Mahasamadhi of Sri Swami Satyananda Giri,
Disciple of Parama Pujya Sri Vidyananda Giri Swamigal
of Sri Gnanananda Thapovanam
Swami Satyananda Giri was born in
1947 at Chennai to a pious Brahmin couple Smt. Lakshmi and Sri Krishnamurthy
and was named as Mahadev. He studied in Christian College High school, later at
Madras Christian College, Tambaram and Presidency College. He had outstandingly
brilliant educational career. He worked for a short time in “The Hindu”.
Very early in his life, he was
drawn to spiritual life when he read the book “Pathways through to space” by
Dr.Franklin Merrell Wolff. It led him to the study of Sankara Vedanta and was
keenly drawn to Bhagavan Sri Ramana. He was visiting Arunachala often.
Subsequently, he met Sadguru Swamini Gnanananda Saraswati and was drawn to her.
As advised by her, he came to Sri Gnanananda Thapovanam and received sannyasa
diksha from Parama Pujya Sri Swami Vidyananda Giri on Vyasa Puja day, 9th
July 1979.
He was staying at Sri Gnanananda
Niketan and was taking part in the activities of the ashram. An erudite scholar
of western philosophy, particularly Kant and was interested in comparing Sankara
Vedanta with some of the thinkers of the West. It resulted in writing books like
“The Twirling of the Lotus” and on “Kant”.
He attained Mahasamadhi on 31st
March 2015 and was laid to rest at Sri Gnanananda Niketan, Thapovanam.
In above photo, second from left is Sri Swami Satyananda Giri and fourth from left is Sri Swami Vidyananda Giri.
