Swami Paramananda was born in 1884 in India in the village of Banaripara, Bangladesh. The youngest son of a prestigious Indian family, he was cherished by many for his humor, intelligence, affability and gentle nature. The death of his mother at a young age impacted him deeply, and became a catalyst that set him on the path to an all-consuming love for God and quest for God-realization. This quest brought him into the presence of his teacher, Swami Vivekananda, who was one of the foremost direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, and also one of the first Indian teachers to bring India’s great philosophy of Vedanta to the United States.

Swami Paramananda began his life in the United States in December 1906. He founded the Vedanta Centre in Boston, Massachusetts in 1909. He also founded Ananda Ashrama in La Crescenta, California, as well as Ananda Ashrama in Cohasset, Massachusetts where the Boston Vedanta Centre eventually was relocated in 1952. He traveled extensively and gained world-wide recognition as an author, lecturer, poet and illumined spiritual guide. Through his selfless devotion many came to know the timeless universal teachings of Vedanta, and their own Divine spiritual heritage. He passed away in June of 1940 in his beloved garden at The Vedanta Centre in Cohasset, MA. The Vedanta Centre and Ananda Ashrama continued to thrive under the direction of Srimata Gayatri Devi, who passed away in 1995. The Centers now continue under the direction of Srimata Sudha Puri.

The first book of Swami Paramananda’s to be transcribed from print to braille was “The Way of Peace and Blessedness”. It was a gift to Hellen Keller, who visited The Vedanta Centre in Boston. It is said that she treasured it. Swami Paramananda also worked closely with the Clovernook Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, a pioneering school for the blind founded in 1903 by the Trader Sisters, and supported by William Procter, a co-founder of Procter and Gamble. The Swami knew the Trader sisters well and visited with them several times on his many cross-country train trips between Boston and California.

When Swami Paramananda was 16, his father began to lose his eyesight. A man very devoted to his faith, he asked his young son to read to him from the scriptures and other holy books. Every night Suresh, as Swami Paramananda was known in his youth, read to his father and sang devotional songs to him. Gradually his father’s eyesight slipped away and he became blind. It is to the memory of Swami Paramananda’s father that these transcriptions are dedicated.