Draft:Swami Brahmananda Saraswati Maharaj

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Swami Brahmananda (talk) 02:04, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

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Family

Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was born Richmond Gladyn Amissah-Arthur on 11^th August 1969, the first of five children born to the late Joseph Brookman Amissah-Arthur and Mrs. Mary Amissah-Arthur, both of Cape Coast.

Education

Swami Brahmanand attended Academy of Christ the King in Cape Coast for his secondary education. He holds a Teacher’s Certificate ‘A’ from Komenda College of Education (1997); Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast (2005); and Bachelor of Education degree, also from the University of Cape Coast (2007). He was preparing to enrol for his Master of Philosophy degree in Education, when he received the call from his Guru, Swami Ghananand Saraswati. We shall speak about that fateful call later in this piece.

Spiritual Awakening

Long before his official renunciation and initiation into Brahmacharya, Swami Brahmanand was already a renunciate, a strict adherent to the tenets of celibacy. His spirituality and rejection of the mundane life was puzzling to many. People could simply not understand why a strong, virile, well-educated, economically-sound, professional young man in his prime should choose a life of ascetism. But he had the strong backing of his father, mother and siblings for his chosen way of life. His family saw it as his dharma, and encouraged him on his journey towards self-realisation. At home, he dedicated his life to a regimented spiritual practice; a disciplined sadhana; a strict programmatic life of scheduled meditations, fasting, service, seclusion, celibacy, asanas, pranayama and dietary discipline. His spiritual maturity emerged at home through his personal practice, long before he became Brahmacharya on 1^st March, 2008.

Providentiality and Early Influences

To understand the events of Swami’s spiritual life, one needs to go back 45 years to 1980. This was when an 11-year old Brahmanand met his future Guru, Swami Ghananand in Cape Coast. In 1981, Guruji chose Brahmanand’s grandfather’s house as his place of residence in Cape Coast. Swami Ghananand stayed in this house for an unprecedented six months teaching new devotees and planting the Cape Coast branch of the Monastery. The very first 31^st December All-Night Puja in Cape Coast was held in this house. The very last satsang to be held before the commissioning of the Shiva Temple in Cape Coast was also held in this house. For the six months that Swami Ghananand stayed in Swami Brahmanand’s grandfather’s house, the place became the epicentre of Hinduism from where Guruji’s influence spread throughout Cape Coast, Elmina and the Central Region. The spirituality that engulfed the household was not lost on the 12-year old Brahmanand. He was often found at night among the elders sitting at the feet of Swami Ghananand listening intently to the teachings of Guruji.

These early influences were so great that when the adults left for work, the young Brahmanand would organise satsang with his younger siblings, JB and Parker, who were 9 and 6 year old respectively at the time. Together, the three children would obtain bananas and oranges from their great-grandmother and use them as prasad for their satsang. Interestingly, when they could not obtain any fruits, the children would buy bankye kakrow (egbele kaklow) and use it for prasad. During these childhood satsangs, the young Brahmanand would play the “Swami,” preaching and performing arati. He quickly learnt many of the bhajans, kirtans and mantras from his mother’s copy of the Universal Vedic Hymns and Prayers. As he grew up, he developed a fascination for his mother’s rudraksha rosary. That rosary got missing very often. And each time it was discovered, the young Brahmanand had gone to a secret hiding place to pray with it. He was 13 years by then. These were the unconscious first steps on an incredible spiritual journey that would lead from his grandfather’s house to the ashram of Swami Ghananand. It has taken him 45 long years—seventeen years of which he served as Brahmachari. Perhaps, all this should not be so surprising. Guruji had once prophesied to the venerable Mr. John Arthur, the young Brahmanand’s grandfather that: “Somebody from your household will become a great Swami one day.” At the time, nobody knew what Guruji was talking about; nobody understood the statement. Forty-five years later, we do.

The Call to Brahmacharya

It started with an urgent phone call. Swami Ghananand was on the line. The instruction was concise, direct and puzzling: “Come to Accra at once.” Swami Brahmanand, then a young teacher of 39 years, was confused. He asked himself: “What may I have done wrong to be summoned to Accra by Guruji?” He was perplexed. This was the morning of 28th February, 2008. He told his parents that he had been called to Accra and would return to Cape Coast the very day, because he had a lot of work to do in school. That was the last time he would ever see his home again. He never returned home. He didn’t even get the chance to say good bye to his mother or father or siblings or students or employers.

