Community: A monk speaking with visitors beside a display board of photographs and charts
Our Tradition

Bharat Sevashram Sangha

Founded in 1917.

Founded in 1917 by Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj, the Bharat Sevashram Sangha is a monastic order devoted to service. Pronabananda Sevashram takes its name and its spiritual inspiration from the Sangha’s founder, and Swami Aparananda was formed in its monastic tradition.

The two are separate institutions. Pronabananda Sevashram at Narendrapur is led by Swami Aparananda and stands in the Sangha’s tradition rather than forming part of its organisation.

The facilities described below belong to the Sangha, not to this ashram. Each carries its own address and telephone number, and a donation made through this website reaches Pronabananda Sevashram’s own account and funds its own five programmes. Please contact the Sangha directly about anything on this page.

Visit Bharat Sevashram Sangha →

A black stone Shiva lingam on its circular base in the ashram shrine, lit by a window

The Sangha’s work in Kolkata

Places run by the Order, listed here so that anyone looking for them can find the right address and the right telephone number.

Charitable multispecialty hospital

Bharat Sevashram Sangha Hospital

A non-profit hospital run by the Sangha, about 20 kilometres west of Narendrapur.

  • 24-hour emergency care
  • ICU and critical care
  • CT scan and diagnostic imaging
  • Laboratory testing
  • Ambulance service
  • Stroke and neurology department
Address
Diamond Harbour Road, near Pailan, Joka, Kolkata 700104
Telephone
9073368550

More from the Sangha →

Charitable homeopathic clinic

Pranabananda Homeopathic Seva Niketan

Held at the Sangha’s head office, with a different doctor on duty each day of the week.

  • Morning consulting 8.30am to 10.00am
  • Evening consulting 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Address
211 Rash Behari Avenue, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700019
Traditional stick-fighting instruction

Lathikhela Training Centre

Open classes held every Sunday at the head office.

Address
211 Rash Behari Avenue, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700019
Telephone
9433054600
Pilgrim accommodation

Guest houses and dharamshalas

There is no online booking. Rates are low but vary by room, so both the tariff and the availability have to be confirmed by telephone with the head office before travelling.

Address
Booked through the Head Office, 211 Rash Behari Avenue, Kolkata 700019
Telephone
033 2440 5178

Details here are taken from the Sangha’s own signboards and website. Services and opening hours change, so please telephone before travelling.

Lineage & Tradition

The passages the ashram prints

Where there is strength, there is salvation. O Hindus, have you wholly forgotten that you are worshippers and devotees of the cosmic power? Behold them — the gods and goddesses, the presiding deities of strength and energy, whom you worship and meditate upon. See how well equipped with weapons they are. Does that not awaken in you a consciousness of the supreme cosmic strength?

Acharya Sreemat Swami Pranavananda

She is beyond sorrow; the represser of the wicked, the remover of vice and calamity. She is Uma, Gauri, Sati, Chandi, Kalika and Parvati.

By praying to Shakambhari Devi, meditating upon her, constantly reciting her name, saluting and worshipping her, an imperishable result is achieved in the form of nectarean food and drink.

A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water — whatever one offers me sincerely, in devotion, that reverential offering I accept.

Bhagavad Gita 9.26

God dwells in the heart of all beings, and moves them as though they were figures set upon a wheel, by his maya.

Bhagavad Gita 18.61
This Ashram

The work at Narendrapur

Pronabananda Sevashram runs five programmes of direct care of its own: a home for the elderly, free primary education, care for children with special needs, a charitable clinic, and shelter for women in distress.

See our work