Swami Ranganathananda

Thirteenth president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission (1908–2005), renowned for his lucidity in explaining Vedanta to Western audiences and for living the teaching of atman-as-witness through physical infirmity.

Overview

Ranganathananda served as the thirteenth president of the Ramakrishna Order. In Swami Sarvapriyananda’s lectures he appears twice — once in Ep 6 as the Swami who answered the direct American question “have you seen God?” with “yes — in the language of the Kena Upanishad, what do you mean by seeing God?” — and once in Ep 8 as the subject of the stroke anecdote.

The stroke story is cited as a living demonstration of 2.21’s teaching that the knower is not the body. At 95, suffering the onset of a stroke, Ranganathananda turned to his young attendant and said matter-of-factly, “Call the doctor. Something is happening in my brain.” After recovery he asked the attendant how he (the Swami) was feeling; the reply: “Oh, I am fine.” The body was the one having a stroke, and the body’s condition was what medicine addressed; what the Swami identified as was unaffected.

Related

• Part of the Ramakrishna Order’s direct-disciple successor generation
• Demonstrates atman‘s actionless witness-nature in lived terms

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 6 [40:35]: Ranganathananda’s American “have you seen God?” exchange — answered through Kena.
• Ep. 8 [71:06]: The stroke anecdote — “Call the doctor. Something is happening in my brain.”