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{{Short description|Indian Shankaracharya (b. 1913, d. 1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox Hindu leader
| birth_date = 16 July 1913
| birth_name = Ram Ji
| birth_place = Achhati village in [[Basti district]]
| death_date = 7 December 1997
| disciples =[[Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati]]
| guru = [[Brahmananda Saraswati]], Udiya Baba
| honors = Sankaracarya of [[Jyotir Math]]
| name = Swami Shantanand Saraswati
| image = Swami Santanand saraswathi.png
| philosophy = [[Advaita Vedanta]]
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
| title = [[Shankaracharya]] of [[Jyotir Math]]
| ordination = 12 June 1853
| predecessor = [[Brahmananda Saraswati]]
| Successor = [[Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati]] }}

'''Swami Shantanand Saraswati''' (1913–1997) was [[Shankaracharya]] of the [[Jyotir Math]] monastery from 1953 to 1980; he was a direct disciple of [[Brahmananda Saraswati]] and succeeded him as Shankaracharya.

==His life==
In 1953, five months before his death, Brahmananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, made a hand-written [[Will and testament|will]] naming his disciple, Swami Shantanand Saraswati, as his successor.<ref>Pasricha, Prem C. (1977) The Whole Thing the Real Thing, Delhi Photo Company, p. 71</ref><ref name="Indology">Unknown author (2005) [http://indology.info/papers/sundaresan Indology] The Jyotirmatha Shankaracharya Lineage in the 20th Century, retrieved 4 August 2012</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=East Meets West|last=John|first=Adago|publisher=Program Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0692124215|edition=2}}</ref> Shantanand assumed the Shankarcharya-ship but his authority was later disputed by several of Brahmananda's disciples and followers who did not feel (due at least in part to Shantananda's lack of lifelong celibacy) that Shantanand met the requirements described in the Mahanusasana texts.<ref name="Indology"/>

Shantananda Saraswati became a devotee of Brahmananda Saraswati at an early age. He wanted to become a monk but Brahmananda Saraswati instructed him to marry. Due to this Shantanand lived the life of a householder, worked as a bookbinder, and supported a wife and child for fourteen years. Upon his wife's death he once more sought, and was granted, permission from Brahmananda Saraswati to become a monk. Shantananda was the first Shankaracharya to have lived as a householder for part of his life. This break in tradition has continued to cause controversy and dissent among some disciples of Brahmananda.<ref name=":0" />

Shantananda Saraswati received Western visitors from a number of organisations thus making his teaching available to many around the world.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Mindful philosophy|last=J.|first=Snow, Michael|date=October 2018|isbn=9781546292388|location=Milton Keynes|oclc=1063750429}}</ref> In 1960 Dr Francis Roles (the named successor of [[P. D. Ouspensky]]) of [[The Study Society]], travelled to India and became a follower of Swami Shantananda Saraswati; a few years later [[Leon MacLaren]] of the [[School of Economic Science]] also visited Shantananda Saraswati in India and became a follower. From this point on the teachings of both organisations became predominantly based on [[Advaita Vedanta]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofenlightene00rawl|title=The book of enlightened masters : western teachers in eastern traditions|author=Rawlinson, Andrew|date=1997|publisher=Open Court|isbn=0812693108|location=Chicago|oclc=36900790|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johanna|first=Petsche|date=2015|title=Gurdjieffian Overtones in Leon MacLaren's School of Economic Science|journal=International Journal for the Study of New Religions|volume=6|issue=2|pages=197–219|doi=10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.28443}}</ref> He also provided guidance to the ''[[School of Meditation]]'' in Holland Park, London, from 1967 to his death.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Being oneself : the way of meditation|last=W.|first=Whiting, F.|date=1985|publisher=The School|others=School of Meditation.|isbn=0951105604|location=London|oclc=17234389}}</ref> For more than thirty years he passed on his teaching to the West. Before he died he wrote a letter to students in the West saying: "You have all that is needed to carry on, you need only to put what has been given into practice".<ref name=":0" />

