CHINMAYANANDA, Swami 1916-1993

PERSONAL: Born Sri Balakrishna Menon, May, 1916, in India; name changed, 1943; died following a heart attack August 13, 1993, in San Diego, CA; father, a jurist. Education: University of Madras, graduated, 1939; University of Lucknow, graduate degree; studied yoga and Hinduism with masters.

CAREER: Worked as a journalist in New Delhi, India; began monastic life, 1943; teacher, beginning 1951; international lecturer, beginning 1965; Chinmaya Mission West, founder, 1975. Founder of Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Bombay, India, Tapovan Kuti, in the Himalaya Mountains, and Sandeepany West, in northern California. Activist with Indian independence movement in the 1940s. Lecturer at U.S. universities.

WRITINGS:

Discourses on Mundakopanishad, [New Delhi, India], 1953.

Discourses on Isavasyopanishad at the Upanishad Gyana Yagna, edited by Sree Damodaran Nair, [Palghat, India], 1954.

(Editor and translator) Discourses on Taittiriya Upanishad (in English and Sanskrit), Chinmaya Publication Trust (Madras, India), 1962.

(Editor and translator) Discourses on Kathopanishad (in English and Sanskrit), Chinmaya Publication Trust (Madras, India), c. 1963.

(Editor and translator) Discourses on Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada's Karika, Chinmaya Publication Trust (Madras, India), c. 1966.

The Sreemad-Bhagawad-Geeta: The Art of Right Action, 3rd edition, four volumes, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), 1967, published as Sreemad Bhagawad Geeta, three volumes, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1969-71.

Kindle Life (includes The Art of Living), Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), c. 1969.

Love-Divine (Narada Bhakti Sutra): The Highest Art of Making Love to the Lord of the Heart; Discourses, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1970.

Talks on Sankara's Vivekachoodamani: Text with Translation and Commentary (in English and Sanskrit), two volumes, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), c. 1970.

Ashtavakra Geeta: With Word-Meaning and Elaborate Commentaries on Each Verse (in English and Sanskrit), Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1972, revised edition published as Discourses on Ashtavakra Geeta: Original Upanisad Text in Devanagari with Transliteration in Roman Letters, Word-for-Word Meaning in Text Order with Translation and Commentary, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), 1997.

Discourses on Aitareya Upanishad, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1972.

Discourses in Prasnopanishad, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1974.

The Art of Man-Making: Talks on the Bhagavad Geeta, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Calcutta, India), 1975.

The Holy Geeta, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), c. 1976.

Discourses on Isavasya Upanishad, revised edition, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1977.

(Editor) Discourses on Kaivalyopanishad, Chinmaya Publications Trust (Madras, India), 1978.

Meditation and Life, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), 1980, Chinmaya Publications West (Piercy, CA), 1992.

My Trek through Uttarkhand, Indian Books Centre (Delhi, India), 1982.

A Manual for Self-Unfoldment, 6th edition, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), 1985, new edition published as Self-Unfoldment, Chinmaya Publications (Piercy, CA), 1992.

On Wings and Wheels: A Dialogue on Moral Conflict, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Bombay, India), 1991.

(With others) Beyond Ego, Chinmaya Publications (Piercy, CA), 1998.

(With others) The Journey Called Life, Chinmaya Publications (Piercy, CA), 2001.

Contributor to periodicals.*