The Founder
Reference is found in the Bhagwat Puran of the various spots, where Lord Krishna performed his Leela in Vrindavan. These spots were identified centuries later by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a saint who came from Bengal. Similarly Sri 108 Swami Keshavanand ji located the Katyayani Peeth in Vrindavan.
Swami Keshavanandji (Panchkodi Banerjee) was born (25th December 1830) in village, Shivanipur in Howrah district, of West Bengal in a devout Brahmin family as the son of Sri Lakshmi Narain Banerjee & Meghbala Devi. From his childhood he had religious fervor and at an early age he left the family and headed towards Varanasi where his Guru Swami Ramanand Tirth of Kamrup Math Kali temple near Desheshmed Ghat initiated him into the Bhramachari Sadhu order. He stayed with him for a couple of years. He then proceeded to Vindyachal, where he met a Sadhu who guided him back to Banaras to take Yog Diksha under Syamacharan Lahiri Maharaj. It was here in the jungles of Vindyachal that Swami Keshavanadji met
Lahiri Maharaj spotted Swami Keshavanandji and initiated him into the Kriya Yoga science as one of his principle disciples. He then directed him to spend some time in the Himalayas where he was to meet other masters.
Swami Satyanandji Maharaj
Swami Keshavanand ji spent about 33 years traversing the snow clad peaks and dales of the Himalayas meeting the existing masters under directions of his Guru Shri Lahiri Mahasaya. There he had the vision and direction of the Almighty Mother to proceed to Vrindavan and perform the most important mission of his life by locating the Peethsthan mentioned in the Purans, install the deity of Goddess Katyayani and restart the worship of the Goddess for the benefit of mankind in the present times. Guided by the dictates of the almighty he came to Vrindavan and started living in a small hut on the banks of river Yamuna in Radha Bagh and identified the Shakti Peeth. He gradually acquired the land and built the present temple and an ashram in the year 1923, where he lived the rest of his life until October 1942 when he attained "Mahasamadhi".
At one time in a decrepit old temple in Bhubaneshwar, there was an idol of Shri Gauri Devi in a neglected condition. The Goddess appeared to Shri Swami Keshavanand ji during the state of his meditation and asked him to rebuild the temple. The temple which is now known in Bhubaneshwar by the name of Kedar Gauri, is the result of this divine dictate. Swami Keshavanand ji then established a hermitage near this temple.
At Vindhyachal where he had his first Darshan of Param Guru Babaji , he built an ashram.
After his attaining Mahasamadhi in 1942, Shri Swami Satyanand ji took over the management and worship at Vrindavan and other ashrams as the sole trustee. He was a great scholar of the Vedas and other Shastras. He was brought up by Swami Keshavanand ji Maharaj in strict Sanatan Dharma way of life right from his childhood. Swami Satyanand ji carried on with full devotion and dedication to the traditions set by his guru till he attained Mahasamadhi in 1951. Swami Nityanand ji took over from Satyanand ji Maharaj and was later followed by Rani Ma ji. After Rani Ma ji, the worship and management of the ashram was handled by Swami Vidyanand ji Maharaj till he became one with the cosmos on April 7th, 2021.
Nityanand ji Maharaj
Rani Ma ji
Smt.Aparna Devi ji
Swami Vidyanand ji
