Swami Vagishananda
Swami Vagishananda (January 12, 1930 – March 12, 2021) was an Indian monk of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission and vice president of the Ramakrishna Order. He was known as one the finest ever administrative figures of the order, globally.
Early life
He was born in a wealthy family of North Kolkata. He was the fourth of his siblings.
Academic career
After completing his pre-graduation from St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College, he joined Bangabasi College for graduation. After completing his graduation, he enrolled as a student of Medical Science at Calcutta Medical College & Hospital.
Early monastic career
He joined Belur Math, the global Head Quarter of the Ramakrishna Order in 1955 as Brahmachari. Then, he was initiated by Swami Shankarananda. In 1962, he was initiated on Sannyasa by Swami Vishuddhananda. In 1962, he was posted as Deputy Secretary at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha. After that, he worked on the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture as Assistant Secretary in 1966.
Senior monastic career
In 1972, he joined as the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Saradapith. In 1978, he transferred to Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi as Saha-adhyaksha for a brief period. In 1979, he joined as Adhyaksha of Ramakrishna Mission Malda and eventually tranferred to Vedanta Society of New York as Resident Swami in 1980. He moved to India in 1984 and joined as Adhyaksha of Cossipore Udyanbati, the last residence of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. In 1985, he was transferred to Ramakrishna Mission, Mumbai as Adhyaksha and stayed there for a quarter century till 2010. He was inducted in the Board of Trustees of the Ramakrishna Order on 1988. He was joined on the post of Udyanbati Adhyaksha for second term in 2010.
Vice presidency
He was elected as the global vice president of the Ramakrishna Order in 2014. He served as the seniormost vice president of the order from 2017 after the demise of Swami Atmasthananda|Atmasthananda till his death in 2021. He iniatiated likely 50,000 desciples as vice president of the order.
Visits
As a trustee of the Ramakrishna Order, he extensively visited foreign countries and international centres of the order including New York City, Hollywood, St. Louis,Dublin, Capetown, Argentina etc. Later, as vice president of the order, he visited many other countries for initiation programs. He aslo attended many international peace conferences.
Illness and death
He was partially fit until mid-2020. He was suffering from chest infections from late 2020. From then, he was hospitalised several times. In January 2021, he was hospitalised with severe infections and recovered. He was admitted in Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan for the last time in March 2021.
On the evening of March 12, 2021, he suffered from a severe coronary thrombosis and died at 19:05.
His death created a vacuum over the order. Many of the administrators, politicians and monks condoled. His body was kept at RKM Headquaters, Belur Math until the next day when it was cremated with full monastic honours.
Legacy
He was one of the famed administrators of the order, with tough and active administrative capacity. A tough administrator he was iniatiated a large number of desciples likely fifty thousands over the globe.
Bibliography
Swami Vagishananda:Life Sketch Published by Ramakrishna Math,2021. https://archive.org/details/swami-vagishanandaji-maharaj-a-life-sketch
References
External links
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