A special puja was organised at Belur Math as devotees and well-wishers paid their respects to Swami Smaranananda Maharaj, president of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, who passed away recently in Kolkata. Swami Smaranananda Maharaj was suffering from age related ailment for quite some time. Thousands of devotees and well wishers gathered at Belur Math to pay respect to him. Special puja was held at all the Math centres across the globe.
The speakers at the meeting held in Belur Math recollected the dynamic work of Swami Smaranananda. He followed Swami Vivekananda’ s message of Work is Worship. He was general secretary of the Order. He took the leading role in constructing a bridge in the east Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
He along with the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu were present at the inauguration of the bridge. Flood in east Godavari district is common. Before the construction of the bridge the villages were cut off from the rest of the India. RKM set up cyclone centres in the villages and helped the residents to be economically self reliant. Smaranananda Maharaj followed the spiritual life strictly, practicing meditation.
As the president of the Order he had initiated thousands of people. Born in south India, during his long stay in Bengal, he picked up Bengali as if it was his mother tongue. He motivated many youths to implement Swamiji’s manmaking, character building education. Swami Gautamananda will be the next president of the Order.