Gurumā Nirvāṇa

Newspaper Reports on the nirvana (passing, moksha) of Gurumā Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji

Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji Nirvāṇa

Kolkata, Feb 3 (IANS) Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission president Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji died at Dakshineswar Tuesday after being indisposed for three months. She was 90.Mission sources said Shraddhaprana was suffering from severe gastro-intestinal problems since October last year. She developed acute chest infection and tracheostomy was also performed on her for proper management of respiratory distress.

Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji was the third president of the mission and took her office Nov 17, 1999. Mataji was a disciple of Swami Virajananda, the 6th president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Before joining the Sister Nivedita Girls’ School in 1948, she was a lecturer in the Annie Besant College, Varanasi. In 1953, she took the vow of brahmacharya along with six others and received sanyasa diksha in 1959 from Swami Shankarananda, the then president of Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur Math.

When Sri Sarada Math was given independent status in 1959, she became one of its trustees and in 1960 she took over as the assistant secretary of the new mission. She came to live at Sarada Math in April 1986. After the passing away of Pravrajika Muktiprana in 1994, she was elected the second general secretary. She held this office till 17 Nov, 1999.

Pravrajika Shraddhaprana Mataji, the third president of Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, Dakshineswar, passed away on Tuesday at 1.15pm at Kolkata. She was 90. The Pravrajika, who took office as the head of the Math and Mission on November 17, 1999, had been suffering from gastro-enteric problems since October 2008 and later developed an acute chest infection. On December 28, a tracheostomy was performed to ease her respiratory distress. Shraddhapranaji was a lecturer at Annie Besant College, in Varanasi, before joining Sister Nivedita Girls’ School in 1948. She was the assistant headmistress and assistant secretary of the school till 1955 before taking over as headmistress and secretary. In 1953, she took the vow of brahmacharya and received sannyasa (the first batch of sannyasinis of the Ramakrishna Order) from Swami Sankarananda, the then president of Belur Math. The Pravrajika became a trustee of Sri Sarada Math when it emerged as an independent entity in 1959. In 1960, she was appointed the assistant secretary of Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. She came to live at Sri Sarada Math in April 1986. After the death of Pravrajika Muktiprana in 1994, she was elected the general secretary, a post that she held till November 17, 1999, before taking over as president of the order. As thousands of devotees thronged the Math, authorities said the Pravrajika’s last rites were performed late at night at Cossipore mahasmashan after her followers had paid their last respects.

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