Resident Teacher

The Ashram Community is under the spiritual guidance of its Head Monk, Swami Atmananda Udasin. A teacher of the Direct Path of Non-Duality according to the tradition of Advaita Vedanta, he offers regular satsangs and retreats, both in India and overseas.

After a brief career as a university lecturer, he spent ten years in solitude, first at a hermitage near Jerusalem and later in North India. Towards the end of this long retreat, he embraced Sanatana Dharma and, in 2001, received initiation into sannyasa (monastic renunciation) from his beloved and long-time spiritual Master, H.H. Sri Chandra Swami Udasin.

“ We are not just conscious human beings. We are the Pure Limitless Consciousness itself, reflected through the mind as Awareness and manifesting itself in the form of this universe. It is the ultimate Reality, beginningless and endless. It is beyond description though it has been formulated in diverse ways at diverse times by all the great religious traditions of the world, and directly known and experienced by the sages. It cannot be grasped by the intellectual mind, but can only be recognized as our True Nature through ‘no mind’. ”

Swami Atmananda Udasin

Two years later, he felt a call to move closer to the Ganges, and start a small monastic community to support spiritual seekers of all religious traditions. Over the following years, this initiative unfolded and eventually became Ajatananda Ashram, an interreligious monastic ashram dedicated to the Oneness of Truth.

Besides the teachings of his own Master, over the last thirty years Swami Atmananda has also been deeply inspired by the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, Sri Nannagaru, Sri Swami Chidananda Saraswati, Sri Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) and his realized disciple, Sri Swami Ajatananda Saraswati (Marc Chaduc)—from whom the Ashram has taken its name.

A native of Belgium, Swami Atmananda Udasin studied Theology, Indian Philosophy and Comparative Religion in Louvain, Paris, and Jerusalem. He served as President of the Abhishiktananda Society (2007-2008), of which he was an Associate Member since 1983. He is presently the Director (since 2008) of the Abhishiktananda Centre for Interreligious Dialogue (Delhi).

The satsangs Swami Ji offers are open to all spiritual seekers. You can find out more about the satsangs and their schedule. You can also now follow Swami Atmananda Udasin on YouTube and Facebook to stay updated about his latest satsangs  in India where he resides.

Please note that Swami Atmananda considers himself a simple and humble teacher of Advaita Vedanta, which has profoundly and radically changed his life.  He does not encourage his students to consider him a spiritual master or someone special, and even less to touch his feet.


Inspiring Masters

Ajatananda Ashram has drawn inspiration from many saints and sages. Among them, eight in particular have had a profound impact on the vision and spiritual mission of our community.

H.H. Swami Abhishiktananda

Swami Abhishiktananda (1910 – 1973) envisioned an ashram in the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganges that would serve seekers of the Truth, which abides in the heart of all religions. During his time spent in India, he immersed himself deeply into Indian spirituality, through the perennial wisdom of the Upanishads and radically embraced the life of sannyasa.

H.H. Swami Ajatananda Saraswati

From the very beginning, Swami Ajatananda Saraswati (1944 – ), the principal disciple of Swami Abhishiktananda, was called to a life of silence, solitude, deep meditation, and ultimately Self-Realization. His life demonstrates the heights of the complete spiritual fulfillment which can be reached through perfect surrender to the Ultimate Reality.

H.H. Swami Chidananda Saraswati

A close friend of Swami Abhishiktananda and the diksha guru of Swami Ajatananda, H.H. Swami Chidananda Saraswati (1916 – 2008) is highly revered by the ashram community. He was a living example of universal love and openness to all religions as expressions of the unique, non-dual transcendental Reality which is the source of all.

H.H. Chandra Swami Udasin

H.H. Chandra Swami Udasin (1930 – 2024) is a realized sage of the highest order. He is the spiritual Master of Swami Atmananda Udasin since 1990, and initiated him into sannyasa (monastic renunciation) in 2001. In 2006, he bestowed his Blessing upon the vision and foundation of Ajatananda Ashram. The community derives great inspiration from Swami Ji’s divine Presence, protection, and enlightened teachings.

H.H. Sri Ramana Maharshi

H.H. Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879 – 1950) was probably the most famous sage of the twentieth century both in India and in the rest of the world. He spent most of his life at Arunachala-Shiva, with whom he had become One. His second most important teaching, after that of silence, was Self-enquiry (Atma-vichara) which consists of a sustained practice of keeping one’s attention on the source of the I‑thought, which is the Heart or the Self.

H.H. Sri Nannagaru

H.H. Sri Nannagaru (1934 – 2017) was a disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi, who appeared to him in a powerful vision in 1957. From that moment on, there was a marked turn in his life, and he became an acclaimed master, whose silence and penetrating glance conferred inexplicable bliss to thousands. Sri Nannagaru taught mainly at his home in Andhra Pradesh, and often visited the holy mountain, Sri Arunachala.

