Swami Nigamananda Paramahansa (born Nalinikanta Chattopadhyay; 18 August 1880 – 29 November 1935) was an Indian yogi, guru and mystic well known in Eastern India. He is associated with the Shakta tradition and viewed as a perfect spiritual master of vedanta, tantra, yoga and prema or bhakti. His followers idealized him as their worshipped and beloved thakura. Nigamananda was born into a Bengali Brahmin family in the hamlet of Kutabpur in Nadia district (at present Meherpur district Bangladesh). He was a sannyasi from Adi Shankar's dashanami sampradaya. After his ordination as a sannyasi, he came to be known as Paribrajakacharya Paramahansa Srimat Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Deva. Nigamananda achieved siddhi (perfection) in four different sadhanas (spiritual disciplines): tantra, gyan, yoga and prema. Based on these experiences, he wrote five Bengali language books: Brahamcharya Sadhana (ब्रह्मचर्य साधन), Yogi Guru (योगिगुरु), Gyani Guru (ज्ञानीगुरु), Tantrika Guru (तांत्रिकगुरु), and Premik Guru (प्रेमिकगुरु). Nigamananda reportedly experienced the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. After retiring from Saraswata Matha, Nigamananda spent the last fourteen years of his life in Puri. Durga Charan Mohanty, a school student, met him at Nilachala Kutir in 1930 and recognized him as sadguru. Mohanty became Nigamananda's disciple and wrote books for Nigamananda's establishment Nilachala Saraswata Sangha and translated Nigamananda's Bengali books into Odia. Under Mohanty's encouragement, more than 100 ashrams operate in Odisha. Mohanty continued to spread the message of Nigamananda until his death on 7 December 1985. Life Childhood, studies and service life (1880–1901) At his birth, Nigamananda was named Nalinikanta (নলিনীকান্ত, ନଳିନୀକାନ୍ତ, नलिनीकान्त - in Hindu meaning is: Lotus, water), per the wishes of his father, Bhuban Mohan and the advice of his father's guru, Swami Bhaskarananda Saraswati. At the age of thirteen (1893) Nalinikanta lost his mother Manikya Sundari Devi to cholera, pushing him into depression. In 1894-95 he passed the student scholarship examination and studied at Meherpur High School. In 1895 he entered Dhaka Asanulla Engineering College. In 1897 his father married him to a thirteen-year-old girl named Sudhansubala Devi of Halisahar. He completed his study in 1899 and joined a service in the District Board of Dinajpur, the estate of Rani Rashmoni. At the end of Vadra, 1901 (approximately five years after marriage) when he was serving as the supervisor of the Narayanpur Estate (Zamindari), Nalinikanta saw the shadowy image of his wife standing at the table glowering and silent while she was away at Kutabpur (Nalinikanta's village).