Rev. Mother Gayatri Devi; Leader of Order Rooted in Hinduism

The Rev. Mother Gayatri Devi, spiritual leader of an independent religious order rooted in Hinduism and the first Indian woman to teach Westerners the Vedanta philosophy that honors all religions, has died. She was 88.

Ms. Devi died Sept. 8 at Ananda Ashrama in La Crescenta, where she had taught since coming to the United States in 1926.

She inherited the mantle of leadership of the order, Ramakrishna Brahma-Vadin, in La Crescenta and in Cohasset, Mass., at the death of her uncle, Swami Paramananda, in 1940. The change meant the “disownership” of the mostly female American bicoastal community by its all-male parent order in India, which had no provision for a female in the traditional hierarchy.

Ms. Devi and her order not only survived, but for the past 55 years have continued to develop and support two ashrams for underprivileged women in Calcutta, which serve 2,000 female students in four high schools, an orphanage and vocational training facilities.

Known as “Ma,” short for “mataji,” a title meaning “reverend mother,” Ms. Devi addressed her flock each Sunday morning, conducted daily shrine meditation sessions, handled ashram business and sometimes cooked for her followers.

On a wider front, she shared a platform with Mother Theresa at the Conference of World Religions at the United Nations in 1975, helped found the Snowmass Religious Leaders’ Conference and taught at the invitation of the Dalai Lama at the Harmonia Mundi Contemplative Congress in Newport Beach in 1989.

Born in Bengal, India, one of 19 children of a civil lawyer and a housewife, she was forced into marriage but widowed at age 19 and allowed to follow her uncle to America. She was ordained at the Boston center, which her uncle founded in 1909 according to the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, who introduced Hinduism to America.

“It was Swami Vivekananda’s dream that someday a woman from India dressed in a sari would go abroad and share the teachings of our sages,” Ms. Devi told The Times in 1985. “That was his dream, and it just happened that I have been that woman.”

Memorial services are scheduled for Sept. 24 at 11 a.m. at Ananda Ashrama in La Crescenta, and concurrently at the Vedanta Centre in Cohasset, Mass. Memorial donations for world relief programs may be sent to the Vedanta Centre Special Fund, 130 Beechwood St., Cohasset, Mass. 02025.