His Holiness Sri Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati Maharaj Known as Balakrishnan, he was born of noble parents at Ernakulam (Kerala) on the 8th of May, 1917. The rigidity of the family daily routine of worship, lasting for quite a few hours, became part and parcel of the mental and moral make-up of the young lad. And, added to this, he had the rare chance of coming under the influence of his family-Gurus who were saintly souls. Right from young age he had the inquiring mind which critically questioned everything. He was equally brilliant in his studies and emerged out of the Lucknow University as a Master of Arts. Like many of the highly learned youths who find themselves in a dilemma as to what to do with life when they come out of the universities, Balakrishnan too was assailed by doubts with conflicting ideologies. But providence guided him properly; he studied the great works of Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo and others, and found his way to his Master, Swami Sivananda. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj knew that he was an exceptionally gifted person and entrusted him with conducting a Gita Committee, as Gurudev called it, which consisted of some members,–the members being Sri Balakrishna Menon (Swami Chinmayananda), Swami Krishnananda, a very learned philosopher from Bihar called Sri Nanda Kishore Srivastava, etc. He used to conduct classes in the Ashram, now and then. He was ordained into Sannyasa by Sri Gurudev on 25th February, 1949 to pursue further studies of scriptures under Swami Tapovanamji Maharaj, in Uttarakashi where he stayed with the great Master studying Panchadasi and other Vedanta Texts as well as Upanishads. Having mastered these texts, Swami Chinmayananda started his own Jnana Yajna Mission and moved from corner to corner of India conducting Gita Yajna classes, Upanishad classes and discourses on the scriptures, which earned him great reputation as an extraordinary orator and a masterly exponent of India’s culture, its literary heritage and scriptural lore. Swami Chinmayananda has also travelled to the West many a time. He has Centres in various places in India and also abroad. Today he is one of the world-figures who have hoisted the flag of India’s spiritual heritage not only in this country but also in the other countries of the world. Swami Chinmayananda returned to God’s heavenly abode on August 3, 1993.

His Holiness Sri Swami Vishnudevananda Saraswati Maharaj Born on the 31st of December, 1927, he was known as Kuttan Nair. He hails from Kerala, where he had his school education. After completing school, he was engaged in teaching for sometime, after which he joined the Indian Army. While searching for a misplaced paper, he happened to lay his hand on a pamphlet entitled ‘Sadhana Tattwa’ by Swami Sivananda. The practical instructions in that pamphlet attracted him to Sivananda. He took leave, went to Rishikesh and had Darshan of Swamiji. Subsequently he visited the Ashram a few times and finally when he came to the Ashram in 1947 to attend the Diamond Jubilee of Swami Sivananda, the Master told him, “Stay here,” and he stayed. The Master initiated him into the holy order of Sannyasa, on the sacred Mahasivaratri, in February 1949, and gave him the name Swami Vishnudevananda. When he entered the Ashram he was specially interested in the Hatha Yoga techniques, knowledge of which he brought with him even when he came from Kerala. The Master, knowing his abilities, made him the Professor of Hatha Yoga in the Forest Academy of the Ashram which was the only work he did for several years. It was during a period of absence from the Headquarters of Swami Madhavananda, the Secretary, that Sri Gurudev nominated Swami Vishnudevananda as the Secretary of the Ashram, sometime in the year 1955-56. During those very hard days when the financial strength of the Ashram was not much, Swami Vishnudevananda worked hard not merely as a managing Secretary but took immense interest in seeing to it that a temple is built in the name of Sri Gurudev, called Sri Guru Mandir. He had to struggle hard to achieve this purpose which of course he completed. In the year 1957, devotees who were attached to him due to the teaching they got through him got interested in him to such an extent that they invited him to countries outside, which invitation he accepted with the permission of Sri Gurudev and went to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan and from Japan he went to America fixing his permanent Centre in Montreal, in Canada. He opened other Centres in the United States and also several other Yoga Centres in Europe. Today Swami Vishnudevananda is a very well-known name and his work is of international reputation and very few in the field of Yoga in the world would be unacquainted with the name of Swami Vishnudevananda. He has also a Centre in India in Nayyardam near Trivandrum, South India. Swami Vishnudevananda is a very simple man, though, like a magician, he worked a miracle in the West, where tirelessly he worked to bring together many complex elements, group of devotees and participants in his work. He maintained a simplicity of his own and almost not caring for himself, only caring for the welfare of his mission and his devotees. He lives the life of a desireless, unselfish and simple man, working very hard vigorously for sometime and completely severing himself from work at other times and rushing back to the Himalayan peaks, Uttarakashi and Gangottari often times for retreat and personal prayer and meditation. He has taken several rounds of trip through the world and through India in the name of Sri Gurudev and it is a great praiseworthy quality of his that even after earning such a reputation as a Yoga Teacher throughout the world, even today he considers himself as the humble servant of the great master Swami Sivananda and never does he forget to mention the name of the Master when he speaks whether in Satsangas, retreats, seminars or conferences. He is an extremely good person, simple to the core, very hard working and immensely devoted to the name of Sri Gurudev and his Mission.

His Holiness Sri Swami Madhavananda Saraswati Maharaj Born on the 15th of December 1917, and known as Karunanidhi, he hails from Andhra Pradesh. As he lived in both the outskirts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, he is very conversant with the atmosphere of both the States and knows Telugu and Kannada languages. When Karunanidhi arrived at the Ashram, he found that revered Sri Gurudev was away upon his “All-India Spiritual Awakening Tour”. He was cordially received by Swami Krishnananda who was the in-charge of the Ashram during the absence of Gurudev and all the other office-bearers. He awaited Gurudev’s return and met him for the first time on 8th November, 1950. It would appear that right at this first brief meeting and talk Gurudev immediately recognised his potentialities. Very surprisingly and to the wonder of many people, Sri Gurudev at once gave him the work of the Cashier of the Ashram. Those were very hard days as the funds were almost nil, and it was not easy for anyone to perform the duties of the Cashier. Karunanidhi as a Cashier, prior to his being ordained a Sannyasin, spent very difficult times of course with shop-keepers who were creditors of the Ashram. But with his calm, quiet and reticent nature he managed his little function of the Cashier those days very well. Recognising his spiritual worth, Sri Gurudev gave him Sannyasa within months of his arrival, i.e., on Mahasivaratri, the 6th of March, 1951 and named him Swami Madhavananda. After two or three years of his service as a Cashier, he was appointed by Gurudev by nomination as a Secretary, which, of course, increased the weight of the work he had to perform. This position of responsibility he ungrudgingly accepted and immediately commenced this performance spread over a wide area of the different departments of the Institution. Not only this; together with the responsibilities as Secretary, he took upon himself, of his own accord, the additional burden of supervising the construction works of the Ashram, sheerly with the intention of seeing that there is no wastage of any kind and the building works are efficiently carried on in the interest of public good. Those were days when the Ashram was inordinately hard-pressed with inadequacy of financial resources and the work of the Secretary was indeed not a happy job. It was something which would wear out anyone and fatigue even a strong personality. The Swami indeed worked very hard and steered the course of The Divine Life Society’s functions at the Headquarters during those difficult days when the income side of the Institution was hardly worth mentioning. There were many occasions when it looked that it was difficult for the Ashram to make both ends meet and one could not predict the fate of the Ashram the next day. Such was the nature of the problem created by the financial stress. Swami Madhavananda did indeed bear the brunt of the pains that an Executive of the Institution would have to undergo under such circumstances. The entire saga of the history of the Ashram at its Headquarters during those years would speak eloquently of the sacrifice which the Swami personally did, as the times required, without rest and without even adequate sleep. The several years of such strenuous work naturally told upon his system, particularly the condition of his heart, which called for special attention by way of medical treatment. All this did not deter the Swami from continuing his Seva to the Institution, and it, indeed, did not cease at any time. At the same time, he is a very religious type of person, meticulously following a daily routine of prayer and worship for several hours. He is a reserved type of person who minds his own business, as one may say, not interfering and unconcerned with anything in the world, except whatever work is entrusted to him, and always confined to his own Kutir of prayer and worship. Swami Madhavananda was elected as the Treasurer of the Divine Life Society in August 1963, soon after the Mahasamadhi of the Master. And in due recognition of his glorious services, he was elected as the Vice-President of the Divine Life Society, in the year 1975, which position he continues to hold till this day. This was really as it ought to have been, considering not only his elderly personality but also the intense sincerity with which he has always been identifying himself with the Ashram’s spiritual ideals, the amiableness of his nature and the goodness of his hearth to mention only a few of the exemplary characters which are embodied in his person.