Sambodh Foundation India, New Delhi

Swami Bodhananda with members of Sambodh, New Delhi

Sambodh Foundation, India, is a not-for-profit charity and spiritual organisation that works for social and spiritual uplift, inspired by the vision and teachings of its preceptor, Swami Bodhananda.

An acclaimed teacher of Vedanta, Gurudev, with rare clarity and vision, through discourses, interviews, lectures, classes and seminars, unfolds the answers to the perennial yet contemporaneous question, ‘who am I’.

Sambodh Foundation, New Delhi is the apex office for all Sambodh institutions in India. Dr B P Mathur (former Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General) is the Chief Executive, and the Trustees include Rumney Gulati, Nalini Sharma, Madan Lal, Neelam Singh and others. Sambodh Foundation is a forum for philanthropists and service-minded sadhakas to pool their resources and set up appropriate institutions, with a dream for the spiritual revival of humankind.

Mission and vision

Spiritual & social uplift

The study of Vedanta, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and Indian philosophy, alongside modern leadership and management.

Ecological & holistic living

Tree planting, organic farming, animal welfare and goshala care, ethnomedicine, and sustainable living.

Community service

Charitable work for rural drinking water and education, scholarships for underprivileged children, and vocational support for women.

Our values

Swami Bodhananda in conversation with devotees, New Delhi

Guided by Swami Bodhananda's sacred vision, Sambodh practises the inculcation of values such as respect for all religions, respect for the individual and his/her fundamental rights, and respect for nature and the human's symbiotic relationship with it, all with a scientific temper.

The goal is noble. The work is rewarding. But the path is arduous.

We need a reservoir of goodwill among the enlightened public. Finance is required. Workers are needed. But what is more precious is the good wishes of the people, of all of you. Join us and discover a new world and a new life of happiness, love, self-unfoldment and self-fulfilment.

Let us participate in God's work and let us feel God's abundant grace every moment of our lives.

Across India

Swami Bodhananda speaking at the Madras Management Association convention

Sambodh has centres and programmes in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Trivandrum. In Kerala there are ashrams in Trivandrum, Kollam, Cochin, Kozhikode and Palakkad. Bodhananda Kendram in Trivandrum, started by Gurudev's disciples in 1988, is the oldest centre of Sambodh in India.

Sambodh Bangalore has two centres: the Sambodh Centre for Human Values, with the Siddhi Vinayaka temple, in the city, and the Sambodh Centre for Living Values in rural Bengaluru, which promotes green living. Its work includes educational aids for underprivileged children, planting trees and medicinal plants, organic farming, and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Siddhi Vinayaka is the patron deity of Sambodh and all its centres. Devotees in India and the United States worship Siddhi Vinayaka with the Ganesa Gayatri mantra and contribute to micro-charity through the Siddhi Vinayaka Kalasaradhana programme.

Sambodh in Delhi

Swami Bodhananda, Dr B P Mathur and P N Subramanian with President Dr Kalam

Sambodh Foundation Delhi organises lectures and seminars by Gurudev, including annual lectures at the India Habitat Centre, the All India Management Association and IIT Delhi, and talks such as “Developing Global Mindsets” in the Silver Jubilee Lecture Series of the International Management Institute, along with classes on the Upanishads and Vedantic texts. It also organises charity events for the poor and underprivileged — including educational support, with school bags and notebooks, for children from poor families — and supports a drinking-water project for Surya Gaon, a Himalayan village near Sattal, in Nainital district, inaugurated by Gurudev in April 2007.

“Drinking water is the primary need of human beings. Water is the best guarantor of health and mental agility. Ensuring the availability of drinking water to all people in the world is the fundamental responsibility of authorities — local, national and international.”— Swami Bodhananda, after inaugurating the Sambodh drinking-water project at Surya Gaon

Read Gurudev's message on the Surya Gaon water project (PDF)

School bags and notebooks for a student, from Sambodh Foundation

Educational support for a young student, from Sambodh Foundation, New Delhi, March 2009 — Educational support for a young student, from Sambodh Foundation — New Delhi, March 2009

“…Reflection on the Continuity of Life”Lecture by Swami Bodhananda at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 26 March 2016Watch on YouTube →

“Spirituality and Leadership”Lecture by Swami Bodhananda at the All India Management Association, New Delhi, 18 March 2016Watch on YouTube →

Gurudev with members and friends of Sambodh Foundation, New Delhi, 19 March 2013

Vedanta class at Smt Rumney Gulati's home, New Delhi — Vedanta class at Smt Rumney Gulati's home, March 2013

Sambodh Delhi, March 2016 — New Delhi, March 2016

Pictures

Gurudev with members of Sambodh Foundation, New Delhi

A satsang with Gurudev at a devotee's home in New Delhi

A discussion with Gurudev at the All India Management Association, New Delhi

Gurudev with friends of Sambodh in Delhi

Gurudev speaks on “Developing Global Mindsets” in the Silver Jubilee Lecture Series of the International Management Institute, New Delhi

Gurudev with an elder of the Sambodh family in Delhi

Gurudev with a devotee of Sambodh, New Delhi

See all the photos

Seva — charity work

As the apex body of Sambodh in India, Sambodh Foundation, New Delhi, guides the charity work carried out across its centres: Annadanam — monthly rations and clothing for very poor families, begun during the Covid-19 pandemic for migrant labourers, house maids who lost their work and destitute women and children; woollen clothes and blankets each winter for people living in Delhi's slums and under its flyovers; annual scholarships; help for rural government schools; toilets for girls in poor villages; the goshala and tree planting at SCLV; and medical support for those in need.

Gurudev with children and families at a Sambodh distribution

Monthly rations for families living in temporary shelters — Monthly rations for families in temporary shelters

Scholarship day with Sambodh Foundation Bangalore — Annual scholarships for students

See all of Sambodh's charity work

Sister institutions

Swami Bodhananda is the spiritual guidance and inspiration for Sambodh and its sister institutions in India, North America and the rest of the world. Each carries a particular part of Gurudev's vision — the study of the Vedantic scriptures, research on Indian management, ashrams in harmony with nature, and service to the underprivileged. Read about Gurudev's visionary leadership →

A Bodhananda Research Foundation programme — A BRF-ML programme

Gurudev with the Governor of Karnataka, Sri T N Chaturvedi, at the release of the book Indian Management and Leadership — Gurudev with the Governor of Karnataka, at the release of the book *Indian Management and Leadership*

Rishi Vision and annual programmes

The work of Sambodh rests on Gurudev's teaching of selfless work and the expression of excellence towards social and spiritual enlightenment. Rishi Vision is the annual programme organised in Kerala by Sambodh Kerala, BRF-ML and the Bodhananda Seva Societies, when Gurudev teaches the Upanishads and Vedantic texts and leads seminars on leadership and Indian management. Similar annual events take place in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai; in Ahmedabad, Gurudev's courses are hosted each year by the Ahmedabad Management Association.

Our motto

The motto of Sambodh, uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata — arise, awake, and realise — comes from the Katha Upanishad. Read about the Sambodh logo and its meaning.