Atmananda Saraswathi was born to Aithappa Poojary and Bhavani couple on April 4, 1927, at Kodical in Mangalore. He had a fascination towards spirituality from his very childhood. He was with Nityananda Swamiji for 15 years. After visiting various pilgrim centres across the country, Atmananda Saraswathi took deeksha from Japananda Swamiji in 1969 and arrived at Kanyadi.
He established Nityananda Mandir at Kanyadi, and an orphanage, Gurudev Ashrama and a residential school at Devaragudde in Kalmanja village.
The founding of Rama Mandir (1989) at Kanyadi was one of his milestone works. He was also crowned as the Kulaguru of Idiga community two years back.
He had selected Brahmananda Saraswathi as his disciple, in whose presence, his last rites will be performed on Sunday.
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