sunday at 9.15 pm. He was 82. Funeral procession will start at 10 am on Monday from Ramkrishna Temple, Dhantoli, for Mokshadham. Brahmasthananda had joined Ramkrishna Math in 1971 at Nagpur and before leaving to Belur for training, he spent five formative years at Nagpur Centre in various departments. He was ordained into Sannyas in 1982 and transferred to Ramkrishna Math, Hyderabad, where he worked as the Librarian and then as Deputy Director of Vivekananda Vani Sanstha (Institute of Languages) where six different Indian and foreign languages (viz Sanskrit, English, French, German, Russian and Arabic) were taught.

 

He travelled across the country, representing Ramkrishna Math at various seminars and gave discourses. Swami Brahmasthananda worked under Swami Ranganathananda, at Hyderabad, for 13 years, and later went on to become 13th President of Ramkrishna Sangha. Swami Brahmasthananda worked at border with Bangladesh, at Dinajpur district, as camp in-charge of flood relief work during October-November 1995. He returned to Nagpur Centre in 1996 as Adhyaksha. Swami Brahmasthanananda was instrumental in building magnificent Universal Temple of Sri Ramakrishna and a Vivekanand Vidyarthi Bhavan, a hostel for college students from poor family background. He left and indelible mark on Nagpur unit of the mission.