Meanwhile, organizations which had been concerned with reviving the Jyotir Math in the 1930s reconvened and proposed Swami Krishnabodha Asrama as Shankaracharya despite Shantanand's claim and occupation of the Jyotir Math Shankaracharya-ship.<ref name="Advaita Vedanta">Unknown author (5 May 1999) archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706131203/http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ad-today.html here] Accessed: 2012-08-30. or [https://web.archive.org/web/20000823031922/http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/ad-today.html here%5D The Monastic Tradition] Advaita Vedanta web page, retrieved 28 August 2012</ref> However, Krishnabodha died in 1973, and he nominated his disciple [[Swaroopananda Saraswati]], a prior disciple of Brahmananda, as his successor. But because Shantananda still occupied the Jyotir Math ashram built by Brahmananda, Swaroopananda took residence in a nearby building or [[ashram]] instead.<ref name="Advaita Vedanta"/>

Sri Shantananda Saraswati's teachings continue to be widely studied in the West due to the guidance he provided [[the Study Society]] and the [[School of Economic Science]], which both offer courses, teachings, lectures, and publications on the philosophy of non-duality. A contemporary well-known spiritual teacher to emerge from this tradition is [[Rupert Spira]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rupertspira.com/about|title = About spiritual teacher, author and speaker | Rupert Spira}}</ref> These schools are also responsible for the promulgation of a particular type of meditation, sometimes known as "[[Transcendental Meditation|transcendental meditation]]".<ref name=":2" /> One celebrity who first learned to meditate in this context is [[Hugh Jackman]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/oprah-interviews-hugh-jackman/all|title = Oprah Talks to Hugh Jackman}}</ref>

During his tenure, Shantanand was "supportive" of another Brahamananda disciple [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] and "often appeared with him in public".<ref>Mason (1994) p. 57 Note: "On Tuesday, 30 May 1961, eight years to the day after his master's death, the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Swami Shantanand Saraswati graced the teacher training course with his presence and was received with all due ceremony. Arriving at the site where the new Academy was being built, he addressed the Maharishi and the gathered meditators . . . . He commended the practice of the Maharishi’s meditation, describing it as a 'master key to the knowledge of Vedanta' and added, 'There are other keys, but a master key is enough to open all the locks.’</ref><ref>name="Williamson">Williamson, Lola (2012) New York University Press, Transcendent In America, page 87</ref> In 1961 he appeared at one of the Maharishi's training courses in [[Rishikesh]] and addressed the trainees, describing the meditation method as "the master key to the knowledge of [[Vedanta]]": "There are other keys, but a master key is enough to open all the locks".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Maharishi : the biography of the man who gave transcendental meditation to the world|last=Mason, Paul, 1952-|isbn=1852305711|location=Shaftesbury, Dorset|oclc=31133549|year = 1994}}</ref> In 1963 Sri Shantanand gave his support to the Marharishi's "All Indian Campaign".<ref name=":1" />

Finally, in 1980, Shantananda relinquished the Shankarcharya position to Dandi Swami Vishnudevananda, who held the position until his death in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/Shantanand.htm|title=Profile of Shankaracharya Swami Shantanand Saraswati - www.paulmason.info|website=www.paulmason.info|access-date=2019-04-11}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Shantanand, in his capacity as senior Shankaracharya, then appointed Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati to the role.<ref name="Indology" /><ref name=":0" /> Shantananda himself died in 1997.<ref name="Indology" />

== Teachings ==

Shantananda Saraswati taught that people should develop their spiritual life while fully engaged in worldly responsibilities, encouraging them to act to uplift their families, professions, communities, and to manifest the harmony, beauty, and efficiency of their spiritual practices in their everyday life.<ref name=":0" />

Sri Shantananda Saraswati (perhaps reflecting his experience as a husband and then a father) referred to love as "the natural in-between", a state of being that can always be availed because it lies within us all.<ref name=":2"/>

== Published discourses ==

* ''Good Company''. {{ISBN|978-0-9561442-1-8}}
* ''Good Company'' II. {{ISBN|978-0-9547939-9-9}}
* ''The Man Who Wanted to Meet God: Myths and Stories That Explain the Inexplicable by His Holiness Shantanand Saraswati''. {{ISBN|9781843336211}}
* ''Teachings of His Holiness Shantanand Saraswati''. {{ISBN|978-0-9561442-9-4}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/Shantanand.htm Bio of Shantanand by Paul Mason]
* [https://www.ouspenskytoday.org/wp/the-record-of-shankaracharya-audiences Record of Audiences]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:Shankaracharyas]]

Shantanand Saraswati - Revision history

CryptoCurrencydon at 12:29, 30 January 2026