Swami Premananda

Swami Premananda was working as an officer in the revenue department of the Government, and he used to visit the Ashram. Later on he relinquished this job on a call from the spiritual ideal of life, in pursuit of which he came to the Ashram of Sri Gurudev, sometime in 1957. Sri Gurudev found him to be a very honest worker, having been already acquainted with managemental and administrative work as a revenue official. He was primarily, at the beginning, entrusted with looking to the Branches of the Divine Life Society through its office at the Headquarters, which work he did to the satisfaction of Sri Gurudev. He fell ill later on. He had an acute attack of Malaria which partially rendered him deaf, by the intake of Quinine, and in that connection to take rest he went from the Ashram to some place in Rajasthan where devotees finding him a very simple and amiable person requested him to continue to stay there for a long time and start a little Centre of the Divine Life Society. This nucleus of Sri Gurudev's work in Rajasthan spread itself in different places especially in the Punjab where he became quite known to people there due to his discourses on the Ramacharita Manas of Sri Tulsidas, and spiritual messages that he gave to people together with his personal touch which began to make devotees feel that his presence has a healing touch to families and individuals who had difficulties and problems of one type or the other. For many years, Swami Premananda lived outside the Headquarters of the Ashram, carrying on this work of spreading spiritual messages, though visiting the Ashram almost annually. Once when he came to the Ashram on a visit, he was requested by Swamijis in the Ashram to settle down here and to render some service at the headquarters, which he graciously accepted and is rendering till his Mahasamadhi on 2003.