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Venerable Athmadas Yami
Member, GIU Executive Committee
Venerable Athmadas Yami is a multi-religious priest and monk, following the Omnistic and eclectic version of Indian religion. As an Omnist, he acknowledges and practices the good and useful aspects of all religions, and as an Eclectic, he selects doctrines, philosophies, rites, and rituals from various schools of thought and religions.
Born and raised as a Syro-Malabar Catholic and originally named Varghese Valiyaparambil, he exhibited a deep inclination toward religiosity from childhood. Aspiring to become a Catholic priest, he pursued his vocation with the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), and the Diocese of Bhagalpur.
He has visited several Indian ashrams across the country, including:
· Advaithashram, Kolathur, Calicut, where he received Mantra Diksha from H.H. Swami Chidananda Puri.
· Chinmaya Mission, Powai, Bombay, where he underwent Brahmachari training under Swami Anubhavananda Saraswathi.
· Narayana Gurukulam, Fernhill, Ooty, where Guru Nithya Chaithanya Yathi bestowed upon him the name Athmadas Yami.
· Arya Samaj, Vaikom, where he received Brahmanical initiation (Upanayanam) from Sri Krishna Kumar Varma under the guidance of Acharya Narendra Bhooshan.
· ISKCON, Coimbatore, where he received Mantra Diksha from Prabhu Sarvaiswarya Das.
· Thirthapada Ashram, Vazhoor, Kottayam, where H.H. Swami Pranjanananda Thirtha granted him Sanyasa Diksha and the spiritual name Swami Athmananda Thirtha.
His visit to Cairo, Egypt, to meet the renowned Sufi leader Dr. Mukthar Ali Muhammed Al- Dasuqi (Ra) opened new doors to the Islamic spiritual tradition. He received Bay'aht (Sufi initiation) in the Dasuqi tradition of Sufism. Additionally, he was ordained as a priest in the Carmelite tradition by The Most Reverend Archbishop +Jesse Jose Santiago, Primate of the Diocese of Chaplaincy Service and Abbot of the “Order of Mystical Christ” under the Old Catholic tradition in Texas, USA.
In recent years, he has been journeying both externally and internally into various streams of religion and spirituality. He is now focused on developing a community free from all forms of discrimination, including caste, creed, religion, nationality, age, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, social and economic status, and health conditions.
This Omnist community, founded under the guidance of his Guru, is named the "Society of Functional Omnists" (SoFO), along with "The Eclectic Abbey" (Samanwaya Adheenam). These are based at "Samanwaya Giri" (meaning "Hill of Integration") in Arimanal P.O., Kalikavu-Karuvarakundu, Malappuram District, Kerala, India. The community's philosophy emphasizes practicing the revised and useful versions of religions, rather than adhering to historically maladapted, non-humanitarian interpretations. Their mission is to serve the universe and make it a better place through interreligious dialogue, conflict management, ecological sustainability, and redemptive psychology.
He is also committed to forming "Redeemed Polymaths" who can drive meaningful change in the world. To achieve this, he employs algorithms and methodologies drawn from ancient and modern disciplines, including the Enneagram, Transactional Analysis (TA), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and MBTI, among others.
Venerable Athmadas Yami is a popular YouTube speaker, with millions viewing his talks on interreligious harmony and dialogue. He is well-versed in the Quran, Hadiths, Bible, and Hindu spiritual texts.
In 2019, he received a prestigious fellowship from KAICIID (King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue), an intergovernmental organization akin to the UN, and a partner of various UN agencies. Initially based in Vienna, Austria, KAICIID is now headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal.
Currently, he serves as the Abbot of Samanwaya Adheenam, President of SoFO (Society of Functional Omnists), President of CRL (Conference of Religious Leaders), and Director of IICRAM (Inter-religious Institute for Conflict Resolution and Management).
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