About Us

Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra is a Teaching and Research Centre for Vedanta, Sanskrit and Indian Culture set up in 2004 by Swāmini Ātmaprajnānanda Saraswati, its Founder Ācārya. The name Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra was given by His Holiness Sri Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati, her Spiritual Guru.

In the last ten years, Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra has convened and organized six National Conferences on Indological themes, honoured 36 scholars in Sanskrit/Indology, gifted corpus/endowment to three educational institutions, held six health Camps, three Blood Donation Camps, has outreached to the underprivileged of the community.

Swāmini Ātmaprajnānanda Saraswati is a student-disciple of His Holiness Sri Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati (b.1930 -), founder of Ārsha Vidyā paramparā – tradition. She is a Dasanāmi Sannyāsini of Shankara-Bhagavatpāda order, belonging to Niranjan Akhādā.

She is an Advaita Vedantin and Vedic and Sanskrit Scholar (holding a Ph.D. in Sanskrit). Her other areas of study and research are: Vedic Studies, Temple-Architecture, Buddhism, Bhakti and Sufi Movement in India. (Her other technical degrees are MBA (in Finance and Marketing), and PG Diploma in Journalism, Certificate in Human Rights, which she earned in per previous āshrama).

Swamini is a Master in the Speaking Tree, and writes regularly on Advaita Vedanta, and answers individual questions. Until now she has answered more than 7,500 questions in the Speaking Tree raised on the topics of her 100 blogs.

Although a consummate Advaitin, she handles effortlessly other philosophies. Her expertise lies in disseminating Advaita Vedanta, demystifying it and presenting it to the students/readers as a Pramāna (a valid means of knowledge). Her decades of gurukula-studies and University education (M.A. and Ph.D.) and past corporate work-experience makes her relate to her students/readers. She handles her contenders in Vishishtādvaita, Dvaita, Atheists, Iconoclasts, Christians, Islamic scholars with ease and respect, and wins them over with her intellectual honesty without imposing her views on anyone, winning them over, in the process gathering additional knowledge to her corpus.

1. Dasasanti (2008),
2. Rupasiddhi (2008),
3. Nomenclature of the Vedas (2012) published by DK Printworld, New Delhi.
4. Rsikās of the Rgveda (2013) also published by DK Printworld, New Delhi.
5. Om:The Sound Symbol (2014) published by Munshiram Manoharlal. New Delhi.

Her translation of around 30 popular Vedic Hymns (Suktas) and Sanskrit Stotras are in the You Tube, freely available to all interested seekers.

Swāmini is a Krshna-Yajurvedi Taittiriya-Shākhādhyāyi. Vedic chants are included in the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Her Vedic/Sanskrit chants comprising 8 ½ hours are available in the You Tube along with selected images of paintings and sculptures duly captioned, and elaborate script. Her Channel has more than 211,000 views as on date, and more than 600 subscribers.

Swāmini is the Founder Ācāryā of Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra, a Teaching and Research Centre for Vedānta, Sanskrit, and Indian Culture. Swāmini has taught Vedanta and Sanskrit to many eligible students in short-term courses in Bhubaneswar as well as in Rishikesh.

In addition to her teaching and research activities, she has convened five National Conferences in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 (2) on Indological topics. She has been a delegate and signatory in many National Inter-faith and Intra-faith Meetings.

She was a participant in the 4th Ācārya Sabhā 2010, and 5th Ācārya Sabhā 2012.

Swamini was a delegate and signatory in A Meeting of Diverse Spiritual Traditions in India convened by The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

Parivarajanam and Temple Visits: Swāmini has visited (by flight, train, car, on mules, on foot) more than 100 temples/holy sites in India, has extensively photographed them, and has studied their legends, architectural history. They include 4 temples of elements, 5 Jyotirlingas, almost all Buddhist and Jain Pilgrim sites, and all famous Indo-Islamic architecture. Out of these, 12 are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Her collection of photographs of paintings and sculptures, supplemented by her own, are extensively used in her You Tube Channel, and her Blog (her own photographs). Her photographs of Mahabalipuram, Ajanta and Ellora have been selected by BBC for their documentary work.