Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas

Our Ashram has all the circumstances, conditions, facilities required for development of Bhakti, rendering intensive selfless service and realisation of God in daily life. All Ashramites' activities have only one aim: God-experience. The running of schools is only one among the many forms of selfless service they render.

All our Ashrams are in the form of temples formally and informally. Pujas go on day in and day out. We run temples. We print and distribute spiritual literature. We have our meditation classes, Bhajans, Yagnas, and individuals have their individual spiritual practices, apart from the general spiritual activities of the Ashram.

Every speck of dust, every rock, every tree of the actual dwellings of Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas and beyond is vibrant with the glow of Swami Omkarananda's spiritual realisations and bears silent witness to this incomparable Sage, his Wisdom and Purity and his uninterrupted experience and adoration of the Divine Presence in all beings and in all things.

Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas is located in the most sacred place near the bank of the holy river Ganga and in the proximity of both Rishikesh - the ancient place of pilgrimage, the neighbouring Sivanandanagar and the famous Lakshman Jhula. The Himalayan Ashram is - like other Omkarananda Ashrams in Europe - a place where God abides and announces His Presence in the wonders His Grace works, the works His Love inspires, the books His Wisdom dictates and the deeds His Will perpetuates.

Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas carries its multiple activities through two registered Charitable Trusts - Omkarananda Dharma Samsthan, and Omkarananda Charitable Trust, as well as the Omkarananda Educational Society.

Only Indians and Indian citizens of Western European lands are living in the Ashram here: they are all Sannyasis and spiritual aspirants. All of them are highly educated and specialised in various educational and engineering fields. They are all direct disciples of Swami Omkarananda and have been with him since the late 1960s.

H.D. Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati selected Swami Vishveshwarananda Saraswati as His Successor. Shri Swami Vishveshwarananda is the President of Omkarananda Ashram Himalayas with its two Main Registered Trust Societies, Swami Omkarananda Saraswati Charitable Trust and Swami Omkarananda Dharma Samsthan, as well as the Omkarananda Educational Society, which are running 50 Omkarananda Hill Schools (Basic and Junior High Schools) in remote Himalayan Hill areas in Uttarakhand, besides other important educational Institutions, like Omkarananda Saraswati Nilayam Inter-College with more than 2500 students, affiliated to I.C.S.E., New Delhi, Omkarananda Institute of Management & Technology, affiliated to the Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, and H.N. Bahuguna Garhwal University, Shrinagar, the Omkarananda Saraswati Natya Kala Academy, affiliated to Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad, Public Libraries, and 10 most beautiful Temples in and near Omkarananda Nagar, Muni-ki-Reti, Rishikesh.

For his immense and outstanding Services in the Field of Education and Spirituality Shri Swami Vishveshwarananda has received many Awards; among them are "Pride of Uttaranchal Award", "Rashtra Shakti Award" and others.

The life of Shri Swami Vishveshwarananda Saraswati is better explained in the booklet "A Glimpse of Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati", published in 1996, where Gurudev Swami Omkarananda Himself describes His Successor with following words:

"Shri Swami Vishveshwarananda Saraswati. His name signifies the Happiness of Lord Shiva Vishwanatha of Varanasi, of Sivananda Ashram’s Vishwanatha Temple and of Omkarananda Ashram’s Dipeshwara Temple. He is an Akhanda Brahmachari, one who has embodied in himself from childhood and youthhood unbroken principle of Brahmacharya. He has received Sannyasa Diksha from Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati. Pancha Tantra says, "He is not a Saint in truth, who is not a Saint in youth." Vishveshwarananda is a Karma Yogi by temper, character and choice and bears in his heart uncompromising and total Devotion to his Gurudev. From 1967 to 1982 he has rendered distinguishing services to Omkarananda’s European Ashrams. In 1982 he was sent to Himalayas, Muni-ki-reti, Rishikesh. Within a short time he has created a large new field of activities – the Ashram Temples for the Sadhakas, schools for the students, and buildings for the resident Swamis, Teachers and Professors. In a hilly region, which is a world of Sadhus, Sannyasis and Mahatmas, he discovered education as the greatest need, and has been ably fulfilling this need much to the joy of over a thousand families. He is self-effacing and has no ambition to be the succeeding President from his present Vice-President Position. Yet from the standpoint of the institution, he is the successor. Such is his Devotion to the Gurudev that he always wants to be Hanuman and not Lord Rama. He is not only Hanuman but also Bharata. With absolute physical absence of his other-worldly Mystic and Sage Sadgurudeva Omkarananda from the Ashram, since the last 30 years, Swami Vishveshwarananda has been, since he took up the Management of the Ashram, ruling the tiny kingdom of the Ashram just with Guru-Padukas on the Throne of the Ashram."

A team of Omkarananda Saraswati's monastic disciples, who are also members of the board of Omkarananda Trust Societies - Swami Satchidananda and Somashekhari (Somashekhari has also got Sannyasa-Diksha and is a monastic disciple, but has been ordered by Sadgurudeva Omkarananda to be in civil dress so long as she is the Director of Natyakala Academy and Sangit Samsthan and has to teach these arts to students and has to give public performances) - are greatly helping Swami Vishveshwarananda. In the spirit of the Veda Mantra, they are serving Sarva-Devata and the public as one Heart, one Mind, one Will. The Grace of Guru, Gayatri, Ganga, Gita, Tripurasundari is visibly operative in their lives.

The Ashram has some rare jewels such as the most loved and respected Sage Prabhuji Acharya Surya Prakash, the ever-serving and dynamic Mother Usha Devi and the saintliness-incarnate boy of many talents Siddhartha whose Bhajans sung by himself in a pure classical style keep the audience spell-bound.