Reverend Swami Ambikananda Saraswati Maharaj

Swami Ambikananda is a Western-born devotee of Sri Ramakrishna and Goddess Kali. He has a degree in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley. He and Swami Bhajanananda grew up together as childhood friends. In 1996 he received spiritual initiation from Sri Haradhan Chakraborti, the late main pujari of the Dakshineswar Kali temple in Kolkata, India, and from Rev. Swami Aparananda Puri Maharaj, senior monk of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission and head of the Vedanta Society of Berkeley, California in 1998. He was ordained as a brahmachari (novice monk)  and Kali Mandir pujari (priest) in 2000 by Swami Bhajanananda and received his final ordination as a sannyasin (renunciate) of the Dasnami Vedantic Order on Vashant Panchami 2011 at the holy confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers from Most Rev. Swami Omananda Saraswati Maharaj, Sri Mahant (Supreme Abbot) of the Yoga Vedanta Kutir ashram in Allahabad, India. When not traveling in India, Swami Ambikananda stays at Kali Mandir Ramakrishna Ashram in Laguna Beach, serving Ma and the devotees and acting as Secretary. Currently he is working on a translation of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita from Bengali into English (see Kathamrita Project).

Baba Ambikananda can be contacted at baba.ambikananda@gmail.com