A Guiding Light
One Endowed With Wealth
The Jagadguru Shankaracharya
Sri Swami Brahamanda Saraswati Maharaj of Jyotir Math
with all blessings from him both great and small

Rajaram Mishra, later to become Swami Bramhananda Saraswati, was born on Thursday, 21 December, 1868 in village Gana, which is close to the city of Ayodhya, in North India. Rajaram was enrolled at the Sanskrit Institute at Kashi at the age of eight and later became a student of Swami Krishnanand
Saraswati of Utter Kashi.

Rajaram took the renounced order and became Chaitanya Brahmachari. He was well known and often referred to as 'Guru Dev'. By the age of twenty-five, it is said that Chaitanya had become fully established in Unity Conciousness and had completed a full study of the Scriptures.

At the turn of the century, at age 34, at the Khumbha Mela at Allahahabad, Chaitanya was ordained by his master into the order of Sanyas, thus becoming Sri Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, and recieved the insignia of the Holy Tradition of Sri Adi Shankaracharya.

On Tuesday, 1 April 1941, at the age of 72, Swami Brahmamanda Saraswati was invested, with traditional rites, as the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, Badrikashram, Himalayas, and given the title Jagadguru Maharaj.

Bibliograhical Notes:

Maharaj Shri, Rajaram Mishra, was born on Thursday, December 21, 1870. in village Gana, near Ayodhya. [1]

On Sunday, 20 December 1868 in the village of Gana close to Ayodhya, Rajaram Mishra was born. [2]

Several different accounts agree that Guru Dev was born on Thursday, which was the 21st. December 29th 1868 was Sunday. [3]

He was born on the 20th December 1868, but his hour of nativity claimed him for the recluse order and for that of the secular. (4)

Works Cited:

1. "Maharishi: The Biography"
By Paul Mason
Element 1997
Barnes and Noble
A Critical Review of the man who brought TM to the West.
p. 5

2. "The Whole Thing, The Real Thing"
By Rameshwar Tilwari
Delhi 1977
The Biography of Sri Swami Bramhananda Saraswati, Shankacharya of
Jyotirmath.
Hardback. Illustrated.
p. 11

3. "Our Spiritual Heritage"
By Lynn D. Napper
Hesperides Books, 1998
An informal history of the Shankacharya Tradition by an early adopter of TM,
TTC 1968.
Paper. Illustrated. Bibliography.
p. 99

4. "Love and God"
By Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
SRM Publications, Oslo Norway 1965
Official Biography of Guru Dev by Maharishi - 'Our Guiding Light'
p. 6

"Strange Facts About a Great Saint"
By Raj P. Varma
Jabalpur, India 1980
Varma & Sons Pub.
p.10