Ramakrishna Math and Mission vice-president passes away

Vice-President of Ramakrishna Math and Mission Swami Shivamayanandaji died at a city hospital on Friday night due to COVID-19, the RKM said in a statement.

The senior monk, who was 86 years old, was admitted to the RKM Seva Pratisthan on May 22 with mild respiratory distress. He tested positive for COVID-19 on that day itself and was on mechanical ventilation since June 10 after being put on non-invasive ventilation since May 28.

He breathed his last at 9:05 pm.

Born in Bihar on December 20, 1934, Swamiji was a disciple of Swami Vishuddhanandaji Maharaj, who joined the order in Belur Math in 1959 and received ''Sanyas Diksha'' from Swami Vireshwaranandaji Maharaj in 1969.

After serving the order at various Seva Pratisthan centres in various capacities, he started his spiritual ministration at the RKM in 2016 by giving ''diksha'' to devotees.

In 2017, he was elected as the vice-president of the twin organisations, the office he held till the end, along with the office of the head of the Cossipore Math.

The seer, whose name was Ranen Mukherjee before ''sanyas'', was suffering from hypertension, bronchial asthma and kidney disease for some years.

Condoling his death, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said: ''Deeply condole the passing away of Revered Swami Shivamayanandaji Maharaj, Vice-President Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission at Seva Pratisthan Kolkata.'' ''He attained mahasamadhi today (11 June, 2021) at 9:05 pm due to severe Covid pneumonia,'' Dhankhar, a regular visitor to RKM centres, tweeted.

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