Sushri Ananda (now known as Sadhvi Anandamaiyee Giri) is the general secretary of the Brahma Vidya Peetham International. In 2016, the Caratal, Gasparillo resident created history in TT when she became the youngest person in the country to become a swami – a monk who has mastered the mind and sense organs and has renunciated all worldly pursuits, so as to devote full-time effort to the direct experience of the highest spiritual realisation.
For women all over the globe, International Women’s Day is a time of reflection and amplification of the collective feminine voice.
Sadhvi Anandamaiyee Giri is one of many young women across the world who is a pioneer in collective activism and embracing equity. Having a strong inclination towards religion and spirituality from her early childhood, Sadhviji, as she is called, is now a leading speaker on the Sri Ramcharitmanas, Shrimad Bhagwad Gita and other holy books. She is a trained teacher of meditation, yoga and Pranayama practices and was initiated into the order of Sannyas (monastic renunciation) at 35, by Param Pujya Swami Avdheshananda Giri ji, Junapeethadhiswar Acharya Mahamandaleshwar of the Juna Akhada, India.
Giri's Sannyas Deeksha (initiation ceremony) is historic, as she was the first and youngest daughter of the Indian diaspora to receive initiation into Sannyas in her own motherland. She shattered the glass ceiling with this achievement and continues to work for the upliftment of women and creating an ideal example to all girls and women on the basis of renunciation.
[caption id="attachment_1005366" align="alignnone" width="640"] Sadhvi engaged in vedic yagya. -[/caption]
Giri has lived under the guidance and tutelage of the founder of Brahma Vidya Peetham International, Swami Brahmaswarupanandaji (Swami Brahmadeo ji) of Kashi, India, who nurtured her from the age of three.
She received spiritual instruction in the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita and other holy shastras from Swamiji.
She studied Hindi at Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, India, where she also studied Sanskrit and did her master's degree in philosophy. Giri has also been a Swayamsevika (a female dedicated to full-time, voluntary, selfless social and human service) of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangha for over 20 years. Currently, she is advancing her studies in Sanskrit and post-colonialism as well as working towards her PhD with the Hindu University of America.
At 18, Giri began her global travels, disseminating spiritual knowledge and the tenets of Vedic Sanatan Dharma throughout the world.
“In my years of spiritual sadhana under the guidance of Swami Brahma Swarupananda ji, I have visited many pilgrimages in India including Kashi, Chitrakoot, Prayag, Ayodhya, Rameshwaram, Mathura, Vrindavan, Arunachala, Tirupathi, Puttaparthi, Janakpuri (Nepal),” she told WMN.
Her spiritual journey also has taken her internationally to Indonesia, Japan, Israel, India, Nepal, the UK, Holland, France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
