Background
Sathyananda Saraswathi was born Shekharan Nair on 22 September 1935 in a middle-class family in the village Andoorkonam near Thiruvananthapuram.
Sathyananda Saraswathi was born Shekharan Nair on 22 September 1935 in a middle-class family in the village Andoorkonam near Thiruvananthapuram.
He is sometimes referred to as His Holiness Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi. Sathyananda Saraswathi established Sree Rama Dasa Mission. He conducted Sathakoti Archana (1 Billion Holy Names of the Divine Mother) in Thiruvananthapuram in 2000.
While Shekharan Nair was working as a teacher at a high school, he was summoned to the ashram on the eve of his proposed departure to the Himalayas by Neelakanta Gurupadar.
He was initiated in to Sannyasa and trained by his guru, and after the samadhi he started building his organization. Sathyananda Saraswathi registered Sree Rama Dasa Mission with its motto "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" in 1981.
He played the key-role in Guruvayoor Temple Liberation Struggle and agitations against Devaswom Bill in 1996. Sathyananda Saraswathi continued Gurupadar"s tradition of Parayanam (recitation) of entire Adhyatma Ramayana daily at the temple at Chenkottukonam for more than 8 decades.
This still continues.
In 1989 Sathyananda Saraswathi started the Rama Navami Rathyatra covering the southern States of India annually since then Sathyananda Saraswathi founded Manishi Herbal Research for ayurvedic research and production, and prescribed the formulations of many previously unknown medicines claimed to be potent, e.g. launching a health drink called "Herbal Cola". A spiritual nucleus in the ashram premises at Trivandrum in the form of a 108 foot high temple was named "Jyotikshetra" by Saraswathi.The temple is supposed to have more than hundred sacred flames which would be bought from all the main temples all over india.The beauty of the temple with a spiral walkway going upward is equally admirable as much as the feel and tranquility of the place refreshed and energized with more than hundred cores of vedic chanting and tantric activities.
Sree Rama Dasa mission under Saraswathi worked for the spiritual resurrection by putting an end to inequalities and caste-based discrimination in Indian society.
In 2000 Sathyananda Saraswathi organized and carried out Shatakoti Archana (1 Billion Chants of Divine Mother’s Name), in which thousands of people chanted and prayed. Saraswathi established centres of Sree Rama Dasa Mission in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Richmond, Virginia, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Jose in the United States of America. There are disciples and active centers in Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, the Caribbean Islands and the United Kingdom.
He conducted tours all over India and countries including United States of America, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname.