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Chinmayananda, in full Chinmayananda Saraswati, original name Balakrishna Menon, (born May 8, 1916, Ernakulam, India—died August 3, 1993, San Diego, California, U.S.), Indian spiritual thinker and authority on the Vedanta system of Indian philosophy.

Menon was born into an aristocratic family of Kerala state. After obtaining degrees in law and English literature from Lucknow University, he joined the Indian independence movement in 1942, later spending several months in prison for his activism. After his release he worked as a journalist for the National Herald, a New Delhi-based newspaper, and wrote prolifically on various subjects.

Despite professional success, Menon was dissatisfied, and he found himself plagued by philosophical questions regarding life, death, and spirituality. He embarked on an intensive study of philosophy, both Indian and European. Profoundly influenced by the writings of Swami Shivananda, a teacher of orthodox Vedanta, Menon renounced the world and joined Shivananda’s ashram in 1949, taking the title swami and adopting the name Chinmayananda Saraswati (Sanskrit: “The One Who Revels in the Bliss of Pure Consciousness”). He spent the next eight years in the Himalayas, studying ancient philosophical texts and scriptures under the Vedanta master Swami Tapovan.

During his study, Chinmayananda decided to spread the message of Vedanta in the hope of bringing about a spiritual revival in India. Beginning in Pune, he delivered hundreds of religious and philosophical discourses, which he called jnana yajñas (“knowledge offerings”), in the major cities of India, explaining the esoteric Vedanta philosophy simply and logically by means of examples drawn from everyday life.

Chinmayananda’s followers founded the Chinmaya Mission in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1953 to spread knowledge of Vedanta philosophy worldwide.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.
- Chinmayananda Saraswati

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