In Accra, Guruji asked him to be a Brahmachari. It was sudden, abrupt and unexpected. He asked for permission to go home and bid his mother and father good bye, but Guruji made it clear that if departed from the ashram, he had nullified the call. Can you imagine the emotional and mental trauma he must have gone through? The agony? The anguish?

He left his father, mother, siblings, students, friends. He left his job, assets, bank accounts, investments, possessions, fridges, electronic gadgets, clothing. He left his career ambitions and plans to go back to school for his Master’s degree. He even left his name and identity. He left everything that was dear to him, never to return to them. It was a sharp, ruthless break with the past.

Guru-Shishya Parampara: Life with Guruji

Swami Brahmanand’s life under his Guru, Swami Ghananand, was a life of continuous learning, service and spiritual evolution. There was the daily routine of meditations and rituals which started at 3am and ended at 6am. After that, there was Vedanta school sessions with Guruji where Guruji imparted advanced teachings of scripture, ritual and mysticism to him. There were practical sessions where Brahmanand had to demonstrate to Guruji his expertise at grasping the lessons. It was not all spirituality, though. The student had to serve the master in all forms. This involved personal services such as laundering, cooking, grooming, feeding, attending to Guruji’s health needs. At the same time, he was cleaning and maintaining the sanctity of all the altars and temples of the Ashram. As a Brahmachari, Swami Brahmananda was a tireless workaholic. From 3am to 11pm, he was on his feet serving his Guru, serving the Ashram, serving devotees and learning both spiritual and human lessons from all these interactions.

His spiritual training under Swami Ghananand involved a lot of travelling to sacred sites and temples in India. For instance, they made frequent pilgrimages to Haridwar, Rishikesh, Ayodhya, Vrindavan, the Ganges River, the Yamuna River, the caves of the Himalayas and many other sacred sites. At all these places, many of the Masters they encountered asked Swami Ghananand to initiate Swami Brahmanand into sannyasa. Guruji always replied that he wanted to toughen him up a little more.

When Swami Ghananand realised that his time on earth was approaching, he entrusted the continuation of Swami’s Brahmanand’s spiritual training to two great friends and enlightened masters: Swami Gopal Sharan Devacharya, the Founding Acharya of the Shri Golok Dham Ashram, and Swami Vishnu Vallabanand of Haridwar. Under the two masters, Swami Brahmanand continued his Sannyasa training in India. In 2022, he spent time at their various ashrams studying ashram management and the required teachings for Sannyasa. He then attended Vedanta School at the sacred Triveni Ghat in Rishikesh under Swamis who were specialists in Vedanta. Because Swami Brahmanand comes from the Dashanami Sampradaya lineage of Adi Shankara, he had to learn the teachings and tenets of the lineage. He, therefore, attended Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, Sivananda Kutir in the Himalayas. There, he studied advanced forms of Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Here, he studied Vedanta and complex processes including yamas (ethical behaviour), niyamas (mind control), asana (body control), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (control of the 5 senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (how to attain the super-conscious state). In addition, he studied the science of vegetarian dieting (lacto-vegetarianism). The Sivananda Kutir is a particularly auspicious place to study because it is the home of the Saraswati Order of Sannyasis. It was established by Swami Vishnu Devananda who was the guru to Swami Krishnanand Saraswati who was guru to Swami Ghananand Saraswati who is guru to Swami Brahmanand Saraswati. Swami Devananda himself named the Centre after his own guru, the famous Swami Sivananda Saraswati. What this means is that Swami Brahmanand’s spiritual training followed the footsteps of 4 generations of ancestral Saraswati gurus. This furnished him with the values, principles and philosophies of the ancient Saraswati Order. This is the importance of Guru-Shishya Parampara, where the student studies the traditions of his own lineage, in order to protect the integrity of its teachings and preserve the authentic way of doing things. From the Sivananda Kutir in the Himalayas, Swami Brahmanand returned to Haridwar to complete his studies of the Shankara Vedanta.

Ordination to Sannyasa

The rituals towards the induction of Swami into the Holy Order of Sannyasa started in India in 2022 during his last visit. Most of the elaborate rituals required for his initiation into the Holy Order were performed under the supervision of Swami Gopal Devacharya and Swami Vishnuvallabanand at the banks of the holy Ganges River and at the Ashram. Today’s final ordination marks the culmination of 17 long years painful, heartbreaking sacrifices, sadhana, studies and service.