About Ammaji

Swamini Pramananda (affectionately known as Ammaji) is the Spiritual Leader and Visionary behind the organization, Purna Vidya, based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. While still a teenager, Ammaji lived in a traditional gurukulam and studied Advaita Vedanta (the Non-dual teaching tradition of India) for three years with her first teacher, Swami Dayananda Sarawati. As a result of this intense study, Ammaji eventually became a monk and spiritual teacher herself. For the past over 35 years, she has been sharing the vision of Oneness and Harmony with seekers around the world.

While few teachers capable of sharing this knowledge remain today, those who do often live in remote areas or lack facility with English. Swamini Pramananda is one of those rare teachers who understand the intensity and challenges of the Spiritual journey, and can communicate these ancient teachings in a way that is both relevant and meaningful for the modern spiritual seeker. Swamini Pramananda is a Vedanta teacher and a teacher of teachers as well as a Sanskrit scholar. Her scholarship is grounded in these timeless teachings as well as her direct experience of the truth they reveal.

As a result, she has become one of the clearest and most eloquent teachers of the Vedic vision of Oneness and Happiness you will find in the world today. As an outgrowth of her spiritual understanding, Ammaji began writing the Vedic Heritage Teaching Programme popularly known as Purna Vidya®. Purna Vidya books have been translated into a several languages and adopted by many educational institutions as well as communities and temples worldwide. Purna Vidya’s 24-book series provides a comprehensive overview of Vedic wisdom and culture for adults as well as children — and offers everyone, no matter their cultural background, a beautiful opportunity to discover and savour the richness of India’s spiritual heritage.

A further expression of Ammaji’s spiritual understanding of the Oneness of all beings can be found in the Educational and Community Initiatives expressed on this website. With these initiatives, Ammaji’s insight and vision of Oneness are a further expression of the Truth of all beings as well as the potential we all have to make this a better world.

Ammaji is also an outspoken and recognized leader in the worldwide environmental movement. She was a featured speaker at the 2009 Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, and honoured delegate at the International Peace Project in Bahrain, the Hindu-Buddhist Conference in Cambodia, and the Yogi-Sufi dialogue in Kathmandu and Japan. She also presented the Hindu/Spiritual perspective of Oneness and the environmental crisis in New York (USA), Birmingham (UK), Barcelona (Spain), Toronto (Canada), Abu Dhabi (U.A.E.), and Dubai, (U.A.E.), Singapore, and Malaysia. In 2011 and 2015, Purna Vidya co-sponsored, with GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women), the Inner Dimensions of Climate Change Conference for Asian Youth, held in Rishikesh, The Himalayas as well as ‘Awakening the Light of Dharma’ Conference held in Varanasi.

Like the finger directing your eyes to the moon, the teacher and the teaching help you see what you've been looking for. Come. Find yourself here.

- Swamini Pramananda

Q & A With Ammaji

swami-dayana-sarasawati
Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati

As a young child, Ammaji met Swami Dayananda Saraswati, her guru in 1971 at Sandeepany, Chinmaya Mission, in Mumbai. Inspired by his spiritual teaching, she studied at the gurukulam for three years, where Swami Dayananda formulated and conducted a long-term program that would systematically unfold the vision of Vedanta. Subsequently, she served Arsha Vidya Gurukulams in Pennyslvania, USA and Coimbatore, South India, for over 20 years as a Vedanta teacher and administrator.

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Swami Siddhabodhananda
Swami Siddhabodhananda

Swami Siddhabodhananda Saraswati, Ammaji’s Paniniyan Sanskrit teacher and the then Acharya-in-charge of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Coimbatore, taught the prasthana-trayi bhasyams (commentaries) of Adi Sankaracharya during her residential study. Swamiji became her mentor and guide over the years in her study of the scriptures. Today, Swamiji is the Chairperson of Purna Vidya Trust and continues to be the spiritual anchor of Ammaji’s organizational work.

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DhiraChaitanya
Sri Dhira Chaitanya
(Co-author of the 23 Books)

Sri Dhira Chaitanya is a disciple of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a world-renowned scholar and a teacher of Vedanta. Sri Dhira Chaitanya has undergone intensive study of Vedanta and Sanskrit with Pujya Swamiji.

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