, Mayavati Swarupananda was married early in his youth, but continued to live as a Brahmachari or celibate at his parents' home in Calcutta. After three or four visits to the
Belur Math, he decided to leave home and become a full-time disciple of Vivekananda, and within a few days of his stay at the Math, he was initiated into the monastic order, (
sanyas), by Vivekananda on 29 March 1898. The
Advaita Ashrama had its formal opening on 19 March 1899, which happened to be the birth anniversary of
Ramakrishna (
Hindu calendar), that year, with Swarupananda its first head upon its opening.
Sister Nivedita had become a
monastic disciple of Vivekananda when she took
sanyas four days prior to Swarupananda at Belur, in March–April 1898. Swarupananda taught her Bengali and Hindu religious literature every day. Later at
Almora under his guidance she started reading the
Bhagavad Gita. The publication of
Prabuddha Bharata, the Official Journal of the Ramakrishna Order was halted abruptly due to the death of its editor B. R. Rajam Iyer, who was only twenty-four years old, on 13 May 1898 in
Chennai. Vivekananda, who was then resting at
Almora, asked Sevier and his wife to revive the magazine. The next issue of the magazine was published from Thompson house in Almora town in August 1898 with Swarupananda as its editor, then in 1899 it shifted base with the opening of the ashram in a secluded hilly region in Mayavati, near Almora. During his editorship, Prabuddha Bharata became a powerful medium for disseminating ideals of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda and earned much appreciation from the intellectuals. Swarupananda became the president of the Mayavati ashrama. He was very close to Captain and Mrs. Sevier. The most memorable event during his tenure was the visit of Vivekananda to Mayavati in January 1901, after his return from his second visit to the West. He discussed about his ideas of the work to be carried out from the Ashrama with Swarupananda. Swarupananda was keen to work for the upliftment of the tribal and the poor people in the region. He initiated education of
hill people in modern methods of cultivation to address their acute poverty and shortage of food. He established two schools, one in Mayavati and the other in the village of Shore for the local children. He also started a charitable dispensary which even today serves the people of the region. He was regular in his spiritual practices and austerities, apart from the various secular activities that kept him engaged. He built a hut near the ashrama which came to be known as Swarupananda hut, for the purpose of meditating in seclusion. He worked among youth and students to spread the message of Vivekananda. He was also invited by His Highness of Baroda to preach Vedanta, together with Swami Vivekananda. But Vivekananda could not come owing to his ill health. He authored the translation of
Bhagavad Gita in English. ==Last days==