Chidananda Saraswati

Chidananda Saraswati (24 September 1916 – 28 August 2008) was president of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India. He is well known in India as a yogi and spiritual leader. He succeeded as president of the Divine Life Society in 1963, after the death of his predecessor, Sivananda Saraswati, who founded the Society.

Chidananda's birth name was Sridhar Rao. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola College, Chennai. He pursued a life of renunciation in 1936 and joined the Sivananda Ashram run by Sivananda Saraswati in Rishikesh in 1943.

He was appointed as General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in 1948. He was initiated into the Sannyas order by his guru, Sivananda, on the day of Guru Purnima, 10 July 1949. It was then that he received his monastic name "Chidananda," meaning "one who is consciousness and bliss".

He was elected as president of the Divine Life Society in August 1963, upon the death of Sivananda.

Chidananda Saraswati died on 28 August 2008, at 20:11 pm. Provided by Wikipedia