Swami Gahananandaji after being elected. Picture by Pabitra Das

Calcutta, May 25: Swami Gahananandaji was today elected the 14th president of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at a meeting of the Math’s board of trustees and the Mission’s governing body.

Gahananandaji, one of the vice-presidents of the Math and Mission since April 14, 1992, succeeds Swami Ranganathanandaji, the scholar and internationally acclaimed speaker, who died at the age of 96 at a city nursing home on April 25.

Born in Paharpur village in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh) in October 1916, Gahananandaji joined the Ramakrishna order at its Bhubaneswar centre in January 1939 at the age of 22.

He received mantra diksha from Swami Virajananda, the then president of the order, in 1939 and sanyas from him in 1948, Mission sources said. Swami Virajananda was a direct disciple of Sarada Ma.

Gahananandaji served at the Advaita Ashrama here from 1942 to 1952 and at the Shillong centre from 1953 to 1958. He was also secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan in the city and was one of the driving forces behind developing the hospital.

“He (Gahananandaji) silently worked for the welfare of the poor. He was associated with the Seva Pratisthan for 22 years and developed it into a 550-bed modern healthcare centre from a small maternity hospital,” a senior monk said.

Mission sources said Swami Gahananandaji was elected trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and member of the Mission’s governing body in 1965. In 1979, he was appointed assistant secretary of the twin organisations.

Gahananandaji became the general secretary of the Math and Mission in 1989 and served in the post for three years till he became a vice-president of the order. From then on, he headed the Ramakrishna Math (Yogodyan) at Kankurgachhi.

“Today, Swamiji (Gahananandaji) has attained a height where he has become an anga (part) of Thakur (Ramakrishna). He has provided guidance to a large number of sanyasis. He has great personality,” a senior monk of the Mission said.

Gahananandaji has initiated over 1 lakh disciples, he added.

Gahananandaji has travelled widely. He has been to the US, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and other countries to preach the Vedanta and the ideals of Swami Vivekananda. He has also visited Ramakrishna Mission centres abroad to monitor their functioning.