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Swami Aatmanand ji is revered as one of the greatest social transformation leaders of Chhattisgarh who spent his entire life in the service of humanity. He lit the flame of knowledge in the young minds making them learn about compassion and serving the society.
Swami Atmanand ji also fondly called as Tulendra as a child, was born on 06 October 1929 in Barbanda village of Raipur District. His Father Dhaniram Verma was a School teacher and his mother Bhagyavati Devi was a housewife. To get well trained in the field of education and teaching, Dhaniram ji enrolled himself in the Training center located at Wardha and shifted there with his family. Dhaniram ji used to frequently visit Gandhi ji's Sevagram ashram which was nearby. Tulendra used to visit Sevagram alongside his father. Boy Tulendra used to sing and hymn Bhajans in a very melodious voice. Gandhi Ji used to admire him for his beautiful voice, he used to listen to him with utmost interest.
Time slowly passed, in 1949, Tulendra qualified B.Sc examination with top grades. In 1951, he scored first rank in M.Sc (math) and bagged a regularship for higher studies in Cambridge University. However, he wanted to devote his life for the mother nation, so he stayed back in India and started preparation for the civil service examination. With his ardent preparation, he soon cracked the civil service examination. But he did not appear for the final stage because he started to develop his interest for social service and he started spending full time in an Ashram at Dhantoli in Pune and eventually took sanyas.
As time passed, Tulendra became Chaitanya ji and adopted the life of a saint. In 1960, Chaitanya ji took sanyas and later came to be known Swami Atmanand ji. He would spend the evenings singing hymns and reading philosophical discourses from religious texts. People attending his discourses started to donate and contribute financially so that he could serve more people. In Jan 1961, the state government granted him 93,098 sqft land for construction of an ashram. On 13 April 1962, this ashram was inaugurated.
The beautiful Swami Vivekananda Aashram of Raipur that we witness today is the result of his hardwork. Swami ji was selflessly dedicated towards the people of Chhattisgarh that whatever amount of money he had for building the temple, he distributed it to the needy people. He worked very hard to provide food, shelter and education to the refugees that came to Chhattisgarh. On government's special request he inaugurated the school of spiritual and moral education in Narayanpur. He was popular in Chhattisgarh for his dynamic work towards youth empowerment and moral education.
He sacrificed all his time and resources for the upliftment of downtrodden people in the society. He firmly believed Education to be a powerful tool to bring social transformation at scale and so he promoted education and ensured children and youth had access to good books, journals and magazines in his library. In order to cater to elderly and sick, he opened a hospital so that people could get all kinds of basic treatment free of cost. He was not just a person but an institution in himself whose contribution can never be overlooked no matter how much we progress. His legacy continues to inspire us and will continue for the generations to come through his core philosophies and values.