Swami Ishatmananda Biography

[Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago]

Swami Ishatmananda The headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math has appointed Swami Ishatmananda to be Minister-in-charge of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago and the Vivekananda Monastery & Retreat in Ganges, MI. Swami Chidananda has retired due to health but will remain at the Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple in Homer Glen. Swami Ishatmananda arrived in Chicago on February 28 to assume his new duties. Swami Ishatmananda joined the holy Ramakrishna Monastic Order in 1977 at Advaita Ashrama in Calcutta, the only center in the Ramakrishna Order where non-dualistic Advaita ideology is practiced. It is the English publication center of the Ramakrishna Order. Except for two years of monastic training at Belur Math Training Center he was attached with Advaita Ashrama up to 1987. He joined the relief work conducted by Belur Math and served the poor afflicted people of Bengal and Assam. He was posted at a famous educational institution of Bengal at Purulia when the center was passing through a very difficult situation due to workers strike etc. By Guru Maharaj’s Grace he became instrumental in solving the problem and in restoring the discipline in the school. He was chosen by the headquarters authority to start a center at Port Blair, Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. From the beginning of 1992 till the end of 1999 (almost 8 long years) he worked in the isolated islands and developed from scratch: The Vivekananda Home for destitute and orphan boys Karma Mandira, a vocational training center to train the less educated young people in different trades so that they could stand on their own feet. Jnana Mandira, a coaching center to help the educated young people get prepared for national level competitive examinations. Thakur Ghar, a Shrine and prayer hall with a capacity to accommodate more than 200 devotees. Sadhu Nivas, a well furnished building to accommodate senior Swamijis like President Maharaj and other visiting Swamijis. Spread the ideology of Bhagvan Sri Ramakrishna Deva among the islanders by visiting them frequently and distributing books, conducting bhakta sanmelans, giving discourses, participating in interfaith dialogues etc. In 2000 he was transferred to an Educational center for the tribals situated deep inside the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh. Here also, the situation was very difficult when he took charge. The tribal students were unruly, employees were uncooperative and the economical situation was poor. To crown all these difficulties, there were armed gangs operating from the jungles to separate the states from mainland India. He spent 12 years in this situation and once again with the blessings of the Holy Trio, made the center very advanced and successful. He developed four English medium schools (From class 1 to class XII), four boys hostels accommodating 600 students, a vocational training institute for the village youths, a twenty bed hospital, medicinal plant park, fishery, dairy, poultry etc. on a 300 acre plot of land. He also developed six English medium primary schools for the education of the poor backward class children. He was the vice-President of Uttar Purvanchala Bhava Prachar Parishad and an advisory committee to guide the devotees to maintain the Ashrama in the line of Ramakrishna Mission philosophy. Under his care there were 60 private centers situated mainly in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland etc. He was also the Vice-President of Tripura Bhava Prachar Parishad which has 47 private centers as its members. He used to travel almost every month to conduct different type of spiritual programs among the devotees of these centers. He has to his credit a book called ‘Tales from Vivekananda’ and a translation of “Mind and Its Control”. Many of his articles have been published in different journals, and a Bengali exposition on the Bhagavad Gita recently was published by the Advaita Ashrama in a DVD album.