Swami Swarupananda (July 8, 1871–1906) was a direct monastic disciple of Swami Vivekananda and the first president of the Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, near Almora, set up by Swami Vivekananda in 1899. Advaita Ashrama was a branch of the a religious monastic order Ramakrishna Math, also set up by Swami Vivekananda on the teachings of his guru Sri Ramakrishna.
He also remained editor of Prabuddha Bharata, an English-language monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order, when it shifted base from Chennai in 1898 and remained so till 1906 [1].
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Swami Swarupananda was married early on in his youth but continued to live as a Brahamchari at his parents home in Calcutta; though soon just after three or four visits to the Belur Math, he decided to leave home and become a full time disciple of Swami Vivekananda, and within a few days of his stay at the Math, he was initiated into the monastic order, (sanyas) [2], by Swami Vivekananda on March 29, 1898 [3].
Meanwhile, Captain John Henry Sevier who had earlier come in contact with Swami Vivekananda during his visit to London and become his disciple, travelled to India with Swami Vivekananda, along with his wife Charlotte. Seviers with the help of Swami Swarupananda, found an old tea estate suitable for the Ashram, at Mayavati, near Almora in July 1898, soon the land was purchased and constructed commenced [4]. The Advaita Ashrama had its formal opening on 19 March 1899, which happened to be the birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna (Hindu calendar), that year, with Swami Swarupananda its first head upon [5][6].
Sister Nivedita had become a monastic disciple of Swami Vivekananda when she took sanyas four days prior to Swami Swarupananda at Belur, here in March–April 1898, Swami Swarupananda taught her Bengali and Hindu religious literature every day, later at Almora under his guidance she started reading the Bhagavad Gita, and was inspired her attempt meditation seriously [3].
The publication of Prabuddha Bharata, the Official Journal of the Ramakrishna Order was halted abruptly due to the death of its editor B. R. Rajam Iyer, who was only twenty-four years old, on May 13, 1898 in Chennai, Swami Vivekananda who was then resting at Almora asked Servier and his wife to revive the magazine, and the next issue of the magazine was published from Thompson house in Almora town in August 1898 with Swami Swarupananda as its editor, and later with the opening of the Ashram shifted base there in 1899 [7].
The location however didn't suit Swami Swarupananda well, as the constant uphill and downhill of Mayavati terrain, took a toll on his heart, and in November 1901 he was in Calcutta with Swami Vivekananda recuperating [8]; however he continued to edit the magazine and run the Ashram for another six year, when in 1906, he died in Nainital.