Swami Sakrananda passes away

 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Swami Sakrananda, former head of Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur ashrams of the Sree Ramakrishna Mission, passed away here on Friday. He was 87 and suffered from agerelated ilnesses, Mission officials said.

”He has been ill for the past two years. The illness became severe in the past one week,” Swami Bhuvanatmananda of the Thiruvananthapuram Ashram said. The end came at 2.40 p.m. at the Mission’s hospital at Sasthamangalam. The cremation will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Nettayam Ashram here.

Sakrananda was known for his deep compassion towards the poor. As a youngster, he was inspired by the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda to join the Ramakrishna Mission. He was born as Sukumaran Nair to Narayana Pillai and Gowrikutty Amma on January 21, 1924, at Mattakkara, Kottayam. In 1942, the same year that he completed his matriculation, he visited the Ramakrishna Ashram at Kalady in Ernakulam district, but did not join. Swami Agamananda was the head of the Ashram then. Shortly after, he joined the Mylapore Ashram of the Mission in Madras. After receiving Manthra Deeksha from Swami Virajananda in 1942, he spent a few months at the Mylapore and Mangalapuram Ashrams.

He later moved to the Mission’s ashram at Puranattukara in Thrissur district. In 1952, he received the Sanyasa Deeksha from Swami Sankarananda at the Belur Math, Kolkata. He continued to serve at Thrissur in various capacities and in 1972 was appointed president, a post which he held up to 1987. That year, he took over as president of the Thiruvananthapuram Ashram and continued in the post till 1998. Then back to Thrissur again for a stint as president till 2005. Since then, Sakrananda had been leading a retired life at Nettayam where the first Ashram in Thiruvananthapuram was established.

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