Vedika Adhyapaka
Main Associate Teachers
Swami Bodhananda Saraswati
- VEDANTA -

Swami Bodhananda Saraswati is a highly respected Vedantin. As a monk, scholar, and author, he is an accomplished and much loved teacher of the wisdom of the Upanishads. A learned, compassionate and engaging person, Swamiji is the Spiritual Founder and Director of the Sambodh Foundation in New Delhi, the Bodhananda Research Foundation for Management and Leadership Studies in Trivandrum, Kerala, The Sambodh Society, Inc. his American organization, and the Bodhananda Seva Societies in Kerala, dividing his time amongst these ashrams and abodes of service.

Swami Bodhananda was born in Kerala, South India, close to the birthplace of Adi Shankaracharya, the great sage who ignited the fire of Advaita Vedanta throughout India over a thousand years earlier. Just months after completing his B.A in Economics, Swamiji left for the Himalayas in search of spiritual wisdom. Several years later, he was initiated into Adi Shankaracharya's order of teaching monks, embracing a life of renunciation, devotion to God and service to humanity.  Amidst that monastic life, Swamiji emerged first as an outstanding student, then as a gifted teacher of Vedanta, and a natural, inspiring leader. Many of his students from that era became well respected teachers of Vedanta. As his teaching became more widely known, he was invited to teach in Canada and the US, where he was destined to found an ashram dedicated to the living wisdom of Vedanta.

Swami Bodhananda is the author of several books: Meditation: The Awakening of Inner Powers, The Gita & Management, Rishi Vision, Self Unfoldment in An Interactive World, and a commentary on Adi Shankaracharya's classic Vedanta text, Atma Bodha, The Knowledge of the Self.  The theme of many of his public lectures is infusing modern society with spiritual values and the individual with the knowledge of his/her spiritual identity. For students of Vedanta, he teaches week-long seminars and retreats on specific Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Some of Swamiji's most unique work integrates traditional, scripture-based Vedantic values with modern economics and corporate management.

In Kerala, South India, Swami Bodhananda has founded several local service organizations, Bodhananda Seva Societies, including an orphanage for girls, free medical services for the poor, a spiritual retirement home for the aged, and yoga/meditation classes for teenagers.
Swami Bodhananda is a living Vedantin, articulate and vastly knowledgeable of Upanishadic wisdom, and a beautiful example of renunciation and service.