Swami Akhandananda (1864–1937) was a swami and direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, a 19th-century mystic. He was the third president of the Ramakrishna Mission. Early life Initial Years Akhandananda was born as Gangadhar Ghatak (Gangopadhyay) on 30 September 1864, in Ahiritola area of western Kolkata, to Srimanta Gangopadhyay and Vamasundari Devi. He came from a respectable Brahmin family. He was orthodox in nature and was dubbed as "oldish" by Ramakrishna. From his very childhood, Gangadhar was so compassionate that he once gave his own shirt to a poor classmate whose shirt was torn. Without telling his parents, he would give food to beggars. He was a strong moralist and always helped his wayward friends. Gangadhar was a vivacious, handsome boy in childhood. Gifted with prodigious memory, Gangadhar mastered the English alphabet in one day. Gangadhar first met Ramakrishna, the famous mystic and saint whom he later adopted as his Master, in 1884, when he was nineteen years old, in the temple of Dakshineswar. He visited Ramakrishna for the first time in the company of his friend Harinath (later Turiyananda). He had first seen Ramakrishna in the house of Dinanath Bose at a very young age. Ramakrishna did not want him to be over orthodox and therefore introduced him to Narendranath Dutta (later Vivekananda). Gangadhar was favourably impressed with Narendranath and became devoted to him, a devotion which lasted throughout his life and which later prompted him to take up service as the primary work over spiritual practices. During his visits to Dakshineswar, Gangadhar received instructions on meditation from Ramakrishna. Pre monastic days Gangadhar's father found a job for Gangadhar in a merchant's office. Gangadhar worked there a few days and then gave it up. He then fully engaged himself in spiritual disciplines and service to the master. Gangadhar served Ramakrishna during the illness of the latter. After the death of Ramakrishna, when the Baranagar Math was formed by Narendranath and other brother disciples, Gangadhar renounced his family life and embraced a life of travel with consent from his family and set foot for the Himalayas. Steeped in Vedanta and his own experience, his mind ever pined to be absorbed in the bliss of the Himalayan solitude. In 1887, after visiting Kedarnath and Badrinath, he travelled to Tibet where he lived in Lhasa and elsewhere for three years, returning to India in 1890. Gangadhar's entire travel account is recorded in his