End of an era

End of an era

August 2015

By Life Positive

Swami Veda Bharati a renowned scholar, teacher, Vedantin, founder of Association of Himalayan Yoga Meditation Societies International (AHYMSIN) and Swami Ram Sadhak Grama, passed away at 3am on 14 July 2015 at his ashram in Rishikesh.

He was also the president of Swami Rama’s Ashram, Sadhana Mandir in Rishikesh.

Born in Dehradun, India in 1933, and a foremost disciple of Swami Rama since 1969, Swami Veda Bharti was gifted since childhood. He was raised in the five thousand year old tradition of Sanskrit speaking scholar philosophers of India, and taught the yoga-sutras of Patanjali since the age of nine and the Vedas since the age of 11.

He was known for his competency to lecture instantly, without prior notice, on any mantra of the four Vedas. He could speak 17 languages with varying degrees of fluency. His expertise in philosophical and meditative traditions of the world enabled him to instruct students in accordance with their own religio-philosophical background. He acquired his academic degrees, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and D Litt in merely two years from foreign universities. Never having enjoyed formal schooling, his knowledge had come to him intuitively. He held the post of Sanskrit Professor at the University of Minnesota, USA, and in 1969, was awarded the Distinguished Teacher Award. In recent years he has been deeply involved in the study of the neurophysiology of meditative states in a number of highly recognized research laboratories in several continents. His association with Life Positive too was a deep and long one. He was a regular columnist with Life Positive magazine and was the first speaker at the first Life Positive expo in the year 2006. An exceedingly warm and affable person he possessed a broad mind and had a following that ran into thousands. He would be sorely missed.