Swami Chidananda Saraswati
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Swami Chidananda Saraswati (b. 24 September 1916) is President of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India. He is well-known in India as a yogi, jnani and spiritual leader. He succeeded as President of the Divine Life Society in 1963, after the mahasamadhi of his predecessor, Swami Sivananda, who founded the Society.
He has authored dozens of books on yoga and spirituality. His most well known work is Light Fountain.
Swami Chidananda Saraswati's birth name was Sridhar Rao. He received his education in both India and in the West, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola College. He took to a life of renunciation in 1936, and joined the ashram run by Swami Sivananda in Rishikesh in 1943.
He was appointed General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in 1948. He was initiated into the Sannyas order by his guru, Swami Sivananda, on Guru Purnima day, 10 July 1949. It was then that he received his monastic name "Swami Chidananda", which means "a renunciate in the highest consciousness and bliss".
He was elected President of the Divine Life Society in August 1963, upon the mahasamadhi of Swami Sivananda.
