Swami Chinamayananda was one of the greatest exponents of Vedanta, which is the foundation of Hindu religion and culture. Born on May 8, 1916 as Balakrishanan Menon in Kerala ( India), he took university degrees in Law and English Literature before plunging into India’s freedom struggle against the British. His nationalist activities led to his imprisonment. After he was released, Balakrishnan joined ’The National herald’ newspaper. While working for the newspaper, he decided to write an article “exposing” sadhus (monks), and travelled to Swami Sivananda’s ashram in Rishikesh for this purpose. However, he was overwhelmed when he met Swami Sivananda. A transformation took place within Balakrishnan, and he started pondering over questions like what is the purpose of life and what is the secret of permanent happiness. He decided to become a sadhu himself. On February 25, 1949 )Sivaratri day_, he was initiated into sanyas be Swami Sivananda. Balakrishan Menon was reborn as Swami Chinmayananda.

After some months at the ashram, Swami Sivananda guided him to the most renowned Vedanta master of the time, Swami Tapovanam, who lived in Uttarkashi in the Himalayas. As Swami Tapovanam’s disciple, Swami Chinmayananda led an extremely austere lifestyle and was put through a rigorous study of the scriptures. After his studies, Swami Chinamayananda travelled throughout India. He observed widespread spiritual and social degradation in the country, and felt the urge to share with others the knowledge that had brought fulfillment to his own life. After obtaining Swami tapovanam’s blessing, Swami Chinmayananda conducted his first ‘gyana yagna’ (spiritual discourse) in December 1951 in Pune. However, as he conducted more gyana yagnas around India, orthodox priests were outraged. they felt Vedanta was their preserve and should not to be given out to the public. They complained to the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, a senior Hindu saint. However, instead of restraining Swami Chinmayananda, the Shankaracharya advised the priests to go listen to his! From then on, there was no turning back. Chinmaya Mission was formed in 1953. Form public pulpits throughout India and the world, Swami Chinmayananda spread the man-making knowledge of Vedanta. His speeches were highly dynamic, logical and witty. Tens of thousands came to listen. For many years, Swami Chinamayananda followed a work schedule of 18 hours a day. Chinamaya Mission centres sprung up all over India and the globe. Hundreds of swamis and brahmacharis were trained to teach Vedanta. Thousand of study groups were started at the grassroots level. Many social projects were initiated such as schools, colleges, child and youth development programmes, hospitals, old age homes, training programmes for village nurses, income generation schemes for village women and rural environment projects.

Swami Chinamayananda authored more than 35 books, which include commentaries on the major Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta His commentary on the Bhagavad Geeta is acknowledged as one of the finest ever written.

Swami Chinamayananda eft his mortal frame on August 3, 1993 in San Diego, ( USA) by then, this great sage has created a renaissance in Hinduism. He had ended the monopoly of orthodox priests over Vedanta - and handed this eternal and priceless knowledge to the masses of India and the world.