Swami Ghanananda Saraswati
{{Infobox person
|image =
|name = Swami Ghanananda
|birth_place = Senya Beraku, Central Region, Ghana
|birth_date = {{birth date|1937|9|12|df=yes}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|1|18|1937|9|12|df=yes}}
|death_place =
|occupation = Swami
Śishya of Swami Krishnananda
}}
Ghanananda Saraswati (born Kewsi Essel; 12 September 1937 – 18 January 2016), commonly known as Swami Ghanananda, was a prominent swami (sannyasi) of the indigenous Hindu community in Ghana, and the first Hindu swami of African ancestry.{{Cite web|url=http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2016/february-2nd/guide-kwesi-essel-first-african-hindu-monk-dies.php|title=Ghana News - Swami Saraswati, first African Hindu monk from Ghana, dies|last=Myjoyonline.com|website=www.myjoyonline.com|access-date=2016-06-16}} He was initiated as a swami by the late Swami Krishnananda of India in 1975, and was head of the Hindu Monastery of Africa in Accra, Ghana.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10401741 | title=Ghana's unique African-Hindu temple | publisher=BBC News | first=Rajesh | last=Joshi | date=29 June 2010 | access-date=24 October 2021 }}
Biography
=Early life=
Swami Ghanananda was born as Kwesi Essel on September 12, 1937, in Senya Beraku, a village in the Central Region of Ghana.{{Cite journal |last=Shankar |first=Shobana |date=2021-06-04 |title=Singing and Sensing the Unknown: An Embodied History of Hindu Practice in Ghana |url=https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr/vol6/iss2/6 |journal=Yale Journal of Music & Religion |volume=6 |issue=2 |doi=10.17132/2377-231X.1172 |issn=2377-231X|doi-access=free }} His family practiced a native Ghanaian faith, but his parents later converted to Christianity. From a very early age Swami Ghanananda was interested in the mysteries of the universe and read various religious texts.
=Journey to India=
After reading some books on Hinduism, Ghanananda travelled to Rishikesh in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, in northern India. He spent some time there with a spiritual guru who suggested him to open the monastery in Accra.
=First meeting with Swami Krishnananda=
In 1962, Swami Ghanananda moved to Accra and on 24 November, he formed the Divine Mystic Path Society. He then started correspondence courses on the Hindu way of life (Sanatana Dharma) with the Divine Life Society of Rishikesh, located in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, where he first met Swami Krishnananda of India and became his śishya (disciple), and then in 1975 Swami Krishnananda initiated Swami Ghanananda as a swami.
References
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External links
{{Portal|Biography|Hinduism}}
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10401741.stm Ghana's unique African-Hindu temple] at BBC News
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Category:Ghanaian missionaries
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