Avadhoota Datta Peethadhipati Jagadguru Parama Pujya Sri Sri Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji was born at Mekedatu in southern India on May 26, 1942. A Muslim saint had predicted to Sri Swamiji's parents (Sri Narasimha Sastry and Sri Jaya Lakshmi Mata) that their child would have supreme wisdom and knowledge and was destined to uplift mankind. Sri Swamiji's actual birth occurred on a rock in the Kaveri river. Sri Swamiji's mother Jayalakshmi Mata was in deep meditation and the child was born covered with holy ash. The child was named Satyanarayana. Sri Swamiji's mother, whom His Holiness calls his first Guru, initiated Him into spiritual life before her passing away in 1951. The Child, Satyanarayana completed his education like other children, but found that school had nothing to offer to Him. Sri Swamiji was endowed at birth with great knowledge and power. Even as a child, Sri Swamiji organized satsangs and taught bhajans to Sri Swamiji's friends. Sri Swamiji had been serving fellow humans, helping them with their problems since Sri Swamiji's childhood. Through miraculous powers, Sri Swamiji was able to understand their situations, knew their past, present, and future and helped them to overcome difficulties. Some of them became Sri Swamiji's first disciples who were soon to be followed by more. Sri Swamiji sang bhajans and kirtans for them and started giving yoga classes in small village huts or on river banks, while wandering the countryside as a monk. Sri Swamiji acquired a large following, which demanded all of his time and attention. In 1966 Sri Swamiji moved to the present site of the Mysore Ashram on Ooty road, which in the early days was only a straw hut in a field. It was there, at Mysore, that Sri Swamiji became Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji. Since then Sri Swamiji has been helping people in his unique way. People come to His Holiness for help with their worldly affairs, or to get healed of physical afflictions, or for guidance in their spiritual practice. Many come to hear Sri Swamiji's beautiful and powerful songs, which draw the heart and mind to God or to celebrate the special festivals in the ancient and eternal vedic traditions. Sri Swamiji is a great composer of Bhajans/songs. Sri Swamiji has written more than 2000 songs in Samskrit, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi in praise of various deities. Sri Swamiji is endowed with a gifted voice. Sri Swamiji's bhajan session enthralls a layman and a scholar alike. Sri Swamiji's collection of poems, Sachchidananda Neeti Mala, Chutuku Sahitya, Vedanta Geetalu in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu have been a beacon of light for seekers. They illustrate the essence of life in a very simple and lucid language. More than fifty albums containing speeches and Bhajans of Sri Swamiji have been published so far.