Swami Chinmayanandaji, lovingly called Gurudev, has blessed us with motivation to look within; has given us the gift of knowledge to initiate inner growth; and has embraced us with love so that we embrace vedanta.

 

His Holiness Swami Chinmayananda (Pujya Gurudev), founder of Chinmaya Mission, taught spirituality as the art of living. Through the path of Jnana Yoga, or path of knowledge, he emphasized the balance of head and heart, pointing out selfless work, study, and meditation as the cornerstones of spiritual practice.

 

Not satisfied with his literature and law degrees or other worldly aspirations, Balakrishnan Menon pursued the spiritual path for nine years in the Himalayas, under the guidance of Swami Sivananda and the tutelage of Swami Tapovanam. He eventually chose to share his direct experience of Vedantic knowledge with the masses, and roared forth like Mother Ganga in the form of the dynamic spiritual master known as Swami Chinmayananda.

 

Gurudev is renowned worldwide as one of the foremost teachers of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. He is credited with the renaissance of cultural values in India and with the spreading of the ageless wisdom of Advaita Vedanta, as expounded by Adi Shankaracharya, throughout the world.

 

Gurudev attained mahasamadhi on August 3, 1993. His legacy remains in the form of written, audio, and video publications; social service projects (schools, hospitals, rural development programs, and more); and the missionaries who carry on his vision to this day.