Sri Amritananda Natha
Dr. N. Prahalada Sastry was born in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He started his spiritual quest at a very young age and was blessed with divine experience early in his childhood. He graduated from the Andhra University with masters in Nuclear physics and received his doctorate from the University of Bombay, while working at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Guruji spent 23 years at TIFR, involved in research. In the final years there, he was working on a defense project for the air defense. But his spiritually inclined conscience was not comfortable with the destructive nature of his research.
After deep thought, he decided to look into the spiritual aspects a little deeper and devote time to work for the upliftment of society. He received Sri Vidya Poorna Dhiksha from Sri Swaprakashananda Natha Thirtha Avadhutha of Anakapalli. He was showered with the Grace of Devi Saraswathi and given the Diksha name of Amritananda Natha Saraswathi. It was at this juncture that he was offered a position of Professor of Physics at the Lusaka University in Zambia. Realizing that this was an opportunity to take a fresh look at one’s self, he accepted a two year contract to work in Zambia. Guruji returned to India in 1981. He resigned from TIFR and settled down in Vishakapatnam, into Sri Vidya upasana and worship of the Devi. He slowly started working on means to help improve the standard of living of his fellow men.
Devi appeared as Bala in his meditation and instructed him to build a ‘home’ for her. With Her Blessings, he built the Kamakhya Peetam on the hillock and a Siva temple on the peak and Sri Meru Nilayam. Having performed the Navavarna puja continuously for over 30 years in both the ritualistic and meditative forms, he dedicated his life to empower aspirants and devotees.