H.H. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

H.H. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897 – 1981) was a direct disciple of Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj, the Head of the Inchegiri lineage of the Navnath Sampradaya. The publication in 1973 of “I Am That”, an English translation of his talks, brought him worldwide recognition. His teachings focused on our real Identity as the infinite, eternal, absolute “Awareness” or Parabrahman, and Its play of emanated universal Consciousness.

H.H. Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon

H.H. Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon (1883 – 1959) was a modern-day sage from Kerala who taught an Advaita Vedantic approach to Self-Realization. His teachings became the foundation for a spiritual method called the “Direct Path”. He was a householder and, as such, proved that no way of life is an impediment to Realization. His two didactic poems, “Atma‑Darshan” and “Atma‑Nirvriti”, are a synthesis of his teachings.


A few pointers from the Satsang

There is nothing to be attained. We are already That which we are seeking but we have mistakenly identified ourselves as being the body and the mind, believing that we are objects living in a world full of other objects!

The seeker of Truth must desire Liberation more than anything else and should be animated by the absolute conviction that he or she is not an individual person but the Pure All-Pervading Consciousness.

One has to watch the fluctuations of the mind without touching anything. By remaining as a neutral witness of thoughts, sensations and perceptions, one comes to know that which is prior to the mind.

For those who follow the Path of Knowledge (Jnana) or the teachings of Non-Duality (Advaita), there is no need to try to stop the modifications of the mind. We should just ignore the stream of thoughts and focus on the subject of all relative awareness, or Pure Awareness itself.

Awakening has nothing to do with anything that happens. It is timeless. No one is enlightened as enlightenment is the dissolution of the person or ego-identification.

We are not just conscious human beings. We are the Pure Limitless Consciousness itself, reflected through the mind as Awareness and manifesting itself in the form of this universe. ‘Pure Consciousness’ is all there is. It is another name for the divine Being or Presence. It is the ultimate Reality, beginningless and endless. It is beyond time and space. It is one without a second, or indivisible oneness, yet it is the source of everything, the foundation of all what is manifested. It is Bliss. It is most Benevolent. It is beyond description though it has been formulated in diverse ways at diverse times by all the great religious traditions of the world, and directly known and experienced beyond words by the sages. It cannot be grasped by the intellectual mind, but can only be recognized as our True Nature through ‘no mind’, that means at the level of the Heart. The recognition of our True Nature or Self is the end of suffering.


These Satsangs are coordinated by the Ashram Team and ‘Les Amis d’Ajatananda Ashram’, in partnership with Eveil Conscience, and will take place in French, with simultaneous translation into English. You will therefore be able to listen and see Swamiji in full screen and follow his teaching which will be based on a text from the Advaita tradition and followed, as in every Satsang, by a question and answer session.

Please note! In order to participate, your registration is mandatory. Please click on the ‘Register Here’ button below the description of the event to access the registration form.

To support the teaching of Swamiji and the Ajatananda Ashram, we will maintain the principle of conscious donation. If you wish to do so, you will be able to make your donation at the time of your registration.

The Zoom link, guidelines for the meeting and the text that will be commented on by Swamiji will be sent to you the day before the event. We suggest you either print the text or display it on an additional device during the Satsangs.

We invite you to keep your camera on and display your first and last name as your username for the duration of each Satsang as a sign of your full participation. Please kindly read our Additional Guidelines here.

If it is impossible for you to attend any of these Satsangs due to your professional obligations or time zone differences, please feel free to to contact us by following this link. We will do our best to offer you an alternative option.

CLOSE THE WINDOW

These online Satsangs are coordinated by the Ashram Team and ‘Les Amis d’Ajatananda Ashram’, and will take place in English, with simultaneous translation into French. You will therefore be able to listen and see Swamiji in full screen and follow his teaching which will be based on a text from the Advaita tradition and followed, as in every Satsang, by a question and answer session.

Please note! In order to participate, your registration is mandatory. Please click on the ‘Register Here’ button below the description of the event to access the registration form.

To support the teaching of Swamiji and the Ajatananda Ashram, we will maintain the principle of conscious donation. If you wish to do so, you will be able to make your donation at the time of your registration.

The Zoom link, guidelines for the meeting and the text that will be commented on by Swamiji will be sent to you the day before the event. We suggest you either print the text or display it on an additional device during the Satsangs.

We invite you to keep your camera on and display your first and last name as your username for the duration of each Satsang as a sign of your full participation. Please kindly read our Additional Guidelines here.

If it is impossible for you to attend any of these Satsangs due to your professional obligations or time zone differences, please feel free to contact us by following this link. We will do our best to offer you an alternative option.

CLOSE THE WINDOW

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