Swami Paramananda (Ramakrishna Mission)

Swami Paramananda (1884–1940) was one of the early Indian teachers who came to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living.

Biography

Birth and early life

Swami Paramananda was born on February 5, 1884 as Suresh Chandra Guha-Thakurta, the youngest son of a prestigious family, in the village of Banaripara. The village is in the district of Barisal, which was then part of East Bengal in British India and is now part of Bangladesh. His father, Ananda Mohan Guha-Thakurta, was well known as a progressive, a champion for women's education, a legacy he was to pass along to his sons. His mother, Brahmamoyee Basu, bore eight children before dying of cancer in her early forties, when Suresh was nine years old. Suresh was known for his affectionate nature and cheerfulness. When Suresh was sixteen, his father began to lose his eyesight. As a result, Suresh read devotional texts aloud and one that was particularly compelling was a collection of "Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna," a revered saint who had died fourteen years prior.

Joining the Ramakrishna Order

On his seventeenth birthday, Suresh joined a group of older men from the village in a journey to Belur Math to visit the monastery and temple founded by Ramakrishna's disciples. There he met his teacher, Swami Vivekananda, who was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and the first swami to teach in America....
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