Madurai (TN), May 10 (PTI) Omkarananda Mahaswamiji, who founded the Chidbhavananda ashram at Theni in Tamil Nadu, died after a brief illness at a private hospital here on Monday, ashram sources said.
"The pujyasri Omkarananda Mahaswamiji attained mahasamadhi at 5.40 pm in Madurai," a source at the ashram said.
AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam and BJP state chief L Murugan condoled the seer's demise.
The peetadhipathi who was admitted with Covid-19 tested negative recently but had suffered a cardiac arrest two days ago.
"Doctors advised us to shift swamiji to Chennai for treatment but when an attempt was made to board him onto the air ambulance he developed breathing difficulty and was immediately rushed back to the hospital here," the source said and added that the doctors at the hospital declared him dead.
He was 65.
Swami Omkarananda, who took the mission of rejuvenating the spiritual values and cultural traditions of India, took his Sanyasa from Swami Chidbhavananda, founder of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam, Tirupparaithurai.
He studied Vedanta under Pujyasri Swami Paramarthananda, one of the foremost disciples of Pujyasri Swami Dayananda Saraswathi.
He was known for expounding the essence of some of the sacred texts in Tamil, such as Tevaram, Tiruvachakam, Tirumandiram, Tayumanavars hymns, Bharatiyars songs and in particular Tirukural.
Panneerselvam expressed grief over the swami's death.
Paying tributes, BJP national general secretary C T Ravi said he was deeply pained to learn that Omkarananda Mahaswamiji attained Mahasamadhi in Madurai today.
"A great Rishi of modern times, Poojya Swamiji was deeply rooted in Hindu spirituality and had great concern for the common man. My deepest condolences to His devotees & followers," he tweeted.
BJP state president L Murugan said the swamiji devoted his entire life for Hindu Dharma and Tamil language.
"He always conveyed his views eloquently whenever Hindu Dharma was undermined. Its hard to believe that he is no more," Murugan said in a statement.
